Recording & Producing Bass with Tony Franklin

hi everybody I feel so blessed to be part of this incredible community that you've all created as a gift for those of you that are stuck at home under this current health scare with the coronavirus we're giving away the rather wonderful mr. Tony Franklin's bass recording course Tony is a lovely guy he recorded it here at the studio he came in with his very humble setup and produced and played some incredible bass lines on some tracks so you're going to get to download all those Monty tracks and learn along with Tony as he plays bass Tony as you know or you may not know was the bass player for the therm which is Jimmy Page's band from their Zeppelin with Paul Rodgers from free and Bad Company on vocals so this is a wonderful course an amazing opportunity to learn along with one of the greatest fretless bass players of all time and one of the nicest guys in the whole world Tony's will sweetheart as well as being an incredible player so please stay happy and healthy and leave a whole bunch of questions and comments below thank you ever so much for being so supportive and we wish you all the best [Music] okay so I'm sitting down here in front of the computer and I have not heard the song yet I get myself situated and look here's my go-to rig 90% of the time which is a line 6 pod Pro and I have my default setting and look I call it the firm base clean because that's the firm fretless that I typically use and it's the clean but I there are parameters that I can adjust as as I'm going along but I actually like to make adjustments from the base I'm not using any compression at any stage I'm not a fan of compression we can always put some of that on afterwards but but yes a direct out and an amp simulation out as well direct so it's it's pretty simple really pretty simple set but even before I got here even before I heard the song or setup for any of this I check to make sure that my bass was in good working order and I do have the fretless I do the same thing as well have that here as well just happened to pick up the feather because that was closest so but what did I do I put on a fresh set of strings now I don't always do that for recording sessions I because sometimes in all the set of strings is good but this case I did need it so I put on a fresh set of strings and every time I put on the set of strings I'll check the intonation what's the intonation that's making sure the bass is in tune with itself at the end of the day it needs to be kind of in the ballpark as long as I find myself within that range there and a lot of it will depend where you play as well because if you finger it up that way push it towards the fret look it goes a little flat there if I go down a little bit it'll go away sharp so there's a lot of variables so anyway I've gone through and made sure that every string is intonated and in tune with itself that's basic one or once because we can play the greatest take in the world and the bass on the open strings can be perfectly in tune but if it's not in tune when you go up here or up here then you're gonna be recutting the bass aren't you so just a good basic sound and I don't like to rely on a lot of tweaking of the amp to be honest if I'm gonna be playing something that's very gentle then I'll play it lightly lightly is good in the studio live and studio are two different environments for me playing bass live I tend to be a little bit more aggressive and in the studio I tend to be there's a little sensitive playing a little with a lighter touch because you get a fatter tone when you play it likely I get this two positions that I like to play in and over here is what I call the Jameson position it's a very fat warm sound over here is what I call the jackal position you can play a little harder there because there's a little bit more tension on the strings you get a little bit more punch and also I like to play with a pick and oh I don't like seeing all these these memes and cartoons on the on the internet recently about oh my favorite bass player is no longer my favorite bass play because he used a pick and that come on guy is the pick is a good thing it gives us a lot more a lot more colors to the palette so I love the pic and it gives us a little bit more aggression and more colors without changing a thing here we can go from this to this without changing a thing so you got a lot of scope there by using just what's here and so I'm kind of setting this up because I wall listen to this track and figure out what is the best approach for it using all these different colors all these different positions and fingering styles and everything because to me getting the right sound and the right feel from here first is half the barrel because you got to make sure then the track will play itself to a degree you got to also listen and play the right notes of course but if you got the right sound it makes it a lot easier it's like having the right monitor mix when you're singing or performing you've got to have the right think hit be hearing the right things and if you hear the right things back from the bass then you're going to be able to just let the the song flow a lot more easily so I have not listened to the song before and there's a couple of ways that I approach sessions and it depends how long I have sometimes if there's a quick session I will not do a chart I'll go section by section and play that section and then go on to the next section that it appears in the song and I will play that section and you know get all those all the choruses in the song there are pros and cons to that which I will get into and then I will sometimes chart it out from from start to finish and I think I'm gonna do that with this one let's have a what I'll do is I'll take an overview and listen to the song and just kind of you know get the vibe of it all and see what the the overall big picture is and because that will I mean sometimes I'll even start on the feather or the felt listen and in the site oh that's cool this section is a further base it's okay to do that you can do it in the studio not so practical for live of course but so let's check this out let's see what this song is all about [Music] [Applause] [Music] and like a 60s kind of 75 [Music] [Applause] [Music] this is Cocles in there I'd like those back I like they have those in so that I can be aware of the bubbles because the vote was the first important thing of the songs [Music] we don't get to play on songs that are binding the final thing we might get them at various stages of cohesion sometimes many have I'll say sometimes no drones and there they are the that will affect oh so we're gonna stomp man okay [Music] so I'm seeing on the on the little further in on the song here there's a bridge section so I'm just gonna go forward and check that out [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] okay cool I like it cool vibe on there I'm gonna sound like this I could easily see it being feted or fretless actually so it's one of those things I would may even do a couple of takes and give give them choices it really depends on the on the circumstance because if I'm doing this by myself which quite often is the case I'll be just sitting by myself and just allow to make the decisions be allowed to make those decisions by myself but if I'm doing it and there's a producer or the artist around and they might may have definite opinions about it so you know sometimes you have to just jump in and and make make decisions and I do like to give options as well so what to do with this one I'm gonna start making a chart now I will go into different details of this because sometimes not everybody reads and so making a chart can be something that is not comfortable for them so I sometimes don't do a chart I sometimes go section by section and figure out what their plan and and I'm play to that so but I am gonna do a chart this time because there's a nice flow to this one of the advantages of having a chart is that it's like a it's like a guide map you can see what's coming up next because there's nothing worse than when you're in a great in a great take and everything's flowing well and then so it's great oh it's gone it's gone and you miss in that you miss that you break up that flow so it's nice to have that char I'm just going to I'm very fortunate because most of the time I don't have to say okay well it's that note what's that note I know what key it's in and this just comes from years of doing it I can usually write out a chart I'll write it pretty quickly because I don't like to spend long doing a chart to be honest so I've developed my own little system it's just uh it's just plain paper so I know that the first note of the song is a C and at this point as all I need to know if I if there are notes where it gets a little squirrely then I will refer to the bass but I've just got used to hearing what the what the notes are and you can train yourself with that you can you can like listen to the intervals I mean I'm sure you can all hear it's like the scale bah bah bah bah bah bah bah so if I hear bum BA bum bum I know that that makes next notes Annie bum bum bum or if it goes BOM BA Bom Bom BA Bom I know that's a C - a G ba ba ba bum I just got used to doing it and you can train yourself and it's it's good for for charting it's good for hearing when when you're playing and jamming with somebody because you get to know what those notes are it's just one of those things you do enough times and it just you kind of get used to it so let's see what we got going on here I like to try to write the chart as it's going along which I find fun and challenging and slightly nuts to be perfectly honest but that's okay here we go well didn't go now it's going okay [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] that's the same as that [Music] now did I so see I it's the same thing but this how you count it now I'm counting this let me just go through what I just did right there okay 1 2 3 4 - over the beat hey Maya repeat the last four bars right there [Music] for the squiggle here we go same thing [Applause] for us [Music] [Applause] same thing patent a and see [Music] Jean right [Music] I think that's right that was going is going pretty fast there but so I'm gonna go back and make sure that I got everything so we have the verse right there which is there I see everything is pre marked out on me we have the markers on the on the Pro Tools here and there you know it's that you just I heard that that went to an a I hit the F and the see you just get used to it and they've gone in the song before so it's like okay you I heard that there see a minor that's how it works in my brain anyway but it's it's it may be a little confusing but you get used to it [Music] see if their repeat for [Music] [Applause] a minor [Music] I would be [Music] - and AGG [Music] there's a little interlude and it looks like it's the same as that [Music] like ow shyness book heaven today okay here's where we save ourselves a lot of time because I'm seeing that little interlude that was there is actually the same call sequence as the intro I fill in the gaps afterwards so what I'm gonna do instead of writing all that out again I'm going to do the biggest time-saver and put repeat bars right there even though that might be a little presumptive at this point but even if it because I don't know if it's gonna go all the way back to here and repeat there but typically that will be the case shall we see I so we'll continue now we have that interlude which went all the