Need opinions

paperbag1213

paperbag1213

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I have a friend and this is her group. I keep
trying to get into the studio with them, i'm friends
with her but the band is semi big (they're touring
the US right now) so i'm treating this seriously.

So i took one of their songs and added a bassline.
i need opinions, be as harsh as you want.
 

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Bassline fits like it was always there as far as I'm concerned. Not overplayed but still some nice techniques used.
 
Your bass tone is awesome. I like your playing you got the right idea, but i'd still simplfy it a bit more. Imo for the genre you are overplaying.

I find with this electro-pop programmed drum stuff the bass really needs to add the depth to the song. The drums will always sound weak, especially the kick unless the person really knows what they are doing. With the bass you want to lock in and groove with the kick to help get the punch back in the beats.

I'd approach the song thus:

Your intro is great. after the slide i'd keep what your playing but lengthen the notes. Otherwise it feels like there is far too much going on rhythmically. In the verse i'd honestly just play 8th notes on the kick, to help the change of pace in the song.

Around 1:40 i think stopping the bass to let the song breath a little would be good, coming back in with the slide at 1:51 (iirc) Then play straight notes for emphasis.

2:30 - again straight notes or better yet drone notes.

After than though i think again you get it spot on

3:17 -3:28 i'd again kill the bass let the song breath a little.

I've dabbled in the electro stuff and without hearing her other stuff can't comment but, generally i'd approach the song with a more critical perspective. Work out the drops, and read the song from the writers perspective, listen around that genre, and get a feel for it. I find most of the time its better to stay simple, nothing faster than 8th - as generally the hi-hat covers this, nothing too complex rhythm wise, and just get a groove going and don't be afraid to pedal or drone notes! Most of the time the bass is just to give people a beat the can feel to dance to or add the depth that programmed midi drums and synth just can't do.
 
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Thanks for the advice callum. I wish you
were on last night haha. I already sent it to
her. I told her though that i thought i might
of been suffocating the song. But i decided to
leave it in unless she tells me that its a bit
much. I'm friends with her so I'M ANXIOUS
IF I GET THE GIG THEN I CAN MAKE A LOT OF
MONEY.
 
hahaha she's my friend so yes ;)
but that would be nice too. She really liked it
she's showing it to her group and producer
tomorrow.
 
pray for me/wish me luck/cast good voodoo magic on me :lol:

WOOT
 
Another song with a more interesting bass line
and an interesting harmonic progression. the song
is in C# minor but the 3rd is randomly raised to a
major third hmmm 8: whatever
 

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Best of luck mate. Hope you get some good news.

Nice playing on that second one :D
$$ ftw!
 
yes $$'s ftw haha i was going for the
most thumb like tone possible on a $$
i was like GOD DAMN GROWL MORE $$ GROWLLLLLLLLL
STOP BEING SO POLITE!!!!!!!!!
i really need a 5 string thumb....hmmmm
 
paperbag1213 said:
yes $$'s ftw haha i was going for the
most thumb like tone possible on a $$
i was like GOD DAMN GROWL MORE $$ GROWLLLLLLLLL
STOP BEING SO POLITE!!!!!!!!!
i really need a 5 string thumb....hmmmm
Click to expand...

Bridge on Parallel and boost those mid-lows :D

Thumb tone is always what i'm after, especially slapping on the E string.
 
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Haha, I found i can't live without a neck pickup, had to drop my thumb and and (in the process of dropping the) FNA because although the extra slapping room was nice - the E and A strings needed the neck pickup to add some fat funky tones into the mix!

Great playing on the second clip. The bassline I really good, really works and really grooves!

Only issue is I think the tone - for me it needs to be deeper. Honestly for this stuff a really deep, thick bass is best. It might not cut through but it doesn't need to, it only needs to be felt. Like I said your job should be to add depth to the song. I reckon the tone you had in the first song will most likely work for all the others. I really digged it!

With the programmed drums and with autotune everything sounds really tinny, you really need to try and get a tone that sits under this, unlike normal approaches where you'd want something to cut through in the gaps - realise that above....maybe 800Hz there are no gaps and you want to sit in a little frequency band of 110-800hz. Now i'd not boost these tones i'd honestly cut the others. If you boost this your bass its going to overpower the song. You'll probably need to experiment with tones, unless they get real drums, your probably 90% of the time going to need to have this tone. Luckily your bass imo is perfect for this!

Best of luck, let us know what your friend thinks :)
 
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Callum said:
Haha, I found i can't live without a neck pickup, had to drop my thumb and and (in the process of dropping the) FNA because although the extra slapping room was nice - the E and A strings needed the neck pickup to add some fat funky tones into the mix!
Click to expand...

I still have the neck pickup on single coil, I can't stand the $$ switched to just one pickup or the other. Except maybe the neck pickup while series, with the right eq you get a nice p-bass tone (learnt that one off flo).
 
I'm sooooooooo ANXIOUS OMG ha
I'm gonna put up another version today, different EQ
and hopefully some new ideas wooot
 
damnit...
"yeah. just came back from rehearsal.
they thought it was cool. but...honestly...
we can't use it kyle. it sounded awesome
and they thought so too. it's just that then
we'd have to pay you and you'd have to get
some rights to our song...and it would just be
a big mess. :[

damnit
 
Your line fits the song. I know it would be hard for me to play with the electronic drum stuff, but your line works.

AZBassplayer
 
what i messaged back:

ok I understand that. But is it the same situation
on like future recordings, would it still be a problem?
Or is it just a problem because its a song thats already
been produced and put out there?

what she messaged back:
yeah. idk who knows...although it is pretty ideal to put a base to a song when we do our concerts next year...but idk. i only showed two of the girls...not niq or our manager. i was too afraid :/ ahaha sorry

i didn't mention she misspelled bass
 
Damn i'm sorry to hear that. It sounds kinda shambolic and they are pretty clueless as to the workings of the industry, or there trying to get an excuse to say no without hurting your feelings, and using copyright/royalties as an excuse.


Some ideas if you want to pursue this that you could bring up with your friend:

You could always skip the recording royalties as long as you get credited (for examples for future work) and let them hold all the copyrights (i'd do this as copyright atm is a hassle) and try and just get in on the touring side - which will pay more anyway. Not sure if this would work but if you recorded the bass line and released it under a creative commons licence which allowed for any use, your friend could use it np - you'll retain the credit (legally required with a CC licence) and they can just say they are using our bass line as anyone can use CC stuff. Although anyone else could also use the bass line - they might not be happy about this though.

You don't need to be added to the royalties they could just offer you a studio musician fee - if your happy with that. Although you get less security.

Then you could get in touring with them - where money is better and you just get paid per gig or for the tour.

You could try and speak to their manager, but it really sounds like your friend has little control/influence with the band. If you joined full time you might be in that situation, would you want that? it might be a good think to try and get yourself and your playing recognised but sounds like its not gonna be something long term, if it happens for you at all.

Hope i could help and best of luck whatever you choose to do.
 
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