Bass Player Magazine Session Greats

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A NEWBAY MEDIA PUBLICATION

LEARN FROMSESSIONGREATS!

HOMESTUDIOTIPS!

HOW TO BE ABETTERSTUDIOBASSIST!

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RECORD YOUR BASS!LEARN HOW TO PRODUCE!

STUDIO ADVICE FROM:ANTHONY JACKSON

CHRIS CHANEYCHUCK RAINEY

JAMES JAMERSONLELAND SKLAR

MARCUS MILLERNATHAN EAST

PINO PALLADINO& MANY MORE!

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GHS Corporation 2813 Wilber Ave. Battle Creek, MI 49037 USA • 800/388-4447 • fax 800/860-6913 www.ghsstrings.com

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“I been rockin GHS strings since the inception of BLS”

John ‘JD’ DeServio, bass, Black Label Society, Cycle of Pain

www.cycleofpain.net

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CONTENTS

Anthony Jackson 8

Bob Babbitt 10

Bob Glaub 11

Carol Kaye 12

Chris Chaney 14

Chuck Rainey 16

David Hood 18

David Hungate 20

Duck Dunn 21

James Jamerson 22

Jerry Jemmott 24

Jerry Scheff 26

Jimmy Johnson 27

Joe Osborn 28

Justin Meldal-Johnsen 32

Larry Klein 33

Leland Sklar 34

Michael Rhodes 36

Mike Elizondo 38

Mike Inez 41

Marcus Miller 42

Nathan East 46

Neil Stubenhaus 48

Pino Palladino 49

Randy Jackson 50

Tony Levin 51

Will Lee 52

Willie Weeks 54

S T U D I O T E C H

Bass Meets The Studio 56

Home Recording How-To 68

Sound Advice From Bassists Behind The Board 72

Mike Inez

4 S E S S I O N L E G E N D S & S T U D I O G E A R

“IT PICKS UP ALL THE NOTES THAT GET LOST ONOTHER SYSTEMS. I TS RESPONSE IS FASTER, THEHIGHS ARE CRISPER AND THE LOW END IS BIGGER-JUST A CLOSET FULL OF SUPERLATIVES”

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New Business Development Greg Sutton


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FROM THE EDITOR

Bass is often a subtle instrument. It has good name recognition, but ask Joe or

Josephine Public to identify it by looks, sound, or role, and you’ll either get no

answer or something like: Isn’t it basically like a, um, big guitar?

The irony of this ignorance is significant, of course, because countless jew-

els of mainstream musical genius count on a bass player for their vitality. Gui-

tar players may drool over the live legends, but for us, it’s the studio players

who often garner our maximum respect. We’ve all struggled to come up with a

bass line under pressure (new song, new artist, strange environment, etc.)—we’re

sidepersons by nature. That the icons of session bass not only rise to that occa-

sion day after day, but do it with singular style, tone, and musicality is an achieve-

ment worthy of our utmost admiration.

This special issue distills choice bits of wisdom from the undisputed legends

of studio bass playing into a concise reference. We’ve also packed in a ton of

indispensible info on how to become a producer, how to get the most out of

studio gear, and how to set up a home studio.

Maybe it’s our mellow temperament or tolerance for diverse musical styles,

but bass players are ideally suited to be excellent session musicians and pro-

ducers. It’s not only a way to expand our professional potential, it’s also a means

of living a rich and dynamic musical life.


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ON HIS EARLY CAREER:“I didn’t set out to be a ‘studio,’ ‘stage,’ or any other‘type’ of musician. Understand that I was a childwhen I started playing and my only motivation,reflecting a child’s innocent idealism, was to findthe greatest music to play and the greatest musi-cians to play it with. My first major recordingexperiences were very intense, beginning withGamble and Huff in Philadelphia in 1972, andlater as a freelancer in New York in 1974. One ofthe first people I came across in New York wasL. Leon Pendarvis Jr., a very great composer andarranger who managed to get me on a RobertaFlack recording project he was producing. Thatled me to one of his other sessions, which is whereI first met the great Steve Gadd. And as far as I’mconcerned, there isn’t anything that any fusionartist has done that exceeds the quality of workproduced by what we can call the Pendarvisrhythm section, consisting of ‘The Darvis’ [Pen-

darvis] on keyboards, Gadd on drums, RalphMacDonald or Crusher Bennett on percussion,David Spinozza, Hugh McCracken, and JeffMironov—any two out of three—on guitars, andmyself. We recorded hundreds of tracks, mostof which were never released, but for sheerquality of composition and performance, themusic is as good as anything I or anyone elsehas experienced. ‘The Darvis’ is one the fewcomposers who knows how to write for therhythm section. He writes for the basic unit—guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, drums, and per-cussion—with the proficiency of a composer ofstring quartets. Working with that unit was sig-nificant because it stimulated major personalgrowth. Steve Gadd decisively influenced theway I hear music and is really the only drum-mer I’ve worked with who has. He is one ofthe important talents of the twentieth century.”

ON TECHNIQUE AND THE “IDEAL”SOUND:“To me, the ideal bass guitar sound has alwaysseemed to be the sound of a standard guitar

dropped an octave or more in pitch. My accept-ance of this principle predates my first experi-ences as a bass guitarist and can possibly be tracedto experiments involving records played at half-speed. Sometime back in the very beginning, Ican recall commenting to a school friend on theshimmering, exquisite beauty of a now-forgottenperformer’s bronze-stringed flat-top guitar heardon a record played at 16 RPM. At the time, I sim-ply could not accept not being able to achievethis sound, even if my intention was not to use itall the time. A few people—Jack Casady, JohnEntwistle, and the Dead’s Phil Lesh—achieved asound that at least seemed to be on the right track.

I decided to try roundwound strings in 1972,when they were still a novelty and people weresaying, ‘Don’t be a fool. They’re noisy, they’ll eatyour frets, and they make the bass sound toomuch like a guitar.’ They were a revelation. Com-bined with the flatpick, which I had been using

ANTHONY JACKSONTHE O’JAYS, CHAKA KHAN, CHICK COREA,

DONALD FAGAN, PAUL SIMON

Anthony Jackson is not only one of the most revered and recordedstudio bassists of all time, he’s also a significant technical innovator.


Totally Tubular!

since the beginning as well as fingerstyle, myinstrument assumed an identity completelyremoved from my Jamerson self, accentuatingCasady’s influence.

Around the same time, the Maestro companyreleased a phase shifter. I knew the theory behindthe device, and I heard it demonstrated by a gui-tarist one day at Manny’s Music in New YorkCity. Henry Aldrich, the owner, insisted that thebox simply would not work for me: It’s for gui-tar, not for bass. I bought it anyway, and when Iplugged it in at home, the world changed. I wascompletely flabbergasted. Here was a sound I hadnever heard—it was beautiful and just plain right.After a few weeks, I took the unit apart and locatedthe intensity adjustment. I did some careful tweak-ing and was able to subtly enhance the effect.

That particular unit and my recently pur-chased Fender Precision were used on ‘For theLove of Money.’ That was, as far as I know, thefirst time a recording was made with a phasedbass guitar.

ON HIS CLASSIC ASSOCIATION WITH CHAKA KHAN:“The performances represent, with only scatteredexceptions, the peak of my creative abilities atthe time and in that genre. They are, hopefully,only elemental today, but I recall listening to thefinal mixes just before release and realizing thatI was able, for the first time, to hear evidence ofa defined, mature, and effective style comingthrough my playing. This was a revelation, a com-ing-of-age, and, I hoped, proof that my stubborn-ness in playing what I heard despite intensepressure to ‘conform or else’ was paying off. Thesucceeding album, What Cha’ Gonna Do for Me,recorded in Montreux in 1980, was made alongsimilar “highbrow” lines, but with the first signsof an end of an era in sight—the budget was downand the time restricted—although the end resultremains impressive.

Unfortunately, reality closed in around usafter that album, and the crucial prerequisites torecordmaking of this quality are difficult to comeby today. Producers are no longer inclined togrant sidemen, however esteemed, unlimited con-trol of anything, and certainly time is more tightlyrationed than anything else. The right combina-

tion of players is now highly unlikely, inasmuchas a full rhythm section is seldom seen. Machineaugmentation is the rule. Most important of all,few artists of major stature have ever possessedthe patience, supportiveness, musicality, and vir-tuosity of Chaka Khan. I’ve worked with count-less singers, from divas to bicycle pumps, andnone has been able to gather and harness suchpowerful creative forces as Chaka.”

ON WORKING WITH NOTORIOUSLY FASTIDIOUS BAND LEADERS:“Becker and Fagen—and also Paul Simon—approach their goals a bit differently than Chaka,but all parties, at the end of the day, want all assesto have been thoroughly kicked. Fagen, in par-ticular, is a stickler for detail, but no more so thanI am, so the only important issue is whether mydetailing as interpreter coincides with his as com-poser. Once a stylistic approach to a song hasbeen decided—such approach, of course, havingbeen determined almost entirely by Fagen—theactual recording of the performance begins, andthis is where the legend of cruelty to musiciansoriginates. It’s true that Becker, Fagen, and Simonsplit more hairs than most and never hype play-ers: no high-fives, no reverential cursing. You’veplayed well? Good; next song. Or more likely:Not good; do it again. Still not good; again. Stillnot good; go home. Many did. This kind of fero-cious performance-disciplining, far from intim-idating me, sends adrenaline pouring into mybloodstream. Split hairs, will you? Split this!

Becker and Fagen made neurosis and obses-sion rewarding and uplifting. Endless hourswere spent analyzing and refining the smallestperformance details without noticeably improv-ing the music. But I must say that the two tracksI did for Steely Dan’s Gaucho [MCA]—‘Glam-our Profession’ and ‘My Rival’—and the two onThe Nightfly [Donald Fagen’s solo album onWarner Bros.]—‘I.G.Y.’ and ‘Ruby Baby’—didimprove my ability to constructively analyze aperformance. Becker and Fagen’s constantprodding, combined with their willingness tolet me prod myself—even allowing me to destroya performance they loved because I insisted onredoing the entire part—helped put titanium inmy spine.”

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S E S S I O N L E G E N D S & S T U D I O G E A R 9

Being part ofHitsville’s staff wasthe dream of everymusician inDetroit—and Bab-bitt was no excep-tion. He had triedto break into thecompany in 1965,

by auditioning for the Supremes road band, butwas talked out of it by Ed Wingate. Two yearslater, a second opportunity presented itselfwhen Motown founder Berry Gordy tried toeliminate all competition in Detroit by buyingout Golden World.

Bob had been playing some live dates withStevie Wonder, so Gordy’s move left himperched right on Hitsville’s doorstep. “My firstMotown date was a Stevie Wonder song called‘We Can Work It Out.’ My immediate impres-

sion of [Motown’s] Studio A was how goodthey made the bass sound. It made you feel asif you could do no wrong. In terms of practi-cal matters, like working with producers andengineers, those were the best music lessons Iever had. For one thing, I learned that most ofthe time when people say, ‘You sound great,’they’re not talking about your technique or thenotes you’re playing. They really mean thesound itself. I also learned that if the musicdoesn’t feel right, the first thing they’re gonnado is blame the bassist or the drummer, so feelis more important than the notes.”

Because of the overwhelming presence ofJames Jamerson within the company, Babbittsoon found that working in Studio A was a bitmore complicated than just showing up, plug-ging in, and cutting a hit. “Working at Motownwas the hardest thing I ever did, because Ialways felt like I was in the hot seat,” he sighs.

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ON LIVE STUDIO PLAYING AND OVERDUBBING: “In the studio you play to maybe four people,and six months down the line you hear it onthe radio. You have to put every ounce of yourenergy into the track to create the moment, asif you were playing in front of an audience.Sometimes I might try to picture an audience,and imagine what it would be like for themwatching. But ultimately I react to the peopleI’m playing with, the outcome of that interplayis what goes down on tape.

On an overdub you sit there in the controlroom and have a little more time to construct apart and dial in your sound. You have to fit in withwhat’s already there. I had nothing to do with thefeel, yet I have to make it seem like I did.”

ON WHAT HE CONTRIBUTES TO THEMUSIC ON A SESSION:“I think I bring a lot of heart and a keen senseof the groove to a session. I show up with agood attitude, if I’m bringing one bass or a trunkfull they’ll all sound good, I listen and try toplay the right thing. I don’t want to call atten-tion to myself, I want the focus to be on thesinger and the song. I’ve developed a sixth sensefor how to fit in to a track.

The time, the groove, the feel, where thedrummer places the hi-hat and the snare andkick. I listen to the singer, the melody, the lyrics,the other instruments—the whole pallette. It’sa very instinctual thing. It’s hard to describe,I’m such an in-the-moment player that I don’tthink about it much. But there was a time whenI thought about it so much that it got in theway, I realized that not thinking made the musicflow better.”

ON DEALING WITH DIFFERENTDRUMMERS:“Well, some drummers play on top of thegroove, some play behind, and some right inthe middle. A little edge is nice, it creates for-ward motion, but If a drummer is too much on

top, it makes me work harder. I’ll dig in andtry to broaden out the beat, I’ll try to sit morein the middle. For instance, Jim Keltner, whois one of my favorite people and musicians,leaves a lot of breathing room, you can playbehind, the middle or on top and it all works.He’s got a big, wide groove, there’s a lot of flex-ibility for a bass player. The other side is KennyAronoff, who I also love. He has incredibleenergy and a very diverse background, he’s aclassically trained timpanist as well as a greatrock drummer. He plays more aggressively, andI react well to that.

Yeah, he definitely was, but I also listenedto Ray Brown, Ron Carter, Milt Hinton, JimmyBlanton, Mingus, Slam Stewart, and PaulChambers, they all were big influences too. Idid make a conscious effort not to use the dou-ble stops in the same way as Chuck, I was bring-ing an R&B ear to rock and roll music. I loveBob Moore who played on all the old PatsyCline hits, Willie Dixon, Edgar Willis whoplayed with Ray Charles early band. I was alsolistening to the bass playing of Hammond B3players like Groove Holmes, Larry Young,Jimmy McGriff, and Jimmy Smith.”

BOB GLAUBDON HENLEY, JACKSON BROWNE, ROD STEWART, DONNA

SUMMER, JOHN LENNON, CROSBY, STILLS & NASH

Bob Glaub is a busy L.A. session bassist known for his thick tone and killer feel.


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ON THE EARLY DAYS:“I thought, ‘Four strings, easy enough … and onlyone thing to carry in.’ It was easier to specialize.I practiced fiercely at first. I considered myself ajazz guitarist who picked up the Fender bass, asit was called then. The challenge of inventing aline and helping to make a hit happen was fun.

“I’d been reluctant to work in the studios.I’d heard the musicians talk, the horror storiesabout studio work ruining your creative chopsso you could never play jazz again. I kept up

with jazz for a short time, until I got into bass,which eventually ruined my hands for seriousguitar. But I thought, ‘The music’s not that bad.’It was enjoyable to make a #1 hit record.”

“There were a few string bassists who couldplay Fender bass—Buddy Clarke and Red Callen-der—but the guitar players usually didn’t have thefeel of the bass, except for Joe Osborn, Art Wright,and Ray Pohlman. I was aware of James Jamer-son’s work for Motown, but I rarely listened toother bass players. I came up with creative lines

CAROL KAYETHE BEACH BOYS, RAY CHARLES,

SIMON & GARFUNKEL, BARBRA STREISAND

Carol Kaye is a studio bass pioneer, known for her jazz-inflected lines and aggressive pickstyle bounce.


Totally Tubular!

from my jazz background. Eventually, I realizedthat a lot of my patterns also came from thingslike the jazz chords Artie Shaw used in the ’50sand the Latin licks I’d played in big bands.

“I played with a pick, and my sound acci-dentally put the other adjunct bassists out ofwork—unfortunately. It was more versatile; Icould get a deep bass sound or add a bit of‘click’ with the pick, enough to make it soundlike a Dano at times. That changed the wholething. The producers started to figure, ‘Insteadof three bassists, we can hire that one Fenderbass player.’ Brian Wilson [of the Beach Boys]still used Lyle Ritz on string bass sometimes,as would Henry Mancini with Ray Brown. Butbeginning in 1964, producers were droppingthe multiple-bass sections. They also liked thespontaneous creativity of the two-bar rhyth-mic bass lines they’d ask me to invent.

“I played what I felt was needed for the dif-ferent songs, situations, and groups. Arrangerswrote down my lines, and later I had to sight-read hard charts—sometimes reading my ownearlier lines, even my double-stop funk lines.When I worked for Motown, arrangers likeGene Page, Jerry Long, and Gil Askey wouldwrite two charts, hard and easy. The hard onewas for me, and the easy one was a backup incase I was booked.”

ON THE STUDIO GRIND:“When we went to the dates, we wore jeans andworn-out tennis shoes. The cords were dirty,we’d knock over coffee cups, and there wereno rugs on the floor. It was a cold, stark, brightroom—we all wore dark glasses so we couldread the music under the fluorescent lights. Weweren’t into partying. We were lucky to get alunch break, and eating out of cans from thevending machine was the usual as we dashedfrom studio to studio every day, hoping to finda close-in parking spot. I’d try to make it hometo eat dinner with my kids. I’d say 98% of ourgroup did not use drugs, booze, or prescriptionpills. We lived on a ton of coffee.

“There was a lot of work, and we tried tohelp everybody who came into town. WhenJames Jamerson came out from Detroit, we allhad a lot of respect for him because he started

the Motown sound. I recommended him fordates but got bawled out because there were‘problems.’ If you couldn’t come up to the Hol-lywood standard, you were out. It was a verystrict, cut-and-dried business.

“By the late ’60s, the fences had started togo up. The rhythm section would record first,the horns would come in later, and then thestrings, and then the vocals. The rhythm sec-tion would jam, and the arranger many timeswould write parts for the horns based on ourlines. It would fit great, but the layering cutdown on the feel. It got to be more of thearranger’s date. A lot of control was taken outof our hands, and our day was starting to go.”

LOOKING BACK AT THE ’60S, KAYERECALLS HER WORK WITH SOME OFTOP NAMES IN THE BUSINESS:Phil Spector: “His sessions were long, any-where from 20 to 35 takes. I played bass onthe Righteous Brothers’ ‘(You’re My) Soul andInspiration,’ guitar on the rest. We usuallyrecorded at Gold Star, and sometimes the hornsection would draw a naked lady on the wallto throw darts at while they were waiting—aim-ing strategically, of course. It got a little boringfor them, because Phil took his time to getsounds on the rhythm section. But they weregreat and played their asses off.

“People try to get me to say bad things aboutPhil, but he was an artistic genius with soundand he loved jazz musicians. He paid us verywell, too. Hal Blaine was his mainstay [ondrums], along with [such studio players as] EarlPalmer, Ray Pohlman, Tommy Tedesco, BarneyKessel, Al Casey, Don Randi, Mac Rebennack,Larry Knechtel, Glen Campbell, and myself.Glen used to sing dirty hillbilly songs in the lulls.”Henry Mancini: “He had fun with his music.We’d be sitting, waiting for our cue to come in,and he’d go off into another tune. While wewere playing, he’d get us laughing so hard thatwe’d have to take a 20-minute break.”The Beach Boys: “I played guitar on the dates fora while, but starting with ‘Help Me Rhonda,’ Brian[Wilson] switched me to bass. The music all camefrom his head. Brian came up with the ideas andthe arrangements—he was very creative.”


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ON RECORDING ALANISMORISETTE’S “JOINING YOU”:“In 1994 a friend told Chaney about an audi-tion for a new Maverick artist named AlanisMorissette. The last bassist to be heard, Chrisgot the gig and left on what became a marathonworld tour as Morissette’s debut, Jagged LittlePill, became the all-time biggest-selling albumby a female artist. Chris, who used his Sadowsky4- and 5-strings, Lakland 5, fretless Warwick 5,and vintage Les Paul Signature bass to recordSupposed Former Infatuation Junkie, canalready be heard all over the airwaves on thefirst single, ‘Thank U.’ But the disc’s most inter-esting bass part comes from ‘Joining You,’ afunky rocker with a powerful key-change hook.

