"Can't Help Myself" Isolated Bass

Motown's James Jamerson is ones of the giants of the bass world, so it's always a pleasure when we can get to closely study his work. Here's a video of his isolated bass in The Four Tops hit "I Can't Help Myself (Suger Pie Honey Bunch)." As you listen, take notice to a few things:

1. The leakage of the rest of the band onto the bass track. Most of the recording of those early Motown hits recorded in Detroit were done on an 8 track tape machine, which means that many of the instruments had to be recorded together on the same tracks. The bass was the exception as it always had its own track, but that didn't mean that it was totally isolated. Since it was recorded through an amp, you can hear the rest of the band playing as well, which is something that we probably wouldn't stand for today. Didn't seem to hurt anything here.

2. Listen to how Jamerson's articulations change throughout the song. Sometimes he has a smooth release and sometimes it's staccato and chopped off. This is something else we would probably replace today, asking him to play it one way or another throughout the song.

3. There's a mistake that Jamerson makes throughout the first third of the song as he plays a major against a Dm (the third chord in the pattern) over and over. At some point he realizes the mistake and makes the change (it's only one fret difference). Not that this has ever bothered the millions of listeners that have enjoyed the song. In fact, if it weren't for the isolated track, no one would probably hear the difference.

This track is a perfect example of how modern production techniques have changed from the 1960s. Today we look for more precision and isolation, but we often lose the feel and groove as a result. That said, the track is proof that a hit is still a hit, mistakes and all.

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The Producer's Overdub Checklist

Here's an excerpt from The Music Producer's Handbook regarding a checklist for overdubs. If you want your overdubs to go fast and easy, follow this list. It works every time.

•  Do you have a list of overdub priorities? Do you know which overdubs absolutely must get done and which ones are less important? A list will keep you on track budget-wise and time-wise.

• Can you record in the control room? Most players prefer to record in the control room because they like to hear what you’re hearing and they like the immediacy of the communication.

• Are there too many people in the control room or studio? The fewer people, the fewer the distractions. It's best to keep all friends, associates, entourage and hangers-on out of the studio when you're working to keep the distractions to a minimum.

• Did you move the vocal or instrument into the big part of the studio? All instruments sound best when there’s some space for the sound to develop, so move it to the big part of the studio for overdubs (after you've done any basic track fixes). You can cut down on any unwanted reflections from the room by placing baffles around the mic and player.

• When doubling, are you trying to do something a little different on each track? A different mic, mic preamp, room, singer, or distance from the mic will all help to make the sound bigger.

• When doubling or adding more guitars, do you have a variety of instruments and amplifiers available? Two guitars (a Les Paul and a Strat, for instance) and two amplifiers (a Fender and a Marshall is the classic combination) combined with different pickup choices will allow a multitude of guitar tracks to more effectively live in the mix together.

• Are you making it sound better, not just different? Changes aren't always for the better. Is there a big difference between what you just recorded and the original part? Does the new part make everyone in the studio go crazy in a good way?

• Would it be better to try the part tomorrow? You'd be surprised how much more you can Will you accomplish more when you're fresh?

• Do you have the studio talkback mic on? Can you hear the musicians in the studio at all times between takes? If they're talking to you and you can't hear them, they'll feel isolated.

• Do you have the control room talkback mic always on? Can the musicians hear you at all times in between takes? Periods of silence can be a mood killer.

• Does the player want to play it again? If a player feels strongly about playing it over, he probably can do it better. Be sure to keep the last recorded part before recording again.

Just another quick plug - If you're looking for some tips and tricks for using social media, check out the Music 3.0 Guide To Social Media, a compendium of posts taken from the Music 3.0 blog. Available as an ebook, for only $4.99.

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Get Ready For Huge Flash Drives

I've been prematurely predicting the takeover of solid state memory from spinning disc hard drives for a couple of years, and even though the technology has made some inroads, it still hasn't come to pass. 2013 just might be the year, starting with the new USB 3 flash drives from Kingston that are now available up to a terabytes.

Although the terabyte version is not shipping yet, the 512GB model, known as the HyperX Predator, is readily available. It's not cheap however, with a price of $860 online.

Solid state computer drives prices have come down in the last year, but not as much as was probably expected. A 256GB drive is still around $200, although 64GB drives can be had for under $60 if you look around.

