POLL - do you record bass or guitar first? why?

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videodrone

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lets say you are only recording a simple song with only vocals, bass, guitar and than random keys or sound EFX scattered throughout,

To get the bass and guitar to blend toghether but still have there sonic space. What would you record first and why?



Also, (assuming you record bass first) would you FIRST lay down a random basic bass riff and than lay a basic guitar riff down over it amd tweak the way they mesh toghether AND THEN erase the tracks but keep the tone settinsg and than record your song. (that way you'll knwo the bass tine doesnt have to be changed to fit the guitar)

OR would you tweak a awesome bass tone and than record your song and than tweak a good guitar tone that sounds good with the bass to record over it.
 
I sold my bass to get money for my Tele:D


I think I did it both ways before though. But I am a guitarist first, so most of the time it was guitar then bass. But I write with a bass being played in the back of my head....so it grooves right when I add a bass.
 
I do guitar first and when Im happy with the sound I move on to bass.
 
Guitar then bass.

Often because the songs are guitar-based. Also, because I'm more of a guitarist than a bassist.

Either way doesn't matter for me because I usually try to get a great tone out of each regardless of which was recorded when. Preferrably to complement each other. I then will adjust in the mix.
 
I record a rough guitar track, then bass, then I delete the guitar track and do it again right. The bass never sounds right if I don't do it this way.
 
As a bassist generally I want drums, guitar, and vocal cut first. All can be scratch tracks, that's OK.

Bass is primarily a melodic instrument and commonly is used for counterpoint. Guitar, on the other hand, is primarily a rhythmic instrument. After all, what do guitarists play? Riffs. What's a riff? Short for rhythmic figure.

Vocals are the primary source of melody, so if you are acting as counterpoint to that melody, obviously you gotta hear it.

So, drums first, then guitar, then vocal, bass next, overdubs/solos last. I prefer to not even listen to the guitar when I track bass, but it's necessary to cut guitar first for the vocals.
 
It depends on the song/music....

For example, right now I'm doing some covers being new to this recording thing. Mainly grunge metal powercord stuff that's easy to play. Four chords, guitars, bass and drums. They all start out with guitar. Then I put down the bass lines. Then drums and finally vocals, some with three & four part harmonies.

Seems to be working out so far. A.I.C. and Nirvana are fun to cover as a one man band. :D



:cool: http://megadrummer.curvedspaces.com :cool:
 
Re: It depends on the song/music....

MegaDrummer said:
Seems to be working out so far. A.I.C. and Nirvana are fun to cover as a one man band. :D
Click to expand...

Cheers to that!:D

I am working on Like a Stone right now.
 
It really depends on the song. If it's built on a bass groove (quasi-reggae) then obviously the bass comes first. BUT, if it's guitar based then guitar gets put down first.
 
mshilarious said:
Bass is primarily a melodic instrument and commonly is used for counterpoint. Guitar, on the other hand, is primarily a rhythmic instrument.
Click to expand...

Uhh. It's kind of the opposite. The bass really has to lock into the rhythm with the drummer. Of course, timing and rhythm is also important on guitar, but bass provides the link between the drums and the guitar.
 
Lopp said:
Uhh. It's kind of the opposite. The bass really has to lock into the rhythm with the drummer. Of course, timing and rhythm is also important on guitar, but bass provides the link between the drums and the guitar.
Click to expand...
'

yep...i agree there.....


first i get my drum track going, prob 80-90% done.....

i do a scratch guitar part mainly to get a feel for the groove.....

scratch vocal is next.......

then i do the bass part, trying tolock in with the kick drum part......


in most cases, i quit here:eek:

but when i choose to go on, i see how the drum part is working with the bass and guitar part ive come up with......edit the drums as needed......

if bass part needs to be redone, now is the time.......

rhythm guitar next.......

vocal.......

lead guitar.....

extras.....
 
When you're "doing yourself", it's good practice to retrack both guitar and bass.

Start with the most important instrument...the one that is playing the real meat of the song. Then record the other instrument to that first instrument. Then rerecord the first instrument again now that you have the accompanyment. And finally, rerecord the second instrumet again now that you have a good track to follow.

That way you can kind of respond to yourself dynamically and tonally....otherwise you're just shooting in the dark on at least one instrument...more or less.