way back and actually let me do that we have that chorus there and then the drums were starting to kick in here's this [Music] first drop ten drops on the second time I thought my wife he is kind of like Egyptian hieroglyphics I can't okay oh no no that right [Music] huh [Music] [Applause] okay cool so that did go all the way through to that then it was a little bit of an interlude right there the C and then the B and then we're having what's on here is called the bridge so got a little interlude there the C and the B so it went out to a b-flat there and if you just listen boom boom boom so it's like the chromatic rundown so I know that that's a b-flat right there see [Music] [Music] that one kind of took me by surprise there let's see what that one is I think that might be an e-flat that you know I see my system is not completely infallible no check with the base on that I think it's an e-flat whole time it was he I was in e-flat so there we go [Music] I'll actually you see it now I'm a little bit of trouble here I'm in a little bit of trouble because it got a little deeper there with your changes [Music] aha I sound like my then I'm gonna have to go back here [Music] [Music] that's a net [Music] Oh [Music] I believe that's right and look again again I've confused myself here with all this notes here I'm gonna go back to the bridge again just to make sure everything gets here [Music] yeah [Applause] that's a okay so the markings here a solo verse and then goes into a chorus again it could quite possibly go back to the top again but let's just check that I listen from here because if it does then I don't need to keep writing here I could go right back to the beginning again as have a listen [Music] mother yes [Music] [Music] okay we're gonna do some music theory right here cuz I didn't need to go back to all that do i what I'm gonna do here the proper terminology for this is the Dowell signal Google that it means basically in layman's terms the sign it's a sign it's a sign to go back to the sign that comes up here earlier D s Dow signal there's the sign look at that for hieroglyphics and the sign is gonna be replayed put right up here okay and it means that I am gonna go back from that point why couldn't I put a repeat because where do you repeat you because we've already repeated to there so the signal the sign goes back to that point and we go all the way through and then it goes through to there but once I got to that point well where does it go goes to a whole new point so you've probably heard this phrase before it goes to the coda coda means the ending just like Led Zeppelin's coda coda was like the final statement wasn't it so the coda when we get to that point goes to the coda right there so instead of having to write all that out again I just did the sign and then we get to the coda so where are we on the on the music here let's have a listen we're somewhere in the chorus [Music] now I'm not exactly sure where we are so we'll go back to the course that we know exactly where we are can I break down there you see no trouble and drop in gee [Music] [Music] gee Koda Hey [Music] from a spacing repeating are you the ball right AC and they were followed all paths to copy our own [Music] [Music] so that little outro I really don't like going onto a new piece of paper when I'm like there that's why if I can keep it all on one page so I'm not having to turn in the middle of a session it's a really really good thing so you know I should know the intro sequence by now but sometimes your space so I'm gonna write that down there and then it happens twice for and it ends on a nice big C and there we have instant charts now all I have to do is play it ok so that well start at the beginning shall we fire up this intro what I'm gonna do and you know there's a couple of different ways where it what I'd like to do with a song like this is play it from start to finish and not worry about any mistakes along the way just play it down and and we can always go back and fix any mistakes that's not that's the beauty isn't it of recording it's not a live gig so what do we do before every single take we check the tuning yes he went a little bit sharper here's a little trick sometimes it doesn't go sharp because well because it's magically gone sharp the air conditioning cools down the string so alright to do just give it a rub down warm up those strings are all there watch this Oh ask you in a little bit flat from that you see the difference in now it's creeping up as it warms up a little bit all perfectly in tune now because I joined it up before so sometimes we don't have to go like retuning the thing because what will happen when we start playing and the strings warm up again is it'll it will go out of tune and we shouldn't have overcompensated for that so on this tune right if I remember rightly there was a little bit of an intro with no drums and I um anyway you know I'm not gonna overthink it at this point I'm just gonna just gonna play and see how it goes and we come [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] oh go pretty lucky on that one you know that's the beauty of the chart right there because overall I'm really happy with how that went oh how about we press stop save a little hard drive I would actually at this point take a quick break to clear my head so here we go we'll have some water first thing we do before we do a take is to check the tuning now look at that oh just a little bit sharp is that coincidence or could it be because it's been sitting in the cold air conditioning for a little bit so sometimes like to do rather than we chew everything a little warm up and we'll check the chili again long behold they're all perfectly in tune so it's uh it's I see that quite a lot you go inside me and go into the studio and you listen to a take and then you go back oh let's go and do another take and the bass has gone sharp and so where I was perfectly in tune so the students just got cold and metal contract so we warm up warm on but warm them up a little bit and we're good to go so next thing to do is check out levels let's make sure that what I'm gonna do is just solo the bass tracks and make sure there's a decent level going to each track here okay so let's just record a little bit of audio in the kind of style that I will be and just anticipate myself playing here [Music] mmm-hmm looking good let's just have a listen to a little bit of that shall we [Music] it sounds good don't need to keep that so we are set up and ready to go see how I did on my chart shall we alright get a little pre take nerves like the little adrenaline running sometimes happens even with me I especially it's not so bad when you in your own environment when you relax and just doing your own thing but if you're there with everybody else so what do I do I still do this to this day for many many years I doing a little bit of yoga breathing take a little deep breath in count to ten or eight five whatever it is to account hold it for the same count exhale - the same can do this many times you as you like you can't overdose on it there's no side effects other than feeling good calmed and scented I'm ready to do a take so let's do this take shower here we go [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] pear stop and what's the next most important thing to do after that command s-save yes now a few little mistakes in that you can probably tell by my grimaces along the way even though it's not that big of a deal because overall we got for the overall feel the overall flow here which was good there was some nice little moments in there some nice little kind of movements what I'm doing is trying to listen to everything that's going on of course the drums if I'm gonna do another take I might even bring the drums up a little bit so I can really hear them but I'm especially listening to the volkl because that's the most important thing doesn't matter what any other instruments doing as far as I'm concerned because the vocal leads the song and really the bass is another lead instrument so if the bass starts clashing and competing with the bass with the vocals rather then it can get really really ugly and so sometimes the bass has to play really really simple I like to mute the string I like it because the bass would just keep going and going and going and going and the song maybe a died and I know that the we can fade it at the end in the mix but I like to be kind of I don't know I will consider it and try to do my own little fade but so what I do sometimes I'll just say it gives it a real nice little kind of fatal event if it's an open string if I do on the other end and it's just it's you can control the amount as well you can sew it you can do it I don't know it's maybe we just want to my little quick little things that I like to do anyway what I'm gonna do now typically after I've done a take I would take a little break to give myself a little distance from it or if I'm really like focused and this is like that was pretty overall pretty good I know there's a few little fix ups so let's go back and listen to my little fix ups [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] so far so good [Music] [Music] a little bit there time and wise and I'm being real picky as we should be this is a bit again yeah a little little just a little rushed on that note there and so what I'm actually going to do is take out the vocals at this point which Oh so I'm hearing this little bit and if i zoom in you can see on the screen here is actually just a little early and so yeah I'm not gonna be afraid to just edit that little bit I'm just nudge it a little bit I don't mind doing that in fact I quite like it here we go I like to make sure it's on the right mode here so I'm not gonna drag over the whole of the bass track that I just did okay another dog I'll cut that grab that put that over there you know and if there's any engineers out there they may be cringing at my Pro Tools editing skills but remember I'm a bass player first and what do I rely on which should be the most important thing of all that we all rely on is our ears and so if it sounds right to me that's all I'm gonna worry about okay so we'll do a little bit and see if my edit flow [Laughter] [Music] sounds good by itself [Music] you go so app is fine we'll move on from there and what do we do command air safe okay [Music] actually gonna listen without the both those two at this point check those out I wanted to go into more of a halftime feel there so I'm gonna grab that little bit and I will play that what was it it was just like two measures I'm gonna highlight those yeah so I like to give myself two bars two measures of pre roll and post roll and post roll so that I can lead into it just practice it [Applause] [Music] actually it's just the the second measure is good I like how that goes picks up into the next section so I'm just gonna fix that one measure which will be [Applause] course here's the issue that often happens the more you hear a section you grow to like it it's like there's something that's kind of cooled at the base moves all in that way when the drum stops let me listen to it one more time and then make an executive decision as well whether I'm gonna keep that sometimes it is good this is the challenge of doing recording sessions by yourself you have to make these decisions or you give both options and at the at the end of the day this is a minor detail it's not a big detail it won't make a break the song [Applause] because the mandolin part that keeps moving as well I tell you