The rhythm tracks were recorded live, withno punches. We kept the second or third take.Gary was in the main room and played to a

click. Nick Lashley and Joel Shearer both playedbaritone guitars to give the track presence, andthey were in booths on either side of the board—which is where I also sat with Alanis and pro-ducer Glen Ballard.”

ON CONSTRUCTING BASS LINES IN THE STUDIO:“I learned more about pop rhythms from [Alanisdrummer] Gary Novak than from anyone else.Gary taught me that it’s all about the subdivisionswithin the beat. I learned that even when you’rejust playing the root on the downbeats, if youunderstand the beats’ subdivisions and how theywork together, you can make the shit as funky ashell. And once you understand exactly where toplace your notes, you can start building yourgrooves from the drums on up. That’s a crucialskill, especially in pop music. Grooving with adrummer is all about the space around the beat,and being able to control your notes—not just whenyou play them but also how you play them andfor how long. Understanding that will allow youto do so much more with a simple groove.

Unless we’re playing written parts, I use thesame approach most of the time, regardless ofthe artist or style: I clear my mind, listen to theother instruments, focus on the progression andthe overall song structure, and start hitting rootsas the song passes by. Then I begin searchingfor the part. The more the song passes by, themore I start hearing the part that should be there.I don’t know where that comes from, but I alwayshear something. And that something graduallyprogresses until it becomes part of the song.

Open-minded listening is the key. It’s whathelps me understand what is an appropriate soundor part. It may not be the clichéd sound or partfor that particular genre; it may be somethingtotally different. But being open to all music, Ican usually tell right away if it will work. It’s toughto analyze, and it’s hard to say exactly where thatinspiration comes from. It’s really cool that anyother bass player, given the same song, wouldcome up with a different part. I love that.”

CHRIS CHANEYJANE’S ADDICTION, ALANIS MORISETTE

Chris Chaney is a top L.A. session bassist with a broad range of chart-topping credits.


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ON SUSTAINING A LONG AND SUCCESSFUL STUDIO CAREER:“To start with, I’m a player, and I have beenmy whole life. I love to play and I need to play;the only music I don’t like playing is music thatisn’t organized, and I encounter very little ofthat. I also realize what may be a good idea

today isn’t necessarily going to be happeninga month or a year from now. I’m amazed howmany of my peers still play the way they did 20or 30 years ago; they act like it’s the cuttingedge, but it just sounds old-fashioned to me. Icome more from the Miles Davis mentality:what’s past is done, so let’s move on to some-

CHUCK RAINEYQUINCY JONES, ARETHA FRANKLIN,

STEELY DAN, JOE COCKER

Chuck Rainey is a groove legend, contributing his busy-but-funkystyle to a pile of major R&B and rock records.


thing new. For example, I wouldn’t use anAmpeg B-15 [amp] now, and I don’t play myFender anymore, because things change.

My biggest problem, though, is getting peo-ple to perceive me that way. For at least sevenof the last ten projects I’ve played on, I wasbrought in to recreate feels I played in the ’60sand ’70s, and that’s a drag. I keep current withwhat’s happening in popular music, and I feelI’ve continued to grow as a bass player. Even ifa project involves old music, why not re-inter-pret it with some contemporary flavor? That’swhat made Cornell Dupree’s Bop ’N’ Bluesalbum so enjoyable.”

ON THE NEW YORK HERITAGE OF HIS DISTINCTIVE GROOVE APPROACH:“In New York, the drummers were playing witha 16th-note feel; that awakened a similar rhyth-mic sense in me, rooted in both my drum andbugle-corps background and my exposure torag music early on. I hear all the stuff betweenthe notes when I play—like the tuba’s funkytwo-feel in a Dixieland brass band, or the high-tom parts in a drum corps. All those in-betweenrhythms and ghost notes provide the nuancesthat give a groove that swinging, push-pull feel.In Detroit, Benny Benjamin and Pistol Allenweren’t playing as busily as the New York drum-mers—so I was able to clearly hear all of thoserhythms coming from Jamerson.

I’ve always described myself as a busy player,but not “busy” as in playing a lot of notes. I’mrhythmically active—almost like a drummerplaying bass.”

ON HIS FAVORITE NEW YORKRHYTHM SECTIONS:“One was led by Gary McFarland, with DonaldMcDonald on drums and Warren Bernhardt onpiano; another was with drummers Gary Chesterand Herb Lovelle, and guitarists Vinnie Bell andAl Caiola. I did the most sessions—literally thou-sands—with Bernard Purdie, Eric Gale, Paul Grif-fin, and Carl Lynch on second guitar; that wouldsometimes be altered to include Jimmy Johnsonon drums or Richard Tee on piano. My first-call

subs were Jerry Jemmott and Gordon Edwards,who were great bassists in their own right, ofcourse. As for my all-time favorite section, itwould have to be the one with Bernard, Eric,and Paul Griffin or Richard Tee.”

ON WORKING WITH QUINCY JONES AFTER MOVING TO L.A.:“I started doing sessions for Quincy, and becauseof that, a lot of producers and contractors begancalling me. Motown called with work as well,since many of the artists and musicians knewme from back in the Great Lakes area, and theyhad two studios going around the clock. On topof that there was the weather, the beaches, theconvenience of driving right to a session andparking my car, and—of course—the fact that Iwas getting double and triple scale.”

ON HOW THE L.A. STUDIO SCENE DIFFERED FROM NEW YORK:“A lot of the bassists played with a pick, so theyhad a clicky, twangier sound. I switched toroundwound strings, and I even had a DeAr-mond pickup installed by the bridge of my P-Bass for a while to get more of that snappytone. But it wasn’t just the bass players; thewhole sound coming off the board was muchbrighter than in New York. On the businessside, there were a few ploys I didn’t care for. Ifsomeone wanted you on a record date andanother person on the project wanted a differ-ent bassist, sometimes that person would calland book you on a bogus session that tookplace at the same time. Then, when he got theplayer he wanted, he’d cancel you on the fakesession, and you would end up with nothing.The other hassle I ran into was bassists—and Imean notable bassists—taking credit for some-thing I had played on. I was sort of a maver-ick in town, because I worked as anindependent contractor, and I refused to bepushed into any cliques. Overall, though, I havefond memories of my time in L.A. The onlydownside was that my chops suffered, becauseI wasn’t working as much or enjoying the play-ing as much as I did in New York.”


Fender Precision Bass; Ken

Smith basses; Warrior

basses; Ampeg B-15; Genz

Benz amps; LaBella strings


ON HIS FIRST SESSION:“The band I played in booked the session—thelead singer’s father put up the money. Werehearsed the song and just went in and playedit. I wasn’t scared or nervous, because I didn’tknow I should be. It was only after I startedworking for other people that I got nervous.

Everybody else had been playing longer thanme, and I always felt like I was a little behind.Back then it was all mono, so if you messed upit was stop and start all over again—there wasno punching in. That was a bloodbath at first,because Rick Hall was a taskmaster who did-n’t mind embarrassing you in front of every-

DAVID HOODARETHA FRANKLIN, STAPLE SINGERS, PAUL SIMON,

ROD STEWART, BOB SEGER

As the Muscle Shoals Sound Studios house bassist, David Hood helped establish a definitively funky Alabama

vibe on a big pile of hits in the ’60s and ’70s.


Totally Tubular!

body. That’s when I learned to just cancel myfeelings and put everything out of my mindexcept the job at hand. I loved the job, though—I was learning new things and getting paid. Eventhough it wasn’t a lot of money, it was betterthan working at the tire store.”

ON STAYING FOCUSED ON COUNTLESS SESSIONS:“Sometimes we would cut 50 tracks in a week.The producer would run in these songwriters,we would record their track, they would leaveand finish it, and we would never know whatit was. Later on it would come out, and I’d say,“Is that us? It sounds familiar.” For a while wewere a track factory, and we were really goodat it. We could make them all sound good anddifferent enough. But it’s hard over the longrun. You start to burn out.

“I don’t have a secret to staying focused; Ijust have to shut out everything else and gointo this state of mind where there’s nothingbut the music. When you’re doing that and youlock into a real good thing, it’s almost like you’refloating—your body’s doing it without your hav-ing to think about it. That’s a great thing, andI don’t think it happens as much with rhythmsections that are thrown together.”

ON DEALING WITH CHALLENGINGSESSIONS:“I hate when something doesn’t work on a ses-sion. It’s your whole soul on the line. Plus afterall these years I have a reputation to live up to.But I’ve learned you can’t force things; if it’snot working one way you just try somethingelse. Usually it helps to simplify. I’m not a realtechnical player anyway, so I’m more comfort-able playing less. Having a good sound andplaying in tune and in time is much more impor-tant than chops. You’re not playing for your-self or for other bass players—you’re playing tomake a song come out. It’s not brain surgery.It’s all about entertainment. If you’re not pleas-

ing someone you’re wasting your time. “Don’t get me wrong, though—I love for

somebody to give me a challenging line. Evenif I don’t nail it exactly, it’s fun to do my ver-sion of it. I get tired of sessions where nobodyhas any suggestions; that’s not any fun. I knowwhat I know, so it’s fun to get outside ideas.”

ON BEING STARSTRUCK BY ANARTIST AND HIS FAVORITE SESSIONS:“In the beginning I was starstruck by artists,and Aretha Franklin was one of them. I had aColumbia record called Trouble in Mind thatI thought was wonderful, and when they saidthey were bringing her here I said, Hot dog!I’m going to get to work with her. On thosefirst sessions I played trombone, but later I gotto play bass with her, and that was fun. She’ssuch a great vocalist and piano player that youcan just pattern your part after what she’s doing.

“I loved all the Staple Singers and Stax stuff,and there have been some great Atlantic thingsproduced by Jerry Wexler as well as Arif Mardinand Tom Dowd. I enjoyed working with PhilRamone, and I got to work with Otis Reddingwhen he was producing. He taught me a lot ofthings about rhythm and feel, like playing on theupbeat when you would normally be playing onthe downbeat. His feel was so good, and you canhear it in all of his records—horn lines and every-thing. You can tell Otis had a hand in that. I’vebeen privileged to work with a lot of other greatpeople. Some of the early Bob Seger stuff wasfun, and so was Paul Simon, though he got kindof weird toward the end. He had heard “I’ll TakeYou There,” so he called Stax and said, Who arethose Jamaican musicians? They told him, Thoseare some white boys from Alabama. When hefirst came down here he told us, This is the song,I want you all to just do what you do. We did andwere very successful. But toward the end he fig-ured, Gosh, these guys aren’t musical geniuses oranything—I know more than they do. So he starteddictating every note, and it didn’t sound as good.”


Lakland 55-94, 44-94,

and Joe Osborne; ’76

Alembic 4-string; Kubicki

Ex-Factor


ON THE REQUIREMENTS FOR STUDIO PLAYING:“Studio playing requires accuracy and subtlety.It also demands less attention to wardrobe andchoreography than to fret noise and groundhum. To maintain a career as a studio musi-cian, it’s valuable not only to have your owndistinctive style but also to have a commandof a variety of styles and techniques. Playerswho consistently refuse producers’ requests toplay certain styles because of their personaltastes may be respected for their artistic integrity,but they will tend to have short careers.”

ON THE P-BASS:“My main complaint with vir-tually all the non-Fenderdesigns I have tried is this:though they are often capableof producing a wide variety ofsounds, they are usually inca-pable of sounding like a goodPrecision. And the sound mostproducers and artists in the realworld want is that of a P-bassplayed with fingers or a pick.”

ON THE EMERGENCE OFDRUM MACHINES ANDMODERN MUSIC:“Playing with drum machinesand sequencers is the ultimatein predictability and one of theeasiest things I’m called uponto do. But nothing is as muchfun as playing with a roomfulof musicians having a goodtime. The best thing aboutworking in Nashville today isplaying with rhythm sections

rather than machines most of time, and gettingto play songs rather than the fatuous exercisesin production and image that constitute somuch of current pop.

The ’60s and ’70s R&B that was some ofmy favorite music to play is virtually gone,replaced by mindless, mechanical garbage.Absurd as it seems, thanks to rap it is now pos-sible to have a hit record without a melody ora singer—hype, attitude, and production tricksare often sufficient. And most heavy metalrecords are just regurgitations of what Led Zep-pelin was doing 20 years ago.”

DAVID HUNGATETOTO, BOZ SKAGGS, GEORGE JONES,

REBA MCENTIRE, RICKY SKAGGS

David Hungate is one of Nashville’s most revered session bassists.His song-serving style has supported hundreds of records.


Tyler 5-string; Fender

Precision; Pedulla fretless;

Kay acoustic


ON GETTING HIS TONE:“I thought we sounded terrible at Stax. I hatedit. They were always asking me to play with alot of highs, and it just sounded too trebly tome. And the drums never sounded right. Butwe’d walk out and listen to the playback, andthe bass would be just as round as it could be.I couldn’t hear it when we were playing, butsomehow our sound always made it to tape.”

ON EARLY SUCCESS:“When we started charting records, it just felt great.We all knew, even before the charts did, that wewere working with great talent. I mean, Otis Red-ding—now there was a sense of time and feeling;you didn’t have to understand any of the wordshe was singing to understand what he was say-ing. We did have an MG’s sound, but we’d shift itaround a little depending on whether we were

playing with Otis or Wilson or Sam & Dave. Andas we got more successful, there was definitely alittle competition with Motown and Muscle Shoals.At first I used to think, James Jamerson—man, I’mnot even in the same league with him. But thatkind of competition keeps you focused on yourplaying. It keeps you working hard—real hard.”

ON THE IMPORTANCE OF A GOOD GROOVE:“I don’t really think about technique anymore;I just try to think about not overdoing it. I tryto do things the simplest way I know how, andI think more about the groove than the notes.I’m a feel player, so it doesn’t take a lot of notesfor me to get there—and after you find thegroove, anything will work. Once the bass anddrums are happening, everybody’s playing bet-ter. You’ve got a better band.”

DUCK DUNNBOOKER T. & THE MGS; OTIS REDDING; WILSON PICKETT;

ALBERT KING; THE BLUES BROTHERS; NEIL YOUNG

As Stax Records house bassist, Duck Dunn’s fat tone and rock-solid pocket is a definitive voice in the Soul lexicon.


Fender Precision; Lakland

Duck Dunn Signature;

Ampeg B-15 & SVT-4PRO


Unfortunately, BASS PLAYER never had a chance to speak with Jamerson before his death, so thefollowing are thoughts on his style from a few of his celebrated acolytes.

JAMES JAMERSONMOTOWN

The Funk Brother, Motown bassist James Jamerson is perhaps the most iconic, prolific, and astounding of all session players.


Totally Tubular!

CHUCK RAINEY:“On Motown tracks the bass is the most audi-ble element other than the singer. Like all greatmusicians, James heard other things in his headwhile he played—such as polyrhythms from thedrum patterns—and when he added those ideasthey came through loud and clear, but they alwayslocked with the groove and supported the song.

Coming from his upright background, Jamesplucked mainly with one finger, using allupstrokes. His heavy touch, high P-Bass action,and “real man” attitude resulted in strong, singingnotes. I remember showing him my back-and-forth index-finger plucking technique, and helaughed and said, “that’s sissy stuff right there.”

MICHAEL HENDERSON:Jamerson had a way of getting notes that weren’ton the bass. Like on the E string, he’d gobetween the G and F, but he wouldn’t get anF#—it was something else! He’d fret it justenough to get a ghosted note with some pitchto it. I think Jamerson had perfect pitch; at aclub one night I saw him play a bass that hadserious intonation problems, and he bent andpulled the strings so every note was in tune.

Live, he’d use his Ampeg B-15 or blue Kus-tom 200 with two 15s, and he would turn theamp almost all the way up, so he could controlthe volume and dynamics from his P-Bass andwith his fingers. His strings were dead flat-wounds; [Philly session bassist] Ronnie Bakerused to rub butter on his strings to try to get asound like James had. And his action was sohigh, you had to get your friend to help you playBb! But it made every note he played a nuclearweapon. He had a take-no-prisoners approachto playing; every song was a knockout.”

PHIL CHEN:“In Hitsville’s Studio A he recorded direct by plug-ging into one of five inputs in the wall. Each hada volume control, and he would boost the signalso the VU meter was slightly in the red, giving hima bit of warm overdrive from the tube console.His bass then went through a Fairchild limiter anda Pultec EQ, and he’d hear it through a Bozak

monitor in the studio. In later sessions he wouldoccasionally use his miked Ampeg B-15.”

RALPHE ARMSTRONG:“Jamerson’s high action prevented string buzz andgave him a louder fundamental tone—just as itdoes on the upright. The foam mute under thebridge cover warmed up his sound, and he’d varyhis tone knob between off and full on; sometimesyou can hear some bite in his tone. Everything heplayed was pure and strong. He didn’t believe intricks; I mean, I saw him slap once kidding around,but everything he played you could write downon paper. He always wanted the instrument tosound like a bass. He used to tease Michael Hen-derson about playing up high and sounding likea flute. James Jamerson was the man.”

WILTON FELDER:“Jamerson’s style was unique, from the heart, andearthy. He had an innate sense of the bass’s role,but at the same time, he knew how to play freelywhile keeping the groove going. He could hear asong and instantly know where it was going, wherehe was able to stretch, and where playing lesswould mean more. And his bass lines always wentwith the vocalist and melody. Whatever he played,he meant it and you felt it, yet he was able to addthe nuances that gave his parts so much expres-sion. He’s the godfather of the electric bass.”

JAMES JAMERSON, JR.:“As for his sense of syncopation, that was hisGod-given gift. I couldn’t even explain that one.I put it like this: My dad liked to dance, so hejust danced on the bass. He was a staunchacoustic bassist, and he made me learn the uprightbefore I was allowed to play electric bass, but hegrew to like both instruments. When he first gotto the electric he told me he felt a bit more reg-imented and restricted by the frets, so he pur-posely didn’t apply the exact same approach heused with the upright, and that probably helpedhim develop his own electric voice. He wouldoccasionally polish his P-Bass, but he’d nevertouch the gunk that had built up on the finger-board. He told me, The dirt keeps the funk.”


Fender Precision; Ampeg

B-15; Fairchild limiter;

Pultec EQ


ON FINDING HIS TRUE CALLING:“I discovered James Jamerson through JuniorWalker’s ‘Shotgun.’ I took that line and developedit. In fact I was playing ‘Shotgun’ for many years!This led me to my style: I’m going to show themwhat to play using a combination of syncopationand nuance with a dose of the unexpected.”

ON HIS FAVORITE DRUMMER:“It was magic from the first time Herb Lovelleand I played together. He would complementand contrast whatever I was doing instead ofpinning me in a corner, because his ultimate

goal is to provide a foundation for the music.In addition to his stylistic versatility—whichgave him a huge vocabulary of ideas to drawfrom—he got different sounds from the kit thatwould inspire me to play a certain way. He waslike a percussionist; it wasn’t about a heavybeat, yet he locked a groove hard and tight.”

ON MEETING JACO PASTORIUS:“Jaco showed me a harmonized C major scale,and it was a revelation. It was very rewardingwatching the same reaction when I passed iton to my students.”

JERRY JEMMOTTARETHA FRANKLIN, NINA SIMONE,

ROBERTA FLACK, B.B. KING, KING CURTIS

Jerry Jemmott began his career with the inimitable soul saxophon-ist King Curtis. Soon after, his supreme funkiness became a must-

have for any artist looking for a deep, percolating pocket.


Fender Jazz Bass; Rivera

neck-through 4-string;

ESP Horizon; LaBella

strings


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ON ESTABLISHING ABASS LINE’S FEEL:“I always start by listening to the vocalists andany instrument they happen to be playing, andthen I try to think of a rhythmic pattern—like aLatin clave or something. In doing that, I’m pullingsomething from stuff I’ve heard before, and itbecomes my timekeeper. It helps me to set upspaces between the notes so my accents fall inplaces that complement what the singer is singing.

It’s wonderful when you have a drummerwho’s aware of that kind of thinking. It makesit a lot more fun. Many drummers just start play-ing—“Here it is, this is where it’s going to be”—and they’re too rigid. They don’t listen to theother players or to the nuances in the music.Sometimes you should allow more space, openup the music a little more. The most excitingmusic isn’t just dead-on perfect all the waythrough—it’s better when there is some kind ofinterplay going on. That’s the fun stuff.”

