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Was Nirvana's Nevermind Recorded With a Malfunctioning Bass?
- Thread starter A. D. Fairhurst
- Start date
Mistake could be hitting too hard a note or whatever and the producer could be wrong too, especially if the interview was a few years after the recording.
Well to me it is punch in to cover some bad notes that they couldn't tame down
okcrum
in your chest
I had a session recently where we did some punch in/punch out (a/k/a insert) editing. The key there is to play with the same touch and tone as the track!
As you can hear, that's harder than it sounds, and why guys like Lee Sklar get the big bucks for sessions.
As you can hear, that's harder than it sounds, and why guys like Lee Sklar get the big bucks for sessions.
Well I now agree with the punch-in theory, but every source I can find agrees that the only equipment he brought into the studio was two Gibson Rippers and an Ampeg SVT-400T.
it's totally a matter of where a note is being fretted and how the pick is hitting the string, some notes transfer to the bass body and some notes not as much. And any punch-ins would be at stop points, not random in a phrase.
Am in the punch in camp. In Bloom almost sounds like a tape cut. His hand is also moving around some. You can hear it when a finger hits the plastic of either the pickguard or pickup.
okcrum
in your chest
Recording tracks at different times, possibly in different studios, and later editing the parts together is far different from sitting in the control room doing punch ins and alternate fills for a track you just recorded. There's only so much you can do for the former if the producer or the band didn't keep track of every little thing.
Those are all punches in the track, perhaps done at different times, maybe on different days... The engineer did not match the input structure and processing 100%, Its not the bass.
MDBass
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Totally incorrect, you can punch in anywhere you want.
As someone else mentioned, the key to making it sound seamless is using the same articulation and dynamics, which is easier said than done.
Without headphones I don't really hear a difference.... with headphones I notice it, but I think it's too subtle to be a bass malfunction....
I've got a Ripper I bought new in '74 and have used as my main bass ever since. Those differences in tonality can all be achieved by varying the attack and/or the position on the string when picking. The Ripper is very touch sensitive. Aggressive players soon discover that on a Ripper, there's a very small window around where its very sweet grind turns into absolute sludge. And it takes a certain touch to make it work consistently. That touch sensitivity (some people characterized it more as "touchiness") is one reason why I think the Ripper never took off as much as it could have. A lot of players found them too much work. And with all the other fine basses to choose from, why frustrate yourself?
Most people who play mine, especially the folks that grew up playing basses that were very forgiving about your attack (i.e. PBs, JBs, etc.) sound like total crap when they first start out. Especially the pick players. Some figure it out pretty quickly. But most who've tried soon decided it was not for them. When I had it coupled with my old 1970's era Acoustic 360 stack (which was also a very unforgiving and touch sensitive beast) every bass player (except for one) I let try it declared that combination "unplayable."
So no...I don't think it's a defective instrument. I just think it's the wide variations in the way he plays that make it seem like something's going sideways at times.
Most people who play mine, especially the folks that grew up playing basses that were very forgiving about your attack (i.e. PBs, JBs, etc.) sound like total crap when they first start out. Especially the pick players. Some figure it out pretty quickly. But most who've tried soon decided it was not for them. When I had it coupled with my old 1970's era Acoustic 360 stack (which was also a very unforgiving and touch sensitive beast) every bass player (except for one) I let try it declared that combination "unplayable."
So no...I don't think it's a defective instrument. I just think it's the wide variations in the way he plays that make it seem like something's going sideways at times.
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He may have done most songs in one take, but there may have been certain parts that the producer wasn't sold on later and might have had him re-record or punch in on certain spots later and Krist may not have remembered what settings he used on his bass. YMMV but in my experience I've tracked several songs in one take only to come back and redo a couple spots. In fact, my band just got finished recording a new single in the studio and I played about 4 takes, each one straight through without any obvious flubs, but we ended up splicing together sections of each take to make the final take due to reasons like the timing being slightly off or what I played not quite jiving with the drummer or maybe being too much or too little for what was going on in the song at the time.
Either way, I think it's a moot point, just listen to the songs and rock out \m/
And it is Nirvana. If you told them they were being inconsistent in their attack (or flubbing any other geek thing we at TB like to obsess over) they would have just laughed, pointed at you, and shouted "FUBAR!!!"
jdthebassman
play to live live to play
Sounds like some punch-ins, but also at times it just sounds like maybe his A string was a little brighter than the E string. I know if I want my E and A strings to match exactly in tone I have to pluck closer to the bridge on the E string and closer to the neck on the A string, maybe 3 inches away from each other. Of course, in the mix you can't tell a difference so I don't usually sweat it unless it is a solo line.
It's called studio overdubs. Probably recorded different parts with different eq