what the beauty of Pro Tools we can go in of course I could do a whole duplicate playlist and just play that little warm measure which at this point I'm not gonna do that I'm just gonna play it and I can undo it if need be what do we do in playing again check the tuning look it went sharp over the rock just warm it up back in tune so what quicker than tuning our tooth anyway here we go and what were the part what was the part there it was just an a minor yeah okay cool [Music] so have a listen I like that I do I like that so I'm gonna make the executive decision right here and now and keep that and you know with any punch I do I get pretty particular about it I like to solve it and make sure it's okay [Music] a little bit of a splurge going in so I will drag that over a little bit make a nice big cross right there I'll listen to that again [Music] as a little messy coming out they're not liking that so much what can I do about that you know what I can do well I can play it again or I can just drag that over a little bit and see if that helps things if it doesn't then oh boy I'll have to replay it [Music] this hits here how that sounds in the track because I also I'm here you can hear it but you never listen to the bass player itself so I'm doing that because I want to make sure everything's sounds good to me sounds good to me see I'm not gonna worry too much about little things like that I really not on would we go [Music] what did i do there something sound a little strange see how I've been pretty picky and I must say but I see what I did it's okay buy it sell this here yeah it sounds a little strange so I'm actually gonna fix that okay I'll go in and fix that all right let's have a listen to that I like that now if there were I'm going in and fixing every little thing as I'm going along here I wouldn't always approach it this way I'm doing it this way because I have a good feeling about this track that it's worth fixing now if I felt like overall it wasn't good it was I didn't get a good feeling about it then I would probably there's a couple of options that would go I would either completely do another cup of complete other take or I would fix up bigger sections and wouldn't be getting into the detail of of doing all the crossfades immediately I would I would come back and do those because I do like to keep a fresh flow going you're in you're in the vibe of the song you got to keep that vibe and that that mood happening but I am feeling pretty confident that this was a good tape maybe maybe I should have done something not so good but I don't want to do that one that play every take as well as I can so anyway this is how I'm approaching this but I just want to make you aware that in case [Music] let's go out a few little clicks there but those are all within crossfade area so gone into those [Music] there we go it's nice and smooth carry on listening from there [Applause] [Music] like that [Music] [Music] [Music] we'll be safe there we're on the homestretch now all right you see I have been switching between grid mode and slick mode when I'm doing this because you know it's just a lot easier for when I'm moving nudging stuff around and when I'm honing in on certain sections grid mode for those for those general measure fixes and everything okay so just that little first little bit there I kind of like the second half so I'm just gonna go in for those little bits there you see there was a flow with this so I'm trying to disrupt not to disrupt that when I keep the flow there as intact as possible so I'm keeping the the punches as short as possible but you notice I'm playing into them and out of them meaning that I'm playing along why is that important maybe it's obvious but when you are playing along you are in the same flow and it keeps it a lot more fluid when that punch comes in you just wait until the punch is right there then it's gonna sound like you just kind of jump in and it can it can feel very awkward so it's very important to play along I didn't press command save did I come in this that almost has to be like a reflex every time you do an edit every time you do a take and every time you do anything save it I sometimes save even after I've saved and I know I've saved it's just one of those things you do so much because you cannot save enough okay what was the punch again yep okay click the whole thing right there okay hear that it sounds good in the track save here at soloed until pop that's easy so here's where I go in to slip mode of course I like using what do they call this the what tool is that the where does that thing some some people don't like that but it's the the magic tool is it whatever it is the thing that's were it you can easily do all there it gives you access to all the the fades and the and the cross fades and the forget what that one's called there we go it's nice and smooth it is called the you can move your finger over the multi-tool thank you and you access that I'm sure you know through this little bar up here got my my help us here giving me cues and clues and and so here we go onwards from here I will point out as well also that you'll notice that I like to have us attract a bass track the builds and gets a little bit more interesting as the song goes along night might sound like an obvious statement but even within like the first verses I'm starting off the the intro is in sterling off high and simple but then the sec that when the first verse came along I was starting here [Music] and then I went up just gives it a little bit more color and variation and then as it kicked in with the drums I add a little bit more movement and it's simple part but it's very gives it a nice pulse and then as the song moves along and that we're getting towards the end then so there's a lot more you know excitement a lot more happening as there's a lot more movement from the bass there and so you know it's a fine line you just got to be very very aware of listening to the big picture of the song and then the the the melody and everything that's that's happening so you're not getting too far outside but at the same time create some movement and remember the bass is so big and so powerful and the notes mean a lot each note really really counts so you can do those run those are like string lines those are lines that you could embellish if you're gonna do too much it would be inappropriate for the song only comes from I was gonna say only comes from doing it a lot but at the same time you have to be able to stand back and I will do this at the end we don't necessarily all need to do it together because you'll have the files to be able to do this yourself to be able to when it's all done stand back and see how everything feels in the big picture because you know all these little fixes and all the individual parts they're great but you got to make sure that there's a flow and at the end of the day my job is to support the song and for most listeners the base is going to be invisible it's only gonna stand out if it does something out out of place and just something that was obviously a wrong note so that's that's stay in the office we weren't letting me wrong notes go by but but I mean that's in a live contest somebody plays a wrong note yeah that stands out but usually it's here and gone very very quickly but so you know musicians sometimes dwell on those oh I played you the wrong note my life's over no it's not that anyway I'm getting off on a little bit of a side tangent here but the point is you you got to make sure that everything really flows and stand back from the big picture and go for it but make sure that it doesn't get in the way if we become visible too much sorry bass players our job is to be invisible most the time hold it down make sure that those vocals and the emotion and the singer and those words are heard we have to leave our egos outside the studio door make a solo album if you want to do that stuff right do all this stuff yeah do all that but not right here okay so yep do all that stuff at home do it all that stuff on your solo up not on a song like this when you've been called in to lay down an invisible bass whoo I like that invisible bass but the thing is you will be noticed if you're not there too so you're not truly invisible because people will feel you don't know if you're not there and the bassist job is to make make people dance all right you gotta feel it's the heartbeat is the pulse so just remember that I'm reminded of a story actually I learned almost the hard way about overplaying it's my first professional gig I was part of the temp East dance band I was 18 years old it was called Pete's people yeah Pete's people were tempies dance band played all the latest disco stuff and current pop stuff as well as the forties and fifties sixties dance stuff and so um especially on this base yeah I've had it a long time and I was getting pretty comfortable with the gig and what happens when you get comfortable slash possibly a little bored you start getting creative you start venturing off you start veering off and having fun it can be dangerous thing and anyway Pete the bandleader turned around to me one night and said hey listen if you don't quieten it down a bit playing wise I may have to let you go I got the message loud and clear I went straight back to those charts held it right down hold it right down and so that lesson stuck with me and it's still very tempting actually even when you get comfortable with the gig you go that song is a song and it needs to be supported as such and actually just a couple of months or weeks whatever it was in the same band the drummer turned round to me and said and this stung but it got the message through loud and clear said you know it's not only the drummer's job to keep time now people often ask me what it's like playing with different players drummers and you lock in with the kick drum and your locking to the snare what's what's your thing what do you do well I really one of my favorite bass players is James Jameson Funk Brothers Studio cat from Motown days played on all that classic Motown stuff from the 60s those songs for me are all about the song tambourine and the bass and if you listen to the drums a lot of time I mean the drummer's they had their stock fills it was very very I'm gonna say repetitive but it was it created a signature sound and the drums were hauling it down very few thought that it had to put a bit of them but the bass was doing all the syncopation stuff [Music] ah you get the point but the drums could be doing that a lot of the time the drums and the bass weren't exactly what a lot of bands will say locked in but gosh they were tighter than you could imagine a rhythm section beyond there was a crazy cool situation for base because the James Jamerson was one of the most creative pop bass players has ever been he set the course for a lot of bass players Jaco Pastorius and James Jamison and my two guys really and the amount of guys that James Jennison has influenced from John Paul Jones to Paul McCartney to John Deacon from Queen one of my personal favorites and so many in between John Entwistle they'll all they've all paid homage to James Jameson and so you know it's not always a case of what could I play with so many different drummers different styles from from Carmine Appice - Chris play - Terry Bozzio - Vinny Cal you there are all these different amazing cats and they all have they're all different of course coffee are is it's normal but one thing that they all have and this is the most important thing they all have their