Slackmaster 2000
 
Sure the bass has to lock with the kick, but that doesn't mean that bass is a primarily a rhythmic instrument. Besides, I never said to track bass before drums, I said track bass last.

Which sort of makes my point, if bass were truly rhythmic, you could track it first and then the drummer could lock to the bass. That doesn't work too well, does it? Even if you have a bassist with excellent timing, the bass can act like a click track but it can't actually set the rhythm, mainly due to its limited dynamic range.

Recall that a rhythm is defined by the relative emphasis placed upon each beat in a measure. Bass isn't very good at that. Slap style bass is OK at it, but nowhere near as good as drums.

So back to my original point: the best use of bass is counterpoint to vocal and maybe even guitar, noting that the bassist must be on the kick. In order to accomplish this, the bassist has to hear the vocal, the vocal has to hear the guitar, and the guitar has to hear the drums.

Here's another argument for bass last: When you write a song, pretty much most people write guitar riffs or just chords, then the melody, or maybe the other way around. Then drums and finally bass. Very rarely is the bass line written first. So when you go to record, how can you track bass before guitar and vocal? You'll just follow along the chord progression or the riff, maybe with a few transition notes. That's a pretty damn boring bass line.

But I really don't think bass links drums and guitar, it links drums and vocals. It's just a different philosophy, try it and see if you like it. Listen to Family Man Barrett, listen to that Norah Jones tune, heck, listen to Paul McCartney--like "Getting Better", for example.
 
Your arguments depend entirely on the style of music.

The bass is not always a counterpoint. In fact, that's not very common at all. If you ever studied classical scores, you would see that many times the bass is to provide a bottom. A steady foundation. Of all instruments in classical music, bass is the one instrument that is typically used to satisfy a frequency: to fill a void in the audio spectrum range.

I played Tuba for six years. I can guarantee you that Tuba players often do NOT have interesting parts. Lots of single unison notes played over and over.

Country bass players often play oompahs: the root and the fifth, or the root and the fourth over and over.

In metal, bass is often played in unison lines with the guitar. Therefore, for the tightest sound possible, the bass has to lock in with the guitar in faster sections, and lock in the kick with slow metallic grooves.

Once again, how you track depends largely on the song itself.
 
the way I see it...

The bass player is god.

Everybody should listen more to what bass players have to say.

Bass players need to compose more and release more solo albums.

They should get most groupies.

Drums is a rhythmic extension of what the bass player plays.

Guitar and piano is there to confirm the harmony the bass player outlines.

Vocalists exist to look good.

Horn players play countermelodies to what the bass player does, and make him look even better.


Do what I tell you and the world will be a better place.


Peace.

:cool:


Herwig (tracks bass mostly together with drums first to a full-band guide track but prefers live recording)
 
Since I write mainly on the guitar, it's first.
I don't do the Bass until I have a drum track.
 
I can't play drums so I have to program them. I figured this order is the best since it will sound the tightest.

1. Once a song arrangment is mostly done I program drums and play bass or guitar here and there to see if it fits. I imagine non exisitant parts in my head while doing this.

2. record bass while listening to drums

3. record main guitar while listening to bass/drums

4. record same guitar part again and pan opposite

5. record main vocal

After that whatever else sounds fun to throw in. Another vocal, more guitar parts ect. Now if I was gonna start a song with a keyboard or something else I'd do a scratch track of at least the start of the song so I don't have to count the click track...
 
Just because a part is a single note for long periods of time doesn't mean that it isn't a good part. I referenced "Getting Better", the bass line during the verses is a single note in three octaves. Still a brilliant line.

I can't agree about the content of a good metal bass line. I think that Powerslave ranks as one of the best metal bass albums, if not the best. Steve Harris was never content with aping the guitars.

I don't dig solo albums. Bass is a supporting role, so are drums. You can have a vocal-guitar album, but vocal-guitar-drum is the White Stripes who always sound like the song is about to start but never does, guitar-bass-drums is a garage band of three bad singers, vocal-guitar-bass is three dudes who need to make some more friends, guitar only is somebody who needs to realize that the '80s were a long time ago.
 
I always record the bass first. I like having the bass in place to lay my guitar parts over.
 
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