ON HIS FAVORITE RECORDING ENVI-RONMENT:“I prefer to record on the main floor with myamp beside me—but I have severe tinnitus anda very serious hearing loss, like what Pete Town-shend has. The ringing in my ears is the loud-est thing I hear. So when I’ve got a pair ofheadphones on, the ringing is louder than themusic, and it masks the high frequencies. A lotof the people I work for give me the luxury ofgoing into the control room after the take so I

can hear things in context and fix my part ifnecessary.”

ON HIS EARLY ’60S WORK:“I played lots of easy-listening and bubble gummusic. It was just work. Back then everybodyhad an answering service that would keep yourschedule and book you with whoever called. Isometimes worked in three different studios inone day. At the busiest period I was doing about20 three-hour dates a week.”

JERRY SCHEFFELVIS PRESLEY, NEIL DIAMOND, BARBRA STREISAND,

RICHARD THOMPSON, CROWDED HOUSE, ELVIS COSTELLO

After cutting his teeth with the King, Jerry Scheff moved to L.A.and became an A-list pop session man.


Fender Jazz; Lakland

Deluxe 4-string; EMG

pickups; Sadowsky out-

board preamp; Ampeg B-

15; SWR Redhead; Tech 21

Sansamp; GHS strings


ON DEVELOPING A 5-STRINGAPPROACH:“Sometimes you can tell when someone justgot a 5, because all you hear are the low notes.There’s a right time to play the B string; youdon’t have to be down there all the time. There’snot much else in that frequency range exceptthe kick drum, so you should be sparse with itat first. Play the top four strings while remem-bering you have those low notes; then, whenthe music calls for a big sound, go down there.”

ON USING A DI VS. USING AN AMP IN THE STUDIO:“I’m pretty much a DI guy—but on one rocksession, the producer asked me to bring all myamps because he wanted an “unbelievable”bass sound. There were eight inputs on theboard just for bass. It came out sounding likea Twinkie; everything was canceling everythingelse out and it was just awful!”

ON HIS TOUGHEST RECORD DATE:“Billy Childs’s His April Touch [Windham Hill

Jazz]. Billy writes really hard parts, with the lefthand of the piano often written out for the bass.There were a lot of long, bizarre lines. It’s prob-ably the hardest stuff I’ve played lately, but it’srewarding to get something like that on tape,even if you do have to go back and fix things.”

ON HOW HE MAKES DIFFICULT PARTSSOUND EASY:“I have no idea—maybe it’s because the stuffisn’t that difficult! I try to remember I’m notthe main point of interest until it’s time for abass solo. I probably overplay in a lot of cases;I definitely don’t hold back if I feel like tryingsomething.”

ON MAKING IT IN L.A.:“It’s a slow process and you have to hang inthere. You’ll have to do weird rehearsals andseemingly strange gigs, but eventually one thingwill lead to another. I was lucky; I did only afew gigs where I was carrying my rig througha hotel kitchen and asking myself, What doesthis have to do with music?”

JIMMY JOHNSONALAN HOLDWORTH, JAMES TAYLOR, FLIM & THE BB’S

A true bass player’s bass player, Jimmy Johnson is among themost respected L.A.-based studio players, as comfortable in

sophisticated pop as he is playing burning fusion.


Alembic Series II; Simon

Systems DB1A DI; Walter

Woods head; Meyer

Sound cabinets


ON HIS PICKSTYLE TONE:“When I got out to L.A. with Ricky Nelson and began work-ing on records and publishing demos, people would say, ‘Wow,we can hear the bass all of a sudden.’ All the notes came outclearly, and I had no idea why. Eventually, I realized that mybass, played with the pick, had its own frequency space. Insteadof competing with the kick drum at the very bottom, there wasmore of a blend. Plus it held up on any kind of record—evenif the bass was EQed different, there was an attitude about it,a certain tone that you couldn’t lose.”

ON READING MUSIC:“[Session legend] Tommy Tedesco once said to me, ‘I see youon sessions for Johnny Rivers or the Mamas & the Papas, work-ing your ass off to create those parts. If you learn how to read,you can do all the easy dates where you come in, read the chart,and split. You’ll double your money, and you can still do thecreative things.’ That made a lot of sense, so I got a book and

worked my way up to page 12—and my work did double!“Another fellow who helped me was an arranger named Al

Capps. He didn’t care if I played his written line, but he alwayswrote out the part with the chord symbols above, so if I tried toread it and got lost, I could just look at the chords. That gave mea chance to practice without any pressure. Inevitably, while I wasstill learning, I’d come across some arranger who would say, ‘Excuseme, is there something wrong with the part?’ I’d say, ‘I certainlyhope not, ’cause I’m having enough trouble if it’s correct!’”

ON ANONYMITY AS A SESSION PLAYER: The Association got up and made a speech one morning: ‘Pleasedon’t tell anyone you guys are doing all our records.’ But theproducers didn’t care. They’d go in and make a hit record andthen put a band together to go out on the road. We recordedfor a lot of groups: Gary Lewis & the Playboys, the Monkees,the Grass Roots, Spanky & Our Gang, the Partridge Family.I was talking to a keyboard player in Nashville about some ofthe projects that [drummer Hal Blaine, [keyboardist] LarryKnechtel, and I played on, and he said, ‘Man, I just found outmy five favorite bands are all the same people!’”

ON HIS STUDIO METHOD:“Aside from the given of locking with the drummer, I alwaysplay for the song. If you listen to the song—the lyrics, the feel,the vocals—it will feed you and tell you what to do. What it allcomes down to, in the end, is attitude. You can learn the notesand the form, but ultimately you’ve got to just put both feeton floor, dig in, and play!”

ON HIS FAMOUS ’60 FENDER JAZZ BASS:“I think it’s probably a prototype rather than a regular produc-tion model. We were going on an Australian tour with RickyNelson in 1960, and Fender wanted us to take their new equip-ment. I asked for a Concert, which was their biggest amp, anda bass, thinking they made only the Precision. When they sentthe Jazz Bass instead I was pretty annoyed, but I fell in love withit because the thinner neck was perfect for my short fingers.”

JOE OSBORNRICKY NELSON, THE MAMAS & THE PAPAS,

THE MONKEES, SIMON & GARFUNKEL

With Glen Campbell, the Carpenters, Neil Diamond, the 5thDimension, and too many other artists to name, Joe Osborn was a

true pioneer of the electric bass in the studio.


ON RECORDING DIRECT:“Early on, engineers would just put a mic on my amp, but bythe mid-’60s people were also taking a direct signal. In L.A.,I used to use my 4x10 Fender Concert amp. I still have it, alongwith an old tweed 4x10 Bassman. Those open-back cabinetsworked best for getting the sound of my bass. When I movedto Nashville in 1974, it all became direct, though I’ve beenusing the combination again lately.”

ON HIS LEGACY:“I’d like to think that maybe the way I played and the way mybass sounded changed the way records were made, indirectly,by making it acceptable to hear the bass cutting through in amelodic way. And I hope that when people listened to medoing things they hadn’t heard before, it inspired them to trynew things and to develop their own styles.”

ANTHONY JACKSON ON JOE OSBORN:“Joe Osborn is one of the most important musicians ever to playthe bass guitar. No, he doesn’t play 31 notes per second. In fact,

his note-per-song count has almost always been on the low side—but those notes define a universe, as opposed to a circus ring orplaypen. The completely original and powerful Osborn style—epit-omized by such tracks as the Mamas & the Papas’ ‘I Saw HerAgain Last Night’ and Scott McKenzie’s ‘(If You’re Going to) SanFrancisco’—utterly transcends hype, trick, and any other manifes-tation of shallowness and mediocrity, which today are desperatelysought-after as the norm. As with the case of James Jamerson,Osborn’s story deserves telling because he managed to establishhis individuality in a business in which conformity is an unbreak-able rule. He did this so successfully for so many years that hiscareer might be summed up as an aberration, one that “slippedthrough the net,” perhaps leading modern players to believe suchindividuality would never be tolerated again. This would be a mis-take. I have always felt that the most unusual and individualisticof styles can be made to work, regardless of context, as long as theperformer loves said context, loves his instrument, and is willingto be patient while—or perhaps if—the music world catches up withhim. A look at Osborn’s method, especially when taken in thecontext of his time (1960s–’70s) and related to what his peers were

© 2009 FMIC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

MORE FUZZ THAN A PSYCHEDELIC FLASHBACK.

THE ALL-NEW FENDER BASS FUZZ PEDAL.WWW.FENDER.COM/PEDALS


doing then, will demonstrate his absolutely out-rageous talent and courage. Remember, conform-ity in the commercial music world, even in a timeof exceptional experimentation, was (and still is)more than party talk: those who insisted on hav-ing their own way at all costs were usually pun-ished by partial, or more often total, exclusion.

“To define the secret of Osborn, one mustconfront orthodoxy. He uses a flatpick, not hisfingers; he always has, and as far as I know, healways will. Of course he’s heard James Jamer-son and Chuck Rainey and Jerry Jemmott andDavid Hood, all of whom were concurrentlyactive and were considered important indus-try stylists. However, none of them, as far as Iknow, was a full-time picker; they, like nearlyall others, chose to turn their backs on thismost guitaristic of techniques. The result wasthat Osborn never really heard himself copiedand was thus spared the temptation to delib-

erately alter his own style in order to avoidsounding like anyone else. He was thereforefree to develop essentially on his own.

“It isn’t just flatpicking, of course, that warrantsall this attention. Osborn’s sheer control of theinstrument, his consistency of touch, his almost-perfect time, and his astounding sense of where toplay certain passagework on the neck reveal anunderstanding seldom seen in music—what I pre-fer to call ‘successful style.’ No doubt, credit for thissuccess must be shared with the great Hal Blaine,and everyone reading this should take note of anirrefutable and enduring truth: The single mostimportant collaboration is that between the drum-mer and the bass player. This is not to say that Joecould not have achieved what he did without Blaine,but their superb communication and agreement onwhat-goes-where clearly enhanced the work ofboth men and is equalled only by the equivalentMotown team of Jamerson and Benny Benjamin.”


1960 Fender Jazz Bass,

played with a pick; Lakland

Joe Osborn signature; La

Bella flatwound strings

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ON HIS UNIQUE STYLE:“People don’t usually call me unless they alreadyknow what I do. My phone rings selectively,and I’m lucky to be in that position. I’m not a‘standard’ studio bassist, although occasionallyI get calls that are very generic. I have to makea living like anyone else, so I do records thatare way more poppy or standard-issue thanwhat I listen to, but I can find the fun in any-thing. Generally, though, just being in the stu-dio gets me really stoked. I don’t work everyday—I’m often touring or doing other projects—so when I do session work, it’s never a 9-to-5job. It still has that air of freshness to me, evenafter ten years of doing it. I think this saves mefrom the grind, from prematurely havingintegrity issues and all of that. So I head intothe studio looking for something to like, some-thing I can contribute to, something I can ridelike a wave and maybe take in my own direc-tion a little. It’s a matter of viewpoint.”

ON WORKING WITH BECK:“When we’re in a recording environment, he reg-ularly asks me to do things that seem impossible—whether it’s a tap-dance on some effect pedals ora very gymnastic, non-standard bass part. Thosedemands helped my musical development in nosmall terms. His approach can be daunting, butmy job is to throw away preconceptions and justdive in. For a while, I tried to play what I thought

he wanted, but it’s become much more of a two-way street. We actually contribute to each other’sideas. Understanding his aesthetic and being ableto strike out on my own is very satisfying.”

ON TRACKING BECK’S MIDNIGHT VULTURES:“‘Peaches and Cream’ is a classic example of howinteresting it can be recording with Beck. As thetune developed, I tried various lines, but nothingI came up with aesthetically matched what heenvisioned. As I was about to try another take,the track was playing back while I was sitting ona couch, absentmindedly fretting with my lefthand and looking through a magazine with myright, as well as chatting with the others in theroom. Beck then pointed and exclaimed we should‘try that!’ I didn’t have much of a clue what hewas talking about—the stuff I was doing with myleft hand was just subconscious noodling. Wespent some time figuring out exactly what ‘that’was, and we came up with this subtle, broken,offbeat line, which works in tandem with a like-wise off-kilter guitar part. In retrospect, I would-n’t have had it any other way. My Vox Cougarwas the instrument of choice.”

ON SESSION RAPPORT:“I’ve been in situations where the producer andartist don’t know each other that well, and if Isee that they’re not necessarily firing on all cylin-ders, I get up and work my way into their rap-port. I don’t want to make crappy recordings; Iwant to make lasting records. No matter who itis, five or six people in a room have the potentialto make great recordings if they can put asideexpectations and create music for music’s sake.If you can get everyone feeling each other andreally listening to each other and just playing forfun, magic is inevitable. It’s a classic way to makerecords, and the results speak for themselves.That’s why it will always be the best way to record.”

JUSTIN MELDAL-JOHNSEN

BECK, NINE INCH NAILS, MACY GRAY

Justin Meldal-Johnson has got it going on: killer groove sensibility,deep awareness of tone, and the flexibility to deliver in whatever

situation he finds himself, whether it’s anchoring the idiosyncraticindie rock of Beck or greasing the slick hip-hop tracks of Macy Gray.


Guild Starfire, ’60s Vox

Couger hollowbody;

SansAmp PSA-1, Empiri-

cal Labs Distressor com-

pressor; Boss Bass

Synth; Electro-Harmonix

BassBalls


ON HIS INTRODUCTION TO THE L.A. STUDIO SCENE:“The impact of Stanley Clarke, Jaco Pastorius,and Alphonso Johnson motivated me to tryputting my own fingerprint on the bass. Morethan flash, I was interested in shaping the musicfrom the bottom and playing to the composi-tion. Alphonso was a key influence in that way.With my rock and pop roots, I was alsoattracted to what great session musicians likeVictor Feldman were creating on hit records.Fortunately Victor’s drummer, John Guerin,liked me and got me into the L.A. scene.”

ON WORKING WITH JONI MITCHELL AND HIS MOVE INTO PRODUCING:“Her artistic commitment spoiled me. I wasgetting sucked dry by the daily session grind,

and I hated the sound of 90% of the other tracksI played on. I decided to integrate all of myskills and put myself in a position to makealbums sound the way I thought they shouldsound. That brought me to record production.”

ON A PRODUCER’S ROLE:“A producer’s job is to help an artist edit ideas;you then take those ideas and find the best wayto execute them to yield a record that’s identifi-ably the artist’s. My favorite producers create afresh sonic palette for each album that’s organi-cally tied to the artist’s music, as opposed to fallingback on something familiar or forcing their owntrademark sound on the artist. Ultimately, pro-ducing is similar to the challenge of coming upwith a good, solid bass part instead of overplay-ing. Both involve humility for the music’s sake.”

LARRY KLEINJONI MITCHELL, PETER GABRIEL, FREDDIE HUBBARD

Larry Klein plucked his upright with Freddie Hubbard and Joe Hen-derson, and his electric on seminal recordings with Joni Mitchell,Peter Gabriel, and Don Henley —that’s Larry’s fretless on Henley’s“Boys of Summer”—before becoming one of L.A.’s top producers.


1920s Czech upright

bass; Ernie Ball Music

Man StingRay 5-strings;

Lakland 5-strings; Line 6

DL4 Delay Modeler, Line

6 MM4 Modulation Mod-

eler; vintage Neumann U

47 condenser mic; Royer

R-121 ribbon mic; Tube-

Tech compressor, Urei

1176 compressor


ON MAKING NOTES COUNT:“Before anything else, you have to be musical.It’s great listening to a guy like Pino Palladino;he can hit a note that’ll last for three bars—andI’ll faint. It’s the right note with the right soundand the right emotion. Somebody else couldhave put a thousand notes into that space, buthis one note says much more.”

ON STUDIO ETIQUETTE: “There are so many variables from studio to

studio: everybody’s got a different board, a dif-ferent direct box, a different patch bay. I hardlyever get involved in bass sound in the studio.I go in and I play the best I can, and then it’sup to them. Each guy has his own way of doingthings, and I don’t feel it’s my gig to educatethe engineer.”

ON HIS MAGIC “PRODUCER SWITCH”:“I used to have a bass with a ‘producer switch’on it. That’s what I called it. All I did was drill

LELAND SKLARJAMES TAYLOR, PHIL COLLINS, JACKSON BROWNE

Leland Sklar’s legendary studio output—from James Taylor andPhil Collins to Jackson Browne and Hall & Oates—earned him a

Lifetime Achievement Award at 2007’s BASS PLAYER LIVE!


Modified P-Bass with a

Charvel body, ’62 Fender

Precision neck, and EMG

pickups; fretless Yamaha

TRB; medium-gauge GHS

Progressive strings


Totally Tubular!

a hole and install a toggle switch; it wasn’t wiredto anything. When the producer would ask forsomething different, I’d flip the switch and he’dgo [gives the thumbs-up sign], ‘That’s great!’”

ON TAKING DIRECTION:“I always tell people to speak up if there’s some-thing they want me to do—or not to do. Noth-ing I’ve ever played is etched in granite. Whenyou’re working with writers and singers, theyhave to be happy. I do a record and move on,but the artist has to live with it for a long time.”

ON NERVES:“Before a session, I get nervous; before a show,I get anxious. There’s a big difference. WhenI’m out on the road, I know the music well, soit’s more a feeling of excitement. Before ses-sions, I often don’t have any idea what I’mgoing to be doing, and that makes me nervous.It can be scary to work on music you’ve neverseen before.”

ON LISTENING:“The last thing I listen to is my part; I kind ofknow what I’m doing, but I want to hear wherethe guitar player and the drummer are breath-ing, and then find the thing that holds all thattogether. Too many guys become these littleislands; you go over and listen to their mix, andthey’re just listening to themselves. To me, thefamily of players is the greatest extended fam-ily there is. When you start to breathe as one,when you can close your eyes and still catchall the hits and all the nuances of the music,when everybody’s there together and listeningto each other—then it’s magical.”

ON 4-, 5-, AND 6-STRINGS:“You have a variety of tools to do differentjobs—a carpenter doesn’t show up to a job withone hammer and one screwdriver. I probablydo 90% of my work with a 4-string; it’s the righttool for the kind of music I play. If I’m in thestudio, I might bring the whole bass down; I’vegot one bass that sounds good tuned CFBbEb.If there’s a song in D or C, I sometimes tune

the whole bass down. I’ll just look at the chartand think of it as the other key. The music takeson another dimension, because I can play a lotof open strings.”

ON STRINGS AND THINGS:“When I’m working in the studio, I hardly everchange strings. On the road, I change themevery three days; to cut through in an arena, Ilike to have the best, brightest sound I can. Butthat doesn’t necessarily work in the studio.”

ON THE NASHVILLE STUDIOENVIRONMENT:“It’s very rare that anyone has all the partsworked out beforehand, so the artist will relyon the players to come up with something.That’s one of the great things about workingin Nashville—we’ll get the demo and ideas willjust start to flow. Someone will come up witha bridge or an intro, and then we’ll worktogether on the arrangement. That environ-ment helps you to create great parts. It’s funny,because sometimes you have a so-so tune andby the time it’s finished everybody’s going,‘Wow, that’s great.’ Other times, you’ll start witha great song and … nothing!”

ON KEEPING A BROAD SKILL SET:“The more skills you can harness, the better itis for you. People ask me, ‘What about read-ing?’ I say, ‘If you have the time and the incli-nation, learn to read. It can only enhance yourcareer.’ If you can, learn treble clef, too; anarranger might hand you a chart in treble clef,so you should know what it is. Figure thesethings out. I’ve had to learn how to do num-ber charts in Nashville, which is a whole otherthing completely. Harness as many skills as youcan—and that includes chops. If you can do allkinds of machine-gunning and hammering andharmonics, you may get called for it. But startwith the fundamentals; have a feel for musicand time and intonation. Work on a tone; workon a touch; work on glisses and the other thingsthat get you from here to there. Then all thatother stuff is like frosting on the cake.”