own internal sense of meter of rhythm so that they are not relying on a click they're not relying on the rest of the band for their timing for their meter they have it within them and that is where your metronome where your pulse where you feel comes from and that's what I go to now sometimes I will do a fill that seems almost contradictory to the drums or I'll play a part that it's feels like it's contradictory sometimes I'll play exactly on with the drums just whatever feels right it doesn't matter if it's by the textbook or scientifically correct or incorrect or or proper or theoretically right or wrong does it feel good that's the most important thing and so I like to just tune in to that and I don't what do I listen for with different drummers I don't listen to any one thing but I try to feel the pulse and then I feel my own pulse and you literally can play with anybody when you do that the rest of the band the rest of the instruments the voice especially helped to dictate what you will play because they're all part of that it's an amazing amount of things that a bass player takes in at any one point when he's playing he or she sorry you are taking in a lot of information you're listening to every single instrument and you are laying down something that becomes hypnotic invisible and a pulse that holds everything and supports everything else the bass can dictate what the drums play it can dictate what the rest of the band plays because the drums can be laying down doing that but if and then the bass can do same kind of thing ivenna [Music] it's all the same thing you still keep that thing going but it can it would change the feet the feel and the flavor of everything so how do I play with all these different players I just feel it feel that thing feel my thing don't be reliant on their thing blue line Tom my own pulse and I've never been one to practice with a metronome I suppose there's value to that I don't truly know because I didn't do it but I hear as I almost learned the hard way as he did learn the hard way it is not only the drummer's job to keep time it's our job is everybody's job in the band when everybody's doing that then you end up with a great feel so I've been very fortunate to play with some of those amazing players anyway all that goes into what I'm doing right here I'm kind of putting all that all those years of experiences and sometimes learning the hard way and and trying to think if there were any know I was saved from the brink of losing gigs by by doing that but even even recently you know I had a discussion I've been out touring with the Kenny Wayne Shepherd band and you know the whole band was starting to get a little busy and we had a band discussion the Kenny LED and a lot of it came down to the base because and now it was very very interesting because I the next gig I really kept it simple I didn't really need too many fills and kept the kept the the grooves very very basic and I noticed that the drums the great Chris Layton from Stevie Ray Vaughan's Double Trouble his pass changed he simplified it and everything was just rock solid and real as Kenny said it's very calm and that doesn't mean to say that you know it doesn't have fire no it has fire but everything felt very kind of flowing and hypnotic my job is to put people and especially the ladies in a trance right if we can do that our job is done anyway I was doing a fix up here wasn't I okay cool did I save I haven't done that for a while I'd like to hear what it would sound like me playing that bit with the bass going up to the high note I played an F instead of a G right there so I'm not sure if it's gonna work let's just give it a try shall we oh and what I do need to do is to listen to what note comes out of XF play a high note [Music] okay so it goes down so I've got to be anticipating that because if I was gonna go to there be a simple thing that if I'm gonna go I'm gonna anticipate that slide down so this sounds natural here we go [Music] [Music] I think that works I'm not liking the note that comes after it though it sounds a little shaky probably cuz I realized I'd played the wrong note on the previous take and so let me check my churn in here yeah went a little sharp didn't it here we go why we're not hearing that afterwards but it's alright [Music] I mean this is that so [Music] I'm not liking how that feels coming out they're gonna do it again now notice I did not do this because I was advocating playing along but this one I want it to be clean coming into it is it's sometimes a little tricky to get speaks lies that that like that clean so I'll just play out [Music] okay we should be good [Music] sounds pretty pretty tight yeah little tit will tied it up a little crossfade there with the multi-tool we'll call it the magic multi-tool I like that there we go sweet all right dude that was so long and then we'll listen through [Music] [Music] [Music] I think we I think we are good although one minor detail I wasn't sure about the tuning on that be let's have a listen to [Music] could be a little dodgy let's a fix that I've been very particular here I'm gonna just check the notes because you know [Music] look at that it is a little sharp right there because even though you can set your intonation perfectly as I was describing earlier the nature of the tempered scale the even-tempered scale and frets they are not perfectly subdivided sonically they are we have to do it on well you've seen those crazy instruments that have all the squiggly frets those are the ones that are supposed to have the perfectly intimated notes frets are not perfect which is one reason why Arjuna advocate people playing aligned fretless bass play unlined because you once again relying on your ears but these are guides these frets are guides and very weak with skill a little flaw look see that is actually sharp there and at this point in the song it does stick out so I'm actually going to put the bass out of tune it's compensate for that and just drop in for that one note I was bein finicky isn't it he's tuning keys they've been on here since 1976 when I first got this bass pony's a little oil oh look at that it keeps its messing with me okay that's close enough right there so we were just punching that one note only because it's so exposed at that point in the song you know they'll be probably if we were to analyze this to put the other note so that our our tune just because of the nature of that dividing of the of the of the frets and the scale there's nothing you can do about it unless you want to go through and analyze and replace every single note or you can I suppose auto-tune it which but the thing is it's like that on every recorded album we listen to guitar chords they're not perfect it's just the nature of the beast there's nothing you can do about it so in these days have perfect auto tuning it's sometimes a curse I think but anyway I'm off into the weeds don't get me started on that dialogue or maybe well we want to have that dialogue later I don't know we'll see for now it's gonna fix this be [Music] I don't know if I play that very well but let's have a listen [Music] perfectly in tune how about that you see even though my string was perfectly in tune that one note was still out it's a fascinating phenomenon it's going to wrap up this punch [Laughter] voila a perfect take we'll take a food break a five-minute break to have some perspective and then we'll listen down to it which is perfect timing cause the food's just arrived so we had a little food break and now we are going to listen down to the track it's the moment of truth I'm a big believer on taking breaks and stepping away so you can gain perspective because sometimes you can get so involved in in a track and you get too close to it you can't can not stand back and have that objectivity so that being said let's have a listen to this and you know let's put those vocals back in [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] go up [Applause] [Music] went up down that bed [Music] down [Music] good makes it more interesting I know it stop that because everything's fine up until there but I just want to point something out it's ever possible that because the drums come in at that point what I did was did a little slide in to that this is something that I was doing as it was going along so that the drums could actually the bass could come in with the drums at that [Laughter] so here we go that's if if we wanted to we could have the the base be muted up until this point [Music] just to give them options down [Music] [Music] [Music] she had a fill-in to walk between zeppos was right there I just want to play that again that little fill there was deliberately listening to the boat kind of same down for the ice to fulfill that so so low that you get little busier bring it back [Music] gimme a little bit yes more interesting here [Music] [Music] down [Music] [Laughter] [Music] sounds good to me what will I do now other than save it I will well at this point if I was doing this session a home by myself I would do an mp3 mix send it off to the artist the producer and see if there are any fixes that need to be done that's one of the advantages of using this little unit which I rarely change the settings do it all from here okay if I need to go back and revisit that and play any parts again the set the sounds in the settings will be pretty much the same and but so but if I was if the producer and the artists were here I would at this point consolidate the whole file just to make it as one and this is just labelled effect if this was me at home I would label it the sit the trackers call throw it all away it's labeled at this point TF di one so I would put it to just call it throw TF di one and the next one would be throw TF amp one and then I would consolidate it making all one nice file and I would also if you're sending this to somebody remotely then you would need to make sure that the file star is the same as the rest of the files in the song so that they match up when they import it into their session very very important because we could send them this as it is and the starting point is in a different place so we will going to consolidate it but I'm also going to make sure that it goes to the beginning point of the session so that we add that little bit of silence there and why did I change the name of the track it so that the file also gets called that so when these files are sent they'll know it's i/o is for that track you sent a bunch of files and it's all TF amp one then you're not going to be able to build a tail between the two I love this shortcut it's option shift three on a Mac processing duplicate throw TF there's the file right there it's a beautiful sight oh one nice big clean file save it done and see what all the different sections are and I'm not sure if I'm gonna be writing a chart on this one yeah I don't know let's uh check it out see what's going on [Music] cool track go buy some blood I can see [Music] I [Music] [Applause] [Music] instead [Music] I disappear I know you're the same there's someone [Music] your place [Music] [Applause] [Music] ensue [Music] [Applause] [Music] like [Music] that's cool sometimes I like just hearing all the individual tracks and all the different things but also sometimes I like to refer to those because that can affect the notes that I choose to play because sometimes you can hear something like this is very open bass wise but at the same time you know you got to fill them with everything that's going on and sometimes you can pick up I like to