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Classic Motown Sound

#25
hearing those tracks isolated was a revelation for me. the tone is way different solo than it sounds in the mix. much less inspiring, actually. the feel, playing, space, note choice, writing, arranging, mixing, performances of other musicians, and overall lack of VOLUME are big factors, as well as the overall spirit of the music. and, motown's secret weapon, the tambourine! unfortunately, that bass tone would be lost in most of today's mixes and band volumes. i think we'd still be talking about jamerson's tone and performances if he had been playing a squier.
 
#28
It's said during interviews on Standing in the Shadows of Motown that he ran the treble wide open on his bass, and the previous about his amp controls is true. Ditto on the bridge mutes. Babbitt stuffed a block of foam under his strings to mimic jamersons sound...
 
#29
tcald2004 said:
hearing those tracks isolated was a revelation for me. the tone is way different solo than it sounds in the mix. much less inspiring, actually. the feel, playing, space, note choice, writing, arranging, mixing, performances of other musicians, and overall lack of VOLUME are big factors, as well as the overall spirit of the music. and, motown's secret weapon, the tambourine! unfortunately, that bass tone would be lost in most of today's mixes and band volumes. i think we'd still be talking about jamerson's tone and performances if he had been playing a squier.
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A bass always sounds different solod'd than it does in the mix. My personal opinion about why the bass doesn't sound very distinct on most records today is because everybody is playing "pretty" sounding basses, that don't necessarily translate into a good mix. A thudy-sounding, farty-sounding bass can carve out it's own place in a mix a lot easier than a lot of modern basses that just disappear in the mix. A Fender P with flats is the sound of 60's pop records, and is what inspired me to take up the bass in the first place. A major reason being was that I could actually HEAR it.
 
#30
Caca de Kick said:
Actually the famous Motown recordings done in Detroit were not recorded with the amp. The signal was run into a tube mixer, then straight to the console.
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The "tube mixer" WAS the console . . .

from the tube mixer it (the bass signal) probably went through a compressor/limiter and then to tape . . .
 
#33
He didn't put it there, Fender put it there. A strip of rubber, something like neoprene, was glued to the underside of the bridge cover. That means the rubber was on TOP of the strings, not below it like guys who stuff foam there. The big difference is that if you stuff it underneath the strings, then as you go up the neck the notes get deader and deader, as the strings are pushing down harder on the foam more. With the rubber above, you get the opposite. I'm 55, and remember this stuff well, as I got my first Fender P when I was 14 (I still have it, believe it or not). Pretty much everybody used this back in those days, as it cleaned up the overtones very nicely. It was very much a part of the sound of flats in those days, something most players now don't think of: overtone management.
 
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#35
ugly_bassplayer said:
Let me disagree a millions time .
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If you were listening to music on the radio in the 60's like I was, they pretty much all sounded like that. Except for self-contained rock bands of course, they could be playing a Vox bass for all it mattered. But the pop stuff that were hits, they all had that sound, more or less. Most weren't as funky as Motown of course, but the sound was all pretty stock.
 
#36
pasta4lnch said:
Bill Putnam?
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Bill Putnam's company was called "Universal Audio", but AFAIK he didn't build any equipment for Motown's studio in Detroit . . .
he DID design (and build) a lot of the equipment that was used in the 60's and 70's . . .
He was also the original owner of United Western Recorders which was later renamed Ocean Way Recording.
 
#37
You guy's put to much emphasis on amps/tubes. I can get that motown sound with a Crate practice amp with my Fender P-bass with foam shoved underneath the strings near the bridge. Hint, Hint!

Jamerson live used Custom amps which were solid state so your tube assessments are wrong again! Amazing how many of you are stuck on tubes as the only sound that matters...
 
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