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For You Session Players

Z

zackmacak

Oct 9, 2007
13
0
#1
Hey Guys,

I'm sure some of you here are full time session players and have probably done some pop/rock in your time. If you were hired for any of that pop schlock top 40 (Avril Lavigne, Hillary Duff, Kelly Clarkson and even Hannah Montana), which bass for this kinda vibe would you bring along?

Thanks to all......

Z.

ps. even if you aren't a session player or even in the top 40 world, please give me your thoughts as well. :)
 
#2
zackmacak said:
Hey Guys,

I'm sure some of you here are full time session players and have probably done some pop/rock in your time. If you were hired for any of that pop schlock top 40 (Avril Lavigne, Hillary Duff, Kelly Clarkson and even Hannah Montana), which bass for this kinda vibe would you bring along?

Thanks to all......

Z.

ps. even if you aren't a session player or even in the top 40 world, please give me your thoughts as well. :)
Click to expand...


a synth bass?

(Just kidding!)
 
#3
As has been discussed to death here of late, most producers and engineers will be happy to see you show up with a Fender bass. (More than one engineer I've worked with has stated to me that "A bass has four strings and says 'Fender' on the headstock.")

So I'd show up with my P and either my Peavey T40 or my Ovation Magnum. Between the P & one of the 2 others, I've got a wealth of sounds ready to go.
 
#5
de1orean said:
More than one engineer I've worked with has stated to me that "A bass has four strings and says 'Fender' on the headstock."
Click to expand...

This is so sad to read. I know it has been discussed to death, but there are SO MANY other nice sounding basses out there. I know records have been made using a bass other than a Fender P so it can be done.

Engineers need to get over themselves and learn to record a bass other than a Fender P.
 
#7
SteveC said:
This is so sad to read. I know it has been discussed to death, but there are SO MANY other nice sounding basses out there. I know records have been made using a bass other than a Fender P so it can be done.

Engineers need to get over themselves and learn to record a bass other than a Fender P.
Click to expand...

Yup, I couldn't agree more. Many of them are simply lazy
 
#9
zackmacak said:
Hey Guys,

I'm sure some of you here are full time session players and have probably done some pop/rock in your time. If you were hired for any of that pop schlock top 40 (Avril Lavigne, Hillary Duff, Kelly Clarkson and even Hannah Montana), which bass for this kinda vibe would you bring along?

Thanks to all......

Z.

ps. even if you aren't a session player or even in the top 40 world, please give me your thoughts as well. :)
Click to expand...

In my experience, limited tho it is, there are only a very few sounds that you cant get from a Lakland 55-02 or 55-94.... one of which is a Musicman Stingray...... so Bring a Lakland and a Stingray and you're covered!!:hyper:
 
#14
engineers know what good, traditional bass tone sounds like

key word traditional.

if you are doing sessions, that usually indicates you're playing what/how someone else wants you to (not saying everyone is that strict), and you should probably listen to the tech that the people inviting you to play hired.

in a studio setting that gives you any element of control in creativity, use whatever bass you like best.

its the audio guy's job to make it sound good :D
 
#16
You rarely get a bad look with a Sadowsky, Lull, etc. Most producers/engineers worth their salt will recognize these for what they are.

A Warrior etc is another story.

It's hard to go wrong with a Fender P, P/J, or Jazz. Bongos, Modulii, MTD etc cut through live, but I probably wouldn't use them on a pop session unless the producer really wanted it.

I've had great luck with my Variaxes. 80% of the time, I use the P settings, either with flats or rounds (mostly flats).
 
#17
sublime0bass said:
engineers know what good, traditional bass tone sounds like

key word traditional.

if you are doing sessions, that usually indicates you're playing what/how someone else wants you to (not saying everyone is that strict), and you should probably listen to the tech that the people inviting you to play hired.

in a studio setting that gives you any element of control in creativity, use whatever bass you like best.

its the audio guy's job to make it sound good :D
Click to expand...

+1 to most of this, but I disagree with the "use whatever bass you like best" part. It's a lot easier (and less time-consuming) to start with something that already sounds good *in the mix*. A good producer can tell what will sound good in the mix *before* it's in the mix, and it may not sound good to you solo'ed or before mixdown, but it's important to trust his expertise.

I use whatever the producer likes best, whether it's a session or my own stuff. My job is to *play* the bassline. Not counting the tone in your fingers (which is, in my opinion, most of it), tone isn't my job and, more importantly, is better left to the experts (engineers/producers).

This is NOT to say that I don't have my tonal preferences, or that I don't care about tone, or that tone on a recording is not one of the two most important things to me (after making sure the bassline fits the song).

Of course, I have my preferences, and live, I will play whatever feels best. However, in the studio, I trust the producer, who has a lot more experience with mixing than I do. This usually means a Fender P or Jazz.

