To your point - the bass was low in the mix there, but to my ears it sounded a lot more like the Kubicki he recorded that song with originally than like a Dingwall.
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John Taylor new Bass?
- Thread starter obimark
- Start date
Correct. Might be new tracks as you said, but that was definitely not live performance.
One of my wife's colleagues is a MASSIVE Duran Duran fan. He was eating at a restaurant a while ago (I assume it was in 2019 and I think it was the Ivy) and Nick Rhodes was at a table near him. He apparently was really cool and very accommodating. Of course, who knows what he would've been like in 1984!
They're probably more appreciative now. It must be difficult, though. But there is a difference between being accosted in a restaurant and taking part in a promotion. I wish Le Bon would've had a bit more class.
I was this many days old when I learned this is where Biggy got the sample for NOTORIOUS B.I.G. I love both versions!
They were fantastic by the way. Sharp looking, tight sounding, they are total pros. Was really good to see. I thought their remake of Five Years was great but seeing them everywhere own the Sho was really nice.
Is it just me, or does he play basses that we, here, on talkbass, discuss a lot?
ALMOST LIKE HE READS THIS WEBSITE.
Just sayin'...
@johntaylor #johntaylor #duranduran
HI JOHN TAYLOR!!! LOOKIN GOOD AND SOUNDING GREAT!
heh heh
just in case....
ALMOST LIKE HE READS THIS WEBSITE.
Just sayin'...
@johntaylor #johntaylor #duranduran
HI JOHN TAYLOR!!! LOOKIN GOOD AND SOUNDING GREAT!
heh heh
just in case....
I'm very curious...
What makes a few of you convinced those are tracks?
I believe they did everything there in real time.
I base that on the following:
- They have always been incredibly tight, live, and able to perform all of their songs live in real time without backing tracks, no matter how complex.
- They have always combined drum samples with acoustic sounds in studio, and sometimes live, and the drummer has always been fully comfortable changing the tones of his kit for every song or section of a song, as you see here.
- For the hungry like the wolf section, the key sequence was always a programmed arpeggiator and series of sequence triggers the keyboardist controlled, and it allowed the song to be extended, altered, modifed in real time, and this looks no different from how they used to do it. Since they were doing that stuff in the early 80s, I guarantee you that the superficially more complex parts of the new song in the middle are perfectly able to be reproduced live by the same brilliant keyboardist who's behind the keys in this show.
- The tempo isn't perfect, another indicator of it being live, and what we see is always perfectly in time with what we hear, specially interesting with the subtle inaccuracies in the drums and the keys
- Their keyboardist has always been absolutely incredibly brilliant at multitasking, doing pads and effects and duplicating both guitar and bass parts of sections of songs to change the overall tone of the instruments or to add a lower or upper octave, which you can hear/see him doing in the second half of the song here
- John has always had a very very small movement in his right hand even when he pops strings, so watching him and listening to him, that sounds and looks exactly like John playing what I'm hearing, keeping in mind the duplicating in same octave and lower octave on keys at certain points
- The singing is clearly live, and as consistent as it always was
- The drums.... you can see clearly looking at the drums that they are setup for muted acoustic sound with triggers running outboard audio, so he's using samples all the way through while he plays, except possibly on the snare in the first part of the song (but even then, sounds like a good snare sample with a nice reverb). All of the sounds he's getting are something I could recreate live on my roland drums myself (with the outboard I use).
- there are some entries and fills that aren't absolutely 100% perfectly together (although always very close), and it jives with everything I'm seeing on the drums and the keys for timing.
- They clearly pretaped the performance... but is it a live performance? yes, imho, it is. The only thing not live about it is that they performed it, live, before the show, not in front of a live audience. With covid going on, that is something we all should be used to by now. Therefore, it could be take 2 or 3 of the performance, not take 1.
- obviously the outputs of all the instruments are going direct into a board, mixed with some nice compression, etc... just like anyone recording live in the studio direct to 2 track.
So, yes, it's very impressive how tight it is, they sound amazing, and considering they're not young any more, the vocals sound like them 35 years ago!
Considering how tight they are visually to the audio of the performance, like EVERY attack I hear matches EXACTLY with what I see, even the tempo variations that are going on, I think it's more likely that this is a live performance done how they normally do it, with good gating on the vocal mics.
Obviously I could be wrong in my guesses here - but they are pretty well educated guesses about mixing and obtaining tones like they do in live performance, so I'll stand by my guess until proven wrong
What makes a few of you convinced those are tracks?
I believe they did everything there in real time.
I base that on the following:
- They have always been incredibly tight, live, and able to perform all of their songs live in real time without backing tracks, no matter how complex.
- They have always combined drum samples with acoustic sounds in studio, and sometimes live, and the drummer has always been fully comfortable changing the tones of his kit for every song or section of a song, as you see here.
- For the hungry like the wolf section, the key sequence was always a programmed arpeggiator and series of sequence triggers the keyboardist controlled, and it allowed the song to be extended, altered, modifed in real time, and this looks no different from how they used to do it. Since they were doing that stuff in the early 80s, I guarantee you that the superficially more complex parts of the new song in the middle are perfectly able to be reproduced live by the same brilliant keyboardist who's behind the keys in this show.