pick up little bits from the various textures and instruments that are going on so that I'm so I can choose wisely I'm not feeling it to make a chart on this you know the drum part is static pretty much but also I want to create it's got a build obviously all the things that you know what I'm going to do and this is what I like to do is to circle do a loop on a section and not to record but just to jam on it to get a vibe because this one is all about the vibe this is yeah just really go to get the right pattern the right sound play it in the right way and I want to play I'm tempted to use the pick on this one the plectrum as we say in England but it doesn't necessarily mean that I'm going to be hammering and digging in like oh no no no no that's not what this is all about this is about I'm actually going to turn around the pic and use the not the pointy bit but the round a bit do something it gives it a a point and the consistency of note is there a little different thing but it's not really about hitting too hard because it is a lot of it still needs a fullness and a low-end I think right because the the the the Pitkin there are some songs that that's appropriate for we want that drive more of a high-energy kind of rock thing but this is a vibe that I don't think is new than that but what I'm gonna do I've put it in put it set it up for loop record but I'm but on input so I'm just gonna down on this intro I'm gonna take out the vole cause they're probably not in on this intro anyway but just go round on right on this [Music] I know about the nose problem so if I loop it then I can learn it [Music] now it's very interesting hearing that's that Shan apart by itself because I might she go into I saw the piano and for me to play along with that I need to solo the bass so I do want to play along with that because a couple of different ways there's one note that I'm hearing in particular where the bass could go one way or the other see that one right there [Music] you call here could go that Oh [Music] and go different ways let's see what some of the other instruments are doing at that point to give a little bit of a clarity about what I want to do with that [Music] I'm stuck between the two obviously but so in this case what I do ain't gonna go to the verse because I know that it's a similar similar chord changes and I will add in I put the whole track in there I'll loop it again and put in all the instruments and play along the Seawatch see which feels right there okay I got something solo to have no that would be me that's a different okay so where does that patent happen I just want to I mean I could go either way on that note so this is the chorus [Music] goes to the G there okay [Music] so with him going to the G a little bit of music theory again this is where it does help to know a little bit about about that because G major and E minor are kind of related to mentality those are the notes of the G minor chord here the notes of the E minor chord but it's adding that note which is actually part of the G structure or scale but if you add that in it makes it was actually known as a g6 one two three four five six so that tells me that that note the using the e would not be appropriate for that part of the intro but I do like the B which is Part B of the G chord structure so these are all little details that mean a lot when it comes to choices of no so what I'm going to do is go back now to that intro and circle around and play that for a little bit so there was experimented at that point I was like gone between doing doing which is kind of cool it's kind of a little generic but sometimes that's what's needed and so there's a lot of ways I could go with this then I was going into which gives it a different kind of pulse and I'm tempted to just listen to the drums as well and I can play and jam with them they give a lot of scope actually because it's a repetitive got trained beat and so that's wide open very I got a solo the bass and the drums I've forgotten what that original pattern was to be honest but because that B didn't sound so good to me that time so let's go back [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] I want to turn up a little bit turn up my master so I can just kind of feel it and kind of get to into the vibe a little bit more yeah there's a lot of different ways that this can go and I'm going to back off the level of the base a bit because I want to hear more of the track because sometimes if you if the base is too loud then you play too softly got to find the right levels for the bass so you can feel it see I'm spending a lot of time on the setup of this so that once I get to it I won't have to be thinking about it because if something's blowing my vibe if something's not feeling right or sitting right then it takes away from the playing and getting into the mood and the vibe and that's why I'm spending the time to set this up it's it's it's time well spent as far as I'm concerned just to set the mood it's like no I won't go there but you know how about setting the right mood for the for the occasion the mood is everything you've got to get into the mood and of the of the vibe here of the song so here we go [Music] [Music] [Music] I try fingers I like that pick [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] all right I actually in the midst of that I tried going down to the G which is what it is in the chorus it didn't feel I felt right going to the B to me and also I switched up the pattern a little bit in the beginning I was going on and it felt like it needed a little bit more momentum to keep it going so I had a few more nose to [Music] [Music] and cm plant very very restrained here it's this one is all about the the consistency and not having and as I spoke in the early one is about having not nothing that's going to distract from the vibe now this to me is all about demonstrated by the drums it's very hypnotic it's very repetitive it draws you in repetitive in a good way because you want to be you know you go be under the chance of this very spellbinding I find which which I really like about it so I'm trying to get into that mood and that flavor I try playing the finger style in the middle and it didn't have the presence that I wanted but I could have tried it if that's how to do that one more time try it like that [Music] that's kind of cool but I'm actually something that's a little bit more driving and the the finger style has a little bit more personality to it which may sound like something that would be desirable in a certain situation Liz but for this I wanted something you know the drums are very hypnotic so I want to have something that matches and they just play this one more time then I'm probably going to go for it [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] yeah I'm feeling that I'm feeling it so this is very much a band vibe track and so I don't mind going over this round this quite a few times because it's all about getting the right flavor and me feeling like I've been playing with these guys for years that's where the band is all about you all pull together and you all tune into each other's groove feel vibe and the song and everything pulls together more than I'd say eventually say more than a solo artist where the focus is solely what's a solo water so it's all on the soloist the band is a whole different vibe so I approach this and set myself up for it differently I'm torn actually right now to whether to do a chart or not because there is something that is very now I'm in this vibe I kind of don't want to keep it I want to know what's coming up next but I tell you what I'm gonna start it as I intended and just because we start something one way doesn't mean to say that we end up doing it that way you have to try it and because this vibe stays pretty much the same throughout so anyway let's have a goal of this I'm just going to go from this intro right here even though I haven't done anything I'm gonna save I'm gonna take it out of loop record put it into quick punch I'm going to set myself up with a to measure pre-roll and for some reason I'm not seeing there we go I may get pull up the transport window so I got my pre-roll put that all up here and the pre-roll put two bars of that being post roll 100 meshes now don't need that many okay so I do believe we're good remember the part now isn't it funny how you can play something to for a long time and then [Music] I just needed to hear the band played that's what it was once we start it all comes back to me here we go let's try this think I go one more time on that what didn't they do what didn't I do I didn't tune did I yeah you'll see even though I'm not using the top string it still need to be in tune oh yeah see when it goes flat you definitely need to tune that [Music] that's nothing to do with the room temperature getting cold and making the streams go sharp it felt like it was in tune but I don't know I think it's all these years of playing fretless especially that makes me check my tuning incessantly because if my tunings off them and I'm playing that then people will look at me and give me the dirty iron thing is because of my playing technique on the fretless but if the bass is out of tune then there's nothing too much I can do about that so anyway I checked my tuning incessantly before every take be it faux bass fretless bass because you don't want to have to redo a take just because it was slightly out of tune on one string here we go [Music] [Music] see that was great I was very happy with that even though I will go back now it's like oh boy I think I'm gonna have to write a chart but what it was gonna do what I was going to do was find all the sections that have this pattern and then play it in fact let's go let's go there I'm sorry I'm backtracking because these are the thoughts that go through my head when I'm when I'm doing this thing this kind of stuff it's like okay is the is the set are there sections that repeat they probably are I play back into it and to loop record to try it [Music] different isn't it [Music] [Music] [Music] it is actually the same it just repeats that G pattern there and I'm gonna I'm gonna do whatever she set out to do I keep convincing myself to do one thing and then I convinced myself to do another I get very confused like that sometimes it's the artistic temperament but you know this is how it works is it right is it wrong it just here's how it is it has to feel right I don't care what it takes to get there as long as it feels right so take it out of loop record again I'm then gonna go for this chorus and here's the thing I may do this whole take from top to bottom this way and then listen down from the top and think wow I should really check this out and I'll play it all again but the good thing is by then or what I will have learnt it so it's it's it's not time wasted because once again as I've stated this is a band vibe and needs to feel like a band that's been doing this for years so here we go [Music] one more time on that wasn't feeling it so much I notice what I'm doing lead into leading into this as well I'm sitting there like a metronome so I haven't played the part before by getting into the into the click and the vibe of it so here we go [Music] [Music] [Music] cool let's go on to the next chorus which is right here same deal you know if this is a great technique and it may may or may not work for this song we'll know when what was her listen down but if you don't have long to learn a song if you're under the gun to deliver a quick session this