Do popular artists and bands get real bass players to play bass lines?

Depends on the artist and type of music. Truth is that AI is writing most popular music now.

 

I'd recommend the documentary "The Wrecking Crew" if you haven't watched already.

 

That is true, 90% true.

 

It depends upon if it’s a band, or a solo artist. Sometimes, after a contract is signed, the signed artist has almost no creative control. Other times, they have some control. It’s a case by case basis w/the industry focused on hits rather than artist development.

The industry used to give bands a 2-3 album chance. No so much in this era.

 

I think every musician should watch the documentary "The Wrecking Crew" ...but that isn't really germane to OP's question, since The Wrecking Crew was making records ~50-60 years ago, and the OP explicitly asked about artists today. But the contrast certainly is striking.

 

On the other hand, Carol, Joe, and all the others were the ones actually playing the basslines that the record companies and publicity departments would have you believe were done by the group members they were ghosting for, so there was a bit of deception/dishonesty going on there. Not that anyone really cared that much, as long as Peter Tork’s picture was on some bedroom wall.

 

MIDI bass or programmed bass is almost always what songwriters/producers will use for creating/writing for hire but a lot of the time a bassist will come in and record that part (or something close) on an actual instrument when the group is in the studio (definitely plenty of popular tunes getting air play now though that are indeed MIDI/Programmed).

 

It… depends… on A LOT of things. Where did you hear this?

 

I think the answer is "It Depends".

 

sometimes

 

Depends on the kind of sound they are going for, programmed bass still leaves a lot to desire in terms of sounding realistic, unlike for instance drums, but if the sound the artist and/or producer is going for is in a more electronic direction it might in many cases even be desirable to use programmed bass samples (that can be manipulating, fusing and combining recorded whole sequences of played upright bass, synth bass and/or bass guitar, but in most cases actually samples of individual notes from a given bass instrument that is plotted in in a grid with practically full control over the pitch, velocity, volume and time, time as in length/rhythm/beat, and then eventual combined with the use and programming of different audio effects) or synth bass, instead of recording a real physically played bass.

Then again some tracks that are predominantly of an electronic nature will sometimes still feature a real physically played bass.

It all depends on the vibe they are going for.

And really it's not like one is better than the other, it's just a matter which works best in the context, and I can guarantee that no big music productions will use one or the other as a short cut, it's all about which suits the overall expression of the track/artist best.

As someone who does both I can guarantee that programming music is as much an art as playing an instrument, it's just a somewhat different activity/experience/skill, in that it is much less physically and to a higher degree visually dependent (I guess in some aspects it has more in common with writing music using standard notation than it has with playing a physical instrument, though it also include the use and programming of different audio effects), unless of course you mainly use a midi keyboard, then it would be about the same as playing any other form synth/keys, in any case it is still very much being musically creative and using your imagination and ears.

I think that maybe the reason that electronic music gets such a bad name and that some, mainly older, people believes it's as easy as pushing a button and then the computer makes the music for you, is that much of the crap that is Top 40, meaning what people are exposed to through mainstream radio and TV, kind of sounds like if that was the case.

And then I guess the deception of simplicity, a lot of for instance classic rock is actually really simple too, and that doesn't always have to be a bad thing.

It's not the effort to make it and/or understand it that defines great art (unless that somehow is is an integrated part of the point/concept of course), it's the impact of the finished product/result (and here I don't mean how popular it is or how much it sells, but in terms of what it communicates and how well it does that, regardless of weather that then happens to be popular and liked/appreciated by the majority or not).

 

As other have said perfectly. Depends. If the artist is at home or starting small they most likely will use a keyboard for everything assuming they are making what's consider pop or bedroom pop. If this artist got big let's say, like radio big, they may stick to their roots or maybe they'll hire pros to write their parts or play to their lyrics. It really depends and which artist we are talking about at the end of the day.

 

Yeah, no.

 

That's what they want you to believe!



The truth is not only out there, it's pretty far out too.

 

From what I can tell, *most* of Harry Styles' music (radio friendly, hugely popular) has his actual band of humans playing it, including bass.

 

I think everyone should watch Fletch. Too many great “every day” lines. …using the whole hand???
Since everyone else is making movie recommendations.

But some artists use AI or keys for bass, some use live humans. It’s getting harder to tell the difference. One day it will be impossible.

 

Some producers will record demo versions with MIDI and hire bassists to come in and play a more realistic line on the final production. I do this all the time with all sorts of instrumentation. MIDI is a great tool for putting down ideas but if you want your production to sound more alive you really do need live players. Everything in the production does not need to be done that way, though. I have one song that alternates between a sampled bass and a MIDI line from verse to chorus. They're tonally close, and no one has ever said they notice a difference. That song is full of loops but it has live keys and horn parts. Well, the horn parts are still in production, but should be done soon. Just depends on the type of music you're doing.

That said, there are genres in which electronic production is the norm and you won't hear anything that was produced in real time by a real person. Much of it depends on the kind of music being produced.

 

the other side of why it gets a bad name is because these so called "bands" get on stage now and either they suck live, or its basically no more than karaoke. thats my problem with electronically generated music. for instance, i love Prince. theres songs that were completely created on drum machines, samplers, whatever..... but when he got onstage he delivered LIVE music. a lot of the younger artists these days think that doing music on a computer is ok on stage, and unfortunately it passes. i dont get it. i cant imagine paying money to see someone behind a computer onstage.

 

A lot of the "computer onstage" shows aren't about what's happening onstage. They're about the experience and the party vibe for the audience.