ON COUNTY BASS:“Country bass is a very exacting art form. You’vegot to know just where to edge it and just whereto pull it back. And of course there’s all the sig-nature things for bass—the walkups, the walk-downs, the passing tones. There’s a wholevocabulary.”

ON SETUP:“Higher action produces better tone—itincreases the string’s orbit potential. Plus itkeeps me from lapsing into personality attack

and playing inappropriately. If I’ve been onvacation I usually lower the action for a cou-ple of days to get back in shape. The main tech-nique for dealing with high action is just playing.And if it hurts, stop.”

TONE TIP:“On passive basses with flatwounds, using anoutboard preamp can help. P-Bass pickups arepretty midrangy, so I take out some mids. Andflatwounds can sound muddy, so I crank thetreble to 3 or 4 o’clock. Otherwise my right-


hand positioning combined with my differentbasses covers the tonal possibilities. Also, Ihighly recommend tapewounds for taking someof the ‘chirp’ out of piezo pickups.”

ON SELF-WILL:“Sometimes I get caught in the act of self-will;I might be playing something I think is reallycool, and the producer says, ‘No, we don’t wantcool—just play bass.’ The ego devil can creepup and say, ‘Okay, where can I sign my name?’So you pick a little spot, but always within the

confines of the song. You ask yourself: Whatcan I do that’s going to make people ask, ‘Whodid that?’ In country sessions, the guys gettogether and decide who’s doing what fills andwhere: ‘You’re going to fill the first verse; I’llfill the second verse,’ and so on. It’s like a round-robin, and you get two bars or whatever. That’swhere you have to stand and be counted.”

ON “TIC-TAC” BASS:“There something I do to approximate a tic-tac sound [the Nashville recording techniquethat involves doubling a plucked acoustic basswith a flatpicked baritone guitar]. I’ll rest theedge of my palm on the strings, back by thebridge—lightly, so as not to deaden the stringstoo much. Instead of a pick, I strike with thetop of my index fingernail, and then I stop thestring with my thumb.

ON EFFECTS:“I never print to tape with effects—they’re addedafterwards. But how many effects do you use ona country session? The most I’ll ever use is a lit-tle chorusing on the fretless, or maybe an octavedoubler. You can build this big huge sound thatsounds great alone, but it has to fit it into themix. You’ve got to know how engineers like tomix—the easier you make their job, the morethey’re going to like and take care of you.”

ON CONTINUING EDUCATION:“I learn something at every session, whetherit’s a tough piece of music or something so sim-ple that the Zen aspect comes into play. Like:‘What is the least amount I can play on this?What is the ultimate note duration?’ It’s a lotmore challenging to play something simple andhold the long tones just the right length thanit is to wail.”

MICHAEL RHODESDOLLY PARTON, THE DIXIE CHICKS,

RANDY TRAVIS, FAITH HILL

Since the early ’90s, Michael Rhodes has been first-callNashville session player, playing on some of the biggest hits

in country music.


’53 Kay acoustic; ’65 Fender

Jazz; ’63 Fender Precision;

Sadowsky 4- and 5-strings;

Tyler fretted and fretless 5-

strings; Lakland Basses

hollowbody; fretless Wash-

burn AB5 with La Bella

tapewounds; Avalon U5 DI;

TubeTech compressor/lim-

iter; Trilogic preamp; vari-

ous SWR and Euphonic

Audio amps


ON PRODUCING:“Whenever anybody is tracking, I try to have atleast one other musician playing with them atthe same time. When there’s more than onemusician tracking, a certain energy is established,and it translates into a great performance. It’simportant for a musician to feel, OK, now we’rejust focusing on my part. He needs to feel psy-ched about his performance and what he’s doing.Since I’ve worked as a musician, I’ve learnedwhat makes me the most comfortable. I try todo that for the musicians I get to work with.”

ON GROOVING WITH DRUM MACHINES:“Dre’s drum machine, the Akai MPC3000,allows you to adjust how much a pattern swingsby setting a percentage. Once I heard that, itkind of re-opened my mind to all those areas

in between straight and swung feels, and howmany different ways there are to play eighth-and 16th-notes. Plus, you realize how you canplay straight against a swung figure, or viceversa, to create tension. A good idea is to pro-gram or sample a drum pattern and play alongas you vary the swing percentage. Once that’sin your ears, program a simple quarter-notekick-and-snare pattern at 92 BPM and explorethe different feels you can create by movingaround the pocket with your bass lines.

“Drum machines also changed the way Iheard live drummers. I became more aware ofa drummer’s individual lope, and I was able totune in better. Now, I listen not only to the kickand snare but also to the hi-hat and how thedrummer is subdividing the inflections, whichhelps me figure out what will match up the best.”

ON PLAYING FOR PRODUCER T-BONE BURNETT:“I am very fortunate to get calls once in a whilefrom T-Bone. I did one for the theme song toWim Wenders’s movie, Don’t Come Knockin’.The song was written and performed by U2’sBono and The Edge; they wrote it using Apple’sGarageBand and then sent all the files to T-Bone.Knowing T-Bone’s rootsy recording background,I figured the bass sound needed to be classic, soI brought along two basses that are very dear tome: a ’57 Fender Precision Bass and a ’64 HofnerBeatle Bass. After listening to the song, whichhad an old Memphis soul feel to it, I knew theP-Bass would fit in perfectly. I went through aNeve 1073 preamp and a Teletronix LA-2A fora little compression. We also ran a signal to avintage Ampeg B-15 and miked it with a Neu-mann U 47. Both sounds were then blendedtogether and recorded into Pro Tools. Once thebass part was done, we were free to hang outfor a little while. Typically on a T-Bone session,the in-between dialogue can be just as amazingas the music being played. Usually we’ll talkabout politics, religion, current events, or any-thing on our minds. The best sessions aren’t onlyabout the music being recorded, but also whomyou get to spend time with while you’re there.It’s all about the relationships with the peopleyou’re creating with. If that’s good, it will alwayscome through in the music.”

MIKE ELIZONDODR. DRE, EMINEM, FIONA APPLE, MAROON 5

Mike Elizondo has built a killer career for himself as bothbassist and producer for some of the top acts in today’s pop

and hip-hop.


1957 Fender Precision Bass;

’64 Hofner Beatle Bass;

early-’90s Sadowsky J-style

5-string; Pendulum Audio

Quartet II Mercenary Edition

preamp; Line 6 Lowdown

LD300 Pro combo; Aguilar

and Ampeg amps


ON WRITING CHARTS FOR SESSIONS:“My dirty little secret is when I make a chartfor a session, I chart it in treble clef, like a saxplayer. With Alice In Chains, often I’ll put apart down early on, and after I hear the gui-tars and vocals I’ll add to it or edit it down; orI’ll redo it altogether because I’ll hear a newline running through everything that will hookup all the notes. Our music is so dense withguitars and vocals that sometimes I’ll just stayheavy and low to let everything ride on top. Itall depends on the character of the song; I tryto approach each one as it’s own entity.”

ON TECHNIQUE:“Over the last three years I’ve been diving intoalternating-string exercises with my index andmiddle fingers to get my right hand happening.It depends on the song; there’s something aboutfingers that makes you feel like a bonafidebassist. I use the pick to slam a lot of fifths andpower chords, especially behind the guitar solos,and I do a lot of string bends with my left hand,and I like using vibrato and slides to make myparts fluid.”

ON KEEPING GOOD COMPANY:“I really got to grow and refine my style byvirtue of playing with some different artists;mainly doing five tours, an album, and a sound-track with Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart.Music just oozes out of their pores. They’ll jamall day, perform at night, and then get on thebus and play Beatles tunes until 6AM. We woulddo country sessions jamming with folks likeWynonna Judd, Carrie Underwood, RufusWainwright, and Gretchen Wilson. That reallystretched me out, musically. And a personalcrowning moment for me was having Lemmyask me to play on a Motörhead record!”

ON HIS HEROES:“When I’m at home, I find myself playing alongwith a lot of early Elton John. Dee Murray’s

playing on Elton’s live radio show album [11-17-70, Rocket/Island, 1971] is a showcase forhow to be a tasty, melodic, space-filling bassist,without being pretentious. Doing all those mov-ing lines underneath with such pocket andimagination is a hard line to walk, and he’sfluid and natural with it.

“I was really drawn to John Entwistle’saggression and lead bass tones as an integralpart of the Who. He never took the easyapproach to his writing, and always wrote incontext with each individual song. I remembermeeting him at a Hollywood restaurant whenI was starting out, and I said to him, ‘Mr.Entwistle, I think you are a brilliant bass player.’He looked me right in the eye and withoutblinking, said, “I fucking know that!” andwalked away. I thought that was the coolestthing ever!

“Paul McCartney is Bass Playing 101; a greatplace to start if you are just picking up theinstrument. If you sit and listen to his bass linesas their own little pieces you’ll be blown awayby how much personality and tongue-in-cheekhumor he puts into them.

“Led Zeppelin was an amalgamation ofsome truly great ideas: heavy riffage andsuperstar musicians creating a unique blendof timeless tunes. John Paul Jones is such afantastic all-around musician and it bleedsinto his amazing bass lines. His solid funda-mentals gave him a great platform to exper-iment as a bassist, songwriter, and producer.Chops, tone, and an inventive brain—this dudeis an all-timer!

“Cliff Burton was magical to watch in con-cert with Metallica. I always felt he wasn’t thereto entertain you, he was there to kick your facein! He had a unique way of focusing all thataggression and angst into a finely-tuned assault,delivered with the explosiveness of a shuttlelaunch. He smashed stereotypes of what thecapabilities and limitations of the instrumentwere at the time.”

MIKE INEZALICE IN CHAINS, OZZY OSBOURNE, HEART,

BLACK LABEL SOCIETY

The ultimate sideman, Mike Inez has logged studio and stage timewith some of the heaviest bands in the business.


Warwick Streamer Stage I;

Spector 4-strings; Dean

Markley Blue Steel strings;

biamped Ampeg rig


Totally Tubular!JA

ME

SM

INC

HIN


ON WORKING WITH MILES DAVIS:“Miles was like a musical father to me. In 1980,I was booked to play on a session for him, buthe never showed up. A year later, during a coun-try date, I got a note saying, ‘Call Miles.’ Heanswered the phone and asked me to meet himat CBS Studios in an hour. I went in and intro-duced myself and played with everybody for awhile without much being said. When we werefinished, he asked me to join his band. Earlyon, he occasionally gave me a hard time, buthe was always very supportive and proud ofmy session career. He used to tell his girlfriend,‘This is Marcus Miller. He drives a BMW.’ Even-tually, as we grew together musically, he placedentire projects in my hands, which was incred-ibly scary yet extremely encouraging. In retro-spect, I would say that my bass style solidifiedon The Man with the Horn, and my compos-ing took giant strides beginning with Tutu.”

TONE TIPS:“Many bassists are consumed by their pickups,amps, and EQs, but so much of that is bogus. Ifyou take a singer’s voice—say Chaka Khan’s—you could EQ it any way you want: all lows, allmids—and you could give her every mike on themarket—but it would still be Chaka. For basstone there are two levels. One is the instrument’snatural sound, which is constant. So it’s essen-tial to find a bass that sounds good acoustically.Remember that on most records only one bassfrequency comes through, and that’s the lowend. So if your bass doesn’t have a good natu-ral tone and has to rely on the preamp or boardfor bottom, your sound is going to suffer.

“Second is how you shade or color the tonebased on the song and the setting. So you haveto make sure your tone is right when everyoneelse is playing. Try to do what I do: Get some-one to play your bass while you stand out inthe hall. You’ll hear needed adjustments youwould never think of just by standing in frontof your amp.

“The other consideration is musical. If you’replaying in a jazz trio, the sound coming off yourhands is everything. If you’re backing a pop

singer in an arena, the bottom end is importantbecause that’s what people are going to hear.My shows require both; there’s a lot of toneinvolved in my inflections and phrasing whenI’m up front, but when I’m supporting some-one else I just provide a note that I know thosebig old speakers are gonna grab and dance with.”

ON SLAPPING: “I strike the strings right in front of the chromeneck-pickup cover, not at the bottom of theneck where you get all the overtones. A lot oftimes I don’t pluck [i.e., pop] at all. That devel-oped during my jingle days, because I foundthat using my thumb was the best way to hearthe bass coming out of a tiny TV speaker. Plus,if you use two alternating fingers, as I do whenI play fingerstyle, there’s always a strong notefollowed by a weak one; with the thumb, everynote is strong. That became really importantwhen I started doubling sequenced keyboard-bass parts. Then I began challenging myself tosee if I could develop the speed to play entirecharts using only my thumb. I still add pluckswhenever they’re necessary. But I think a lotof players tend to overuse them. The plucks arejust accents, afterthoughts—the funk is in thethumb.”

ON INSPIRATION AND EMULATION:“Much of it is vocal. When I slide up to a noteor bend to it, it’s emulating a singer, becausethey usually don’t hit notes right on. The ham-mer-ons and trills pertain to vocal vibrato, butI also use them because the fretted bass doesn’tsustain as well, so I’ll add a hammer-on to keepthe note going. Plus, it gives the line attitude.Then there’s the move where I tap a note up onthe G string and pull off on two lower notes onthe string—I got that from [guitarist] Hiram Bul-lock, but I think of it as vocal yodeling, like LeonThomas used to do. Another influence is bluesguitarists; they’ve developed a whole languageof making their instrument vocal. On the otherhand, it’s nice to develop and use the qualitiesthat are unique about your instrument, so I keepthat aspect in mind. I think playing other instru-


1977 Fender Jazz Bass with

Sadowsky preamp; DR

Strings; SWR amps; dbx 160

Compressor


MARCUS MILLERMILES DAVIS, GROVER WASHINGTON, JR., CHAKA KHAN

Marcus Miller is a man who wears many hats—and not justof the porkpie variety. Even before getting a big break as oneof the young guns Miles Davis employed in the early ’80s,

Marcus had made his mark with killer grooves on records byGrover Washington, Jr., the Brecker Brothers, and Roberta

Flack. He went on to build an impressive career as a sessionman, bandleader, producer, and arranger.

PA

UL

HA

GG

AR

D


ments helps me, too, as does the fact that I’ve worked withphrasing masters like Miles, Luther Vandross, and Roberta Flack.The bottom line is: Phrasing is everything. It’s what sets youapart and gives music its character. Once you’ve learned yourscales and techniques, you have to come out the other side andrealize it’s all a tool, and now you have to find a way to reachpeople.”

ON THE CONTEMPORARY STUDIO SCENE:“It’s a bit tougher now for young bassists to get experience. Iwas fortunate to play in the studios with different people everyday for six or seven years, and I always say I learned just asmuch playing with bad drummers as with good ones. Plus, youlearn so much about people—what makes them excited aboutmusic and your bass playing. I also spent those years in head-phones, with my bass under a magnifying glass—so in terms oftone, phrasing, and subtleties, I probably developed a lot there,playing with other musicians on headphones. You just can’tduplicate that with a program or a CD-ROM. Bassists todayneed to find a way to get out there and play in as many bands

and situations as possible. [Drummer] Poogie Bell has donesome of the jam-band shows, and he says the crowds are reallyopen to what they hear, so I hope that will continue to growas an outlet for live bands.

“On the other hand, there’s some cool music being madeby artists combining machines and musicians. I think that’swhat this age has to offer right now: these hybrid situationsthat are really a new sound. Basically, the world today is humansinteracting with machines, so why shouldn’t music be thatway? Musicians now are doing a better job of reflecting lifewith their machines than they did 15 years ago, when every-thing sounded very mechanized. If you go to a club and heara song like Dr. Dre’s “In the Club,” created using today’s tech-nology with those big speakers in mind, you can’t deny themusic’s power. And I’m one who believes that dance musicdrives everything; jazz, Afro-Cuban, R&B, it all emanated fromdance clubs. So machines aren’t going anywhere. But the onething they can’t replace is musicians sweating onstage, mak-ing music and having people respond to it. That’s somethingI’ll always strap on my bass and do.”

MARCUS MILLER


www.fender.com/fba© 2009 FMIC. Fender®, Bassman®, Precision Bass®, P Bass®, and the distinctive headstock designs commonly found on these

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ON THE MID-’80S STUDIO SEA CHANGE:“There was a time in the ’80s when I startedto feel weird about calling myself a bassist. Thesynth guys were rolling all this gear into thestudios, making all this money, and you had towonder: ‘What am I going to do now?’ Peoplewould ask me what I did, and I’d say, [barelyaudible] ‘Uh … I’m a bassist.’ And their atti-tude was: ‘Yeah? What time do you have tohave the instrument back to the museum?’ Itwasn’t until I ran into Phil Collins and EricClapton that I got my confidence back. WhenI heard Phil say, ‘I’m a drummer,’ and saw Ericout there just plugging in his guitar, I though,Great—this is still an art form I can be proudto attach my name to.”

ON THE CONTEMPORARY SESSION SCENE:“The Pro Tools phenomenon is the main dif-ference. I play alone on a lot of the tracks peo-ple send, and it gets lonely! I’m playing by myselfon probably 70 percent of my session load—soit’s a real treat to record with Eric Clapton or

Fourplay, where you’re creating and cuttingwith a live rhythm section. The L.A. scene haschanged so much; you used to be able to goout to clubs like the Baked Potato on a Tues-day night and get schooled by Jeff Porcaro orLee Ritenour or Abe Laboriel, who were in stu-dios by day and the clubs by night. Now, bothscenes have tapered off a great deal.”

ON ROLLING IN WITH DEMO REELS:“When a producer gets a killer bass sound fromme, I ask him to make me a tape I can play forother engineers. I’ll play that tape and say, ‘Lis-ten to this: same bass, same settings. This iswhat it can sound like.’”

ON THE STAGE VS. THE STUDIO:“People have asked me, ‘Which do you prefer:studio or live?’ That’s a tricky question—but atleast in the studio you get representation. Live,I don’t know when you ever get representationof your sound. People don’t hear you, espe-cially at the arena gigs.”

ON MINDING THE GROOVE:“I usually start by simplifying; that way I canreally hear what’s going on. I weed out as muchas I can so I can listen and figure out how toreact. It’s Chuck Rainey’s concept of ‘what youdon’t play is as important as what you do play.’I listen to the whole drum kit and try to placemy part right in the sweet spot. When thegroove is really happening, you find yourselfin a position of being a listener—you’re actu-ally on the outside looking in. It’s like a littleZen zone where you feel like the groove is play-ing you. You’re not playing it; you’re allowingit to happen.”

STUDIO TIP:“You don’t necessarily have to move to NewYork or L.A. anymore. Technology has madeit a whole new game—you can be in Clevelandand killing it! You’re just as likely to be on ahit record there as you are in L.A. I suggest set-ting up a home studio around your computer,and then start writing tunes. Find out who’sdoing jingles, CDs—any recording in your area.The best thing you can do nowadays is startstirring it up right there in your hometown.”

NATHAN EASTERIC CLAPTON, PHIL COLLINS, FOURPLAY

Since the early ’80s, Nathan East has been a first-call sessionbassist for pop, rock, and R&B icons ranging from Eric Clapton

and Phil Collins to Mary J. Blige and Boyz II Men.


Yamaha BBNE2 6-string; ’72

Fender Precision Bass;

Clevinger 5-string electric

upright; Aguilar amps and

cabs; AccuGroove cabs;

Avalon Design VT-737 tube

preamp; Aphex 1100 C;ass A

tube mic preamp


ON INDIVIDUALITY:“Having something in your playing that standsout is terrific for individuality, but it can limityou. In most situations producers want the bassto blend in and not draw attention, especiallynow with everyone wanting low end more thanever. So a bassist with a distinctive sound maybe passed over for a session. I may not have asdistinct a sound as some of my peers, but peo-ple still know it’s me by the notes I play.”

ON TONE:“In the studio I very rarely use my onboardpreamp. I prefer the true passive sound, and Irealize the studio has far better electronics than

my bass has. I keep my balance pot dead cen-ter, so both the P and the J pickups are full up.

“I can’t tell you how many times produc-ers or engineers have me tweak my tone whileplaying alone or just with the drums, withouttaking into consideration how the bass is goingto sound when combined with all the otherinstruments. That’s a big fallacy in recordingbass. You need to judge the sound in the con-text of everything else on the track.”