is the quickest way I found to deliver it it's that you circle it's each section and so I say why it's not it's not cool because you're playing each section separately there's no flow there well at the end of it all I make sure and listen down and make sure there is that flow there but if you are pushed for time it's that okay I have this section I can I can play this and know all those hey I'm not copying and pasting hey no I'm not copying and pasting and I'm I guess I'm copying and playing whatever here we go is play this shall we [Music] all right here we go let's go for this next chorus and we will house this building I am anticipating you're building the energy a little bit because the song's getting on a little bit so even though it's the same part and I want to have the same kind of vibe I'm gonna build the energy a little bit [Music] it occurred to me that while I'm recording nothing has changed on here all the settings have remained the same it's the same base I haven't changed anything on here except I'm using it and the in the P based position on the last time I was using it with the blend of the two and for when I'm using the picker actually backed off the volume a little bit what am i doing with that I'm making the adjustments with me with with the instruments with the way that I play I'm not making any adjustments here because if you think when you're on stage when I'm playing a show if I want to change something I'm not a big effects guy I don't really I'm not big on effect so I make the adjustments here I make the adjustments with using a pick or not I make the adjustment with how I play where I play if I play up here or not I may adjust the tone adjust the volume a little bit but the point is I'm making the adjustments here so that's the the last song we did was very kind of almost kind of 16 years kind of very a very full sounding bass this is more of a vibey modern rock driven kind of thing but all the changes have been made from here now where I hit with the pick the plectrum will affect it too and how I pretty cool sound up there I'm hittin more here if I play up here changes it again all those tonal possibilities and then if I play a finger style there it changes it again if I change the pickup it changed it again you've got so many variations and tonal colors that you can access just by how you play it how you attack it where you play it and I'm a big fan of that because you know you do something with an effect or change the amp it doesn't really if you play everything the same way without changing what you play then it's actually kind of limits you as a player there's so much that you can do with yourself with your hands with the style that you play anyway it just occurred to me as I was doing that between this song and the last song so let's get back into this I need to just get back into the vibe of this a little bit [Music] I wasn't recording that time is doing it for me to get into the vibe again I like that little slide down there but I gotta execute the next bit a little better [Music] I'm playing a little differently honor [Music] see I don't get everything right on the first take contrary to popular belief [Music] the same thing again [Music] well we go through it but I'm gonna do another take I think I can do better let me pull a little bit [Music] it's good of course at the end that one I'm going to keep an open mind about that one how that one flows with the sections before and afterwards because there's very very specific very clear changes and bills that happen so that's one of the disadvantages or disadvantages of working this way with plate just punching these individual sections first is that you don't always get the overall big picture flow so we'll see how that feels once we get there and we have a chorus coming up at the end I'm just going to check how it ends [Music] it's on the F there's cool I like those handy things that don't end on the on the route there would have been too happy nice it was no our hands on that yeah it's cool [Music] that's cool although I do think I came in a little bit hot on that first course because it's actually a Down chorus there so I'm gonna go in for the first half of that I did like how it entered but it was just a little too strong so we'll go back and we will get that first bit of that again yeah a little bit more vibey a little bit more open for that so the second half builds [Music] [Music] [Music] let's just check that ending there I like that and I incorporated that B that was in the intro so it kind of brings it back to that as well I always like it when things happen again [Music] see how that sounded by itself just to make sure that that sounds that's okay it'll be smoothed out but well I might actually do is just pull that back a little bit because I kind of like what happened we're gonna make sure that we're on the right standard setting there there we go I'm not stretch that would get ugly oh and I'm not in group mod so I need to enable that yeah that's cool so I have all of the choruses now I'm gonna go back to the top of the song and we got the verse which is a similar vibe but there's a little bit of a different pattern going on here and this happens just twice in the songs isn't it verse one and verse two so I'm going to do is go back and youth this so I can play along with it kill the pre-roll [Music] ah now I'm glad that I'm circling these sections like this because it has its suckle but there is a variation in the way that I'm approaching this and playing it it's a little bit a little less muted here so it's ringing so the cool thing about doing it this way is that you get those verses and the chorus is consistent within themselves sometimes you know until you really get inside a song is that you can't always know or play them in a consistent way until you've like been living with them for you know as a band for four months sometimes you get into those subtleties here's me now so I'll go through this here in the song for the first time and try and make it sound like I've been playing it for months so doing each verse separately to an each chorus separately means that I maintain that same vibe for each one of them and that to me is is valuable so I got into the vibe of the verse there and so now I'm gonna go and play that put it back into quick punch put my pre-roll there did I save it no I might not have done but did I cheer enough no I didn't so let's do that again before I gather from now that the two most important things are two of the most important things to me are tuning and savings yep that'll save you oh here we go and I want to point out that I'm an input so it means I always drop my pick by the way it means that I'm not listening to the part before and there's value to that you have to play it by ear for each track whatever is appropriate I like to set up and get into the vert the vibe of the next section so I'm not distracted by what's going before sometimes you do want to hear that because you want to hear how they join together that's valuable too so you have to really kind of you know go between the two and make sure that they do work to go it really helps when you play the right part that felt pretty good to me what I'm gonna do is take it out of input mode and hear how those joined together listen one more time it's good I want to do that take again though and I'm gonna leave it not on input so I can hear them flowing into [Music] say that [Music] [Music] he'll fight one more time and actually digging a little harder and she's not gonna do guys gonna move closer to that it's a real soul thing how I'm hearing it just being a little bit more a little bit more aggressive I like it a little too aggressive then didn't it so I'll do it somewhere in between there we go one more time I'm being extra perfectionist actually right now [Music] miss that little run up there didn't they here we go okay I think I was good yeah I'm liking that it's gone verse two same thing I mean you could almost copy and paste here you really could but I'm not going to mr. little rap [Music] feeling good about that let's try the pre-chorus now which I haven't heard yet so let me [Music] yeah that's pretty much the same as the other sections a little variation [Music] little bill depends of the chorus there so here we go and pre-roll [Music] let's check that out [Music] I'm liking that go go to the pretext pre-chorus it doesn't always feel very romantic doing it this way but it's effective [Music] all right we're onto something here [Music] [Music] do your nap alright the bridge which I haven't heard or study properly yet and then once this is done that is the song well loop it [Music] [Music] [Music] that was the chorus right there now I'm going to listen to what the vocals are doing here because this is a whole new section [Music] [Music] I'm hearing a whole change of vibe here and I want to find something some notes I hear enough cheesy here to get a little bit outside because the rest of it is so repetitive and hypnotic and in a groove this is a great chance to take it out on a little bit of our a melodic excursion if you like to almost do the fretless on it which I'm not going to but we almost could I think there will be too much of a distraction really important that I play close attention to the vocals now before I was playing more attention to the drums and and the rhythmical aspect of it this is I mean it's always about the vocals but this especially because you know it's a whole different vibe so I'm gonna circle around this a few more times [Music] I could [Music] in the ballpark [Music] really [Music] all right I'm kind of digging there I want to hear what's happening before to make sure that I can make a good transition from boss okay that's nice that kind of just fades off there and then coming out it's see how it changes there [Music] yeah yeah okay so I think the word where I was going with that will fit quite nicely here's where we find out [Music] [Applause] [Music] really [Music] I like that was one bit that I was not at that note [Music] [Applause] space with a vocal [Music] this is the bad know or tricky like that but I know what I'm gonna do I'm just gonna fix that note and actually what I played on the second half will work very nicely so let me just get that bit [Music] I played a little too aggressively I'm gonna play it one more time almost I almost like it want to be there without it being overbearing so that it's a softer way of playing the same thing try it that way so there's many ways you can play the same thing many different ways you can play the same thing okay something like that [Music] have a listen to that may have been too soft [Music] kind of liking that [Music] yeah I - I'm taking that I'm really doing that and I was playing that section really really likely it becomes it's a very full sound it's like a Jameson sound it's very very full and love tone to it so I I'm not doing that I think it's a nice contrast in the middle of a song as well so let me just put smooth those out I'm really digging this middle section actually it's nice to have something like that after all the after all the rest of the drums keep going to keep it to tie all together which is pretty cool so let's just hear you hear that transition right there mmm that's cool um let's hear it with the track [Music] cool we are gonna listen I haven't smooth all the points out yet we're gonna listen from the very top and see how it all flows the moment of truth isn't it doing it this way [Music] [Applause] [Music] you stay I should go I'm blind