Still, if you need a major amount of storage at your fingertips, it really is now at your fingertips. If you have the cash, that is.

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New Music Gear Monday: Novation Launchkey

Now that the majority of us are in a in-the-box world with the DAW as the heart of our studios, we all face the issue of clutter on the desktop. Keyboard, mouse or trackball, controller, mixer - you want them all in front of you at once. The problem is there isn't enough room. Now comes the Launchkey from Novation that's about to be introduced at NAMM 2013 later this week, and it looks to be an elegant all-in-one solution to that desktop clutter.

Launchkey is an integrated work surface that features a keyboard, velocity sensitive pads, transport control, mappable faders and rotary controllers, plus iPad connectablity and apps all in one. It comes in 25, 49 and 61 key versions, and looks like it should be a great addition to any studio. Prices are a very reasonable $149, $249 and $299. Check out the video below.

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The Oldest Recording Ever

Talk about old school, here's a captivating PBS Newshour segment about the restoration by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory of one of the oldest recordings ever made. The recording was originally done on a thin piece of tin foil that was so fragile that it couldn't be played, so they had to scan it with a super hi-res 3D camera in order to digitize the modulation for playback. The foil was folded 7 times and stored in an envelop for 140 or so years before it was found, so the fact that they were able to extract any sound at all is amazing. Simply fascinating!

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Performing Music Gets Us High

Non-musicians are always confounded as to why musicians struggle so much for their art. If you look at it logically, there's really no reason why some of us would give up promising careers in "legit" businesses to groval for a few bucks in an effort to keep on groveling for one more day. And this is all in the hopes of someday "making it," which usually means that we can continue making music, just without the day-to-day groveling.

But there's a reason why we do it. Performing music makes us high. Every musician who's ever gigged has experienced the rush on stage when you played something so cool that they rest of the band would give you that acknowledging smile. Or when the whole band does something at once in such a tight fashion that it's like thinking with the same mind. Or hearing the whistles and applause at the end of a song. That's what keeps us doing it.

No matter if you're just starting out in the garage or a superstar at his peak, you can't get enough. We all know it on some level, and we all crave it. And it never goes away. Even if you haven't played in a band in 20 years, it takes about 10 seconds after the first downbeat to get back into it again. And if you're "retired" as a player, the thought of performing is consciously suppressed because you're afraid that you'll miss it so much and get pulled back in. All it takes is just one small taste.

We know we're addicted, but to what exactly? Now according to a study published in Evolutionary Psychology, it turns out that performing actually releases measurable amounts of endorphines (the body's natural opiates) during performing. That means we're not only psychologically addicted, but physically addicted as well.

The study was conducted at Oxford University by Professor Robin Dunbar, who wanted to see if performing music would increase a person's pain tolerance. Three experimental groups were studied; church singers involved with communal singing, clapping and lots of upper body movement, people in a drum circle, and finally a group of musicians rehearsing. What he found was that performing released endorphines that resulted in "a mild opiate 'high' corresponding with a feeling of well-being and light analgesia (the absence of pain)."

I've also felt that performing music goes a step beyond the physical to the spiritual, if I can get metaphysical here for a moment. A musician "in the zone" is unknowingly performing a ritual that's touching somewhere above the physical plane. It's a place that's so compelling that we want to go there again and again, but it goes beyond that. We also open this spiritual link to the audience as well, which is why they want to come hear us play. It's something they can't easily reach for themselves, and need us as a gateway. Our music speaks on multiple levels, and has the ability to take us and our audience to places unknown.

So keep on playing as much as you can. When done well it's good for you, and for everyone around you. You are more special than you know.

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Inside The Purdie Shuffle

I just love great drummers. Who doesn't? Bernard Purdie is one of most influential drummers on the planet, and a good deal of that is thanks to his "Purdie Shuffle." Here's a blast from the past as the man himself explains just how it's done. Note his impeccable time and feel.

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A Recording Session Checklist

Here's a recording checklist derived from both The Recording Engineer's Handbook and Audio Recording Basic Training that, if followed, will pretty much keep any engineer, or musician trying to record himself or his band, out of trouble.

1. Does the instrument sound great acoustically? Make sure that you start with a great acoustic sound with the instrument well-tuned and minimum of sympathetic vibrations and extraneous noises.

