Plugin’s or DIs for that Motown Sound

[Neon Blues]

Hey all,

I am on a venture to record some Motown tracks just for fun really and want to try and get the sound as close as I can.

I will be using a 60s Heritage Precision (when it arrives from Japan) with Jameson Flatwounds, foam mute through a B15 Plugin which I am sure will close to nail it.

Years ago, I had one of those ACME Motown DI but I honestly don’t think I really knew what I was doing with it, though did sound great.

Was curious if anyone was using any specific Plugins or DIs that get them closest to the sound that are worth looking at?

 

[Bodeeni]

I would say less is more. I get that sound with the right bass and direct dry signal. I may add a tube compressor plug in and a tiny bit of room emulation in the mix. I have a few basses that do the classic Fender with flats thing. My P bass with the SB1 pickup and Chromes is the best. For some reason that bass just nails it. It is a parts P with a quarter sawn sycamore body and a reverse 51 style maple Allparts neck and it just has that tone. I don't even have the foam and the tone more up than not. I have no real idea why it has that sound. It was not the plan when I put it together. It just does. I would like to try it with the Labellas but the reverse neck has the E string tuner too close and would break the string. But the Chromes do the job very well.
My Bronco with a hotrail strat pickup and chromes is also very close. My jazz with flats is not bad either, in the mix.

 

[LowendG]

Hey all,

I am on a venture to record some Motown tracks just for fun really and want to try and get the sound as close as I can.

I will be using a 60s Heritage Precision (when it arrives from Japan) with Jameson Flatwounds, foam mute through a B15 Plugin which I am sure will close to nail it.

Years ago, I had one of those ACME Motown DI but I honestly don’t think I really knew what I was doing with it, though did sound great.

Was curious if anyone was using any specific Plugins or DIs that get them closest to the sound that are worth looking at?

It's all about the bass, pickups and strings and you got that dialed. But keep in mind, even though the B15 was associated w Jamerson, AFAIK those tracks were all DI. You don't need a "Motown DI" to do it though. You just need some hair on there somewhere--either from your front end (like hitting a mic pre hard-ish) or using plug-ins to do it(or both)--amp sim, tape emulation, distortion, etc---many ways to skin that cat. I'd use a light touch on compression (if any) when tracking--can suck the bubbly life right outta that kinda vibe. Save that mostly for when you go to mix IMHO.

 

[seamonkey]

Many audio interfaces today have Hi-Z inputs that work great for bass. A DI is just not needed much these days.

 

[mcrawfordmusic]

There is a "Motown DI" made by ACME Audio. I can't speak for it though.

 

[Neon Blues]

There is a "Motown DI" made by ACME Audio. I can't speak for it though.

Yeah, I had one. It was pretty good but wasn't $900 AUD good.

Back then I think I paid $400. Was awhile back

 

[Ben Clarke]

if you're going into a decent B15 plugin (there are loads), with that bass and setup, you're pretty much there.

I really like the UAD 176 compressor for that stuff. I have a big sounding bass - if I didn't, I'd probably be using Fairchild plugins more.

Either of the Fairchild 660 or 670 will beef up any Precision. There's something about the 176 being less massive that I like for me.

 

[Brad Maestas]

I really like the Acme MTP-66 all-tube preamp. It unfortunately does not pass its transformer output to the ¼" (it's just a passthrough) but it sounds absolutely massive and is my go-to specifically for Motown and big tones in general. The Noble preamp does a nice job of beefing things up but it does not have nearly the same presence that the Acme has. It does some magic.

 

[ole Jason]

The Acme stuff is great but nothing is needed for traditional Motown tones. Just use a P bass w/ the correct technique straight into the interface and that will get you most of the way there. After that it all comes down to mixing. Personally I don't think the B15 plugins are needed but it depends on what you're going for.

 

[AK Bass Guy]

Tech21 Q Strip.
Same analog circuitry in the old mixing consoles.
Motown bass guitar was mostly recorded with a DI going straight into the mixing console.

 

[silky smoove]

Motown bass guitar was mostly recorded with a DI going straight into the mixing console.

Correct. Admittedly, the DI was a large custom built multi-input unit that doesn’t resemble any modern day DI, but ultimately the bass and usually the guitar was all direct with no B15 in sight.

To the OP: Dig around on Gearspace for posts from Bob Ohlsson who worked at Motown for years. He details much of this. P-Bass, old flats, some saturation… that’s all you need.