- The tempo isn't perfect, another indicator of it being live, and what we see is always perfectly in time with what we hear, specially interesting with the subtle inaccuracies in the drums and the keys
- Their keyboardist has always been absolutely incredibly brilliant at multitasking, doing pads and effects and duplicating both guitar and bass parts of sections of songs to change the overall tone of the instruments or to add a lower or upper octave, which you can hear/see him doing in the second half of the song here
- John has always had a very very small movement in his right hand even when he pops strings, so watching him and listening to him, that sounds and looks exactly like John playing what I'm hearing, keeping in mind the duplicating in same octave and lower octave on keys at certain points
- The singing is clearly live, and as consistent as it always was
- The drums.... you can see clearly looking at the drums that they are setup for muted acoustic sound with triggers running outboard audio, so he's using samples all the way through while he plays, except possibly on the snare in the first part of the song (but even then, sounds like a good snare sample with a nice reverb). All of the sounds he's getting are something I could recreate live on my roland drums myself (with the outboard I use).
- there are some entries and fills that aren't absolutely 100% perfectly together (although always very close), and it jives with everything I'm seeing on the drums and the keys for timing.
- They clearly pretaped the performance... but is it a live performance? yes, imho, it is. The only thing not live about it is that they performed it, live, before the show, not in front of a live audience. With covid going on, that is something we all should be used to by now. Therefore, it could be take 2 or 3 of the performance, not take 1.
- obviously the outputs of all the instruments are going direct into a board, mixed with some nice compression, etc... just like anyone recording live in the studio direct to 2 track.
So, yes, it's very impressive how tight it is, they sound amazing, and considering they're not young any more, the vocals sound like them 35 years ago!
Considering how tight they are visually to the audio of the performance, like EVERY attack I hear matches EXACTLY with what I see, even the tempo variations that are going on, I think it's more likely that this is a live performance done how they normally do it, with good gating on the vocal mics.
Obviously I could be wrong in my guesses here - but they are pretty well educated guesses about mixing and obtaining tones like they do in live performance, so I'll stand by my guess until proven wrong
What I noticed most was that he, like most of us, sounded like himself, no matter what he was playing.
BurningSkies
CRAZY BALDHEAD
- Feb 20, 2005
- 27,956
- 20,350
- Disclosures
- Endorsing artist: Dingwall Guitars
John has owned and been playing Dingwalls for a few years now. I don't know that he's an official artist at this point, but I do know that he paid retail when he started playing one. I believe he did get a chance to go to the shop, take the tour and pick out his bass personally.
with their money i'd imagine he'd own lots of different basses all dialed in to his specific tone he likes...they still sound great with the classic DD sound and keyboard parts
I don’t know him at all, but I have to assume that by now he realizes how to monetize his brand. In fact, here we are talking about what bass he was playing on that nationally televised awards show we saw him on - so if he didn’t receive consideration for playing that Dingwall I’d call it a goof.
BurningSkies
CRAZY BALDHEAD
- Feb 20, 2005
- 27,956
- 20,350
- Disclosures
- Endorsing artist: Dingwall Guitars
I only know what Sheldon said of the first Dingwall that John bought, and that I know he was surprised and happy when he found out that he'd used the Combustion for this event (after the fact). I can say that I just looked at the endorsing artist roster and he's not on it. I'd assume that after the first there could have been discussion, but that he's not listed on the roster on the website seems like it would be something that wouldn't go without notice.
You would be surprised. Often when bands do TV apprearences they are fly-in gigs and they rent everything. Same for studio engagements, etc. There is an entire industry for that full of local and national rental companies that rent gear and backline- Lon Cohen Studio Rentals, SIR, Center Stage, etc.
If there is an endorsement in place, the artist would usually either contact corporate for a loaner if they have a local presence. Also, studio rental companies have deals in place with MI makers to stock their instruments for when artists come to town for public appearances. So it is entirely possible that if this was a one off studio appearance he tried to borrow or rent a Peavey and could not so he got something else. It is also entirely possible he is playing Dingwall's too. JT has owned an Alleva Coppolo P bass for over a decade and a half and loves it. He even agreed to be pictured in an early old ad from Jimmy's days of the tiny shop in Hell's Kitchen.
Still a mistake then in my opinion. Look at us all here clucking about it - obviously the bass playing world cares enough about what kind of bass John Taylor plays that he'd be in bounds asking for consideration. Unless of course he has a relationship with Sheldon Dingwall and wants to do a favor like BurningSkies suggests. Which wouldn't be financial consideration but still would be a deliberate choice.
BurningSkies
CRAZY BALDHEAD
- Feb 20, 2005
- 27,956
- 20,350
- Disclosures
- Endorsing artist: Dingwall Guitars
This is true. I haven't done this often, but a few times. One pick up gig I took was a festival down in St. Lucia. About a month before the show I got a full list of available gear; in the 'Bass Guitar' section they offered a variety of common production 4 and 5 string basses. Similarly for bass amps and cabs they had about 10 different rig options. For the festival, all the gear was either on individual risers or on dollies and there was a HUGE backstage area where they had all the kits, bass, guitar, keyboard stuff set up and ready. For our soundcheck the rolled it all out. We set up, made our adjustments to the gear, they recorded those settings and after our set rolled it away until showtime. They then rolled it back into place (matching our stageplot), and checked our settings.
It was fast and slick. I did bring one of my basses, just because I didn't trust the system or what it might provide for a bass and it's setup.
John and DD were the reason I took up bass back in the mid 80s. There were pretty much no other males back then that liked DD around my neck of the woods, so to even see other bass players talk about them/him all these years later is cool to me. I lost interest after A View to A Kill but man i wanted to be a rich rock star on a yacht with hot models when i was 11.