2. Are the mics acoustically in phase? Observe the 3:1 rule and make sure that any underneath mics are at a 90° angle to the top mics.

3. Are the mics electronically in phase? Make sure that all the mic cables are wired the same by doing a phase check.

4. Are the mics at the correct distance from the instrument? If they’re too far away they’ll pick up too much of the room or other instruments. If they’re too close the sound will be unbalanced with either too much attack or ring, and not enough of the body of the instrument. Walk around the player, put your finger in your ear, and find the spot that sounds the best. Remember, most instruments need some space for the sound to develop. The ambience from the surrounding area is a big part of the sound for most instruments.

5. Does it sound the same in the control room as when you’re standing in front of the instrument? This is your reference point and what you should be trying to match. You can embellish the sound after you’ve achieved this.

6. Is there another problem besides the mic placement? A great sound is dependent upon the instrument, the player, the amp and the room. The player has to be able to achieve the tone you're trying to record with his hands first and foremost. The mic itself usually has less to do with the ultimate sound than the placement, room and the player and ultimately, the project itself.

You should always trust your ears and begin by listening to the musician in your studio, find a sweet spot and then begin your microphone placement there. If you don’t like the resultant sound, then move the mic or swap it with another. EQ is the last thing you should touch.

7. Is the problem in your signal chain? Don’t neglect your microphone preamp. The better your preamp, the less trouble you’ll have capturing the sound, but sometimes a certain mic/preamp combination will give you the sound you need. Experiment.

8. Is the problem the players signal chain? A guitarist’s signal chain can be a huge help or a big hindrance. You’ll get a warmer yet aggressive guitar sound by decreasing the amount of distortion from pedals, but turning up the amp’s volume instead to obtain the sustain/distortion from the amp and speaker. Also, smaller amps and speakers tend to sound bigger than large amps/speakers when recording.

REMEMBER: Mics cannot effectively be placed by sight, which is a mistake that is all too easy to make. The best mic position can't be predicted, it must be found.

Check out bobbyowsinski.com for more book excerpts, or take a look at the Audio Recording Techniques video course at Lynda.com.

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New Music Gear Monday: EH Talking Pedal

Here's a guitar product that came out at Summer NAMM that I managed to miss. Remember the Talk Box that Joe Walsh ("Rocky Mountain Way"), Peter Frampton ("Show Me The Way") and Aerosmith ("Sweet Emotion") used on their hits in the 70's? While it was pretty cool, one of the problems was that you needed a separate amplifier, not to mention a decidedly unsanitary plastic tube in your mouth in order to play it. Now Electro-Harmonix has released a unique version of the Talk Box called the Talking Pedal that provides the same effect without having to resort to the separate amp and mouth tube.

EH released a Talking Machine pedal about a year ago that provided the same effect automatically depending upon your playing dynamics, but the the Talking Pedal looks to be much more expressive in a similar way to the real thing.

Here's a video of the Talking Machine pedal. It's pretty authentic sounding. The Talking Pedal can be found for less than $100.

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How's This For A New Speaker Technology?

Microphone and speaker transducers haven't changed in more than a hundred years. Sure, they've evolved and have become a lot more efficient, but the basic operating principles are the same despite major advances in technology. That's why it's cool whenever anyone decides to think outside the box when it comes to speaker development.

Well you can't really call these JVC Kenwood wireless speakers outside the box exactly, because they are the box. Yep, these wooden boxes produce sound by vibrating the wood.

The problem is that they can't move enough air to produce a lot of low end, and JVC Kenwood knows that. That's the reason why they're tying the speakers to a subscription services that will stream real-time sounds from microphones placed up in the Takayama and Morotsuka mountains, but eventually plans to have choices from around the country. There's not much low frequency content in the sounds of birds and rustling trees, so this seems like a good match.

The boxes are made out of Japanese oak or cyprus by a furniture manufacturer for JVC, so the quality and material should be pretty high. They also plan to sell the speakers in furniture stores, which is a new distribution outlet for consumer electronics.

For wooden boxes, these things certainly aren't cheap, with the 5.35 inch small one selling for about $680 while the 12.2 inch large one will set you back $3,400. And that doesn't include the monthly fee for the subscription service (no word on how much that costs). It's no wonder that the system has only been offered in Japan as of yet. I think they have a deeper appreciating for things that are aesthetically simple than most of the rest of the world, and they're willing to pay for it too.