chance [Music] I feel [Music] in Ceylon it's [Music] Oh disappear oh you're the same [Music] there's someone [Music] your flames [Music] [Applause] [Music] single [Music] see in [Music] I'm very happy with that I do love that middle section I must say takes it to a whole different level which the base has a mighty power to be able to do that take things to a whole new place a whole new level I'm just gonna smooth out everything and what I do quite often when I'm doing that I will just put the post roll on half a measure half a bar so do I have to listen to too much put that on solo mode on the bass ticket our record save it nice clean start there got this mixed I think I want to go to one is with the tempo being up I want to take it to one measure pre roller good nice and clean it's the way we like it [Music] and did it sound like those were done in separate sections or all those things no it didn't because they had a groove to them and as you know I spent a lot of time setting up and getting the feel for each part to make sure that it was right and it's it is hard to do that unless you were practicing with a band for a week or months even ideally but me coming in caught through this session I have to make it sound like I've been doing that with them for well in an hour or so I find this the most efficient way and it's not using charts because not everybody likes to use charts it's comfortable using them so there are different ways you don't need even though I absolutely recommend it because it gives you a lot more scope and a lot more freedom and you can keep them and if you need to go back and reference it because sometimes you know you get caught inside oh you did a great job in the session we need you to come and play a show with it okay sure Oh what was it again what did I play after relearning and listen to what I played who's that player he did a great job over there right okay so I keep a lot of charts actually so it's the app cool and I was for a little fade on the end just so it ends nice and cleanly even though there's nothing playing that so we are good with this I I'm gonna leave that one as it is with the know what would I normally do I would you know go to the go to where all the rest of the files are starting and I will consolidate that whole track and this song is called staying up late I will just call this late TF di and late TF amp and they would consolidate it option shift three and there we have it beautiful [Music] just noodling here I'd like to do the fifth [Music] [Laughter] because that's the ultimate test of making sure your insurer which I'm not you see the thing is with the fretless you play a fair down there the spacing of it is different up here because as you get up here the frets get close together so you having to like spread it more there and then closer together as you move up it's a trip it really is but this this bass I've had so 77 I've had it since since 1979 as when I got this it was new and it's just the one that I recorded all the firm stuff on and it's just an amazing bass it's a beast to play though looks like his butter I know but it's nice glossy fingerboard and we had to put this glossy coating on because the the the rosewood was getting so thin on it because we kept having it sheared down because you get the grooves cuz I used the round round strings so it's uh it's become so that's yeah if you can even see it but there's barely any rosewood left on there it's so thin you see there see there other next from that era and it's like thick rows were but this hardly has any so we had to put this diamond finish on there Diamond epoxy whatever it was then my my luthier tech said that it was a should last you a couple years it's almost been 20 years this lasted so it's done pretty well this was the model that this my Fender fretless signature bass was based on and for that because of the fingerboard wearing we put an ebony fingerboard on there so it pretty much has the same sound because this has that hard finish on it and the the a veneer is a more durable wood and so it's it helps that I use the RAM on strings so yeah really tears so anyway we put up a track which I believe is going to be great for the fretless it's a piano Volkl haven't really got into it yet so I'm gonna do that see what we've got going on here I know nothing about this track at this point so let's find out what it's all about you see starting point here I know right away that I want to create a click track for this so create click track right there boom cuz with the with the piano being exposed like that just by itself I definitely want to be able to have some some count some kind of click going along with that in tune with the track as well how about that ok [Music] you sitting here alone in a crowded place my mind is like an ocean filled with empty space people change but they don't go far hoping on the light of shooting star ooh nice [Music] sitting in the dark of a music hall listening to the keys rise and fall life is hard but make it through relying on the strength that I get from you looks like it's pretty much piano vocal all the way through I'm not seeing any of the tracks they're excellent I am going to write a child for this one because I want this to be very much a flow so what was that an e-flat I found this maybe a little bit more intricate as far as me knowing which notes have been played but it's gotta go all right so let's see how this one goes you hello class in a crowded place mind is like an ocean food with empty space people change as it repeats let's say they don't go far hoping on the light of shouldn't yeah what's that so what's that Oh sounds like an ass yeah okay I like you when I get it right all right go back to that pre a flat sittin in the dirt look another verse right there music listening to the keys rise and fall life is hard but make it through relying on the strength that I get from you same thing okay [Music] there are times when I doubt okay that is marked as a verse right there but it isn't a verse is it it's going into a chorus so I know to mark that chorus 1 so I've made a repeat there because that whole they'll pre that little thing where it goes to the F and then the verses are all repeated so I just made a big repeat of that so it doesn't take up too much writing space okay cool there are times when I don't there are times when I wonder if I'm good enough and I feel like giving up [Music] way down you always come around to lift me up you pick he'll be in there [Music] certain on the floor okay so I there was a little passing note in there which I put on the chart be natural I wanted to catch that I'll go back and play that right right there otherwise that you the secret stays the same [Music] sittin on the floor did I miss it I must have missed that Oh to lift me up you pick it'll be in there yeah let's go back sitting on the floor okay I noticed that we have a marker here another marker verse and change that the studio dancin hand-in-hand with the house and lows this love has grown in me flowing through my bones like a melody we can make it baby we can make it through you guys oh okay so what are the pencil disappear - there it is we went back there and I'm gonna do my famous dal segno back to the sign which is right there but so a pre chorus repeats and this is not grammatically or theoretically correct but who cares because only I have to read it so that repeats on the pre-course I'm sorry on the sign the dal segno and we're coming up to another chorus it's basically me not wishing to write out any more than I need to keeping it as efficient as possible there are times I'm good enough and I feel like giving up but when I'm on my way down you always come around to lift me up you pick [Music] Oh [Music] you there are times when I doubt there are times when I wonder if I'm good [Music] no I didn't resolve I was expecting resolve there I would kind of like to resolve some time but that's okay I'm here to play bass not to change the arrangement okay I noticed that that little B natural thing was not there on the repeat there on the sign so there was one right there though so not on the sign we have a quick chart that's a very quick chart there this place on bass shall we this one is very much gonna be a floor you know there's not like um it's not a groove thing it's very much it's almost like there's another voice that's here to accompany the the vocal the bass I mean you know I don't know what else is gonna go on the track then maybe other things there may be some other moody stuff there may be some rhythmical stuff so I had to bear that in mind but at this point as I approach the track there are literally two solo instruments not the piano isn't but that's more the accompanying and playing the choral thing but at this point so I don't want to overdo it but at the same time this you know make do a couple of takes on this we'll see how it goes one that's just gonna hold it down and then one that'll be a little bit more melodic and and exploratory yeah that's a good word to use it on a recording session okay nicely in tune what do we need let's have a look at this thing just need to put it in from the start and I'm tempted to not enter right at the start as well but let's just see how it flows you know you can't think about it too much you just gotta play it put that click in just to give me those bits where the yeah they're gonna back it right down as well because I don't want it to get in the way I wanna be so rigid I'm locked into that click alright let's have a go here shall we you sitting here alone in a crowded place my mind is like an ocean filled with empty space people change but they don't go far hoping on the light of shooting star [Music] sittin in the dark of a music hall listening to the keys rise and fall life is hard but make it through when I in on the strength that I get from you [Music] times when I doubt that [Music] if I'm good enough like giving up way down you always come [Music] to lift me her [Music] Oh [Music] sitting on the floor of the studio [Music] dancing hand-in-hand with the house then Lowe's this has grown in me flowing through my bones like we can make it babe and Oh [Music] dad times when I wonder if I'm good enough and Dively when I'm on my way down you always come to lift me you pick [Music] [Applause] [Music] there are times when I doubt there are times when I wonder if I'm good [Music] felis is a beautiful thing isn't it yeah I love it because you can do so much with so little you just got those open notes but it's so expressive [Music] ah what very nice let me say that and III know the couple of little fixes I would want to do in there I'm also seeing a little bit of hotness not of the good kind on that track some of the some of the levels are a little bit hot but you know [Music] it sounds ok I'm not gonna stress too much about it because it sounds good where was there a little something there was a little something I think it was coming into maybe that last chorus that was a little off you group these TF bass everything's why are those not well it's a active not to worry anyway this listen with the track [Music] Oh right there that little push bit into there so that last chorus right there it's just a little little on top isn't it hmm is that notable well let's see shall we it might leave a little bit of an open to much of an open gap I don't know at this point but let's see because it all flows so nicely some if I can fix it with it being we can [Music] Oh I can live with that let's so yeah it's fine it's more than fine all right so I