ON FAIR COMPENSATION:“Bass is probably the most undercredited instru-ment, because it has the ability to drive the musicin a particular direction without the listener—and often the other musicians—knowing it.When the bass player moves in a successful newdirection, everybody falls in so instantly andseamlessly it’s usually not immediately appar-ent why. To drive a whole song on bass, or fora rhythm section to come up with a killerarrangement, and be paid a flat labor wage justdoesn’t seem fair. Songwriting and publishingall pay again on radio, TV, and film, but whatthe sideman contributes doesn’t. It’s not some-thing I’m bitter about, but I can think of plentyof sessions like that in my career.”

ON THE ONCE AND FUTURE SESSIONSCENE:“There’s not a lot of major session work for bassistsin L.A. anymore. The players I compete with forcalls have been the same for over a decade. I thinkthe answer is to emulate the current music sceneand embrace the technology. Hone your bassskills, but also develop some keyboard and song-writing skills. Then take out a loan and get a homestudio together. Learn about the gear and the soft-ware and how to program, and start puttinggrooves and tunes together. From there you canbegin collaborating with other home studio own-ers, including playing bass on their tracks. We’vereached the point where a whole generation ofartists has been raised entirely on machines andsynthesized sounds. If enough home-studio-savvybass players counter this by adding real bass onthe projects they’re involved in, the session bassist—and the instrument—will maintain a healthy exis-tence.”

NEIL STUBENHAUSQUINCY JONES, JOHN WILLIAMS, BARBRA STREISAND

Neil Stubenhaus has landed some killer live gigs, but it’s his ses-sion work—especially for movie soundtracks—where he’s made his

most lasting impressions.


Mid-’70s Fender Precision with

Seymour Duncan PJ pickups;

James Tyler 5-string; Pedulla

PentaBuzz 5; Rotosound RS66

Swing Bass strings; SWR Super

Redhead and Intersteller Over-

drive preamp; Raven Labs

APD-1 DI box

NE

ILZ

LO

ZO

WE

R


ON HARNESSING CREATIVITY INTHE STUDIO:“The first take is always the one—nodoubt about it. On the first take you don’tknow what you’re going to play, becauseyou never played the song before, andyou’re using a different part of your brain.In this case, we probably kept or repro-duced a lot of ideas from my first take.”

ON GETTING INTO THE GROOVEWITH D’ANGELO:“It was a meeting of minds and influ-ences and sounds, but the feel is 100%Dee. His concept has the drums righton the beat—almost pushing—with thekeyboards and bass hanging back in theirown places. At points it can even soundpolyrhythmic; some of it reminds me ofmusic I’ve heard in Africa. When we firstrecorded he’d explain how far back hewanted me, and it felt pretty natural. I’djust try to lay back with the keyboardsand listen to the overall feel. Still, therewere times when I’d wonder if it was toofar back—if people would get it. But whenhe’d finish putting his vocals and soundcollages on top, the whole track wouldwork splendidly. He hears everything inhis head before he records a note.

“My approach, which Dee encour-

aged, was to constantly develop the linewith subtle variations, à la Jamerson.Another key is that Ahmir Thompson’sdrumming is very Motown-like; he leavesplenty of room for the bass because hejust plays straight, heavy time, withouta lot fills. Both Dee and Ahmir are purehip-hop artists, so everything has aswung-16th-note feel. Ahmir can takethat old swung soul feel and make itsound contemporary by adding an edgi-ness that didn’t exist back then. The threeof us cut all the scratch rhythm tracksas a trio, and in most cases I ended upreplacing my part later, with Dee.”

ON FRETLESS BASS:“The fretless is now on so many record-ings, commercials, and films that it some-times seems like such an obvious thingto do—so it’s nice to step away from itand take a different angle. Also, most ofthe fretless dates I did were in overdubsituations, whereas many of the sessionsI get to do nowadays are with a liverhythm section. And while the fretlessfits into certain sonic situations, such asan arrangement with lush keyboards,the fretted bass usually sounds betterwith live drums. That’s not to say I’mdown on the fretless; I still love playing

the instrument and there are placeswhere it fits perfectly.”

ON RECORDING THE DON HEN-LEY HIT “NEW YORK MINUTE”:“When I first heard the song on the mon-itors there was a smile on my face,because it’s such a beautiful composition.At that point there was no bass, but therewas plenty of space left for me to fill up.The rest of the track, including Jeff Por-caro’s drums and Don’s lead vocal, wascomplete. I used my ’79 fretless MusicMan StingRay with new roundwoundstrings; they remained on for the entiresession, which took the better part of theday. I wasn’t given a chord sheet or anynotation to follow; I just learned the songthrough repeated listenings, and it inspiredwhat I played. Aside from a particularmovement they wanted on the end of thebridge, I was free to create my own part.Once we got going, I believe I playedthree versions, and they put the final parttogether from different portions of allthree. I always try to play through theentire track on as many takes as possi-ble. Usually, I get down two takes andhave a good vibe going; we keep themfor security and then work on a third taketo connect all of the ideas.”

PINO PALLADINOD’ANGELO, DON HENLEY, PAUL YOUNG, JOHN MAYER

Pino Palladino first made a name for himself with his fretlesssubhooks on hits by Paul Young and Don Henley, moving on tomake super-deep R&B grooves with D’Angelo and ballsy blues

rock with John Mayer.


1963 Fender Precision Bass with heavy La Bella flatwounds; 1979 fretless

Music Man StingRay with roundwounds; Moon basses; Ampeg B-15, Boss

OC-2 Octave


ON PLAYING SYNTH BASS WITHARETHA FRANKLIN AND WHITNEYHOUSTON:“It was the sound of the time and we were try-ing to move the music forward. I was one ofthe first with a sequencer, too. Playing synthbass was cool—the physical aspect and theunique tone make you play with a differentapproach than a real bass—plus I had some key-board background, which helped. I used Min-imoogs and Prophet 5’s. I still use them.”

ON SYNCING WITH PROGRAMMEDDRUMS:“A lot of urban music has programmed drums

like the Roland 808 sitting real low, so youdon’t necessarily need big bottom from the bass.Below 80Hz everything starts to spread reallywide, so I’m probably not going to reach formy 5-string in that scenario.”

ON PRODUCING WITH NARADAMICHAEL WALDEN:“I’d met Narada on the fusion scene and wewere all growing tired of the music; we wantedto reach a wider audience than just musicians.I had moved to L.A. and was breaking into ses-sions, but when he told me about his company,I headed up to San Francisco to try to honemy skills as a producer and songwriter. We werelearning on the job how to be session guysinstead of fusion guys, trying to pull back a bitand play the right notes instead of all the notes!We did early albums with Stacy Lattisaw andSister Sledge, which included my first publishedsongs, and we went all the way to the top ofthe charts with Aretha Franklin and WhitneyHouston. The scene in San Francisco was great,too. At one point, I was in a pickup band withCarlos Santana, Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, ChesterThompson, Joe Henderson, and Tony Williams.”

ON DOING IT RIGHT:“Listen first to the song and the lyrics and fig-ure out what role the bass needs you to play.Also figure out what sound will work best. Thenlisten to the people you’re playing with—whateach of them is doing—to see how you can bestcomplement the music, because it’s all aboutthe song coming out as one cohesive emotionalstatement to the listener. Try to take the lis-tener’s perspective. You can pull apart Aretha’s‘Rock Steady,’ with the drum breaks, and gui-tar accents, and where Aretha sings and laysout, but it’s Chuck Rainey’s amazing bouncingbass part that unifies all of those parts together,and that’s why it’s such a great song; he madethe song with his bass line. The same can besaid of dozens of Jamerson and McCartneyparts. Even if you’re in a jam playing ‘GiantSteps,’ there’s still a melody you have to sup-port in the head. Make sure you complementit and take the same approach during every-one’s solos; you’ll be ahead of the game.”

RANDY JACKSONARETHA FRANKLIN, MARIAH CAREY,

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN

The “American Idol” judge is more than mere television per-sonality—he’s a bonafide session bass badass, with credits

spanning the R&B and pop charts.


Mike Lull 4- and 5-strings;

Dean Markley roundwounds;

Euphonic Audio amps; Line

6 Bass POD


ON BEING A “SESSION MUSICIAN”:“I’m uncomfortable with the term ‘sessions.’That’s what they are, and I probably shouldn’tfeel the way I do about the word. But there wasa time when I really was a ‘session musician’—and I felt okay about it. In those days there wasa ton of work in New York, and if you left fora while, your work would be taken up by othermusicians. It didn’t involve playing with yourown sound, technique, or style; any competentplayer could be used for any session. But at acertain point, I made a decision not to be a ‘ses-sion musician’ anymore; I decided I wanted tobe a rock musician and go out on the road. Isubsequently got to play on albums by peoplewho liked the way I play the bass, and ever sincethen, I’ve developed an aversion to being calleda studio or session musician. My playing, too,has changed. I’m not the craftsman I was in the’70s; nowadays I try to come up with parts thatexpress what I want to do with the music.”

ON CREATING: “I use every tool available to come up with dif-ferent things, but all within a framework ofholding it down so it doesn’t ever conflict withwhat the piece is about. I ask other people—especially the singer—for ideas. Usually the per-son who wrote the song has an idea about abass part that’s a real non-bassist kind of thing.When I recorded with Paul Simon he wouldsing me ideas; they were always flowing andmelodic, but they’d be nothing like what abassist would play. Same with Peter Gabriel.”

ON RECORDING DOUBLE FANTASYWITH JOHN LENNON & YOKO ONO:“The sessions at the Hit Factory were ‘secret.’We were asked not to tell anyone whom wewere working for, a situation I found quite silly.On the third day I got into a taxi and told thedriver to let me off at 48th Street and 9thAvenue; he said, ‘Oh, that’s near the studiowhere John Lennon is recording.’ How did heknow? He had heard it on the radio!”

ON HIS LIST OF CREDITS:“I’m glad I’ve never counted them, because thatwould be a silly thing to do. I have a tendencyto forget things, but the figure is certainly inthe hundreds and probably below 1,000.”

ON HIS “SUPER WONDER NAPPYBASS” SOUND:“When I went over to England to record Sowith Peter Gabriel, I took my two-month-olddaughter along. For some reason, I thought Iwouldn’t be able to buy disposable diapersthere, so I packed as many Pampers as I couldfit into my bass case. When I was looking fordampening material for the second part of‘Don’t Give Up,’ I opened my case and foundthe Pampers—so I put one under the strings,between the pickup and the bridge. Indeed, itwas the deepest bottom I’ve ever been able toget out of a Music Man. In England they calldiapers ‘nappies,’ so we called that the ‘superwonder nappy bass.’”

TONY LEVINPETER GABRIEL, KING CRIMSON

Tony Levin has toured the world with Peter Gabriel and KingCrimson, and he’s made lasting impressions on hundreds of pop

and fusion records.


Ernie Ball/Music Man

Stingrays; Chapman Stick;

Trace Elliot amps


ON SESSION NECESSITIES:“You must be able to emulate all the currentstyles and trends. You need the basics, too:being on time; having a good attitude; beingable to read well; and, of course, being ‘PocketCentral,’ ready to lock instantly with varioushuman and non-human rhythm-section part-ners. You should also be able to offer choicesto a producer, including arrangement ideas.”

ON CONQUERING NERVES:“For a long time, my motto was: ‘If I’m notworried, I’m not awake.’ Now, I’d rather beknown as a guy who enjoys playing. My newattitude on sessions is to have a good time, andthat translates musically. If I feel good, thenpeople will feel good when they hear me play.”

ON BLENDING WITH DRUM TRACKS:“There are several ways to approach it. One isplaying exactly what the bass drum is playing,plus a few other notes. I love to do that. Thatkeeps it simple, and keeping it simple is what

it’s all about in most cases. Another way is tototally ignore the kick drum, at least some ofthe time. If the drummer is playing a strong,simple groove, you can depart from it and playsome new things, and it’s not going to stopgrooving. Even if what you play is off the wall,if it’s in time and played with feeling and sin-cerity, it’s probably going to be a be a good part.That was the key to the Motown sound cre-ated by [drummer] Benny Benjamin and JamesJamerson. A third type of possibility exists whenthe song has nothing else going for it in sup-port. That’s a golden opportunity for the basspart to shine.”

ON PLAYING WITH DRUM MACHINES:“I find it easy to do. You can trust where thegroove is going to be, and it stays there. Thatallows me to move around in the pocket andmake the groove breathe.”

ON TONE“Tone is a per-song situation. I like to keepmyself amused and keep the song interestingby changing tone via technique as the song dic-tates.”

ON MONEY MATTERS:“At some point in the ’70s, several of us—AlanSchwartzberg, [guitarist] Elliot Randall, me,and a few others—were feeling pretty coura-geous, so we banded together and decided tocharge double scale. [Session players receive“scale,” a standard hourly rate set by the musi-cians’ union.] We were working a lot, and wethought that by charging double we could weedout some of the sessions that were a drag. Asit turned out—and this is just one of the quirkythings about the music business—people startedcalling even more. Work came flooding in. Now,I’m charging triple scale for the purpose of light-ening my schedule to pursue other musicalgoals, but so far everybody has agreed. That’scool, though, because it allows me to do ses-sions under the best possible circumstances,which includes paying a cartage company tobring a great selection of instruments. When Iaccept a session now, I’m going to do my ulti-mate best.”

WILL LEEBRECKER BROTHERS, ROBERTA FLACK, CHAKA KHAN

Though he’s watched by millions every night as house bassist forthe Late Show with David Letterman, he’s heard by millions moreon any of his legendary records with Chaka Khan, Bette Midler,

James Brown, Donald Fagan, and more.

SSEESSSSIIOONN TTOOOOLLSS::

Sadowsky 4-string; Yamaha

5-string; fretless ’60s

Fender Precision w/EMG JJ

pickups; Dean Markley

SR2000 strings


“Lennon” and “John Lennon” are trademarks of Yoko Ono Lennon. All artwork © Yoko Ono Lennon. Licensed exclusively through Bag One Arts, Inc. Design: Baree Fehrenbach

©

Awards and Prizes$20,000 for the Maxell Song of the Year $120,000 in Project Studio Equipment

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ON WORK ETHIC:“When I go in I want to be very positive andvery open and energetic. When I get ready toplay, I try to open myself and be affected by themusic. I try to let it all come through me andhappen naturally. That’s how I do what I do.”

ON SHIFTING GEARS FROM R&B SES-SIONS TO COUNTRY SESSIONS:“I did one country session where I was actu-ally let go. I called the producer later and said,‘Please just tell me why I was let go.’ He said,‘Well, it just wasn’t jelling.’ [Laughs.] That’sabout all I could get out of him. I immediatelywent out and bought some country records thathad bass players who were doing a lot of

Nashville sessions, just so I could see how itworks. What clicked for me was: not busy, butvery solid. If you do some sort of movement,you have to make sure you don’t bring a lot ofattention to yourself—make sure it doesn’t dis-turb the groove and conflict with the lyrics.

I remember one producer saying, ‘Well, itsounds a little bit happy.’ [Laughs.] I have a lotof fun playing, and sometimes the music feelsso good that you just want to bounce that baby.So I had to learn how to bounce in my mindbut stay focused on the simplicity of the music.Nobody had any idea what I’d be thinking aboutwhen I was playing. Sometimes I’d just be sit-ting there laughing at myself, thinking, Okay,Willie, don’t go off—just stay steady here!”

ON HIS STUDIO TOOLS:“I used to go into sessions with different kindsof basses, just trying out stuff, and the sound Iwas getting was pitiful. I thought, Why can’tthis sound good? It’s just bass! So I startedsearching for a bass that had a good, solid, sim-ple sound, and I ended up with Fender. Theonly time I drifted away from Fender was whenI was with Wynnona Judd. We were playing inkeys like Eb—something that didn’t bother JamesJamerson a bit; he would make the coolestthings out of odd keys—so I started using dif-ferent 5-strings: a Yamaha, a James Tyler, aTobias Killer B, and a Sadowsky.”

ON FLATWOUND STRINGS:“If you’re gonna do Old School, you’ve got toput some flats on there. That’s what they didback then, and it sounded incredible.”

ON THE GROWING POPULARITY OFPROTOOLS:“It doesn’t really affect what I do, although Imiss having more live sessions, getting into aroom with other musicians and creating stuff.But most of the time when I do an overdub,they’ve worked with it until they’ve got it feel-ing good, so I don’t have to go through andfine-tune the groove. I had a situation wherea guy took my bass line from one part and putit in another part because he liked it so much.I said, ‘Okay, if that’s what you want.’ As longas it doesn’t sound bad, it’s fine.”

WILLIE WEEKSDONNIE HATHAWAY, THE ROLLING STONES, GEORGE

HARRISON, STEVIE WONDER, WYNONNA JUDD,

VINCE GILL

On his 1972 Live album, Donnie Hathaway introduces Weeks as“the baddest bass player in the country.” But don’t take his wordfor it—hear for yourself on any one of Willie’s 200 recording cred-

its, which range from classic rock to R&B and country.


1962 Fender Precision Bass;

Ampeg Baby Bass; Ampeg

B-15

AL

AN

NA

HIG

IAN


“I’ve always played the best amps in the world. Then TC Electronic took things to a completely new level with Bass amp 2.0. It’s everything I want and need in an amp – the tone, clarity, durability, power… and the flexibility. So when TC asked me to combine their technology with my experience, I couldn’t wait to get started.

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RECORDING BASS IS EASY, RIGHT?You just plug right into the mixerand go direct for a clean tone,and you can also stick a mic infront of your amp to make yourbass sound more live. Whatcould be simpler?

Not so fast. Recording bassis indeed simple—but getting atone with god-like low end,

crispy and well-defined pres-ence, and a consistent level is awhole other story. To begin with,there’s the issue of physicallyrecording the bass: Do you godirect, mic an amp, or both? Andif you do use an amp, what kindof speaker sounds best, andwhere should you place the mic?What happens if the frequency

response isn’t even, with awimpy low end and muddymidrange? There’s also the prob-lem of uneven level, where somenotes jump out while other notessit timidly back in the track. Andif you didn’t have enough tothink about already, you shouldknow even your cords can affectyour sound.

Recording DirectWith direct recording, you plug the bass into a direct box (alsocalled a DI, for direct input), whose output typically feeds amixer’s mic-preamp input. Recording bass direct is popularbecause loudspeakers and microphones don’t handle low fre-quencies very well, often removing some of the fullness. Unlikeguitar amps, where speaker limitations can enhance the sound,bass amps are constantly fighting the laws of physics. Still,since an amp can be a big part of a bassist’s sound, some peo-ple like to mic their amp or combine a miked amp and a directbox.

DIRECT BOXESA direct box transforms the high-impedance output of a typ-ical bass (approximately 4,000 to 10,000Ω) to a low imped-ance (usually 150–600Ω). This lower-impedance signal is bettersuited for mixing consoles, which usually have a fairly lowinput impedance.

A DI has some or all of the following:• qq" input jack. The bass plugs into this.• XLR (3-pin) output jack. This uses a mic cable to take thesignal to the board.• qq" output jack. This can be routed to an unbalanced mixer

Bass Meets The StudioBy Jay Graydon & Craig Anderton

S T U D I O T E C H


Totally Tubular!

input but can also feed a standard bass amp, drive an effectspedal that gets mixed in with the main signal, etc. Note: SomeDI designs use this jack as a “mult” (simple split) from theinput jack. If so, plug this only into a bass amp, not a mixingconsole.• Ground-lift switch. This helps eliminate ground loops; if youencounter hum, radio-frequency interference, or other formsof noise, use whichever switch position sounds best.• Goodies. Direct boxes may also include EQ, distortion options,and other extras.

Direct boxes are also useful for live performance, as youcan pull a direct output for the PA and/or recording setup andalso feed a bass amp onstage.

