Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Only Fender basses for recording??
- Thread starter gsandorx
- Start date
You know... I had just assumed that we were talking about Precisions here, but after re-reading the OP, I can see that it was an incorrect assumption.
I don't think that Fender as a brand, at least not in recent history, has any sort of magic spell over engineers or producers. I think that they're more concerned with how a bass' tone will fit into a mix, and while nothing should be impossible, I concede that some basses may require more effort than others, or god forbid, some creativity to mix just right - but that's their job if that's what an original artist wants.
Precisions do have a certain tonal profile to them that I think many engineers and producers are used to working with, and if a less standard tone isn't required, I can see how it could be tempting for them to just choose the path of least resistance. I wouldn't expect them to treat fancy non-fender Precision clones much differently, though god help you if those same engineers find out yours is active...
but that's a topic for another thread! 
As
I said before, this originally goes back to the 1950's. The Jazz bass didn't come out until 1960.
This whole thing is a more important issue for amateur musicians who care about appearance than for studio musicians and engineers.
Just show up with a five string active Ibanez at your local Alt-rock Craigslist audition and look at the guy's faces before you even start playing. They are already rolling their eyes before you played one note. They'll take the next guy who shows up with a Precision full of stickers even if he only started playing bass 2 weeks ago. You can play and sound like Chris Novoselic. They just CAN'T go over the look of your bass.
In a studio, as a hired gun, you just need to use the right bass to get the sound required.
Here are a bunch of music styles where, in experience, Fenders basses are not as prevalent and showing up in the studio with a fancy active 5 string is totally the norm or expected: Worship music, death metal, 80's glam-rock modern jazz and funk, modern reggae, modern pop... because sometimes you just want a more modern and deeper sounding tone than what you get with a passive Fender. Now here are some styles where I would always bring a passive Fender type of instrument in the studio because it is the expected tone, and you know it will sound right: Country (bring a Jazz Bass 5 too), alt-rock, punk, classic rock, blues (I don't bother bringing anything else)
Just show up with a five string active Ibanez at your local Alt-rock Craigslist audition and look at the guy's faces before you even start playing. They are already rolling their eyes before you played one note. They'll take the next guy who shows up with a Precision full of stickers even if he only started playing bass 2 weeks ago. You can play and sound like Chris Novoselic. They just CAN'T go over the look of your bass.
In a studio, as a hired gun, you just need to use the right bass to get the sound required.
Here are a bunch of music styles where, in experience, Fenders basses are not as prevalent and showing up in the studio with a fancy active 5 string is totally the norm or expected: Worship music, death metal, 80's glam-rock modern jazz and funk, modern reggae, modern pop... because sometimes you just want a more modern and deeper sounding tone than what you get with a passive Fender. Now here are some styles where I would always bring a passive Fender type of instrument in the studio because it is the expected tone, and you know it will sound right: Country (bring a Jazz Bass 5 too), alt-rock, punk, classic rock, blues (I don't bother bringing anything else)
WebJunk , has it right: read his posts.
i ran a nice, pro studio for 20 years: maybe once or twice in all those years the chief engineer advised a bass player to use a fender of any type = just because the kid's toy bass wasn't cutting it and the engineer was a brit with little patience for foolishness!
the point: he was referencing 'one standard' for competent instruments. in all those years: pro players came in for tracking and they used whatever they thought best to achieve the goal as outlined/suggested by the "producer." it always worked because everyone knew what they were doing (when they did! ).per the OP: it's a myth perpetuated by the very few who have been so advised!
i don't doubt the story at all. most of the engineers referred to on this site are pretenders/wannabes. the real mccoy = they figure it out...they're problem solvers. your guy was limited, obviously.
Hopefully he was limited (past tense). The session where he made the comments about my StingRay was in 2010. Since then. I assume we've both grown a bit.
Besides, unlike me, he now has at least one Grammy Nomination, and last I heard was working with some guy named Mumford and his kids, so he probably can't be called a pretender. At least not any more - he may have just been faking it until he made it. Actually, now that I think about it, I have recorded with him since where I did use my StingRay without a fuss... but I also didn't ask him if he'd rather I use something else.
But that's all beside the point. As far as this thread is concerned, I he did tell me to put away my StingRay and use the studio's Precision.
In early 1990 I was hired to do bass tracks at the Hit Factory by a Producer//Songwriter. He had hit single and Gold records under his belt and I thought this was going to be good for my resume! I brought a Fender Precision and a Jazz thinking I've got all bases covered.
Meet the Producer and start setting up and he tells me to leave my basses in the cases. I told them what they were and sounded great when recorded. He disappeared and came back with an old Precision bass with less than desirable action and said he wanted me to use "this" bass, I'm thinking to myself ....ugh.
Now this Producer is a real pro, he would show the drummer, guitarist and keyboardist how to actually play their parts....better than they were playing them! I thought oh man he is going to hit my up next.
He told me to play the bass lines as charted out. I struggled through them dealing with the less than stellar action on the bass and
did 8 songs. I was getting paid well and I did what I was paid to do. After tracking was done he grabbed my Precision bass and played one of the songs recording it. He could pay bass very well. He said come into the control room. He started soloing between my bass track and his bass track on the one he just recorded. I have to say the bass he had me play just had this "sound" that I can't describe that my Precision just didn't have. He says I know the bass I gave you to play has terrible action but since you didn't whine about it and played great I'll be calling you for more sessions. just leave your other basses at home. And we both laughed!
Meet the Producer and start setting up and he tells me to leave my basses in the cases. I told them what they were and sounded great when recorded. He disappeared and came back with an old Precision bass with less than desirable action and said he wanted me to use "this" bass, I'm thinking to myself ....ugh.
