Using more than one Bass on a Record

[vin*tone]

Has this guy heard of The Beatles?

 

[Altitude]

One time I used three basses on an album. Wildly different instruments and the sound engineer made them all sound exactly the same. I can't tell you which is which by listening.

Point being, I guess, that if you think your sound engineer and producer have an inflexible idea of what the bass should sound like, you could be pissing into the wind by sending them varying tones that they have to reconcile into their preconceived model tone. On the other hand, if you and they are in sync on using different bass sounds as serve different songs or whatever, you can certainly do that to great effect.

You just have to know which situation you're in.

 

[maxschrek]

Horse puckey!!! I use more than one bass on a single song, sometimes. This one has a fretted jazz, a fretless jazz and a Warwick something or other I had to use because they gave it to me

 

[P A U L]

ha! I've used 3 basses on 1 track!

 

[misterCRUSH]

if nothing is going to change between tracks, why not just record one really long song? variety is the spice of life my friends.

 

[QweziRider]

How true is that?

Use whatever you like for any given song. Whatever fits each best. There's no rule that says "THOU SHALT ALWAYS.....!!!!"

 

[Dr. Keebs]

Whether or not I use the same instrument for an album is my decision. I also have used different instruments in the same song, not to mention across an EP or LP. They're tools, and if the music calls for a sound, texture, or approach, I will use it.

 

[JRA]

I’ll have to do that too!

 

[hieronymous]

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.

OK, that's interesting. In your original post, it sounded like the keyboardist was being an arrogant tool, trying to dictate to the band. But having read this, I think he could have just offered it as a (badly worded?) suggestion. If he's being a control freak then I'd be worried, but it sounds like the band has something interesting going, so I'd investigate further.

Also, now we know more about the concept of how it will be recorded. It sounds like the band is fairly collaborative - you should collaborate on the recording process too, at least to be aware of what's going on and how it's going down. Last thing you want to do is end up leaving the keyboardist alone at the end and then lose control of the project. (I could be totally misreading this, I'm traumatized, read one of my previous posts.) Is the drummer going to record the drums out of the blue? With a click? Couldn't you be there playing along in the headphones even if what you're playing may not make it to the final recording? Heck, record it anyway, you might come up with some good takes. If this is the route you took, then I think it makes sense to use one bass and bash them out!!! Then, since the original idea was to overdub bass anyway, take a listen and maybe change stuff, redo entirely with another bass, whatever works.

There are very few absolutes in recording - there might be "accepted wisdom" or "common knowledge" but often the interesting stuff comes from not following those kinds of "rules." Learning that you'll be overdubbing anyway opens up a lot of possibilities in my mind.

TL;DR - Get the basics done, then experiment. And get everyone on the same page.

 

[vvvmmm]

Sometimes I play a cuppla different basses on the same song.

At the same time on/on the same part of the recording.

Sounds better'n a chorus pedal!

But I wouldn't rule out the idear, either.

I've done complete collections of songs with the same guitar/bass/amp/mic combo's, sometimes in the same session, sometimes spread out.

It helps to have a theme, even if the theme is chaos.

 

[Ric5]

 

[Standalone]

It's absolute drivel.
Go buy some rotten fish and slap some sense into him.

do you engineer and mix? dialing in a bass track takes work and billable time. its not drivel to suggest thatbit is preferable to run one bass on a session

if changes are essential, eell then they are. if not, just bring your axe and a backup and play

 

[Standalone]

Anyone want to prove me wrong on this subject matter?

it can be wrong if youre on a budget or self producing. Mixing in a studio with a few thousand or few hundred dollars of equipment is different from one costing millions. The keyboardists considerations are spot on.

ive been up till three am several times this week mixing our self produced halloween album. different basses might have added a fair amount of time that could be better spent on other mixing efforts.

Sure its not really a big deal to a competent pro but, for an amateur, its a fair request and plan.

First timers in the studio may do well to go passive in general

 

[sonojono]

First timers in the studio may do well to go passive in general

I was told this a year ago from an engineer when I brought out my custom bass with active EMG's. The look on his face said it all when he had asked "Does that thing have a passive switch?"

I agree going passive on a bass in a recording situation is the best outcome for both the player and engineer.

 

[Standalone]

I was told this a year ago from an engineer when I brought out my custom bass with active EMG's. The look on his face said it all when he had asked "Does that thing have a passive switch?"

I agree going passive on a bass in a recording situation is the best outcome for both the player and engineer.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

here is the second test mix of one of our tunes from my home studio

the bass under the guitar solo at 2:30 to the end is what im going for, but even my passive bass has hot enough pickups to cause issues that still need fixing.

 

[logdrum]

Hello everybody,

we are going to start soon tracking our debut album. This is a self-produced album, and 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. The same goes for amps. we can use different pickups configurations or EQing.

How true is that?

Tell him he can only used one patch on the keyboard.

 

[Standalone]

if you are recording the band live in the home studio, headphone mixes are alone a good enough reason to run one bass. Bring an extra as an option, but dont insist.

 

[Standalone]

Tell him he can only used one patch on the keyboard.

you have a compressor, a blend and tone knob, a mute, and an eq in your fingers. just use those. A keyboardist cannot.

This is the same bass as above, minutes later in the next take.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

 

[littlebun]

Hello everybody,

we are going to start soon tracking our debut album. This is a self-produced album, and 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. The same goes for amps. we can use different pickups configurations or EQing.

How true is that?

If you're wanting to create a consistent sound for the whole record, which is a good idea, using the same high quality bass will help you do that. If I'm working on an album that has a songwriter who writes variations of the same song and vibe (samey) I will use a different bass on each track trying to differentiate between each of the tracks.

 

[logdrum]

you have a compressor, a blend and tone knob, a mute, and an eq in your fingers. just use those. A keyboardist cannot.

This is the same bass as above, minutes later in the next take.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Okay - IME, I just go direct to the board, so bass is usually tone and volume is open except when I need a burpy jazz bass. Engineer does the rest.

Unless you are living under a rock, most keyboards built in the last 20 years have all the effects built-in, compressor being one of them and they have more EQ even if it is just a simple Rhodes patch - and yeah adjustable while playing. Vintage wise, B3 or Fender Rhodes a lot of tone control for sure. Mono analog synth - all sort of filters adjustable live. Piano you have 3 pedals and you can open and close it, and live you can move the mics to change the tone - but the engineer can change that as well pretty fast. Nice try though