Hollow Body and Solid Body Bass on Producer's Mind

Howdy.

Good bass playing, good tone on the demo. Your P w/ flats will get you 60% of the way there. But the rubbery, strong attack/quick decay, strong midrange, and short-scale/hollow body-specific harmonics will only come with...well, a hollow body. Even more so if it's short to medium scale. That's the stuff he's after, I'm guessing.

Generally speaking, that breed of bass actually speaks more...it's less transparent, wide and pillowy...it tends to be more focused, pointy, and again: midrange-oriented. A decent example is me playing my 90's Guild Starfire with some very average D'Addario Chromes on it through a 90's B-15R on the Beck song "Paper Tiger". It's recorded with a 47 Fet and some dirty compression and the amp driven a bit. That combination of factors give it lots of personality, and of all all the factors, the biggest contributing factor is the bass.

At this point, you should simply ask him for some specific references. Any good producer is obliged to provide those if they are making general comments...it's the support for the argument that's essential for mutual understanding and moving forward.

Good luck,
Justin

 

Could I just applaud this commitment to reason, independent of the context of which it was offered? How much better off would we all be if this disposition was more widely shared? It's how we arrive at a view, what thinking, evidence and grounding that leads one to adopt a view that counts for more than the mere view itself, whether the matter at hand is aesthetic, ethical, political, etc. It is that which allows us to communicate and reason together, even if we start from opposing positions. Agreeing to reason and to assess by acknowledged standards the basis for our convictions is that which allows us to rise above a mere animal struggle for power, to communicate and share meaning, and to work toward mutual understanding.

Thanks JMJ (if I may address you that way). I just spent about an hour reading the NY Times, growing more depressed with every minute. Then this. It restored my hope, at least for a little while, that we humans may yet still save ourselves.

 

It’s sounds like you’re well on your way to finding a HB Bass. my only comment would have maybe he has something against P-Basses or perhaps he can’t mix them well.

 

He said in the giant trainwreck of the previous thread he posted in Basses that this producer is very renowned in Indonesia and has produced hit records, so my guess is that's about as far from the reality of the situation as it gets.

 

Perhaps. But in the absence of any other information, my reply to him presumed that he’s just dealing with a producer who knows his stuff, and who wants to hear a different sound/approach.

 

Ya, I don't think there's a question that this guy knows his stuff. I thought it was a good suggestion he made for that song. But without knowing much more about him, I'm pretty sure he can mix a song with a bass part cut with a Precision just fine

 

I just wanted to let you know that I like the song and your bass playing on it a lot.
And I completly understand the producer point of view to try a hollowbody bass on this (and maybe other songs in your repertoire).

I wish you all the best and lots of success with your music!

 

Very cool bass part, thanks for sharing it here with that detail information.

 

I just now realized that you probably thought I meant that what our OP told us about his producer having hit records in Indonesia was about as far from the situation as it gets. My fault for poor wording. I meant the idea that he can't mix a P bass well was probably about as far from the situation as it gets.

 

@tyohars
I am not Justin, but I like it.
Given the video, I would rather have opted for an Ric-style bass
And I definitely would have used a different guitar (sound) - to my ears the one you used gets a little bit boring as the song moves on.