Bad bass players...

[ze kink]

Oh yes. Had this happen with the band I'm doing now. The bass player apparently has students too, which I find somewhat disturbing. At least he admitted that he hasn't practiced enough - which there was plenty time for though, we'd already had to book an another separate weekend for just tracking bass, since we couldn't get it done when we previously tried, and even with the extra three days we almost ran out of time. Luckily he was fine with having the guitarist play the most difficult parts, all of which the guitarist nailed in almost single takes. I'm going to love editing it... but I guess it's only fair, since the drummer and guitarist were so tight that tracking and editing them was a breeze.

I'm consistently finding a link between pot and lack of motivation to practice; in this case it was clear that the bass player preferred smoking pot rather than actually honing his instrumental skills... But who am I to judge? I just find it sad when a person is serious about becoming a professional musician, yet lacks the motivation to make a serious effort to be one.

 

[Zombietakeover]

Don't blame the pot. blame the person

 

[doclegion]

I just find it sad when a person is serious about becoming a professional musician, yet lacks the motivation to make a serious effort to be one.

Amen...The guyd only has 3 songs and insisted the we wait on the 3rd cause it ssuuuccchhhh a difficult piece haha

 

[doclegion]

haha yea

 

[Rip-G]

I'd convert to midi and humanize, not only the velocities but also timing.
It takes me around an hour to do that. I don't know what DAW you're using. In my experience Cubendo and PT rocks in terms of 'automated automation' features.

Are you serious? You should do a tutorial on this. I can't really imagine how it would turn out. I always thought bad bass players are just too messy to convert notes to midi just like that. I would love to hear some examples.

 

[Jordon]

At the end of the day you gotta remember that your name is going on the CD, so if it sounds like ass - people might blame you, and not the band. It might be beneficial to just retrack the bass, make it sound tight, and maybe even tell the other guys privately that you had to re-record the bass yourself because it was simply unworkable and it wasn't something you wanted to put your name on.

Exactly. Little does Dave know, I was brought in to retrack all his parts on his record!

....Whoops.

 

[eʍʍy]

It seems kind of wrong to have someone/ something else playing when the band thinks it's all of them.

But if the recording is really bad.. it's for the best interest in the mix to do something about it.

When the band listens to the end result, it needs to sound as good as possible.
The bass can really hold everything together and if it does a poor job at that, then the final outcome will suffer.
And the last thing you want is the band to complain about your work when you did a great job that was only hurt by of a crummy bassist.
Furthermore, you'll receive credit for the production and you wouldn't want your name on something that sounded horrible.

So I'd say re-track it, but just play it as close to the original bass track as possible.. Except make it actually sound good. Like, you wouldn't want something way different in there because then the bassist would know.

Also, you might want to edit the original bass track to sound as good as it can even though it won't be used.
Why?
Well if the band wants their individual tracks, then you'll want to keep the original bass track in there. That way if the bassist listens to it by itself she/ he'll know it's the right playing and assume it was just edited much in the mix to sound good.

But it still might be a good idea to tell the other band members in private just in case it ever comes up. You'll want to be on their good side.

 

[jeid]

I guess you haven't recorded bass players who are truly hopeless at playing well? I'm all for giving the musician a chance and investing patience and so on but there have been cases where it is absolutely pointless with some people.

Oh I have and I've ended up having to track it for them, but I always try and make the point that they suck first. If they come in and track it and suddenly it sounds awesome (because you've re-tracked it) then they're gonna think they're great.

 

[blackcom]

"Ok, play the first part".

"...again..."

"...again..."

"...are you shure you practiced?"

"...again..."

"...again..."

"...again..."

"...are you COMPLETELY sure you practiced?"

"...again..."

"...again..."

"...try again..."

"...still sounds wierd...."

"...i'm sorry...you are playing it so bad it's gonna DESTROY the album. No signing, no festivals, no gigs, no sales, waste of time, money and career"

"...where is the guitarist, I need him to play the bass parts properly so it's going to be possible to mix this".

-bass player gets sad puppy eyes and leaves the room......finally!


...or a last resort is to cut away everything above 200hz and compress the hell out of it.

 

[Cheesebone]

Exactly. Little does Dave know, I was brought in to retrack all his parts on his record!

....Whoops.

Lol! Ass..

 

[Megin]

I just find it sad when a person is serious about becoming a professional musician, yet lacks the motivation to make a serious effort to be one.

I really doubt he will make it with that attitude and will be replaced in a near future if the other guys in the band have a pro attitude and motivation.

 

[plague_rider]

Re-Track it!!!