Now this Producer is a real pro, he would show the drummer, guitarist and keyboardist how to actually play their parts....better than they were playing them! I thought oh man he is going to hit my up next.
He told me to play the bass lines as charted out. I struggled through them dealing with the less than stellar action on the bass and
did 8 songs. I was getting paid well and I did what I was paid to do. After tracking was done he grabbed my Precision bass and played one of the songs recording it. He could pay bass very well. He said come into the control room. He started soloing between my bass track and his bass track on the one he just recorded. I have to say the bass he had me play just had this "sound" that I can't describe that my Precision just didn't have. He says I know the bass I gave you to play has terrible action but since you didn't whine about it and played great I'll be calling you for more sessions. just leave your other basses at home. And we both laughed!
PRODUCER. Not Engineer. There is a difference in this conversation.
I work for a couple of local studios on a semi-regular bassist and for the last 2-3 years, I always take my Mike Lull Jazz-type bass with never a complaint or comment.
Last week, I even asked the producer guy I should play his very nice old Precision 4-string that I know gets used on other sessions, just for some variation in my tone or sound or whatever. He replied that I could if I wanted to, but he prefers what I do on my bass. Fair enough.
Some time back, I was asked to play a nice old 4-string Jazz bass that was a studio house bass. I asked if he would listen to mine first (A nice fender American Standard 5-string that I had added a preamp and Nord pickups), then I'd play what he preferred. It kinda hurt my feelings that he said he couldn't tell a lot of difference, but he was saying only that he was fine with whichever bass I wanted to play. But if I played mine, please no notes on the B string...
. (which I was happy to oblige....).
My mindset is always to please the person signing the check and I'll happily play what they prefer. I've absolutely no illusions about my "tone" or "sound" as it's all been down for years and years and by sooo many players waaaaaay better than me. I'm just happy to have someone asking me to play.
Last week, I even asked the producer guy I should play his very nice old Precision 4-string that I know gets used on other sessions, just for some variation in my tone or sound or whatever. He replied that I could if I wanted to, but he prefers what I do on my bass. Fair enough.
Some time back, I was asked to play a nice old 4-string Jazz bass that was a studio house bass. I asked if he would listen to mine first (A nice fender American Standard 5-string that I had added a preamp and Nord pickups), then I'd play what he preferred. It kinda hurt my feelings that he said he couldn't tell a lot of difference, but he was saying only that he was fine with whichever bass I wanted to play. But if I played mine, please no notes on the B string...
. (which I was happy to oblige....). My mindset is always to please the person signing the check and I'll happily play what they prefer. I've absolutely no illusions about my "tone" or "sound" as it's all been down for years and years and by sooo many players waaaaaay better than me. I'm just happy to have someone asking me to play.
As I said originally, that statement is a myth. The conversation drifted to engineers demanding certain basses which is not the job.
Again as I said originally, many electric basses have been used 1960's to today. Rickenbackers were quite popular 1960-1970's influenced especially with Paul McCartney with both the Beatles & Wings. Less we forget that Hofner basses & clones were used by a number of players during the early Beatles. Semi-acoustic basses in the late 1960's influenced by Jack Casady of Jefferson Airplane. Paul Samwell-Smith (One of my idols) Gibson basses influenced by Jack Bruce with Cream, John Paul Jones studio recordings with Led Zeppelin, The bassist with Free (can't remember his name right now!) bassist for Zombies (Chris I can't remember his name either) If we move into the 1970's the list gets even longer. Again, IT IS A MYTH!
While some Producers have recommended or insisted on certain basses they include not just Fender basses. A number of Producers have preferred other basses or worked with what the musician was comfortable with.
+1. By the time I wanted to own a DX7, it had been out of production for many years, and I couldn't find one that didn't have wonky buttons. Ended up with a TX802, which is sometimes referred to as "a DX7 in a box." I still use it today.
Indeed, just flipping through DX bass patches immediately brings to mind tracks like "Broken Wings," "Danger Zone," "Take On Me," etc. Synths have proliferated so much (both hardware and software) over the last couple of decades that of course now there is no one synth that's ubiquitous in current recordings in any recognizable way like the DX was, and there probably won't be again.
(What I actually wanted in the mid '80s was a PPG, but when I was finally in a position to get a Wave 2.3 after it saw a big price drop, the company went out of business before I could buy one, so I ended up with a Prophet VS instead. Unlike the DX, though, the VS has ridden the vintage synth wave back up to high prices, so I doubt I'll be indulging nostalgia by getting another to replace the one I sold in the early '90s anytime soon.)
/OT synth geek babble
Tony Levin talked once about putting a 2-band EQ pre into a Precision because of resistance he got on sessions when he took his StingRay.
Keith Rossiter's book "Studio Bass Masters" talks about a Memphis studio (FAME maybe?) where the bassists not only had to play a Fender, but had to use the owner's Precision. In the same book at least one well respected and successful producer, Pete Anderson (Dwight Yoakam) says he expects the bassist to show up with a Fender.
It's not a myth.
Keith Rossiter's book "Studio Bass Masters" talks about a Memphis studio (FAME maybe?) where the bassists not only had to play a Fender, but had to use the owner's Precision. In the same book at least one well respected and successful producer, Pete Anderson (Dwight Yoakam) says he expects the bassist to show up with a Fender.
It's not a myth.
buldog5151bass
Kibble, milkbones, and P Basses. And redheads.
I like that story a lot, but you didn't mention which strings were on those basses. Could it be the case that his precision had flatwounds on it?