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A Sound Engineer's Hard Work

And they think we don't do anything. This video is obviously fake, but it's so funny that I just had to share. It instantly brings back memories of all those horrid vocal sessions from way back when. Make sure you watch it at least through :36.

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Rhythm Section Mix Balance Tips

The rhythm section is the heart and soul of a song as it provides both the pulse and the key center, and that's why it's so important to get the correct balance in a mix. It would be nice if everything sounded so good that you didn't have to add a thing but that's not usually the case. Here are a few tips taken from both The Mixing Engineer's Handbook and The Audio Mixing Bootcamp that can help get that rhythm section kicking.

"In order to have the impact and punch that most modern mixes exhibit, you have to make a space in your mix for both of these instruments so they won't fight each other and turn the mix into a muddy mess. While simply EQing your bass high and your kick low (or the other way around), might work at it’s simplest, it’s best to have a more in-depth strategy, so to make them fit together, try the following:

1. EQ the kick drum between 60 to 120Hz as this will allow it to be heard on smaller speakers. For more attack and beater click add between 1k to 4kHz. You may also want to dip out some of the boxiness that lives between 200 to 600Hz. EQing in the 30 to 60Hz range will produce a kick that you can feel if your speakers are large enough, but that can also make it sound thin on smaller speakers and probably won’t translate well to a variety of speaker systems. Most 22 inch kick drums like to center somewhere around 80Hz, for instance.

2. Bring up the bass with the kick. The kick and bass should occupy slightly different frequency spaces. The kick will usually be in the 60 to 80Hz range whereas the bass will emphasize higher frequencies anywhere from 80 to 250 (although sometimes the two are reversed depending upon the song). Before you continue to EQ at other frequencies, try filtering out any unnecessary bass frequencies (below 30Hz on kick and 50Hz on the bass, although it varies according to style and taste) so the kick and bass are not boomy or muddy. There should be a driving, foundational quality to the combination of these two together.  

A common mistake is to emphasize the kick with either too much level or EQ and not enough on the bass guitar. This gives you the illusion that your mix is bottom light, because what you’re doing is effectively shortening the duration of the low frequency envelope in your mix. Since the kick tends to be more transitory than the bass guitar, this gives you the idea that the low frequency content of your mix is inconsistent. For pop music, it’s best to have the kick provide the percussive nature of the bottom while the bass fills out the sustain and musical parts. 

3. Make sure the snare is strong, otherwise the song will lose its drive when everything else is added in. This usually calls for at least some compression. You may need a boost at 1kHz for attack, 120 to 240Hz for fullness, and 10k for snap. As you bring in the other drums and cymbals, you might want to dip a little of 1k on these to make room for the snare. Also make sure that the toms aren't too boomy (if so, try rolling them off a bit below 60 Hz first before you begin to EQ elsewhere). 

4. If you’re having trouble with the mix because it's sounding cloudy and muddy on the bottom end, turn the kick drum and bass off to determine what else might be in the way in the low end. You might not realize that there are some frequencies in the mix that aren't musically necessary. With piano or guitar, you're mainly looking for the mids and top end to cut through, while any low-end might be just getting in the way of the kick and bass, so it’s best to clear some of that out with a high-pass filter. When soloed the instrument might sound too thin, but with the rest of the mix the bass will sound so much better, and you won’t really be missing that low end from the other instruments. Now the mix will sound louder, clearer, and fuller. Be careful not to cut too much low end from the other instruments, as you might loose the warmth of the mix.

5. For dance music, be aware of kick drum to bass melody dissonance. The bass line is very important and needs to work very well with the kick drum when it’s reproduced over the huge sound systems commonly found in today's clubs. If your kick has a center frequency of an A note at around 50 or 60Hz and the bass line is tuned to A#, they’re going to clash. Tune your kick samples to the bass lines (or vice versa) where needed.

6. If you feel that you don't have enough bass or kick, boost the level, not the EQ. This is a mistake that everyone makes when they’re first getting their mixing chops together. Most bass drums and bass guitars have plenty of low end and don't need much more, so be sure that their level together and with the rest of the mix is correct before you go adding EQ. Even then, a little goes a long way."

You might want to read some additional book excerpts at bobbyowsinski.com, or check out the Audio Mixing Bootcamp video series from Lynda.com.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

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