guess we'll listen down from the top on this I seem to remember the beam one other thing but I I I don't know what it was at this point so will not lose sleep over it will take that you suited her load beautiful boys crowded place mind is like an ocean food with empty space people change but they don't go far hoping on the light of shooting star [Music] sittin in the duct so I started hi our next next first came in there were four with the low notes life is hard but make it through relying on the strength that I get from you [Music] bad times when I don't I wonder if I'm good enough and she's a little pulse going now subtle from the vs. difference but gives that a little bit of movement [Music] Oh [Music] sitting on the floor of the studio dancing hand-in-hand with the husband more higher babies has run up I got her through my bones like oh gee we can make well movement [Music] it [Music] Oh [Music] doubt times when I want to fish and I feel giving a [Music] I'm on my way you was clubbing getting a little bit more movement going here has work as a the song is building [Music] [Applause] [Music] there are times when I doubt there are times when I wonder if I'm good I almost hesitated and didn't want to play on the end there it's like a it's start off with just the voice by itself and then I was tempted to leave it and there's a little timing thing I'm not thrilled about there sometimes it's it's different when you hear the click out let's hear that [Music] there are times when I doubt there are times when I wonder if I'm good it doesn't bother me so much that time it wasn't at this point especially if there's getting more added to it it's it's whoever's gonna have this session next that's all within inaudible distance I'm not gonna big open notes with like that I'm not gonna worry about it I'm happy with this take but you know what I'm gonna do I'm gonna do a complete new take and and just go for it a little bit more some feels and probably overplay which I don't like to do but sometimes it's good to go for it so you can pick out a few nuggets and a few lines because I'm trying to anticipate wherever this track may go to so I've just a new playlist right there I always like to make sure yep the old ones still there I hope it's like that like to do that just to be sure that it didn't go away and I'm gonna save it all so here we go let's go record another track from the top put that click back in and we're good to go you sitting here alone in a crowded place my mind is like an ocean filled with empty space people change but they don't go far hope it on lighter shooting star sitting in the dark of a music hall listening to the keys thousand for life is hard but make it relying on the strength that I get from you [Music] times when I doubt that I wonder if good enough and like giving up on my way down you always come to lift me her you [Music] ah [Music] sitting on the floor of the studio dancing hand close this [Music] has good me my bones like Lutie [Music] we can make we can make [Music] I've got you Oh [Music] times when I want to fish and giving a bud you always come around 250 you [Music] [Applause] [Music] there are times when I don't there are times when I wonder if I'm good [Music] make sure we save that one hey who a little sweat going on during that one it was fun that was fun it's nice to stretch out and you know I really don't want to mess with that there's a few bits where as very okay that could be good but I truly feel in my gut that that was probably way too over-the-top this is where I sometimes lose perspective and you need but I rest assured knowing that it's going to be going to somebody else's hands after this it's going to producers it's going to the artists they're going to hear all that and be like yeah that's cool oh that's too much oh we need more there I'm also tempted to do one more take why not hey we're having so much fun I'm gonna do one would take and then there's absolutely plenty to choose from alright you just go for it and by now I'm starting to learn the song as well which is always always cool because you can get away from the chart and and just play so that's seen see what happens this time and one of the reasons I like doing another one is because to be perfectly honest if there were little mistakes in that last one you give them so much that they're like oh yeah we can choose something from that take so you've got you covered you have salutely covered so here we go and this will be the last take because I know that we'll have everything from here [Music] in a crowded place my mind is like an ocean food with empty space people change but they don't go far hope it [Music] shouldn't stop [Music] sitting in the dark of a music hall listening to the keys resentful life is hard but make it through when I in on the strength that I get from you [Music] doubt that [Music] if I'm good enough and I feel like giving up but way down you always come to lift me up [Music] Oh Oh [Music] sitting on the floor of the studio [Music] dancing hand-in-hand with the house this has grown in me through my bones like love tea we can make it baby [Music] Oh [Music] times when I wonderful [Music] given a when I'm on my way you always come to lift me you pick [Music] [Applause] [Music] there are times when I doubt there are times when I wonder if I'm good [Laughter] [Music] all right all that and there was one bit that I was trying to execute at the end which I almost did it happened in my mind but not on my finger so it's just a list [Music] in the air to do that's what I want to do so I'm going to fix that little bit [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] but I wanted to do it almost happened [Applause] oh that's because I need to do a post roll on that where's my see that's what I got to do I got to make sure that I set up the post roll I had the pre-roll but not the post roll so I got to do that take again to make sure I get the what's afterwards [Applause] [Music] little out of tune let's go one more time [Music] [Applause] [Music] that sound like that was what I wanted to do [Music] [Applause] [Music] except this little bit here's a little rushed going in this field right here [Music] I'm going to nudge that see I'm not afraid too much it's a beautiful thing when the take and the feel is good we just pull it back a little bit see how that sounds now [Applause] let's hear it so loud just gotta fix those those are from the second punch but the first nudge was good and I am quite happy so there we have it I feel good about those knowing that everything is there with all its perfect imperfections everything is covered the first one was very very basic second one was a little bit more busy the third one kind of found the middle ground and so wherever this one wants to go there are options and I'm gonna leave it at that with this one when you have the the those playlists like that and I don't I'm not going to consolidate them I'm gonna leave them as are everything is kind of self-explanatory I think we are good on this let me think if there are any other points to think I think we've covered it mostly along the way I'm trying to think if there's any fretless specific questions or thoughts that that need to be expressed oh no I covered quite a bit I thinking like this is feeling pretty complete to me this has been a blast so I look forward to hearing feedback on this and hearing your takes on it and you going for it and and using whatever I've done on theirselves a template as a starting point this is not the ending point this is how I do it everybody does it in a different way you can have ten bass players come and play on this track and they will play ten different ways and all of them will have something that is magical and into I'm perfect so it's about you finding what's magical and perfect and right for you to express and that is something that doesn't necessarily come from the fingers or from the instrument they're just the way of expressing what's inside of you and so you know you're just everything that you do becomes a part of what translates to hear how you listen to music and I remember doing a gig recently no it was a couple years ago but that's that's not the point the point is I was having a having a bad night I wasn't playing badly everything was right but I was just wasn't I was like stuck inside my head you know sometimes when you're in that space and you can't get beyond that and you are you just struggling to enjoy the moment to be in the moment and to feel like you're part of the the music and the band and so I changed my perspective instead of thinking of my world my parts my presence whatever it is I started to focus on first of all on the drums on the drummer I was doing his vibe you know I'm because I'm still playing so I can't like just stop and watch him that wouldn't be good um so I kept my finger on but I focused on him and I said oh cool oh that's a nice little Phil I has a really cool groove right there and then I did that for a little while and then I switched it and focused on the guitar I'm the guitar player and the super can you ain't Shepard so I mean the great players you got Chris Layton back there on the drums and so I was just digging what they were doing I was digging Kenny who's a great rhythm player as well as he's known for his leave but it's a great rhythm player so I was just taking it all in and digging it and enjoying it and so I thought wow that's a really cool thing and sometimes you notice things that you don't when you do that you know those things that you don't notice before and so I was noticing all these things and that was cool and then it went from there and there I started listening the key keyboard player and the vocals note and before I knew it of course I was out of my head I was listening to everything that was going on around me and then I started enjoying the show I was playing better because I was like focusing on the big picture because sometimes get stuck in our own little roll our own parts got this lick coming up next or must make sure I nail that nobody else in the world will probably notice if you do a don't it's as simple as that so what's more important is how you're making everybody else sound and groove it doesn't matter how we feel about it it's how they feel about it how the audience feels about and the rest of the band if they especially for the bassist how our place to make them feel good and if we're doing that then we've done our job and sometimes you know you can have the worst key think you've had the worst gig why is it you think I've had a great gig and then nobody says anything right and you think you've had the worst gig ever and everybody comes up and compliments it man that was great and I never say anything contrary to that because if they had a great experience then my job is done regardless of what an experience I had if they had a great time job done and so it's the same with every situation with every session with every recording get out of your own little thing listen to everything else that's going on and then Express from there that's when you'll do magic so there's the closing thoughts for today's sermon and we'll say farewell [Music] [Applause] you [Music]

Channel: Produce Like A Pro

Views: 44,368

Keywords: Warren Huart, Produce Like A Pro, Home studio, Home recording, Recording Audio, Music Production, Record Producer, Recording Studio, Recording Bass, Tony Franklin, Free Course, Free Multitracks

Id: uGJoEVcATEc

Length: 211min 41sec (12701 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 19 2020