Using more than one Bass on a Record

[smokescreens]

Nope. Terrible advice. I’ve used different basses on the same track.

 

[Killing Floor]

Wait, are you playing with Billie Eilish?

 

[micguy]

I’ve been doing recordings for virtual church services lately. On week, I used 4 basses for 3 songs. I’ve never heard anyone set a one bass rule like that - tell him he’s an idiot.

 

[HardNHeavy]

doesn't matter, never had to use different basses for recording, i just blasted thru with whatever i had....as long as the tone and volume were the same on all tracks..let the sound guy figure it out.

 

[JRA]

Yo you changed your profile pic! I know this isn’t relevant but I noticed. That fretless is rather stylish

ha! but it is relevant! yeah i changed it...on a lark: i was putting together some video pieces using pics of the band members and this one struck me as usable on TB. so i tried variations of it and left this one. the ax is an instrument i used on my last gig before the covid/meltdown...it was a recording session! although i agree with those who say multiple axes are appropriate, in response to the OP... i only used this piece on the session. ...so you caught me in multiple ways.

here's the ax:

 

[chaak]

@RickyT is right, especially as you're self producing and have the luxury of time. You need to make everything sound as good as possible. Are the other band members (including keyboard player) really not changing anything for individual songs?

the drummer is changing the kit's heads as they are old and worn out. The keyboards player is using a whole lot of VSTs and along with his electric piano, and polyphonic synths ( a couple of them). that's it, as for the guitar player he was as unsure of what we were told as i was and said he would look into it.

 

[TortoiseBass]

ha! but it is relevant! yeah i changed it...on a lark: i was putting together some video pieces using pics of the band members and this one struck me as usable on TB. so i tried variations of it and left this one. the ax is an instrument i used on my last gig before the covid/meltdown...it was a recording session! although i agree with those who say multiple axes are appropriate, in response to the OP... i only used this piece on the session. ...so you caught me in multiple ways.

here's the ax:
View attachment 4002265

GAS

Is it a new ax?

 

[hieronymous]

@chaak - can you give more information? Are you all playing together live? Is the keyboardist engineering it? Home studio? Is the keyboardist the leader? How much recording experience do the band members have?

 

[Hummergeist]

the drummer is changing the kit's heads as they are old and worn out. The keyboards player is using a whole lot of VSTs and along with his electric piano, and polyphonic synths ( a couple of them). that's it, as for the guitar player he was as unsure of what we were told as i was and said he would look into it.

So the keyboard player and probably the guitarist are changing their sounds and experimenting, I don't see why you can't do the same, and I think most of the folks here agree with me.

 

[chaak]

Tell your keyboardist that he can only use one sound for the whole album, too.

Use the sound that is best for each song. Sometimes it will be the same, other times it will be different.

Do you have a good reason for wanting to use different basses on different songs, or will you just be doing it to spite the keyboardist at this point.

different tunings, total of 9 tracks on the album two are in Eb D A D G , 5 are in standard B, one is in drop D and the remaining can be played on in E Standard.

other than that playability, as my main 5 strings has a 16 mm spacing and some songs I use double thumping and a 19mm is more comfortable and much cleaner for that, some of the effects are analog running into th DAW and the passive bass fits those better than the active.

 

[chaak]

@chaak - can you give more information? Are you all playing together live? Is the keyboardist engineering it? Home studio? Is the keyboardist the leader? How much recording experience do the band members have?

no we are not playing live, we will start by tracking the drums then i am next. yes sort of an elaborate home studio a big investment. no the keyboardist was the last to join, he joined first as a guest but he fits so well that we included him in the writing process. there is no leader band was started by the guitarist myself and the drummer. we ve been playing together for almost 20 years now in different outfits, and we had material from jamming and we decided to make it into something and we always shelved that due to not having the time or the money until now. we all have recording experience except for the singer never recorded and never sang before with any band. It was a surprise as ive never experienced this or heard of it before. so i thought i'd run it by you guys.

 

[chaak]

Oh yeah sure, is he using the same keyboard patch on every song?

definitely not that would be impossible

 

[JRA]

Is it a new ax?

i put it together (assembled parts) last fall, so not that new. but i hadn't gigged with it until feb. of this year --- that one gig! it's a lot of fun to play....it was good for that session (1-12 jazz tunes/arrangements).

 

[chaak]

Ask to understand the 'Why' you and the guitarist cant use more than one bass/amp or guitar/amp on the whole record.
Typically speaking, the recommendation is to play to the needs of the song. This includes technique and tone used.

I'd go so far to say you should expect to record different takes using different combinations of gear, and mix to what sounds best for the goals of the project. You may not know which bass/amp combo was used in the final mixdown, just that it sounds good in context.

yes that is what i thought and what ive experienced so far.

 

[chaak]

I made it a point to use the same bass and amp (or DI) on my last album.
It depends on the band, the style and what they're aiming for. If they want the same tone for the album, i say use the same gear, and take note of the amp settings.
The settings on my DI were a little different (i did three sessions of recording spread months apart). So 4 of the songs have a slightly diff bass tone. Will the avg listener hear that? Probably not. Is it the first thing that i hear? You bet.

thanks during the songwriting process i was very conscious of that writing down my onboard EQ settings and taking photos of my amp and my Moog settings i am picky in that plus we didnt just write the songs we sat down and worked on sound design.

 

[TortoiseBass]

i put it together (assembled parts) last fall, so not that new. but i hadn't gigged with it until feb. of this year --- that one gig! it's a lot of fun to play....it was good for that session (1-12 jazz tunes/arrangements).

So cool that you put it together! I’m only a kid and I’ve not been playing long but when I’m more experienced I’ll have to do that too!

 

[chaak]

MOOG Bass (no, just kidding)

i am using that , im playing electric bass, Moog bass and additional programming on the album

 

[Tosh]

I'm a keyboard player. I like to have a LOT of samples/patches at the ready, always. I like to use 2 or more keyboards in performance. Every bass player I ever worked with had at least 2 basses. Same for every guitar player. If the bass or guitar player wanted to use the same instrument for every track, fine by me, but I always encourage trying things differently.

As a bass player, I like to try all my basses every day, and sometimes one bass is better than another for a specific song, but I only know after I've tried them all.

Why anyone would start off by limiting their options is beyond me.

 

[Charlzm]

the keyboards player just told us that for guitars and bass we should strictly use the same gear for all the tracks...

Ask him if he's going to use one keyboard sound on every part of every song.

 

[707GK]

the keyboards player just told us that for guitars and bass we should strictly use the same gear for all the tracks, meaning if I use my Spector active bass on a track I cannot use fender precision on another as the bass and the guitars should have the same timbre all throughout...we can use different pickups configurations or EQing.

Same bass, but you can change pickup configuration and tone knobs/EQ to make it sound completely different from one track to the next? But you can’t use a different bass? Seems like an illogical request that has some holes in it...