There are three basic DI designs:• Passive. Uses an audio transformer with a high-impedanceinput and low-impedance output. Unfortunately, quality trans-

formers are expensive, and a passive-DI input can still imped-ance-load the pickup somewhat, resulting in a dark, mushysound and reduced level. However, if you’re trying to recre-ate classic bass sounds of the ’60s and ’70s, transformer-basedDIs will get you there.• Active solid state. Essentially a preamp that adds clarity andpunch compared to a passive DI. Downsides include morenoise and the need for a power supply (battery, AC adapter, orconsole phantom power).• Active tube. Similar to the solid-state type but with a vac-uum tube. Tubes have high input impedances, making themwell-suited for pickups; they can also warm up the sound. Tubedirect boxes require their own power supply.

Incidentally, before plugging into any DI or patching oneinto a mixer, set the console’s faders all the way down to avoidnasty noises and possible speaker damage.


PREAMPSInstead of using a DI box, you can use a preamp. Preamps addgain to the bass signal, which improves the signal-to-noiseratio and delivers more signal to the console. There are fourmain types: • Onboard. Some basses have built-in active electronics thatdeliver a hefty signal capable of directly driving an unbalancedmixer input. This also minimizes the impedance-loading effectsof cables and amplifiers or mixer-channel inputs.• Outboard. Typically a rackmount unit containing controlsfor gain, EQ, etc. Some also have XLR outputs for direct record-ing. These preamps have q" output jacks and can directly drivea console with unbalanced inputs—no DI required.• Bass amp direct out. Many amps have a directoutput for recording or PA connection. Some havea q" output jack, but recording-savvy manufactur-ers may include an XLR.• Effects-loop SEND connection. If an amp has aneffects loop, you can use the SEND jack as a pre-amp out. Some loops use a q" TRS (tip-ring-sleeve)stereo jack where the tip corresponds to send andthe ring corresponds to return; to use such a jackas a preamp out for a mono q" plug, insert the plughalfway—until it hits the first “click.” (Plugging inall the way will interrupt the effects loop, thus allow-ing no output from the amp.)

FEEDING THE PATCH BAYYou can also plug an unbalanced output into a recording-con-sole patch bay that has q" jacks. Depending on the patch bay,this may require plugging in only partially, or you may needto use an unbalanced-to-balanced adapter.

DIRECT RECORDER FEEDFor the cleanest possible signal, bypass the mixer entirely andpatch the DI out, preamp out, or effects send directly into therecorder. There’s nothing quite like a good tube direct boxfeeding a quality recording deck.

CABLES & CONNECTIONSIn a typical studio setup, you’d patch your bass into a directbox’s input and patch the output into the mixer (or mic bay,in larger studios). It’s usually best to use the DI’s XLR jack, asthis is tailored for the console’s mic input. If there’s an addi-tional q" output, you can run it to your bass amp, either formonitoring or miking. Careful, though—with some DIs the XLR

and q" jacks aren’t isolated from each other, so using morethan one of these outputs can cause loading problems thatdegrade the sound.

AMP MIKINGAdding a miked amp to your direct signal changes your tone,since a microphone, amplifier, speaker, and cabinet are now inthe equation. They’re all essentially signal processors, and theway you use them will make a big difference in the final sound.

SECRETS OF THE GRILLE COVERA grille cover is a passive filter that can affect frequency response,and if it rings or resonates it may buzz like a blown speaker.Once a cabinet is in place in the studio, if it’s easy to removethe cover, do so—the sound will be better. However, don’t let amic hit an exposed speaker; be sure to anchor it (see below).

MIKE POSITIONINGIt helps to have someone else, like a second engi-neer, adjust the mic position while you’re in thecontrol room. (If the console is in the same roomas the musicians, all of you may be wearing head-phones.) Any type of mic can work: dynamic, con-denser, or ribbon. If the amp will be fairly loud,use a dynamic mic; these deal best with loud soundsources. (Rule of thumb: Never put a condenseror ribbon mic where you wouldn’t put your ear.)Whatever mic you select, choose one with an evenbottom-end frequency response.

For a single-speaker cabinet, start by position-ing the mic in front of the speaker, directly facing the cone. Tocapture the punch of the moving air, mic very closely—aboutone inch back from the grille cover (or where the cover wasbefore you removed it). Pointing the mic at the speaker conedoesn’t allow for much low end, though, so more upper-midfrequencies will come through. As you play, have someone slowlymove the mic toward the speaker’s left or right outer edge. Youcan also try moving the mic toward the top of the speaker, butonly if the amp electronics are not right over the speaker. Ifyou’re using a combo and you’re picking up hum from the amp’stransformer (which typically sits on one side of the chassis),move the mic to the other side. If that doesn’t solve the prob-lem, move the mic toward the lower part of the speaker. Thesound bouncing off the floor may cause phase anomalies, soconsider putting the cabinet on a chair, milk crate, etc. Also,when an amp sits on the floor, there is a buildup of low end;this may not be a problem when recording unless you noticeuneven lows. If so, raise the amp or reposition the mic.

Sometimes you’ll find a mic position where the bottom endsounds good but there aren’t enough mids. In this case, tryangling the mic slightly toward the cone at about a 22° angle.(See Fig. 1.)

If the cabinet has more than one speaker, mic each to find

B A S S M E E T S T H E S T U D I O

22°

Fig. 1: Pointing a mic

at a single speaker.


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the best-sounding one. Use that speaker mostly for the bot-tom end, pointing the mic at least halfway between the coneand the edge. (Moving closer to the outer edge results in lessmids, but going too far reduces punch and adds mud.) Then,for the mids, point a separate mic directly at the center of thesecond-best-sounding speaker. Experiment with both mic posi-tions.

Important: With two or more mics, keep them the samedistance from the cabinet so both will receive the sound at thesame time. If there’s a difference you may get phase problems,which can cause frequency buildups and cancellations. If theboard has phase switches, blend the channels in mono, flipone mic channel’s switch, and use the position where bothmics’ combined sound is stronger. And if you’re combiningthe mics with a direct signal, check its phase against that ofthe combined mics, too.

ANCHORING THE MIKE STAND & CABLEMerely positioning the mic is not enough—it has to be stable.Most mic-stand bases can tip easily. The heavier the base, thebetter. Anchor the stand with sand bags or any stable, heavyobject that will not slip or rattle. Placing three 20-pound sandbags around the base is ideal.

While positioning the mic, wrap its cable around the stand’sboom (adjustable upper arm) a few times, and leave a littleslack so the cord doesn’t pull and change the mic’s position.To keep the cord from moving, tie it to the stand using remov-able cable ties. Don’t use permanent cable ties, as you willhave to cut the tie later and risk damaging the cable. Velcrocable wraps are the easiest to set up and remove. Duct tapealso works, although it leaves an adhesive residue. There shouldbe very little cable slack at the mic-stand base.

Secure the cable to the floor. On wood floors use duct tape,and cross the cable with tape in one-foot strips at least every

The electric bass uses electro-

magnetic pickups to convert

string vibration into electrical

energy, and a cord to convey this

energy to an amplifier. The

pickup, amplifier input, and cord

all interact in a way that greatly

influences the final bass sound.

Here’s why:

CCaabbllee CCaappaacciittaannccee

An onboard passive tone control

rolls off highs by applying a

capacitor from the instrument’s

“hot” signal to ground. Surprise—

your cable has capacitance, too,

which has the same electrical

effect as adding another tone

knob. While this capacitance is

not nearly as much as a tone con-

trol’s, it’s significant in some situa-

tions. Whether this has a major

effect depends on two other fac-

tors: amp-input impedance and

bass-output impedance.

AAmmpp--IInnppuutt IImmppeeddaannccee

When sending a signal to an

amplifier (or mixer), some of the

signal gets lost due to the amp’s

input impedance, which is speci-

fied in ohms (a resistance unit)

or kΩ (“k” for short, which stands

for thousands of ohms). With

passive bass pickups, lower amp-

input impedances load down the

bass and produce a duller sound.

(Tubes have inherently high

input impedances, which might

partially account for their endur-

ing popularity).

Impedance doesn’t affect

just level—the higher the imped-

ance, the greater the tone con-

trol’s effect. This is why a tone

knob can seem very effective

with some amps and not with

others. Cable capacitance is also

more of an issue with higher

input impedances.

Examples: An input imped-

ance of 250k or higher will have

virtually no effect on your signal.

Between 100k and 250k there

can be a slight, almost impercep-

tible dulling. Between 50k and

100k you’ll hear high-frequency

loss but not much of a volume

drop. Under 50k the sound will

be obviously compromised; 10k-

and-less impedances, common in

pro-level signal processors and

amps, will load down your signal

big-time.

BBaassss--OOuuttppuutt IImmppeeddaannccee

An instrument’s output imped-

ance is equivalent to adding a

resistor in series with the bass,

lowering volume somewhat.

Almost all stock pickups have a

relatively high output impedance

(around 10k), while active pickups

have a low output impedance

(under 1k). Note that high output

impedances make cable-capaci-

tance effects more noticeable.

Furthermore, the bass-out-

put impedance and amp-input

impedance interact. Generally

you want a very high amp-input

impedance if you’re using stock

pickups, as this minimizes signal

loss (especially in the high fre-

quencies). Active pickups, which

have lower output impedances,

are relatively immune to an

amp’s input impedance.

TThhee BBoottttoomm LLiinnee

If you want a bass setup that

sounds pretty much the same

regardless of the cable you’re

using (and is also relatively

immune to amplifier loading),

consider replacing your passive

pickups with actives. Or, feed

your bass into an effect (preamp,

compressor, buffer, etc.) with a

high input impedance.

If you’re committed to using

a stock bass and high-impedance

amp, keep your cord as short as

possible, as a longer cable means

more cable capacitance. Cable

specs include a figure for capaci-

tance, usually specified in pico-

farads (pF) per foot; choose

cable with the lowest pF-per-foot

rating. (Paradoxically, heavy-duty

cables often have higher capaci-

tance than lightweight ones.)

Avoid coil cords, and keep your

onboard volume control as high

as possible.


PICKUPS, CABLES & IMPEDANCE


two or three feet. Avoid duct tape on carpeted floors; instead,put throw rugs or carpet remnants over the cable.

GROUND ZEROBefore plugging any mics into the console, set the board’sfaders all the way down. In fact, whenever you start a record-ing session, it’s good practice to “zero out” the console (i.e.,turn down all faders and auxiliary sends, reset all EQ controls,and set all switches to their standard positions).

BAFFLING THE AMPWhen your amp is in a live-sounding small or medium-sizeroom along with mics for other instruments, leakage from onetrack to another can occur. Leakage will be a major problemif you need to fix a performance later, because when you punchin, the leakage disappears and the mix changes. Baffling (sur-rounding the amp with sound-absorbent structures) can min-imize leakage.

If necessary, create a “baffle box.” Pro studios use manu-factured baffles that combine air pockets and sound-absorb-ing materials; however, you can stack milk crates and throwblankets over them, or get two tall fans and stretch a thickblanket between them. All baffle surfaces should be very soft—for example, cloth stuffed with cotton. Baffle each side of theamp (unless you’re using a closed-back cabinet, in which casethe baffles can form a V in front), with a baffle lying acrossthe box’s top. If you don’t have a good baffle for the top, usea packing blanket. Leave room on the front for speaker “breath-ing room” as well as space for the mic stand. All other sidescan be baffled “tight.” (With an open-back cabinet, leave breath-ing room in the back, too.) If the room has a soft, non-reflec-tive wall, point the cabinet toward it and use the wall as abaffle. Angle the speaker slightly away from the wall to avoidphase problems.

Caution: When baffling overhead with combo amps, allow

for air circulation to prevent the amp from overheating. Neverlet a blanket drape over the back of an amp! With a separatehead and cabinet, set the amp head on a carpeted section offloor so the speakers won’t rattle the electronics. As always,patch the amp to the cab with heavy-duty speaker cables—preferably 14 gauge or heavier—not mic or guitar cables.

REFINING THE SOUNDOnce the baffling is set and the mic is roughly in place, dial inthe sound on the console. First, set the levels to avoid overload.Next, move the mic to find the best spot. Before adding consoleEQ, try adjusting the tone at the amp; when it sounds good, tryadding some console EQ. If the sound still isn’t right, you mayneed to move the mic around some more. If that helps, switchout the EQ and start over. Try other mics, too. You often won’tget things right the first time, so don’t be impatient.

Even with really good miking, you may notice certain notesjumping out or dropping back in level. This is normal andcaused by frequency buildups and cancellations. Adding com-pression should help.

When the amp is isolated in its own room, adding a roommic can yield a more live, rock-friendly sound. Place it a fairdistance from the amp so it picks up lots of room reflections.There may be huge anomalies in the low end, so you may needto add lots of compression and EQ before it blends with theother bass signals.

EQUALIZATIONEqualization can make or break a bass sound. It’s importantto remember no two instruments sound exactly alike—so inaddition to trying the suggested EQ settings, you should getto know how your bass responds at specific frequencies. Thiswill help you recognize problem areas and find “sweet spots.”

As usual, experimentation is the key. Tweak the EQ con-

Speakers can really affect an

amp’s sound. If they’re cheap

(with smaller magnets and flimsy

construction), they won’t sound

as good as speakers with bigger

magnets and better

components.

Different-size speakers

sound different—even if they’re

high quality, have similar specs,

and are adequately rated to han-

dle the same wattages.

• 10" speakers sound punchy

because of their size. Since

there’s less speaker-cone mass to

move, the air moves forward

quickly when you attack a note,

resulting in quick response. They

give a natural midrange and

defined pitch center but produce

less bottom than larger speakers.

(Using multiple speakers in a

cabinet increases both volume

and low end.)

• 12" speakers have intermediate

punch and bottom. Quality 12"

speakers are a safe choice.

• 15" speakers provide less punch

but deeper lows.

• 18" speakers are generally too

bottomy-sounding for record-

ing—not because of excessive

lows but because of poor

midrange to balance. Boosting

the amp’s mid frequencies may

help note definition, or you can

use an 18 along with a 10 or 12.

In terms of cabinets, open-

back types typically have less

bottom than closed-back models

but may offer a more even-

sounding response, since the

speakers can “breathe.” Closed-

back cabinets are more common

for bass amps as they generally

provide more low end.


SPEAKER TYPES


trols and let your ears be your guide; there are no rules in EQ-land. And remember that like basses, not all EQs have thesame sonic character. This is one area where subtle differencesin tone can really influence the overall sound.

STRINGS AS TONE CONTROLSStrings are the most basic form of EQ. New roundwoundshave more highs; old strings sound more dull—or mellow,depending on your taste—and may also have tuning inconsis-tencies. Flatwounds have less highs and produce fewer squeaks.Also, playing fingerstyle generally produces less highs thanusing a pick.

To make sure your new strings stay in tune while record-ing, after tuning a string to pitch (preferably with an electronictuner), pull hard on it to take up any slack on the tuningmachine. Retune, pull again, and repeat until the pitch staysconstant.

EQ TYPESShelving EQ is similar to the type found on a typical homestereo. It can boost or cut either the treble or the bass. Fig. 2shows the shelving EQ’s response; note that in this example

the corner frequency (the frequency where the boosting orcutting begins) is not selectable. Common corner frequenciesare 100Hz for bass and 10kHz for treble.

A 3-band EQ system adds a midrange control, which typ-ically boosts or cuts 12dB–18dB, sometimes at a selectablefrequency. A stepped switch or variable control selects the cen-ter frequency, and a knob dials in the amount of boost or cut.

Graphic EQ splits the audio spectrum into a number ofbands and lets you boost or cut each band with a slider. Themore bands a graphic EQ offers, the more precise the adjust-ments you can make. Top-of-the-line graphics provide a bandevery third of an octave. Graphic EQs work best for subtlesound-shaping over a wide range, or significant boosts or cutswithin just one or two bands.

A parametric equalizer is a more flexible device that spacesseveral full-function, active filters throughout the audio spec-trum. Controls for each filter include boost/cut, center fre-quency, and bandwidth (the range of frequencies boosted, alsocalled “Q” or “resonance”). Fig. 4 illustrates both the responseof a typical parametric EQ stage and the concept of bandwidth.

Some boards have what’s called “quasi-parametric EQ.” Thisresembles a parametric but without the bandwidth control.

Even though most basses put out

a mono signal, you can use stereo

compression for certain applica-

tions. For example, when mixing a

song, suppose you want to com-

press a huge bass-amp bump

around 300Hz but leave the rest

of the signal alone. Fig. 9 shows

the mixdown patch you’d use to

do this. (It assumes your mixer

input modules have INSERT jacks.)

1. Split the recorder’s bass track

and return one split to console

module 1. Patch the send signal

from the module’s INSERT jack to

the stereo compressor’s chan-

nel 1 input.

2. Patch the other bass-track split

to console module 2 and set to

unity gain. This signal will not be

monitored but used only as a

control signal to compress mod-

ule 1’s signal when the 300Hz

peak happens. (Do not assign it

to the stereo monitor bus.) Patch

module 2’s direct output (pre-

sumably post-EQ) into the stereo

compressor’s channel 2 input.

3. Boost module 2’s board EQ by

10dB at 300Hz. Cut everything

below 200Hz and above 400Hz

using either a multi-stage para-

metric EQ or variable-frequency

high and low shelving EQ.

4. Before putting the compressor

into link mode, run the tape and

look at the compressor’s channel

1 GAIN REDUCTION meter. Play the

whole song to find the loudest

bass notes. At this point you

don’t want any compression at

all on channel 1, so if gain reduc-

tion occurs, raise the threshold

until it’s just above the point

where compression kicks in. You

may need to play the song a few

times to find the proper setting.

5. Now play the song from the

beginning, and when the 300Hz

peak hits, set the compressor

channel 2 threshold to show about

3dB of gain reduction, with a fast

ATTACK setting and the release set

to taste. The release time will

depend on the duration of the

frequency peak; try 150ms to start.

6. Switch into link mode. When

the 300Hz peak occurs, it will

compress channel 1 (which car-

ries the signal going to the con-

sole) by the same amount shown

on channel 2.


LINK MODE APPLICATION FOR BASS

preamp

treble

mid

bass

send 1

send 2

send 3 & 4

panpots

assign the firstmodule to thestereo bus

rolloffabove 400Hzboost @ 300Hz

rolloffunder 200Hz

do not assign the second moduleto the stereo bus

1 2

from previouslyrecorded bass track

insert receive

insert send

direct out

input

compressor

channel 2

channel 1

out

out

in

in

Fig. 8: Using a compressor in stereo link mode to change

the response for one channel only.


FINDING EQ HOT SPOTSHere’s how to find any instrument’s EQ “hot spots.” It worksbest on a full parametric EQ, but you can modify the proce-dure to work with other EQ types.1. Start with very low monitor levels, as you’ll be adding a lotof boost. Set the boost/cut controls to zero and the bandwidthcontrols to a relatively narrow Q value (such as one-quarteroctave).2. While you’re playing, have someone boost the low frequen-cies by 6dB–8dB. Sweep the frequency control—rapidly at firstto get an overview, and then more slowly to zero in on spe-cific areas.3. You will encounter certain settings that sound good andstrong, while others will sound bad (muddy, noisy, etc.). Afterfinding a good spot, set the boost/cut to flat, turn up to a nor-mal monitoring level, and then boost or cut as needed. Youmay also need to narrow or widen the Q setting; go back andforth between the Q and boost/cut controls until you get thesound you want.

Follow the same procedure with all of the frequency rangeson the EQ. If you hear a response “bump” (peak) you wantto remove, find the frequency where the bump is most obnox-ious and cut that frequency until the sound is more balanced.With parametric EQ, if the bump is not too wide, a small Qmay be all you need.

TYPICAL HOT SPOTSHere are some important frequency ranges for bass:

10Hz–30Hz. Most home stereos can’t reproduce this range,so there’s little point in boosting here. If you do boost in thisarea and don’t hear any change, return to zero boost; other-

wise you’ll use up headroom on frequencies you’ll never hear,and you may even damage your monitors’ woofers.

While miking your amp, if you hear “room rumble” froma ventilation system or outside traffic, try cutting in this range,using shelving EQ if available. (Beware of low-cut buttons onmixing boards; if they extend higher than about 30Hz, they’llthin out your tone.)

30Hz–150Hz. Boosting here brings out the fundamentals(lowest harmonics) of your bass notes.

