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Totally Blind Multi-Bass Shootout

Which one did you prefer in context?

  • Betsy

    Votes: 3 7.7%

  • Delilah

    Votes: 7 17.9%

  • Fran

    Votes: 8 20.5%

  • Georgina

    Votes: 1 2.6%

  • Julia

    Votes: 2 5.1%

  • Laurie

    Votes: 2 5.1%

  • Melissa

    Votes: 4 10.3%

  • Nikki

    Votes: 6 15.4%

  • Shawna

    Votes: 4 10.3%

  • Susanna

    Votes: 2 5.1%
  • Total voters
    39
#21
dune said:
Dude, it's 2024. Just tell him to strap on his jetpack and zip down there.

But seriously, this is an extremely interesting post about a nice thing you did for your friend and it's very cool that you've posted it here.
I'd say it's "scientific" enough given that any "results" are purely subjective. Perhaps more "social" experiment than "scientific". It addresses an idea I've seen here a few times and happen to agree with - that it's very difficult to say with certainty what bass is on a recording when it's sitting appropriately in the mix. Even with the ability to solo the bass track, it can still be a shot in the dark. I would hesitate to go as far as calling it impossible though. I've worked with a couple people who have had some pretty amazing "golden ears". I mean, no one who could ID the brand of 9V in their wah-wah pedal, but...
Click to expand...

It's even tougher if you actually fully mix each track.

Picking your favorite is one thing, but it might actually be kinda interesting if everybody tried to figure out what names were what kind of bass. Given a list of possibilities it probably wouldn't be too hard with soloed tracks, in the mix would definitely be more difficult.
 
#22
Rickplaysbass said:
It's even tougher if you actually fully mix each track.

Picking your favorite is one thing, but it might actually be kinda interesting if everybody tried to figure out what names were what kind of bass. Given a list of possibilities it probably wouldn't be too hard with soloed tracks, in the mix would definitely be more difficult.
Click to expand...
I've often wondered if many recordings considered "classic and unmistakable P-bass tracks" were in fact recorded with something other than a Precision.
At the risk of sounding sacrilegious: On many classic recordings the bass sound was muddy, non-descript (beyond "muddy" that is :roflmao:) and practically buried in the mix.
 
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#23
Surprised why some folks are playing tough customer or cynical. The effort put by the OP is tremendous and the lessons are invaluable. Why not post your own blind fold comparison.

First, I do not even have an idea where to start to guess what the candidates are. Certainly not by ear. I will have to review OPs post and maybe profile if he has a bass list. 173 -- will that be a Glarry -- but what's the high end. There may be Fenders and Squires and Sires. So it's telling me that basses can be made to sound the same for the most part and an expensive or cheap bass sound the same for most use

Second - I cannot play this consistent, the OP did. Flawed experiment? Show how consistent you can play first before casting the stone so to speak.

Third, it's overwhelming clear that we tend to choose with our eyes. Read an NBD with a meh looking bass and a sound clip. The clip views are disproportionate to the image views.

However simple the line is to me, I prefer a bass played by an actual bass player. I tried the many basses available in Logic or even from Native Instruments (Scarbee).

Thanks again OP for the effort put into this.

All I know is the OP is a member of the Thunderbird and Dingwall club. I will guess those 2 basses are there but I could be totally wrong.
 
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#24
logdrum said:
Surprised why some folks are playing tough customer or cynical. The effort put by the OP is tremendous and the lessons are invaluable. Why not post your own blind fold comparison.

First, I do not even have an idea where to start to guess what the candidates are. Certainly not by ear. I will have to review OPs post and maybe profile if he has a bass list. 173 -- will that be a Glarry -- but what's the high end. There may be Fenders and Squires and Sires. So it's telling me that basses can be made to sound the same for the most part and an expensive or cheap bass sound the same for most use

Second - I cannot play this consistent, the OP did. Flawed experiment? Show how consistent you can play first before casting the stone so to speak.

Third, it's overwhelming clear that we tend to choose with our eyes. Read an NBD with a meh looking bass and a sound clip. The clip views are disproportionate to the image views.

However simple the line is to me, I prefer a bass played by an actual bass player. I tried the many basses available in Logic or even from Native Instruments (Scarbee).

Thanks again OP for the effort put into this.

All I know is the OP is a member of the Thunderbird and Dingwall club. I will guess those 2 basses are there but I could be totally wrong.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the kind words. I don't think anybody is being too overcritical, but I'm a pretty easygoing kinda guy so even if they were, it wouldn't strike me as such.

As for the playing, this is definitely not the cleanest job I could do (there's flubs throughout the takes), but it was just a quick one take per bass kinda thing to get my friends some tracks. I think it translates pretty well overall though.

As for the Glarry, Fender, Squier, Sire, Dingwall, and Thunderbird comments... I can neither confirm nor deny any affiliation nor lack thereof to any of the brands, shapes, styles or any identifying factor to the basses other than their names. Which, in themselves, might be somewhat of a clue; for some of them anyways.
 
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#36
ChubbyJerk said:
This is a cool little demo, thanks for sharing.

I'll PM for the list.

I assume tone was set full for passive basses and eq at center detents for active?
Click to expand...
I don't recall all the knob settings specifically cuz I did this a while back. Typically I run my passive basses at about 70-80% tone (so it's either full on or off just a bit) and the actives will either be centered or a touch of cut (literally just a slight bit) on the highs. There's nothing drastic happening on any of them.
 
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