Trust the experts. That's why they're there. A bass is a tool, and will only sound as good as you play. If you want to produce, be a producer. If you want to mix, be an engineer. If you want to play bass, be a bassist, and listen to producers and engineers - they know tone!

My 2 cents,
 
#18
Dave Muscato said:
If you want to produce, be a producer. If you want to mix, be an engineer. If you want to play bass, be a bassist, and listen to producers and engineers - they know tone!
Click to expand...

Short of a handful of jazz records, I haven't heard much at all lately that I thought sounded good, especially bass tones. Live or recorded. I'd say there are probably off the top of my head five mainstream bassists whos tone I would consider good. But, my idea of good is not a P bass. I think one of the biggest problems is that people don't really want to hear bass, as long as its there, and in these days of absurd subwoofers and sterile recording techniques, the actual bass gets lost in a wash of low frequency noise and mid-scooped oatmeal.

Am I the only one who hates going to a concert, only to feel like the drummer is kicking me in the chest every time he puts his right foot down? :eyebrow:
 
#20
toman, no; I agree! I like to hear the bass when I go see a show, but statistically speaking, most soundmen are guitarists, if they play an instrument (mostly as a function of the fact that a lot more people play guitar than any other pop instrument).

There are a few session guys that have *great*, versatile tone on something other than a P (Nathan East comes to mind). I personally do not like the tone of a P bass that much; however, it does sit in the mix very nicely without much tweaking. To quote TB's own Basshole (Marcelo Gilberto):

"The tone is very mid-rangey and somewhat like a wah pedal, slightly backed off. There are less highs, and less lows than with a more modern "hi-fi" tone. This "honk" is what makes it cut through mixes, and blend well with other instruments. Its tone doesn't get buried in the kick drum, and it doesn't compete with the guitar and keys. It just sits perfect in the mix. Solo'd, it may not sound as wonderful as a modern "hi-fi' boutique bass, but in context, it excels. Anyone who's ever spent a long time getting what they thought was a wonderful bass tone, only to find that it sounded like a dog fart, or got lost completely in a band context, knows what I'm talking about.

Most consumer audio reproduction systems are lacking in low end response. That boutique bass may sound wonderful on a good system...on the big studio monitors, but it may dissapear on the midfields, and nearfields...as well as most of the consumer gear out there. A P-bass has this magical ability to transcend even crappy TV speakers. It is perhaps the most important thing any bass can be - it's UNIVERSAL.

Just like anyone who has ever done any recording/engineering (I have) knows, the monitors you choose to mix on have everything to do with creating what I'll call a "universal mix" - something that translates well on different playback equipment without swallowing or highlighting different instruments on certain systems. This is why to this day, so many people still mix on those horrible Yamaha NS-10s - not because they sound good (they don't), but because the resultant mixes tend to be universal.

I used to mix on Tannoys, but I found that the mixes, though very good, were considerably-less-than-universal. On some systems, the kick would pop out, on others, the snare, and on yet others, the guitar...etc. It wasn't until I procured a set of Genelecs that my mixes seemed to take on a "universal" quality, and sounded pretty much the same, almost regardless of playback equipment (they were also more gentle to my ears, and far less fatiguing - can't say good enough things about the 1030a's).

THIS is what the P-bass excels at, IMHO. Specifically BECAUSE of its "limited" frequency response, it has just the right sound to blend easily in a mix, not get mashed up with any other instruments, and remain pretty much in the exact same "space" sonically speaking, regardless of whether you're hearing it on the big JBL 813s, or the "Horror Tones" (Auratones)...the massive modern car system with four 15" subs, or the wimpy TV speakers on your parent's old console set from the 70s.

I own a number of very modern basses, as well a some higher-priced boutique stuff, but the P-bass ASKS to be played. It returns pure joy, with no muss, no fuss.

Surely, that counts for something."

To answer the original poster's question, I bring my custom-made Line6 Variax five-string to sessions. It can do the P-bass thing, but if I need a Jazz, MTD, Stingray, Warwick, Modulus, Alembic, 8-string, 12-string, violin bass, Thunderbird, heck, even a synth, I've got those, too, at the turn of a knob.

1558866124_8b719c10a7.jpg
1557989813_dab1feb462.jpg


Left: stock Line6 Variax 705

Right: HJC Customs-modded Line6 Variax 705. Mods include the addition of a passive Seymour Duncan SSB-II passive pickup (with its own passive volume, passive treble cut, and independent 1/4" output jack), wide/flat neck (no radius, banjo-size frets, 34" scale with 2.125" (54mm) nut width, chechen rosewood fingerboard, with extremely thin asymmetrical profile), and matching chechen-rosewood thumbrest - my go-to session bass.

Far right: Close-up of HJC Customs modded Variax
 

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