hoooo boy, it just got real. I've got more than half of their live album under my fingers, and I'm going in to their studio this weekend to do a test-record of two unreleased songs of theirs. If I make it through this first round, I'll have a live rehearsal with the full band in June. I've got the MP3s, and a suggestion from the BL for the upcoming recording:
what I like for bass: It should always be propelling the song forward, never slowing it down. Base should always be leaving enough space to keep the bottom end punchy, not filling up all the bottom end with mud.
I once heard a great metaphor about how bass should work in a song: "imagine your trying to keep a beach ball in the air with a leaf blower. If you just leave the leaf blower on constantly, the ball will just fly off to one side. If you turn the leaf blower off, the ball will just fall to the ground. So you need to constantly be pulsing, and pausing, and pulsing, and pausing to keep everything going.”
If my study of their live album is any indication, he's not lying. Their regular bassist plays very simple, straight-ahead lines, rarely fills (but usually on a measure-multiple of 8 when he does). Most stuff seems to be 8th note pulsing at the root, but on some of their more lively or 'world-music' tracks he gets to walking (mainly based around the triad or occasionally the 1-2-b3; he either purposely isn't walking like a jazzer/blueser, or he's more of a straight-ahead rock guy). In addition to rock-solid time, he also plays with a pick almost exclusively - guessing from the note's tone (and cheating/confirming by looking at their music videos ;-)) I can totally cop his lines and feel, but my challenge is going to be playing as simple as their bassist does without trying to 'pull a Jameson' (which seems like it would be completely out of place for this music, fwiw)
My rough plan for the recording session (PLEASE feel free to offer suggestions!) is to bring two basses - my 5-string Fodera Emperor (fresh batteries, of course) and my vintage '69 Jazz bass. Their old bassist's stage axe seems to be a (heavily modified) Ibanez Ergodyne or Prestige 5 string, and I've seen pictures of a similarly modified Thunderbird or clone with 4-strings - so they seem to like the 'modern' rock sound. The Fodera will nail that modern tone they're looking for, and the Jazz is my 'every recording engineer loves it' hail-mary. The music technically can be played on the 5 string, but I'm halfway through the live album now and there's only been one tune where the bassist definitely goes below the low-E, so I'm thinking a 4 is suitable. I'm equally comfortable on 4 and 5 string, so it's purely a matter of tonal options. Pack 'em both into my dual-bass gig bag, and it's a very compact package to roll into the studio with.
The rig is going to be my SVT7Pro through a Bergantino 210. The Ampeg has a great DI on it, so if space is a concern I can leave the cab in the car. My preference is to do a dual bass track - mic the cab, have the DI running, ask the mix engineer to blend it, but I think simplicity will rule the day here especially since I'm not the one paying for the studio time. I'll have my HD500 floorboard (a decent DI) and my EA Doubler head (VERY good DI) in the car just in case the Ampeg picks that day to start being staticky. If everything goes well, my ideal first impression will be "guy who rolls into the studio with four items - basses in a double gig bag, one amp on wheels, one cab on a hand-cart, one miscellaneous black bag o' tricks slung over the shoulder".
For the actual tracks, I'm going to default to the Fodera, with a pick. I'll of course give the option to record fingerstyle and/or with the Jazz, but unless the guy's making a face in the soundbooth I'll stick to that combo. I'll try to keep each song limited to two takes total - one played excruciatingly simple, the other a little more (but not a lot more) freely.
Thoughts? Overthinking it? I'd be curious to know if there's any Seattle-area TBers on here who are staring down the same audition as me
