Bass Playing In Metal.....

C_F_H_13

C_F_H_13

Protools Guru
Mar 21, 2006
1,554
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Kelowna, B.C. Canada
So I'm biting the bullet of a record I'm working on for some friends of mine, and replacing their bass player with the guitar player.

Now for the first time, the bass player has been made aware and doesn't give 2 shits. So essentially I get to rewrite the bass player however I want. So here's my question For you guys who actually write bass parts.....

Do you keep the picking patterns way simpler? The song in particular is pretty fast with some decent picking patterns.....

just more then anything trying to get some tips on writing bass parts. If it were totally up to me I'd probably just write almost all whole notes and keep it super simple to keep the low end clarity pretty good....
 
I'd mix it up, depends on the song though...whole notes all the way would get pretty boring! :D A killer bass player can do some technical shit and still maintain the clarity, but that's a rare bird...32nd notes type shredding on bass is pretty ridiculous sounding but doubling up some 16ths / triplets etc. can be cool IMO.
 
Yeah that's sort of the conclusion we came to which was halfing the note values on most of the picking parts.....but I wasn't sure if that was the norm.
 
It works for me when it's very fast and gives the song some weight if the bass player is not great. The mix breaths more.

I also keep it very simple on fills.
 
AudioGeekZine said:
at the very least, the same root notes as the guitars with the same rhythm as the kick. More attitude rather than more notes.

Should be way less infuriating to mix.
Click to expand...

Oh yea I straight up gave up on that other shit. fuck that noise.

The question is do I take the time to track the guitar player playing a bass, and coach him....OR.....trillian....
 
C_F_H_13 said:
Yeah that's sort of the conclusion we came to which was halfing the note values on most of the picking parts.....but I wasn't sure if that was the norm.
Click to expand...

I would definitely do that. It makes the bass clearer and actually sound MORE like it's playing (say) 16th notes than if it actually played 16th with the guitar.
Depends on tempo though... palm muted guitar and kick totally implies the attack of the missing bass note.

I tracked a thrash band and got the bass player (who normally matches the guitar) to half the notes when required and it sounded so much better - and he even agreed... I thought he might be elitist and old school in his approach but the results were so obvious.
 
fast triplets and double bass parts sound like total shit on a bass track IMO.

I teach the bass players that. And also never palm mute the bass (only as a effect) heavey rythms with palm muted guitars and an open bass are so much more heavy.

I also love it when the bass is playing the simple melody line to leady-rythm (as I lay dying style)
 
as a bass player in a metal band myself i try to mix it up.
following the guitar riffs is fine at times, but if the riffs have lots of notes i've found the bass just becomes muddy.
if there is place for the bass to breathe then let it, if there is a lot going on simplify it and hold the groove
 
for metal:
1)always record with a pick unless you have amazing fingers
2)never play really fucking fast 16th notes etc in fast tempos(sounds totally shit especially with the dynamics and lack of bass frequency if you play 16th at 250bpm for example)
3)If you want to add more notes do it if it sounds cool not because "you have to"the cool factor always works
 
it's really hard to make them understand that the pick is better.
do you know what really makes me mad?
they want to use their fingers,but they want the sound of the fucking pick basically!
if they use fingers and they want a "sub-woofer" sounds then it sounds normal.
psychology books/lessons are always useful to make them OBEY THE ENGINEER haha
 
Leon-- said:
it's really hard to make them understand that the pick is better.
do you know what really makes me mad?
they want to use their fingers,but they want the sound of the fucking pick basically!
if they use fingers and they want a "sub-woofer" sounds then it sounds normal.
psychology books/lessons are always useful to make them OBEY THE ENGINEER haha
Click to expand...

I don't want to go on a rant, but here I go anyways....with a short version.

Last record I did he complained about his bass not sounding like LOG/Pantera, even after I told him that he needs a pick; he refused...

And to add insult to injury, we had the guitar players 2500$ spector 5 string bass, and he refused to use anything but his 500$ fender bass.

God dammit I hate bass players.
 
Yeah when the bass is following 16ths and guitar mutes it's almost impossible for any kind of low-end to build up. If the case is like the last CD I did, we're dealing with old-school thrash metal and everyone NEEDS to be going hard, I simply just channel the bass tone more into the mid region, and focus the grit rather than any kind of low-end padding.

In most circumstances, if you can afford to do it, halving the bass note values will work wonders for clarity.
 
well basically this guy sounds extremely stupid it's impossible to cooperate with him in a band or in a studio.
i agree that drummers are the worst basically,broken cymbals,stupid drumsets,untuned drums..i hate them haha.
 
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