150Hz–200Hz. A little 200Hz boost may help the bassseem rounder—but if you add only at 200Hz, lower frequen-cies may seem less prominent, thinning out your tone. If youlike what you hear when boosting at 200Hz, use a paramet-ric EQ with a wide Q (two or more octaves) so the boostextends down to 100Hz. If using a wide Q reaches up into the300Hz–400Hz range and the sound becomes too “puffy,” nar-row the Q.

200Hz–600Hz. Boosting in this area tends to cloud up thesound, making neither the notes nor their attacks stronger.You may even want to cut a bit in this region, but be careful—there’s still significant bass energy here.

600Hz–1kHz. To emphasize the higher harmonics, tryboosting here. A little more 800Hz usually does the trick. Ifthe bass is in a thick mix and isn’t very audible, boosting herewill allow the bass to “speak” more—and you won’t have toincrease the overall level (which can clutter the mix further).

1kHz–3kHz. 1kHz helps define notes but does not increasebrightness. 1.5kHz–3kHz emphasizes upper harmonics as wellas the sound of the strings hitting the neck. In general, boost-ing here adds snap and definition.

3kHz–5kHz. Adding a little boost around 4kHz can open

Should EQ come before or after

compression? That depends on

the application. For example, if

the EQ first evens out the signal

by reducing a peak at a certain

frequency, the compressor will do

its job more efficiently. Post-

compressor EQ adds peaks or

dips at various frequencies, which

kind of defeats the purpose of

compressing. Some may argue

this concept (get used to people

arguing any concept when it

comes to recording); for example,

if you specifically want to boost a

frequency range, it makes more

sense to put the compressor first,

because post-EQ compression

will minimize the boost.

Which works best in a partic-

ular situation? Experiment and

listen—but remember that the

usual approach is to place the

EQ before the compressor.

EQ: PRE- OR POST-COMPRESSOR?


frequency

bass cutlevel

bass boost

treble cut

treble boost

Fig. 2: Shelving EQ response.

frequency

level bandwidth

frequency

boost

cut

Fig. 3: Parametric EQ parameters.


up the sound slightly—but finger noise might get overpower-ing, especially if you’re using compression. If you want to boostin this range, listen to the bass part all the way through first.

5kHz–10kHz. Boosting this region doesn’t add much (otherthan finger and string noise) unless you’re going for a brightslap sound. But remember, there are no rules—so if this worksfor you, great.

10kHz–20kHz. Basically the same as the 5kHz–10kHzrange, but boosting at 10kHz can add a little air to your sound.If the string noise is not too bad and boosting here soundsgood, go for it.

A TYPICAL EQ APPLICATIONConsider what kind of bass sound will be appropriate for thesong, not just what sounds good by itself. You will almost surelyre-tweak EQ during mixdown so the bass sits well with theother tracks—but get as close as possible while tracking, as thebass tone will also influence the other parts as well as the wayyou play.

Let’s assume the song calls for a fairly standard bass soundand you’re playing with your fingers. First, experiment withthe low-frequency settings. A typical adjustment is to boost abit at 100Hz or 150Hz. Play a groove that uses all the stringsbut favors the low ones. Boost 100Hz by 2dB–3dB and listen.If this adds a “friendly” bottom without increasing the ampli-tude too much, fine. If the sound gets kind of muddy (i.e., thenotes lose definition) but you like the lows, try adding 2dB–5dBat 800Hz with the midrange control. This brings up the har-monics, which helps define pitches. Go back and forth between100Hz and 800Hz and find a good balance.

Second, you may want more upper harmonics for bright-ness and snap. If so, try adding a few dB at 1.5kHz–3kHz.

Third, check for noise problems, possibly due to an activedirect box or active onboard electronics. If you’re recordingto an analog tape recorder and the bass has its own track, waitto roll off any high-frequency hiss until the mixing stage soyou can reduce the tape hiss as well. (This tip applies to anynoisy signal recorded onto analog tape.) Hiss can be reducedby rolling off the highest frequency your console allows (usu-ally 10kHz or above; sometimes a high-cut switch will do this).Note that even though the bass does not put out much energyabove 10kHz, rolling off these frequencies may start to removesome air from your tone.

Playing with a pick typically produces less bottom and abrighter top. If you want a more fingerstyle-like sound, cut afew dB around 2kHz—that’s the frequency region of the pick’sbright attack. Also consider boosting at 100Hz–200Hz, sincethe pick does not get as much natural low end as fingers. Witha pick, boosting at 800Hz may not be necessary, as the pick

usually provides plenty of high-frequency definition.Thumbstyle playing usually sounds best with a scooped

tone, where the lows (250Hz and below) and highs (2kHz andabove) are boosted while the mids are cut. This “smiley face”EQ curve is best achieved with a graphic equalizer.

COMPRESSION:The Art Of Dynamics ControlA compressor/limiter is one of the most important tools forrecording bass. This type of signal processor alters dynamics;for example, it can make a wide-dynamic-range signal morecompatible with recording media that has a narrow dynamicrange (such as cassette tape). And since bass has such a widedynamic range, compression increases punch and audibility,makes the instrument easier to balance in the mix, and increasessustain of long notes. Compressor/limiters are not miracleworkers, though; they cannot make your strings vibrate anylonger, compensate for dead strings, or fix instruments withpoor sustain characteristics.

HOW COMPRESSOR/LIMITERS WORKA compressor evens out dynamic-range variations by amplify-ing soft signals and attenuating loud signals, resulting in lesslevel difference between your softest and loudest notes. A com-pressor incorporates a high-gain preamp and a control circuitthat alters the preamp gain based on the compressor input. Asthe compressor’s audio input increases, the control circuit sensesthis and turns down the preamp gain to maintain a more con-sistent output level. Fig. 5 shows the normal amplitude of adecaying string; Fig. 6 shows the same signal after compression.

A limiter is similar to a compressor; it also restricts dynamicrange but affects only the signal’s peaks. A limiter prevents asignal from exceeding a certain level, leaving quieter passagesuntouched. (See Fig. 7.) Limiting is worth trying, but is not asuniversally applicable as compression. It’s often used with PAsto prevent speaker-damaging distortion, and it’s also used withdigital recorders, which have a fixed ceiling level the inputlevel must not exceed. When recording, limiting often yieldsa smaller, more “squeezed” sound.

Most modern dynamics processors can compress and limit,hence the term compressor/limiter; for simplicity we’ll just usethe term “compressor.”

COMPRESSOR/LIMITER PARAMETERSA typical compressor has several parameters that often inter-



A typical compressor has several parameters that often inter-act—after adjusting one parameter you may need to go backand tweak another.

INPUT LEVEL adjusts the signal going into the compressor.It’s important not to slam a compressor with too much input;even though the signal is being compressed, it’s still possibleto clip (distort) the electronics.

THRESHOLD sets the level above which signals will be com-pressed. With a lower threshold, more of the signal crossesthis threshold, so more of the signal is compressed; as a resultthe output dynamic range (and the levels of the highest peaks)is lower. When the signal drops below the threshold, the com-pressor leaves the signal alone until it exceeds the thresholdagain. Typical threshold settings for bass are –2dB to –5dB,although the threshold can get down to –15dB for more extremeapplications. Raising the threshold results in less compressionand sustain and lets more signal peaks through.

RATIO sets how the output signal changes in relation to theinput signal, once the input signal exceeds the threshold (Fig.8). Higher ratios mean more compression and a more “squeezed”sound. For example, a ratio of 2:1 means that increasing theinput signal level by 6dB yields an output increase of only 3dB.In other words, for every 2dB of input-level increase, outputincreases by only 1dB. (With a 3:1 ratio, increasing the inputsignal by 6dB increases output by 2dB.) A typical ratio start-ing point for bass is 3:1. Extremely high ratios clamp the out-put level to the threshold, essentially turning the compressorinto a limiter.

ATTACK determines how long it takes for the compressionto kick in once it senses an input-level change. Longer attacktimes let more of a signal’s natural dynamics through, but thosedynamics do not get compressed. If it’s really important toreduce sharp peaks, use a short attack time; for more natural-sounding transients, use a medium attack of 20ms–40ms.

DECAY (also called RELEASE) sets the time required for thecompressor to “let go” of the signal once the input passes backbelow the threshold. With short release times, the compres-sor tracks even very slight level changes; if this results in achoppy sound, increase the release time to smooth things out.125ms–250ms works well with bass. Some compressors auto-matically set the attack and decay times; while this is conven-ient, you don’t get as much control of dynamics.

The OUTPUT LEVEL control is pretty self-explanatory. Sincewe’re squashing peaks, we’re actually reducing the overall peaklevel; increasing the output compensates for this perceivedvolume drop. Turn up this control until the peak levels of thecompressed signal match the peak levels of the bypassed sig-nal—in other words, until there’s unity gain between the inputpeaks and output peaks. Bringing up the level usually addsnoise, especially with a budget compressor. For more level

with less noise, try adding gain at the board, which probablyhas quieter preamps.

Some compressors have a HARD KNEE/SOFT KNEE switch,which controls how sharply the amplitude curve changes at thethreshold. With soft knee, when the input nears the threshold,the compression ratio gradually increases as the input increases.With hard knee, as soon as the input signal crosses the thresh-old, it undergoes the specified compression amount. Hard-kneeaction creates more punch; soft knee may work well if the levelvariations are extreme, as it preserves dynamics better.

Two-channel compressors usually have a LINK switch, whichchanges the operation mode from dual mono to stereo. Link-ing the two channels allows one channel’s changes to affect

B A S S M E E T S T H E S T U D I OB A S S M E E T S T H E S T U D I O

100

AM

PL

ITU

DE 50

50

100

0

0 100ms 200ms 300ms 400ms 500ms 600ms

Fig. 5: Compression attenuates the peak somewhat and

amplifies the decay.

100

AM

PL

ITU

DE 50

50

100

0

0 100ms 200ms 300ms 400ms 500ms 600ms

Fig. 6: After limiting, anything above the threshold (set

here to an arbitrary value of 50)

gets clamped to that threshold. Lower-level signals are

unaffected.

100

AM

PL

ITU

DE 50

50

100

0

0 100ms 200ms 300ms 400ms 500ms 600ms

Fig. 4: A decaying string. Note how the amplitude starts

off strong and then decays to nothing.


the other channel, which is necessary to preserve a stereo image.This feature has applications for mono bass signals, too.

METERINGMost compressors have two meters, or one meter that’s switch-able between two modes. GAIN REDUCTION shows how muchthe signal is being compressed. The needle on an analog gain-reduction meter normally sits at 0 VU and swings to the leftto show how much the signal level is being compressed. Forexample, if the meter reads –5, that means the signal is beingcompressed by an average of 5dB. (Analog meters read aver-age—not peak—gain reduction, so short transients don’t regis-ter.) With most digital meters, when thereis no compression, the LEDs are eitherall on or off; applying more compressioneither lights more LEDs to the right orturns off LEDs going to the left. Digitalmeters tend to read peak rather thanaverage levels, so even short transientsregister.

The OUTPUT meter shows the signallevel coming out of the compressor; thismeter might be switch-selectable to mon-itor input level as well if there isn’t a sep-arate input meter. With this display youcan tell how much output you’ve lost byadding compression, which makes it eas-ier to set the OUTPUT LEVEL control cor-rectly. For example, suppose that without

compression your input signal hits 0dB on the highest peaks.With compression you notice the output has now dropped sothe peaks don’t register above –3dB. In such a case you’d turnup the output gain until the peaks once again hit 0dB.

ADJUSTING THE PARAMETERSLet’s assume your compressor has separate THRESHOLD andINPUT LEVEL controls. Start the INPUT LEVEL control at 0dB.For now, adjust the compression with the THRESHOLD con-trol only; start with THRESHOLD set to 0dB, meaning any-thing under 0dB will not be compressed. While playing,check the gain-reduction meter and reset THRESHOLD to aver-

age about 2dB of compression, with nomore than about 5dB of compressionon the peaks. If the peaks’ output levelis less than the input’s, use the OUTPUT

LEVEL control (not INPUT LEVEL) to trimit up to unity gain.

If you need more compression tomake notes sound more even, lower thethreshold; this way compression willkick in with lower level signals. But becareful—too much compression cansquash and thin out your sound. Use thecompressor’s BYPASS switch (if available)to compare the compressed and non-compressed sounds. You may find justa little compression gives the desiredeffect. BP


Ordinarily, a compressor’s input

signal tells the unit how to react

to dynamics changes: When the

input level rises to the threshold,

compression kicks in. Side-chain

jacks let you control the com-

pression action with something

else—for example, an EQed ver-

sion of the original signal, or a

completely different signal.

These jacks work similarly to the

effects-loop jacks on an amp:

The RETURN jack is usually a

switching type, so plugging in

breaks the connection between

the compressor’s input signal

and the control circuitry.

Inserting a signal processor

into the side-chain circuit can

cause only a certain portion of

the signal to be compressed. For

example, inserting a lowpass filter

(patch SEND to the filter’s input

and its output to RETURN) allows

only low-frequency signals to

affect the compression amount;

therefore, more low-frequency

content yields more compression.

This brings the lows into line with

the rest of the signal.

A graphic or parametric EQ

usually works well for filtering—

however, setup is much faster if

you can monitor the side-chain

return signal. To do this, unplug

the filter output from the RETURN

jack and patch it to your mixer

temporarily. Now as you adjust the

filter, you can monitor its output

(don’t monitor the compressed

signal for now) and tweak the

filter specifically for the frequen-

cies you want compressed.

Another side-chain applica-

tion allows the bass to duck out

of the way momentarily. For

instance, if you think the bass and

kick drum are blurring each other

because they’re competing for

the same low frequencies, make

the bass duck under the kick:

Plug the bass into the compres-

sor’s input, and take a kick-drum

feed from the board (from the

channel’s direct out or an effects

send) and plug it into the side-

chain RETURN jack. Don’t plug

anything into the SEND jack. In this

configuration whenever there’s

no kick drum, there’s no control

signal telling the compressor to

compress—but when the kick

hits, it triggers compression that

affects the bass. Net result: The

bass becomes quieter for an

instant whenever the kick hits.

USING COMPRESSOR SIDE-CHAIN JACKS

Fig. 7: This graph shows how input, out-

put, ratio, and threshold relate. The

threshold is set at –8dB, with the com-

pression ratio at 4:1. If the input

increases by 8dB (e.g., from –8dB to

0dB), the output increases by only 2dB

(from –8dB to –6dB).

0

yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

threshold

INPUT

OU

TP

UT

–2

–4

–6

–8

–12

–10

–16

–14

–16 –12–14 –6

–8–10

–4–2 +2

0 +4+6

+8


KNOWING HOW TO PLAY BASS IS ONE THING—knowing how to record it right is another thingentirely. If you’re looking to sharpen your home-recording chops, dig into these questionswe’ve gotten from readers. Got a tip or trick that’s worked in your home studio? Post it onthe forum at bassplayer.com.

What is an audio interface? Do I need one to get sound intoand out of my computer?An audio interface converts the analog signal of an instrumentor microphone into a digital signal appropriate for computerrecording. By using an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) anddigital-to-analog converter (DAC), an audio interface allowsyou to record your bass to a computer and play it back overspeakers or headphones. Some computers have rudimentaryaudio interfaces built into them, often in the form of r" line-in and headphone jacks, but they aren’t appropriate for anybut the simplest recording projects.

In addition to converters, most audio interfaces also fea-ture an array of audio inputs and outputs. Audio interfaces typ-ically include internal preamps that boost analog signals andprovide “phantom power,” a form of DC (direct current) elec-tricity used by many condenser microphones. They also typi-cally have MIDI in and out jacks for connecting keyboards andother MIDI gear. Some high-end interfaces come in the formof internal PCI cards that plug into a computer’s motherboard,but many capable external models utilize USB or FireWire asa means of sending the digital signal to and from a computer.Most interfaces now ship with the digital recording software

necessary to actually record and edit the sound on the com-puter. When shopping for your first audio interface, considerfeatures like the number of inputs and outputs, compatibilitywith your computer and software, and portability. Prices rangefrom $99 to many thousands.

What are near-field monitors, and why are they well suitedfor the home studio environment?Near-field monitors are designed to provide true sound repro-duction across the entire audible frequency range at distancescompatible with the typical home studio environment. Whereasmost home stereo speakers are not acoustically accurate, near-field studio monitors are designed to sound uncolored, or “flat,”in order to provide a true representation of the music. Andwhile professional studio monitors are typically large anddesigned to operate at a distance of six to ten feet from an engi-neer’s ears in an acoustically tuned room, near-field monitorsare designed so that the “sweet spot” (the area where the speak-ers sound best) occurs at a distance of three to six feet fromthe monitors. When the engineer sits so that his or her headforms a equilateral triangle with near-field monitors, the room’snegative acoustical effects are reduced significantly.

HomeRecordingHow-ToBy The BP Staff

S T U D I O T E C H


Totally Tubular!

Smaller near-field monitor models work well in a satelliteconfiguration that incorporates a subwoofer, a larger speakerdesigned to project only the lowest frequencies. While it’s truethat a pair of top-shelf near-field monitors can cost a few thou-sand dollars, entry-level models can be found for less than $200a pair. “Active” monitors feature built-in power amplifiers andtherefore cost more than their passive equivalents, but manyfeel that powered monitors are worth the extra money due toconvenience and improved fidelity.

My recorder has a qq" input jack. Can I plug my bass straightinto that and expect a good tone, or do I need somethingmore?In general, if your recorder (audio interface or standalone mul-titrack) has an input labeled “instrument,” it will sound accept-able for recording your bass. A q" instrument input usuallyincorporates a preamp and is designed to properly interfacewith electric basses and guitars, whereas the q" line-level inputsyou may find on your recorder are meant for keyboards andother pro-audio gear. Using an instrument input is especiallyimportant with passive basses, as their low output and highoutput impedance require an input that compensates for thesequalities.

Even if your recorder does have a q" instrument input, usinga direct box (DI), or your amp’s DI output, could be a bettersolution. DIs convert the high-impedance, unbalanced signalof your bass to a balanced low-impedance signal that is idealfor recording because of its low noise and insensitivity to cablelength. Many active DIs also offer tone shaping and amp andcabinet simulation. Though most DIs utilize an XLR output,

don’t worry if your recorder doesn’t have an XLR input, becauseit probably at least has a q" balanced input. Simply buy an XLR-to-q" TRS (stereo q" plug) adapter and you’re in business.

What is compression, and how do I use it?Compression is an effect that evens out your levels. Because itbrings down the volume peaks in your playing, compressionallows you to turn up your overall level, resulting in a morepunchy, present sound. Some players use compression live, butit’s more commonly used when recording, because it greatlyhelps the bass to “sit” properly in a mix. Compression alsomakes the mixing process easier, because it keeps the bass lev-els from fluctuating all over the place.

Compressors can come in the form of “stompbox” effect ped-als (often the least expensive, but with the fewest features), rack-mount devices (more features, more expensive), or softwareplug-ins. Some combo amps and amp heads also have compres-sors built in. A compressor may have only one knob—perhapseven just an on/off switch—or it may have two knobs, or a half-dozen knobs and switches. Generally, the fewer knobs, the eas-ier it is for a novice to use, but the less control you have overyour sound. An important feature to look for is a “compressoractive” LED, which indicates when the effect is kicking in.

To use a compressor, plug in your bass and play notes atdifferent loudness levels. If there’s a THRESHOLD knob, adjustit so that the “compressor active” LED comes on with notesthat are one-third to half of the way between the softest notesand the loudest notes you’ll play. If there’s a RATIO knob, a set-ting between 2:1 and 3:1 should work well (higher numbersindicate more compression). Choose settings that even out your

ST

UA

RT

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WL

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TE


dynamic levels without causing a “squashing” sound. Basi-cally, you’re on the right track if your compressor is doing itsthing without calling attention to itself.

