Bootsy Collins on Jaco Pastorius

[Bart Funk Bass]

Music Man track only:

 

[Bart Funk Bass]

Alembic only:

 

[Dr. Cheese]

Alembic only:

It sounds like he used the bridge pickup only.

 

[LadyLoveStingRay5]

That belongs in the bass lines history books. Inspired so many others, one of the most sampled. Bernard deserved to be filthy rich off of that one bass line alone.

 

[MonetBass]

Cool!

 

[Bob_Ross]

It sounds like he used the bridge pickup only.

Yeah, there's a disappointing lack of bass in that bass track.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

Yeah, there's a disappointing lack of bass in that bass track.

Looking at it another way, it is a good example of how studio multitracking can subtly produce that we can’t quite replicate live. Doubling the Alembic and Stingray creates a punchy and bright sound that we hear as simply a Stingray.

 

[Bart Funk Bass]

one of the most sampled

Actually the bass line wasn't sampled that much. "Rapper's Delight" was re-recorded.

 

[Bart Funk Bass]

Both basses together:

 

[LBS-bass]

Yeah, there's a disappointing lack of bass in that bass track.

I'm sure the engineers recording Michael Jackson had no idea what they were doing. </sarcasm>

Seems like they got it right in the final mix. Listening to this through earbuds.



This seems like a pretty good example of how bedroom tone doesn't equate to good mix tone. You can always add bottom to a bass track during mixing; it's much harder to selectively remove what you don't need when the bass is too boomy. Too much boom on this would have made it harder to get that punchiness in the sweet spot, IMO. What they ended up with had plenty of punch for the genre.

What's more remarkable to me is the precision with which he played both lines, when they're layered on top of each other. Not a note out of place!

 

[Dr. Cheese]

I'm sure the engineers recording Michael Jackson had no idea what they were doing. </sarcasm>

Seems like they got it right in the final mix. Listening to this through earbuds.



This seems like a pretty good example of how bedroom tone doesn't equate to good mix tone. You can always add bottom to a bass track during mixing; it's much harder to selectively remove what you don't need when the bass is too boomy. Too much boom on this would have made it harder to get that punchiness in the sweet spot, IMO. What they ended up with had plenty of punch for the genre.

What's more remarkable to me is the precision with which he played both lines, when they're layered on top of each other. Not a note out of place!

That kind of precision is what got him lots of studio work!

 

[LadyLoveStingRay5]

Actually the bass line wasn't sampled that much. "Rapper's Delight" was re-recorded.

You must not be very familiar with the early roots of hip hop.
Take it from someone who was raised on funk and hip hop , it has been heavily sampled and used on several hits. Re recorded, sampled inspired. Whatever . Same difference.
Actually !!
You should listen to the res bull interviews by Niles Rodgers who gives all the examples . He even talks about how Chic was good friends with Queen and they sat in on their recoding sessions. Next thing you know disco sucks happened but Queen had a hit with Another One Bites The Dust.
Rock Skate Roll Bounce , and many others have sampled this bass line. And we all know how it inspired some of the new wave hits of Blondie and later hits .

 

[cabcreaser]

Chip Shearin would not appreciate the direction this thread is taking.

 

[Bob_Ross]

You can always add bottom to a bass track during mixing; it's much harder to selectively remove what you don't need when the bass is too boomy.

I'm going to disagree vehemently, and every recording engineer I've ever met would concur: It is much easier to achieve a sonic goal via subtractive equalization than via additive equalization. If there's no low end in the source, no amount of "bass boost" will provide it (at least not without incurring other problems), whereas it is trivial to take a track with "too much bass" and tame it via selective filtration. You just have to have the right tools and good enough ears to be able to apply that filtration appropriately.

 

[LBS-bass]

I'm going to disagree vehemently, and every recording engineer I've ever met would concur: It is much easier to achieve a sonic goal via subtractive equalization than via additive equalization. If there's no low end in the source, no amount of "bass boost" will provide it (at least not without incurring other problems), whereas it is trivial to take a track with "too much bass" and tame it via selective filtration. You just have to have the right tools and good enough ears to be able to apply that filtration appropriately.

Thinking about this more, I have to say I agree with you in terms of general principle; subtracting is generally a better approach overall, for a number of reasons, not the least of which being that people tend to overdo it when they're pushing frequencies, causing all sorts of issues. But in this case whatever was added was subtle, and what was recorded was adequate to allow for a good final mix. I still contend that seating a boomy bass into a mix is not an ideal situation, though.

 

[LBS-bass]

That kind of precision is what got him lots of studio work!

He's a legend for a reason!

 

[LadyLoveStingRay5]

I'm sure the engineers recording Michael Jackson had no idea what they were doing. </sarcasm>

Seems like they got it right in the final mix. Listening to this through earbuds.



This seems like a pretty good example of how bedroom tone doesn't equate to good mix tone. You can always add bottom to a bass track during mixing; it's much harder to selectively remove what you don't need when the bass is too boomy. Too much boom on this would have made it harder to get that punchiness in the sweet spot, IMO. What they ended up with had plenty of punch for the genre.

What's more remarkable to me is the precision with which he played both lines, when they're layered on top of each other. Not a note out of place!

That was another characteristic that set Louis Johnson sort from the rest. Yes he had showman skills , but he could also handle studio work that covered different genres and style of play. He reminds me of Marcus Miller and Bernard Edwards in that respect. Larry Graham didnt do a whole lot of session work.
Jamerson brought his jazz skills to Motown but he refused to branch out any further than that.

 

[Bart Funk Bass]

You must not be very familiar with the early roots of hip hop.
Take it from someone who was raised on funk and hip hop , it has been heavily sampled and used on several hits. Re recorded, sampled inspired. Whatever . Same difference.
Actually !!
You should listen to the res bull interviews by Niles Rodgers who gives all the examples . He even talks about how Chic was good friends with Queen and they sat in on their recoding sessions. Next thing you know disco sucks happened but Queen had a hit with Another One Bites The Dust.
Rock Skate Roll Bounce , and many others have sampled this bass line. And we all know how it inspired some of the new wave hits of Blondie and later hits .

I am very familiar with the early roots and hip hop. It wasn't sampled so many times in comparison to other funk records.
Talking about inspiration 3 E bass lines, I did a video like this:

And I know there are many more bass lines which starts like this.

 

[PeaveyPlayer]

I use Deezer which is lossless

there’s a vulfpeck video on how to “listen to mj”



I just tried the programs for fun awhile back but I used this tune and it was BUMPIN

 

[Wood and Wire]

It sounds like he used the bridge pickup only.

Yeah, there's a disappointing lack of bass in that bass track.

The StingRay has bass & treble turned up full, which creates a pretty scooped tone (a graphic representation could be the letter u)

The Alembic is more mid focused, with less extreme high, and low frequency content (a graphic representation could be the letter n)

The two combine nicely, with the StingRay surrounding the Alembic (the n sits inside the u).

In the final mix, it seems like the Alembic is slightly more present during the chorus - creating a chorus effect, and the StingRay is more dominant in the verse, or the treble is restored on the console / less treble is lost to compression with less of the Alembic in the mix.