Thanks, Fellas! That was a great, great project. There are many more incredible tunes to come - the whole album is really wonderful. Moises has huge ears, and he intentionally writes openings for the bass. There are a coupla' more highlights, including (gasp) some slap with that koa bass, and a fretless solo (bigger gasp). Even better, though, there are some mambo, cha, and Weather-Report-esque tunes where both basses just sound amazing.
Joel, to speak to your questions.... I have not recorded through a REDDI, but I have used a GrooveTubes DITTO, which essentially was the precursor to the REDDI. FWIW, in talking with my cronies who have
tried to use the REDDI on sessions, they've found it to be far too hot....to the extent that finding an input level into the board that works takes away all the tube goodness. I'm not suggesting that's the be-all issue, but rather the experience of some really fine players whose judgement I trust. I certainly had some gain issues on the sessions where I used the DITTO, but fortunately I was in the hands of an engineer who really knew the box. After ~ 15 minutes of fine-tuning, we had a sound that REALLY worked. Here's a snippet of the tune I mentioned above - "Full Fino," from Moises' second album:
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That one features my Century J sixer. (If anyone is interested, you can sample the [Invalid or Expired Link Removed], although I used a Rob Allen MB-2 into a Radial JDI for the remaining tunes.)
A coupla' more samples if you don't mind a coupla' more mouse clicks... I also used the DITTO DI, with my myrtle SKB sixer, on "Confirmation" and "Respect" from [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] album. A tube DI is absolutely delicious - thick, fat, full, warm... I still keep my ear to the ground on the REDDI stuff, and both it and the Avalon are on my bucket list. I wish I did enough session work to justify owning one or both, but at this point I've just been fortunate to use boxes owned by the studios.
For Moises' latest project, once I knew I'd have access to use Fantasy's Avalon box, I was ecstatic. Both basses I planned to use (the koa SKB above, and my myrtle SKB fretless) are absolute sonic beasts, and for this music I really wanted to capture them as organically as possible. It was magical, let me tell you. The Avalon simply passes along 100% of what comes out of the instrument, in a remarkably clear fashion, and it takes all you can give it without clipping or squeezing. The proof was when Moises and the keyboard player/producer both smiled at the tone. Anyway, to finally answer your question.... direct signal only. The engineer mentioned that he added a tiny bit of compression, just to keep things even and happy, but nothing else went in. Now....what the mixing/mastering guru did, I can't say....other than he obviously did something. As good as I thought the bass sounded in the rough cuts, what you hear above is INCREDIBLE! Obviously, that applies to everything - his magic on the drums and soprano sax in particular are the equivalent of taking the wool blanket off the speakers. He makes me sound almost like I know what I'm doing.
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I just noticed that Moises also shared the first cut from the new album. This is a really sweet tune, and I love the vibe. Koa bass, palm-mute throughout.