On some of the tracks I’ve recorded, I can barely hear mybass. When I turn up the track, the bass gets louder, but Ialso hear tons of hiss. What am I doing wrong?It sounds like you need to record at higher levels. When yourecord an instrument at a level that’s too low, its signal tends toget buried by electronic background noise. To make sure thisdoesn’t happen, before you start recording, find the channel onyour mixer or standalone recorder that your bass is coming into,and turn up the channel’s INPUT or TRIM knob. For an electricbass, you may have to turn up this knob quite a bit—maybe tothe 3 o’clock position or higher. If there’s an OVERLOAD or CLIP

light near the input knob, make sure it doesn’t come on at allwhen you play your loudest notes. If this light does blink, itmeans your signal is too loud and your track might be distort-ing in a way you don’t want it to. Back off the knob a little sothat it stops blinking, and proceed to record your track.

Getting a signal to be much louder than the backgroundnoise—but not so loud that it distorts—is called gain staging,and it’s an important skill in making a good recording. Ide-ally, in each stage of your recording signal chain, the signalsshould be much louder than the background noise introducedby that stage, but also below the threshold where unwanteddistortion occurs. If you set proper levels at every stage—fromthe input to the recording medium to your final mix—you’ll geta recording that’s both clean (free from unwanted distortion)and quiet (with minimal noise).

How can I make a basic stereo recording of my band at agig or rehearsal?You can spend a lot of time and money on producing a high-quality live recording—but you can get surprisingly good resultswith just a pair of microphones. Using two mics allows you tomake a stereo recording (with one mic providing the left chan-nel and the other the right channel), whereas using just a sin-gle mic will result in a monophonic, or single-channel, recording.

The mics should be the “cardioid” or “directional” type(not omnidirectional). You can use either dynamic mics orcondenser mics, although both mics in the pair should be thesame brand and model. Dynamic mics are a good choice ifyour band is very loud; condenser mics are more sensitive andbetter at picking up sonic detail. If possible, try both types andsee which works better for your band’s sound.

Positioning the mics is important. Find a place in the roomwhere there will be a relatively even audio blend of the instru-ments and vocals. Don’t get too close to a wall, the floor, orthe ceiling, as boomy low frequencies tend to build up near

surfaces. If you’re recording at a gig, try to find a place whereaudience noise won’t drown out the band, such as near thesoundboard or off a balcony.

To give your recording a good stereo image, position themics in an “X/Y” arrangement: They should be at right anglesto each other, with their front ends almost touching. The micon the left will capture sounds coming from the right, and viceversa. This arrangement produces the most natural-soundingstereo image; separating the mics or aiming them in otherdirections will result in poorer sound.

You’ll probably need to run the mics’ signals into a mixerin order to bring them up to recording level; “pan” the signalsto hard-left and hard-right so each gets recorded on its ownstereo channel. Some recorders accept mic-level signals; if youuse one of these, just plug the mics straight into the recorder.Make sure your recording levels are high, but not so high thatdistortion occurs.

I have some song ideas, but I’m not sure how to go aboutturning them into a finished, recorded song. Where do I start?If you have only preliminary ideas, such as a bass or guitar riffor a vocal hook, you’re probably better off starting with a roughdemo recording. A rough demo is a good way to tinker aroundwith a riff or hook, come up with variations, and see whicharrangement ideas work and which don’t. Later, you can usethis “sketch” to turn your ideas into a more polished version.

Start by laying down a simple drum-machine pattern ataround the tempo of your hook or riff. (For now, don’t worryabout drum variations, fills, or endings.) If you’re starting witha riff, proceed by laying down the part on bass for eight or 16bars, and then try playing some variations. Improvise on theriff as your recorder is rolling—you may capture a moment ofinspiration, and if you don’t, you can always go back and tryagain. Next, try adding a guitar part. Find out how it soundswhen you double the bass part on guitar, and also try playinglines that harmonize with or move in counterpoint against thebass riff. Then see if you can come up with some melodies oreven lyrics to go on top.

If you’re starting with a vocal hook, a drum-machine pat-tern is also a good place to start, but your next instrumentshould be something like strummed guitar or simple keyboardpad chords. This will give you an easy-to-hear pitch referenceto sing over. (It can be difficult to sing in key along with bassonly, because of the difference in registers.) Figure out whichchords go with your hook, lay them down over the drum pat-tern for a minute or two, and then go back and try singing theline over them. Similar to starting with a riff, repeat your hookidea for a while, and then try improvising variations. This mightinspire you to come up with verse or bridge ideas. Finally, tryadding another instrument or two or coming up with some

H O M E R E C O R D I N G H O W - T O


instrumental riffs. See if you can find an arrangement thatcomplements the parts you’ve already laid down.

If you’re recording digitally on a computer, making a roughdemo provides the opportunity to cut, paste, rearrange, andrecombine your ideas as much as you want. Don’t like start-ing the song with verse 1? Try putting the chorus first and seehow that sounds. Get creative—this is the fun part!

Once you have most of a song’s parts (verses, chorus, etc.)and have a rough arrangement in mind, you can start turningthem into a more polished recording. We’ll look at that processnext time.

I’ve made a rough demo recording, but now I want to pol-ish it up and put it on a CD. Where do I start?The first thing you need to decide is whether to use the samerecording medium that you used for your demo, or a better-quality one. For example, if you recorded your demo on a cas-sette 4-track, you may want to do your polished version on astandalone digital multitrack recorder, a computer with record-ing capabilities, or a reel-to-reel analog recorder. But it’s notabsolutely necessary to upgrade. Provided you have a goodknowledge of recording fundamentals, such as gain-staging,you can make surprisingly good recordings on inexpensivegear—especially if it was manufactured within the past fiveyears or so. The fidelity on lower-budget recording systemshas really come a long way in the last decade.

Next, decide which performances from the demo, if any,you wish to keep on your polished version. For instance, youmay like the bass line you played on the demo, but not thevocal. But keep in mind that it can be difficult or impossibleto recreate the attitude and spontaneity of an inspired per-formance, so if something just feels good—even if it isn’t tech-nically perfect—consider keeping it. Certain things (like timingmiscues) can be cleaned up on the new medium, particularlyif you’re recording digitally, but if the demo tracks are too noisyor contain unwanted distortion, you may need to redo themregardless.

If you’re using the same recording medium that you usedfor the demo, making a polished version is easy—just erase thetracks you don’t want, keep the ones you do want, and re-record the performances you erased. If you’re using a differ-ent medium, you’ll need to transfer the “keeper” performancesfrom one system to the other. This is best done digitally (readyour user manuals to learn how to connect the equipment fora digital transfer), although an analog transfer will do.

Naturally you’ll want to transfer all of your “keeper” tracksto the medium at the same time so they’ll remain synchro-nized. If you’re recording digitally, it’s possible to transfer thetracks individually if need be, as you’ll be able to line themup manually afterward. If you’re using analog gear and you

can’t transfer all of the tracks at once, don’t try to transferthe tracks individually—it will be near impossible to re-syn-chronize them. In that case, you’re better off mixing the“keeper” performances down to stereo (two tracks) and trans-ferring them that way.

I’ve started recording on a digital 8-track, but I never haveenough tracks to work with. Do you have any suggestions?Many people think that with a 4- or 8-track recorder, eachtrack should get one and only one performance—for example,one track each for bass, drum machine, keyboard, etc. That’sokay, but it’s limiting. For one thing, this arrangement neces-sitates that you record each instrument in mono (monophonic= one track of audio) as opposed to stereo. You can get muchbetter sound, though, if you employ a little creativity: Tryrecording the drum machine on two tracks in stereo, and whilethe drum part is going down, play bass and mix that in withthe drums. You can even put a stereo effect on your bass if youwant. This way, your bass and drums will both be in gloriousstereo—but you’ve used up only two tracks. The downside isyou can’t change your balance of bass and drums later, butwith some experience, you’ll find the improved sound makesthis limitation worthwhile.

A common technique with 4- and 8-tracks is bouncing(a.k.a. “ping-ponging”), in which several recorded tracks aremixed together and recorded on another one (or two) tracks,allowing you to erase the old tracks and record new parts ontothem. For example, on an 8-track, you could fill up six trackswith instrumental parts, and then bounce these tracks downto two tracks in stereo, leaving the original six tracks availablefor vocals. If you need to, you may opt to blend in a new instru-mental or vocal part “on the fly,” while you’re bouncing yourtracks down. Bouncing is more problematic on 4-trackmachines, but one way to do it is to fill up the four tracks withinstrumental parts, mix that down to stereo on a separatemachine (such as a DAT), and then run that mix back ontotwo tracks of a new 4-track file. Then you have two tracksavailable for vocals.

For those whose recorders allow it, another powerful strat-egy is to synchronize your drum machine and/or a sequencer(MIDI recorder of some kind) to your multitrack, so that everytime you press PLAY on the recorder, the drum machine orsequencer also plays. If you can do this, you may not have todevote any tracks at all to MIDI instruments like drums orkeyboards: Just record audio tracks—like vocals, bass, and gui-tar—onto your multitrack, and have the MIDI instruments run-ning in sync “live” with the audio.

There are tons of possibilities; if you’re creative and you planout your course of action, you can get a 4- or 8-track to do incred-ible things—just like George Martin did with the Beatles. BP

H O M E R E C O R D I N G H O W - T O


IT’S A WARM WEEKEND NIGHT AND YOU’RE STRAPPED BEHIND YOUR BASS. From your usual vantagepoint at the back of the stage, you notice a lot: The drummer is swinging his subdivisions more thanyou; the keyboardist’s left hand is wandering into your register; the guitarist is playing a busy chickin’-pickin’ figure; the tenor saxophone is out of tune with the trumpet and trombone; the backgroundvocals are too loud in the monitors; and the lead vocalist is having trouble with the song’s chorusbecause it sits right in the break between his natural voice and falsetto. In response, you lay back abit more, move down an octave, pass on a fill that would clash with the busy guitar part, give afriendly look over to the horn section while motioning to your headstock, signal the soundman tobring down the background vocals, and make a mental note to suggest to the singer that the song’skey be changed. You may not realize it, but you have producer potential.

Ask around and you’ll discover the musical maxim that we bass players make the best produc-ers. To find out how valid this theory is, we asked seven top bass-playing producers for their take,as well as for practical and technical tips. Their collective insight reinforces the notion that it can

indeed be a short trip from the bass to the board.

Meshell Ndegeocello added pro-ducer to her cap out of necessity.She explains, “I started producingmy records in 1992, in the worldof Prince, Babyface, and DavidGamson, who all produced them-selves. At the time, I didn’t haveanother producer, so I did itmyself, too.” Meshell, who recently

handled the board work on her upcoming CD and some filmscore work, feels bassists do make fine producers. “It’s becausewe’re the foundation of the harmony, while also setting thegroove with the drummer. Plus, bass players are observant oftheir surroundings, whether onstage or in the studio.” As foradvice, she offers, “My style is to do as many of the roles thatfall under the current use of the term ‘producer’ as I can: song-writing, arranging, contracting, producing, and time and moneymanagement. But I find as an artist producing other people’smusic, it’s most important to create a comfortable atmospherefor the artist, help facilitate their ideas, andhelp them realize their vision, as opposedto creating something in my own image.”

FAVORITE BASS RECORDING GEAR

“Most essential for me is my right hand andmy left hand; it’s all in my hands. I don’t

mean to sound arrogant, but I had a piece-of-shit bass for yearsand I had to make it sound like what I wanted. I’m not a techgeek, so I think a compatible engineer is also essential. I dolike the Aguilar DB 680 bass preamp, though.”

Veteran producer/bassist Larry

Klein, who has helmed CDs by JoniMitchell, Shawn Colvin, and JuliaFordham, as well as numerousmovie soundtracks, got into produc-ing while married to and workingwith Mitchell in the mid ’80s. “I gotdepressed and frustrated by hearinghow bad the records I played on

sounded. Tracks that sounded fantastic as monitor mixes onthe tracking date would end up being buried in overdubs andbad mixes. Plus, I wanted to find a way to unite everything Idid. I already had a strong sense of how I thought the musicshould sound, and I was developing my songwriting. Of course,as I pursued it, the complexities of the job and the things Ineeded to learn expanded exponentially; I still feel like I learna lot from every record I work on.”

Klein, who’s produced for Steely Dan guitarist Walter Becker,vocalist Madeleine Peyroux, and his wife, Brazilian vocalistLuciana Souza, points out great producers come from a vari-ety of backgrounds, both musical and otherwise. However, he

Sound Advice From

Bassists BehindTheBoardBy Chris Jisi

S T U D I O T E C H


does feel a bass player’s perspective is “a great angle from whichto approach musical architecture and design.” He adds, “Abassist can bring to the producer’s table an innate sense ofspace, the subtleties of groove, and the overall contour of atrack. But the ability to know how to get the best performancesout of people is as important as knowing how to design therecord’s musical and sonic aspects. Know that when you saysomething is as important as what you say; you can completelydestroy a day of work in the studio with one ill-advised remark.Always praise musicians and artists when they excel.”


“It’s a good idea to have quality DIs and analog compressorshandy. I love the Eclair Evil Twin tube direct box, and I alsouse some old Simon Systems DIs and the Avalon U5. Thereare so many great tube compressors; I like the dbx 160x forsome tracks, and I’m really digging the compressors and micpreamps made by a company called Inward Connections—they’re really soft and warm sounding. And you can’t beat theTeletronix LA-2A for some things. I definitely think it pays off

to put the bassthrough analog gearon the way to ProTools. To me, none of

the plug-in compressors come close at this point.”

Producing has been a key link inRandy Jackson’s path from bassistto American Idol judge and all-around music impresario. He agreeshis bass roots made for a naturaltransition to the other side of theglass. “Bass players are the heart-beat of the song. We get our rhyth-mic side from getting tight with thedrums, and we have a great melodicsense, thanks to the contributions of McCartney, Jamerson,Jaco, and others. It’s the most well-rounded spot in the band,which gives us a producer-like perspective.” Jackson got intoproducing in the early ’80s, when he was part of Narada MichaelWalden’s San Francisco studio team. “I had ideas, like every-one does,” he recalls, “and eventually I got a chance to try them.”He admits, “I was always a song guy—melody and lyrics—eventhough I broke onto the scene playing fusion.”

Jackson, who has since produced the likes of Eddie Money,Nancy Wilson, Kenny Loggins, Patti LaBelle, and Mariah Carey,advises maintaining a song focus. “To me, first and foremost,a producer should know what a great song is and where to findit. Listen to Top 40 radio and try to learn why those songs areclicking with the public. Hone your own songwriting skills; get

together with friends and have writing sessions, like the Motownwriters did. Then make home demos of the songs and play themfor people you respect—not to get a deal, but to get their cri-tique of your production skills.”

“Producing is really a group format,” says Jackson. “It’s aboutcommunity; it’s not the me principle, it’s the we principle,because you can’t do it all by yourself. A good producer knowsthe ‘art of the phonebook’: who to call on each instrument thatwill give them exactly what they want for a track. And theyknow to go with someone else’s idea if it’s better than theirown. Humility and compassion are two key ingredients to have,not just in producing, but in life.”


“I’m a very hi-tech/lo-tech kind of guy. Ineed a bit of ghetto in my sound, becausethat’s what makes it work in so many dif-ferent styles. I like the combination of adirect signal and the miked sound of a vin-tage Fender Bassman or Ampeg B-15. Plus,I’m never without my Demeter tube DI andNeve mic preamps and compressors.”

Longtime Pat Metheny Group bassist Steve Rodby spent yearssharpening his producer instincts as a Chicago session musicianbefore officially stepping behind the board in 1987, for Metheny’sStill Life (Talking) [Geffen]. He has since produced or co-pro-duced over a dozen of the guitarist’s projects, as well as CDs forOregon, Lyle Mays, and Michael Manring. Rodby is a true spe-cialist these days, often hired to “polish” jazz tracks via Pro Toolsin post-production, without losing the vital organic nature of therecordings. Steve agrees that bassists make the best producers.“Bass players learn early on that the way to get gigs isn’t as muchby sounding good yourself as by helping other people soundgood. They tend to see the bigger picture. They also understandbass is powerful in a stealth way. By contrast, drums are power-ful in an obvious way—you know when it’s the drummer pro-pelling the music—but when a bass player drives the track, it’soften almost hidden and mysteri-ous. If you have the temperamentto tolerate that and to think aboutmusic in those terms, you’re wellsuited for the producer chair.”

Rodby, who co-produced thelate Michael Brecker’s final CD,Pilgrimage, offers, “If it’s your firsttime producing, you need to haveyour pre-production together andstart off with a light touch. Recordas much of what’s being played as


possible. A basic rule is that if it sounds good, it is good. Younever know whose suggestion is going to make the music work,so you can’t get too wrapped up in how you think it shouldbe. What the great artists all have in common is an incrediblehonesty about their music. They play their hearts out, and thenin playback they listen with open ears. They don’t care whoseinput steers the music in the right direction; they just want toface the truth. You need to be able to hear through your own

ideas to get to that same truth.”


“Generally, the only two pieces of gear I findessential are your bass and your fingers. Butfor amplifying or recording acoustic bass direct,the one essential that is so often overlooked

is matching the output impedance of the upright’s transducerpickup with the input impedance of the first device it’s pluggedinto, be it an amp, a preamp, a DI, or an effect. If the device’sinput impedance is too low, as it frequently is, you’ll lose thebottom. What I did was build a box that varies the input andallows the transducer to be loaded with the correct impedancefor the sound you want. I’ve found an impedance level ofbetween 1M? and 2M? ideal. Now I have variable inputs builtinto all my gear, and you wouldn’t believe the tone difference.I’ve become known for playing my upright through an amp orthrough the board at loud volumes, and that’s my secret.”

As a Grammy-winning bassist and producer for the likes ofMiles Davis, Luther Vandross, Roberta Flack, and David San-born, Marcus Miller knows his stuff. Still, he’s not sure it’s onlybassists who make natural producers. “I think among musi-cians, you get the best producers out of the cats who play sup-port roles because they’re trained to see the big picture. I know

when I’m producing, after a doing a fewtakes I’ll ask the musicians which onethey like, and the sax player will say, ‘Iplayed the best on this one,’ and the per-cussionist will say, ‘I snuck some Afro-Cuban 6/8 beats on this one.’ But thedrummer and the bass player will say,‘Well, take three felt the best.’ They’renot so concerned about their own per-formance or how technically perfect itwas. Those are the guys you can trust.”

Miller made the transition to producing through compos-ing. “First it was, Can you help us with the arrangement? Thenit was, Can you help us get it to sound like your demo? Finallyit was, Why don’t you just produce the track?” For neophytes,Miller recommends settling on a pair of playback speakers.“No two models reproduce bass the same way. Really get to

know how they sound; listen to your music on them and lis-ten to other artists’ CDs on them, so you can compare.”

Marcus touches on the personal side as well. “Producingis more about communication and making people feel com-fortable than anything else. You have to really know how totalk to somebody. If they’re doing something bad or wrong,figure out a way to correct it without losing their enthusiasm.If they’re doing something well, it’s often best not to say any-thing. Sometimes the worst move is to say, “I love what you’re

doing here.” All of a sudden you pull their atten-tion to it, and it’s never the same again.”


“The two most essential pieces of gear areyour ears. Beyond that, it’s a good instrument and

good strings. The benefit I had, from being a studiomusician back in New York, was spending eight hours a daylistening to my bass through headphones, so I really got toknow how to tweak my sound. These days, I like the RadialBass Bone DI and the API Lunchbox, which I use as a micpre. As for compressors, I still like the dbx 160 for subtle com-pression and the Empirical Labs EL8-X Distressor for moreextreme compression.”

Blink-182 bassist Mark Hoppus gotinto producing at the request of hisfriends in Motion City Soundtrack,who asked him to produce their sec-ond effort, Commit This to Memory[Epitaph]. He went on to produce CDsfor Match and for his other band, alt-rockers +44. He feels the reasonbassists often make the best producers is the common groundconnecting the two chairs. “Bass players are the glue that holdsthe song together between the rhythm and the melody. A bassplayer needs to know what is working in a song—when to layback and when to get flowery. Same with a producer. A pro-ducer needs to know where a song is going, how to get there,and where to stop along the way.”

Hoppus alerts first-timers: “Listen to the songfrom your heart. Say what you think, offer youradvice, and always know it’s the band’s song, notyours. If they want to do it one way and you thinkit should be a different way, speak your mind pas-sionately and then let it go.”


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