How To Get This Bass Sound?

[ggalen]

Here's an MP3 snippet of Bill Cosby's theme (written with Quicy Jones), "Hicky Burr", that has the sort of smooth, round bass that I dream about getting. I just read that's Carol Kaye on the bass.You know that kind of bass that you "feel all around you" as well as hearing the downbeat thump?I'd love to have a bass sample that would sound like this...or is this primarily done with EQ and proper compression?How would I go about achieving this with a bass sample?Thanks for any thoughts or advice.http://www.GlennGalen.com/HickyBurr.mp3Here's the bass alone (from Carol Kaye.s website)http://www.carolkaye.com/www/library/so ... y_Burr.mp3

[ernstinen]

Hey Glenn,Another bass mystery! Well, THAT sounds like a Fender Jazz or Precision bass, with some of the tone rolled off on the guitar, played with a pick and compressed quite a bit.But what do I know? I'm batting below the Mendoza line so far --- Ern

[sgs4u]

Stick a small piece of foam or styrofoam (the size of the bridge), underneath the strings(behind the pickups) to deaden the sound. I found a reference to McCartney doing it on another forum. http://www.tdpri.com/forum/bass-place/9 ... ber.htmlOr play bass with your thumb, and mute the strings a lot. Or use Trilogy's mute strings samples.

[ggalen]

steve, ern,Thanks!I'll have to go for the muted strings sound. Do they still sustain, though?

[wodinlord]

Yeah, that really just sounds like a P bass welll recorded, probably DI or a clean ampeg bass amp maybe. I thought about the mute also, but I can't swear it is, may be just fingered and palm muted. I think Carol use to play mostly fingered from what I remember reading.Wodinlord

[billg]

Glen, ya got me curious so I did some research, here are some quotes from her when ask about her sound - I've always used medium-gauge flatwound strings since I play exclusively with a hard pick (with a flat wrist, not like guitar players). And I always use a doubled up piece of felt muting on top of the strings just over the bridges to dampen the over- and under-tones for a cleaner recorded sound too (good for live work also). If you play with fingers and maybe sometimes with a pick, I'd advise to use only the foam underneath the strings barely touching the strings for this sort of muting of unneeded extra-tones. I used the Fender Precision bass, with the Fender Super Reverb open-back 4-10" speakers amp for a long time. Then late in the 60s I started using the enclosed cabinet double-amped Versatone amp. First of all, you have to use a very hard pick (a felt pick doesn't get a good defined sound, and limber picks don't either) as that gets the thicker bass sound and with the right amp/bass settings, you never hear a "click" either. But you must play with the beat: downstrokes on the downbeats and upstrokes with the upbeats, with a flat wrist, the bottom of your thumb muscle usually touching a bottom string (no, not for muting but for a home-base" feel), this is where your fine deep bass sound comes from (and picking closer to the end of the neck also). I had the pleasure to show Victor Wooten this picking system recently at the NAMM Trade Show, and he got it quickly within minutes, saw the logic, the strength, and the pick-stroke ideas, how good everything worked together, an honor to teach him. Sometimes tho', it does take awhile to get this system, much different than playing guitar with the movement only coming from a flattened wrist. For the double-time funk, you just pat your foot twice as fast (on every 1/2 beat, 8 beats to the bar) and accordingly 8/8, you pick that way also, it works fine, records rhythmically-perfect, this way of fine inside meter picking. And your sound can vary from very "clicky" (with highs all on like what I recorded the "Mission Impossible" theme, "Boots", some of the Beach Boys recordings etc. with) or very low like the Andy Williams, the Motown, the other hit recordings and TV shows and movies with ("Across 110th St.", Henry Mancini, Ironside, Bill Cosby, Kojak, MASH, Streets Of San Franciso, True Grit, Airport, Sweet Charity, McCloud, Hawaii 5-O, Thomas Crown Affair etc., it's all in the settings and teardrop heavy pick right-wrist technique/sounds.

[ggalen]

Wow, Bill, that's good stuff, and fun to read. Thanks.So it's a P bass. Played as she describes. Isn't the Internet amazing? I can't imagine getting an answer so fast 20 years ago...if I could get it at all!I am so impressed with Carol Kaye, and her attitude towards the entire process, and how her belief in being a great "team player" in a band or session comes through loud and clear.On her website she took the time and effort to list 350 other session players she admires and worked with in her career!She's an inspiration.

[billg]

Yes Glenn, she's an inspiration and a fantastic bass player but unfortunately some other things also. I don't know if you've heard about her claims to have played on a lot of the Detroit motown stuff including "Reach Out" and "Bernadette" (in LA no less!). Of course it's well documented that James Jamerson played on these but she continues to claim to have played on these tunes in various articles etc. Even has gone as far as to replicate the bass parts for her website. Just one listen by a bass player & it's obvious that this is not her playing on these songs. She's such a great player & has so much fantastic work to her credit it really makes you wonder why she would fabricate such stuff.

[milfus]

teach side way of doing this, make a softknee compressor and run it through a send return with the uncompressed signal, so itll round out your tops, and still have the diminished decay, I was messing around on an ibanez road gear for a few minutes, and managed to get it really close, id say like 95% there, just helps with the rounding out and leaving the dynamics.

[ggalen]

Jun 23, 2008, 1:51pm, billg wrote:Yes Glenn, she's an inspiration and a fantastic bass player but unfortunately some other things also. I don't know if you've heard about her claims to have played on a lot of the Detroit motown stuff including "Reach Out" and "Bernadette" (in LA no less!). Of course it's well documented that James Jamerson played on these but she continues to claim to have played on these tunes in various articles etc. Even has gone as far as to replicate the bass parts for her website. Just one listen by a bass player & it's obvious that this is not her playing on these songs. She's such a great player & has so much fantastic work to her credit it really makes you wonder why she would fabricate such stuff.BillG,That just blows my mind, and I am speechless. I wonder what's going on??EDIT:OK, did some Googling. I see it's a big controversy with people on both sides of the argument. She did sessions in LA; other sessions were done in Detroit. I guess the dispute is over what ended up on the recordings.