 

[AK Bass Guy]

Correct. Admittedly, the DI was a large custom built multi-input unit that doesn’t resemble any modern day DI, but ultimately the bass and usually the guitar was all direct with no B15 in sight.

To the OP: Dig around on Gearspace for posts from Bob Ohlsson who worked at Motown for years. He details much of this. P-Bass, old flats, some saturation… that’s all you need.

I have Ableton 12 standard and Logic Pro X and both have stock simms for the OG DI but they are only close approximation, maybe passable in a thick mix. Going through some proper old school analog gear even if it isn’t exactly what was used then is probably still going to get closer than any simm. So I guess budget would be deciding factor on what to use or just go with digital simm, but IMO as convenient as digital is it still doesn’t get close enough for me. Simm is probably close enough for the average listener though.

Cheers.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

Hey all,

I am on a venture to record some Motown tracks just for fun really and want to try and get the sound as close as I can.

I will be using a 60s Heritage Precision (when it arrives from Japan) with Jameson Flatwounds, foam mute through a B15 Plugin which I am sure will close to nail it.

Years ago, I had one of those ACME Motown DI but I honestly don’t think I really knew what I was doing with it, though did sound great.

Was curious if anyone was using any specific Plugins or DIs that get them closest to the sound that are worth looking at?

Sounds like a fun project. Best wishes.

 

[N. Kentucky Bass]

A simple way for "Motown" sound is to shove a piece of foam under your strings to mute the sustain. A bigger piece of foam makes the strings sound dead. A smaller piece can let more sustain flow. Then roll off the bass tone (on the bass). Discover which works for your sonic preference and give us some of that Jamerson sound! No plugins or particular DI is required.

 

[tothemax]

Hey all,

I am on a venture to record some Motown tracks just for fun really and want to try and get the sound as close as I can.

I will be using a 60s Heritage Precision (when it arrives from Japan) with Jameson Flatwounds, foam mute through a B15 Plugin which I am sure will close to nail it.

Years ago, I had one of those ACME Motown DI but I honestly don’t think I really knew what I was doing with it, though did sound great.

Was curious if anyone was using any specific Plugins or DIs that get them closest to the sound that are worth looking at?

A simple way for "Motown" sound is to shove a piece of foam under your strings to mute the sustain. A bigger piece of foam makes the strings sound dead. A smaller piece can let more sustain flow. Then roll off the bass tone (on the bass). Discover which works for your sonic preference and give us some of that Jamerson sound! No plugins or particular DI is required.

While I'm no bass tone master, a few weeks ago I grabbed my P bass to do some recording. Earlier this summer I picked up a used Jazz and have been using it as my primary bass (lighter, contoured, not as cool looking as my P, but...). I felt it was time to let the P breath a bit... and man, it sounded like crap. It has fairly light flats with a Fralin PU, I was playing through my Ampeg BA210v2. This used to be my main bass, so I was caught off guard. After dinking around a bit and switching to an SVT plugin, it really didn't make much difference. Then I noticed that the foam mute wasn't there. I cut a new one from some soft closed cell packing foam, angled a bit so it was lighter on the high strings, and bang my tone was back. Sonoma Bass seems to hit it right. After recording the track from the amp DI, I added the SVT plugin for comparison. I ended up keeping it, but the difference was minimal, the DI alone sounded pretty decent (I was surprised how close the amp DI was to the plugin).

Cheers, good luck on the Tone hunt

 

[N. Kentucky Bass]

There are a lot of ways to use string mutes. I created a long thread documenting different types. The one I like best is an over-the-strings mute created with a microfiber sponge, slits cut for the strings, and a piece of wood glued on top. It's kind of like the "Nordy Mute" but does not deaden the strings as much; basically creates a more "musical" tone with the Motown effect.

Details are in the thread: https://www.talkbass.com/threads/techniques-for-damping-strings.919138/

 

[DJ Bebop]

Yep, as some have said its about that bass, and strings and mute. And the Jamerson La Bella strings pushing the pickup into a little overdrive. The B-15 thing for him in the studio was a LA thing. Earlier in Detroit it was straight into the tube mixer. So bass pushing the mixer a bit or pushing a compressor plug-in.

 

[Neon Blues]

I tried a few different plugins and got the closest cranking the input with a compressor.

Precision with Jamersons and a foam was a given.

 

[DJ Bebop]

I tried a few different plugins and got the closest cranking the input with a compressor.

Precision with Jamersons and a foam was a given.

I have my P set up like yours. That right there is 95% of the sound as you have found.