recording a band with no bass

[Geno_]

hey guys = some ace comments not to mention that gretch duo jet, pretty insane.

Just to clear up, the band indeed doesnt want a bass and i think thats a cool thing.
as has been mentioned by some people it is a grind thing at the end of the day and its more of an energy/vibe thing i think.

Also to say i am actually looking forward to this session, as i do to most of my sessions being honest - any work is good work in my book!

Like i tried and possibly failed to say in the opening post - i have some ideas of what i will do for the session already, i thought it would be a cool thing to discuss what other guys might do in a similar situation - im not at all moaning about the session to come.

all in all some cool approaches so far!

due to the number of posts i will definatly post the end result/work in progress in the rate my mix section.

that wont be for a month or so as the session has been moved back as i had some other more pressing work on/ the band were cool with delaying the session as they have a tour inbetween the original date and the new one.

 

[MarcusGHedwig]

I play in a 2 piece grind band, and my guitarist has rigged an individual output for each of his pickups on his guitar. He runs into 2 half stacks simultaneously; the bridge pickup is routed to a guitar amp, and the neck pickup is routed to another amp made to sound bassy, ie bass maxed, no highs, etc. You can achieve a similar effect with 2 half stacks and a splitter (many people I know have used the white boss tuner pedal. It wouldn't be the neck pickup going out, but you could still EQ it to sound bassy as well. I like to think of it less as having a second guitar and more of adding a powerful bassy texture that mixes with the guitar to produce an all-around heavier and beefier sound.

That's pretty fucking cool IMO!

 

[DolphinSplatter]

^^^^
lol, that's basically what i suggested earlier. Only you don't need a splitter. Just play everything twice

 

[MarcusGHedwig]

Yeah, but I was more responding to the "solder each pickup to a separate output jack" idea

 

[AEL89]

curiously enough, I was having one when I read this.

To put it in another way, you get a band coming into the studio saying "we don´t want no sample replacing cause Wigger McJigger doesn´t replace his drums and I wanna be like him" but their drums are shit and they don´t realize that (we all know it happens more often that it should), don´t you secretly sample replace them knowing they´re too retarded to notice? Or when they don´t want no editing cause they want it "natural" like their favourite band, but they´re shit at playing their instruments and their favourite band isn´t?

Again, not saying this is the case, perhaps they really do know what they´re doing and actually have ears to judge and not just go by names and brands, but we all know it´s more often for the opposite to happen

Maybe its this sort of cynicism that's led to almost every metal engineer going down the slate and 5150 route though. That's not a jab at you at all - but if you approach every session thinking "these idiots won't know what the fuck they're doing so I'm just going to do my tried and trusted thing...fuck experimentation" then... you know. Bit boring isn't it.

I guess I'm lucky in that I get to work with a lot of good bands and musicians, albeit the majority of my productions aren't metal (less than 10% in fact).

I don't get it... If they don't want bass it's their problem, and their business. As a mixing engineer you have to approach the mix the way the band provides the music. It's not your task to produce their music and tell them what's better.

I agree, mainly. If you're recording and you consider yourself more of a producer than just an engineer - I'd take the opportunity to help the band with their vision. Like you said Erik - if they don't want bass - its a bold musical choice and you should nurture the possibilities this provides you when you're mixing. You could make something really great with this band - can't wait to here what you do with it, dude! :Smokedev:

 

[JBroll]

There's a huge gap between 'they won't know what they're doing' and 'I'm cookie-cutting this project'. That conclusion can lead to problems no matter *what* is used to justify it... I wouldn't consider that cynicism, since laziness tends to be an even more powerful issue.

Jeff

 

[DanLights]

Yeah, but I was more responding to the "solder each pickup to a separate output jack" idea

Actually I posted a thread about that a couple months ago, nobody seemed to give a fuck

Maybe its this sort of cynicism that's led to almost every metal engineer going down the slate and 5150 route though. That's not a jab at you at all - but if you approach every session thinking "these idiots won't know what the fuck they're doing so I'm just going to do my tried and trusted thing...fuck experimentation" then... you know. Bit boring isn't it.

I guess I'm lucky in that I get to work with a lot of good bands and musicians, albeit the majority of my productions aren't metal (less than 10% in fact).

I understand your point and in fact I support it, you seem to have misunderstood me. I never say "They're not gonna know what they're doing" before knowing if it's true, it's during the recording sessions when you realize if they are good or not, and after they have left when you try to figure out what do with what you have recorded.

I am definitely not the guy to go with the "tried and trusted thing" at all, I'm totally against it really, and never in my posts did I mention that, you simply implied it for some reason

 

[Geno_]

Hey guys just to say the recording for this starts tomorrow so will try and take some pics etc and then put in the rate section if anyone is interested

 

[DanLights]

Hey guys just to say the recording for this starts tomorrow so will try and take some pics etc and then put in the rate section if anyone is interested

Please do! Good luck!

 

[Hez]

Good luck with the project!

Would also like to make this useful and insightful contribution: Wormrot fucking rules

 

[Grå Värld]

Sorry for the necro bump but Geno I was wondering how the recording and mix turned out?

 

[Fox Mulder]

I understand the whole "they don´t have a bass cause they don´t want it" argument, but you guys gotta take into account that 80% of musicians don´t really know what they want, and will probably end up liking the mix with a vsti bass filling in the low end if you don´t tell them it has it.

This said, I think wormrot sounds pretty good without bass, but it wouldn´t hurt them either to have one

Bull's eye man!

Having no bass would cause a conflict within our current perception of general metal mixes. We need to have something "down there" contributing to a smooth groove. If that's missing, we'd say the mix sounds weak.

 

[MotherEel]

I'd have them play to you a few times, talk about what they want, re-arrange things (amps, amp EQ etc) and get them to play again, see if they like the old set up or the new more.
Maybe get them to bring albums they are aiming for (hopefully all bassless). On Pig Destroyer's Terrifyer there's triple tracked guitars: a super scratchy one in the middle and the scooped mids on one side, high/low scooped on the other. Sounds good.

 

[ThrashKitten]

Use an 8 string guitar and play both the guitar and bass lines on the same instrument? haha

 

[DanLights]

Guys, old, I don't think he needs any more advice, I also kind of half regret my opinion on this, knowing Geno's skills I'm sure it turned out great, I'm curious to hear.