Geddy Lee tone

[EizingerIsGod]

So my band is probably going to start tracking bass tonight or tommorow, and we want to go for a Geddy Lee bass tone. Any one know a good way to do this. I'm thinking of miking the cab and going directly into the mixer as well and adjust the eq's accordingly. Any suggestions on how to set up the eq?

 

[mshilarious]

For starters don't roll off the tone on the bass. It also helps to have a twangy-sounding bass. Tougher to get the tone on a P-Bass; easier on a J or especially a Rick. My Epi Viola does a credible impersonation.

 

[dinorocker]

So my band is probably going to start tracking bass tonight or tommorow, and we want to go for a Geddy Lee bass tone. Any one know a good way to do this. I'm thinking of miking the cab and going directly into the mixer as well and adjust the eq's accordingly. Any suggestions on how to set up the eq?

If you are planning to produce GL's tone at amp level, then by all means mic the cab. But if you are planning to achieve the tone later by EQing the sound, you might be better of recording direct, then playing around with the sound.

Of course one factor that could really help would be to get GL to come and play for you. See this article:

http://www.studioreviews.com/performance.htm

"Over the years I have produced a lot of rock records where the comment has inevitably come up that the "drums should sound like John Bonham". I worked on several of these albums and tried to bring to the records some of the elements I understood to be "Bonham-esque": the deep kick drum, and the big sounding compressed room mics and in almost every case this approach did not serve the records as we hoped and we ending up going for a different approach. So I decided to set out and do some academic research. What exactly was the Bonham drums sound and what was the secret to making that drum sound work on records. The result of my research, published here for the first time .... drum roll please.... John Bonham plays drums on those records!"

 

[Aaron Cheney]

Great article!

A

 

[MadAudio]

Hehe, I was gonna say the same thing, but I didn't want to seem too cheeky!

Didn't Geddy favor the Rik-O-Sound (dual outputs on the Rickenbacker bass) for awhile?

 

[EizingerIsGod]

Thanks for the advice everyone...the article is great. I have no worries that our bassist can pull off a good take. He seems to be the one in the band who has no problem recording at all. It seems like we hardly ever have to do many takes when he is recording. He's using a Schecter, i dont know the model, but its a fairly "poppy" bass. I dont know if that was the right adjective. But it sounds similar to a Geddy Lee bass live. It's just a matter of capturing that sound.

 

[Buck62]

Get a Rickenbacker 4001 bass and go through a decent preamp.

 

[apl]

Very tight undergarments.

 

[ROblows]

Very tight undergarments.

No, that's the Geddy Lee vocal sound.

 

[apl]

No, that's the Geddy Lee vocal sound.

Oops, sorry.

Quite the contrast between his ax and vox, isn't there?

 

[raab]

Isn't part of it using that Sansamp RBI???

 

[WERNER 1]

You could get the Fender Signature Bass.........Like I did

It's a start anyway.

Rick

 

[Supercreep]

Isn't part of it using that Sansamp RBI???

Yes, and a badass II bridge, and a very consistent fingerstyle. Lots of fret buzz, etc.

His stuff on VT is totally different tho.

 

[Track Rat]

Get a Rickenbacker 4001 bass and go through a decent preamp.

Yup. Also I'm adding ten characters so this damn message will go through

 

[cobradenim]

It depends what era of Rush you're talking about. The early '70s rush "All The Worlds A Stage" and before tone or the newer "Vapor Trails" or "Feedback" tone.

In the early days he mainly used SVTs and mainly the Rick. Now, he uses Fender Jazz basses and no amps at all. Just a preamp ran through the PA...and the cloths dryers of course LOL!

 

[bbocaner]

seeing as I can count like 7 completely different sounds he's used over his career, you'll have to be more specific.

do mic an amp AND go direct
a lot of it is in the fingers, play aggressive but clean and tight and close to the bridge. set the action low for just a little bit of fret buzz. don't use too much compression.

Barry