Was Nirvana's Nevermind Recorded With a Malfunctioning Bass?

[rogerbmiller]

I have posted here some isolated Nirvana tracks of Krist playing his Gibson Ripper. One thing I've noticed is that at random points, the sound suddenly changes and has a lot more midrange and less low end. At first I thought there might be some weird midrange pedal in use, but then I realised: it probably shifts to the bridge pickup.
But how would he do this without someone standing in front of him fiddling with the rotary switch? (Which I doubt happened.) He probably couldn't do it deliberately because it happens often right when he would be picking the strings, and he wasn't strumming, so it would be pretty hard to accidentally clip the switch. It's also funny how the second Ripper in the studio (a black 1979 model, tuned to D standard) didn't do this, from what I can hear.
Owing to the fact that the (probable) Ripper in question was a 1976 model (15 years old with all original electronics) and was never seen again on stage by August, being replaced by by a 1974 model, I believe that it had a defective neck pickup wire and kept cutting out randomly so was either destroyed or sold off. Just listen for sudden bass-frequency drops in these tracks...


Hear the pickup drop out at times like 0:16, 0:38, 1:47, 1:55...


There's a huge tone change at 1:26. You can even hear it on the record.


0:27, 0:40, 0:58, 2:58

Always possible that he had to punch in and when he did he had his electronics set differently. Or he moved where he was plucking/picking?

 

[ReiPsaeg]

It sounds to me like he's just changing where he's picking, and a lot of the changes sound pretty on purpose to me.

 

[RRDieselbass]

We're talking about an unknown punk band (at the time of recording). It's not Steely Dan...

 

[JimmyM]

Ya, it all sounds like the same bass and mostly same takes to me. I just don't think he's very precise.

 

[KJL]

I applaud you, sir. I still bet he had the bridge pickup on for the punch-ins though.

Exactly what I was going to post...good ears there...

 

[obimark]

Definetely some punch-ins going on. But the tone of the bass doesn't change that much to my ear anyhow- It is surprising how "bright" and clean his tone really is. Not really grungy at all.

Krist is an under-rated player, he had a HUGE impact on Nirvana's sound.

 

[Nephilymbass]

A lot of big studios to a lot of crazy stuff to increase headroom. For example using two signals and EQing them separately to go above and below the kick. Or one with a dip where the kick sits.

Side chain compression is also something most local studios don't do. This is where the bass has a compressor that's side chained to the drums (mainly the kick) so it changes the gain of the bass signal a few DB based on the dynamics of the drums to allow the recording to have more headroom so the bass and drums are both loud and punchy.

 

[Rev J]

Probably messed up. Nirvana always sounded like poopie to me.

C/S,
Rev J

 

[SunnBass]

Don't agree with that. I listened to the tracks on both my Bose and Sennheiser over-ear headphones and the difference is quite noticeable. Picking placement can speak to some of that but it really sounds to me like the neck pick-up is cutting out because when it's gone, it's really gone. The low warmth disappears as if that pick-up had been turned off.

Check my following post about punch-ins. There could have been a difference there. It sounds too "timed" for it to have just been the pickup cutting out.

 

[Space Pickle]

Probably messed up. Nirvana always sounded like poopie to me.

C/S,
Rev J

 

[Stranger Danger]

I have posted here some isolated Nirvana tracks of Krist playing his Gibson Ripper. One thing I've noticed is that at random points, the sound suddenly changes and has a lot more midrange and less low end. At first I thought there might be some weird midrange pedal in use, but then I realised: it probably shifts to the bridge pickup.
But how would he do this without someone standing in front of him fiddling with the rotary switch? (Which I doubt happened.) He probably couldn't do it deliberately because it happens often right when he would be picking the strings, and he wasn't strumming, so it would be pretty hard to accidentally clip the switch. It's also funny how the second Ripper in the studio (a black 1979 model, tuned to D standard) didn't do this, from what I can hear.
Owing to the fact that the (probable) Ripper in question was a 1976 model (15 years old with all original electronics) and was never seen again on stage by August, being replaced by by a 1974 model, I believe that it had a defective neck pickup wire and kept cutting out randomly so was either destroyed or sold off. Just listen for sudden bass-frequency drops in these tracks...


Hear the pickup drop out at times like 0:16, 0:38, 1:47, 1:55...


There's a huge tone change at 1:26. You can even hear it on the record.


0:27, 0:40, 0:58, 2:58

It sounds more like he's moving his picking hand closer to the bridge then back up towards the neck to me.

 

[Corevalay]

Off-Topic a bit... but damn, I love his basslines and the way his bass sounds.

 

[JimmyM]

It sounds more like he's moving his picking hand closer to the bridge then back up towards the neck to me.

That's what I think...inconsistent technique more than anything, and Butch Vig felt that the overall vibe was still there so he went with it. You'll notice how quickly the sound settles back into the normal sound after those brief moments.

 

[willbassyeah]

love it though, i think is just him rocking out and playing at different location of the pickup...

if you realise, the playing is kinda sloppy but for some reason it sounds great in the mix...

makes me feel a lot better about myself though

 

[hsech]

Trying to dissect that song and worry about the bass part just gives me a headache.

 

[Lowness]

I really can't get passionate about this question.

 

[Rev J]

Oh yes I did. Lets face it the gear that was used on that album was barely functioning. The acoustic on "Polly" wouldn't even stay in tune and was missing tuning heads. Cobain replaced the speakers in his main amp with ones from Radio Shack. His writing, playing, and tone sucked. Usually that and drums are the parts that get the most attention. I saw a picture from later Nirvana sessions that show Noveselich playing a Warwick through a Trace Elliot and I thought "Sounding like crap is pretty expensive".

C/S,
Rev J

 

[12SB]

All I did was listen to lounge act- its all punch in and what not. Surely done on purpose. Just on that track alone, you are hearing the different tone on the chorus and bridge sections of the song and not on the verses. For whatever reason thats how they wanted it

 

[JimmyM]

Oh yes I did. Lets face it the gear that was used on that album was barely functioning. The acoustic on "Polly" wouldn't even stay in tune and was missing tuning heads. Cobain replaced the speakers in his main amp with ones from Radio Shack. His writing, playing, and tone sucked. Usually that and drums are the parts that get the most attention. I saw a picture from later Nirvana sessions that show Noveselich playing a Warwick through a Trace Elliot and I thought "Sounding like crap is pretty expensive".

Right...that's why you're legendary and they're not.

 

[Rev J]

Right...that's why you're legendary and they're not.

No they're legendary because their no talent junky singer painted the walls with his brains. If that never happened they would probably be a footnote. Poison sold a million albums too does that mean they are great?

C/S,
Rev J