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Thank god there are other, more competent people in this world to save myself from the trappings of my own retardation. I think you may have just solved both of my problems in about 5 minutes.

You're the fucking man, Eric.

Line 6 problem = Solved!

Now, to check the Tascam bits after I download that older edition of Reaper!

Excellent. Let me know if the Tascam thing works.

I have some experience troubleshooting these things.

The Tascam's working too?

Okay, here's a crazy one for you if you possibly need a couple more (presumably mic) inputs:

Hook both up at the same time. Go to Applications --> Utilities --> Audio MIDI setup. Hit the little "+" icon in the lower left-hand corner. "Aggregate Device" should then pop up in the list of devices. Select it, and then click the little check boxes labeled "Use" for both devices. Bam! Spice Weasel! You're now running both at once. Then just select the Aggregate Device in the Reaper preferences, and you have 12 mic inputs + 6 line inputs (bass DI, keyboard, whatever).

Obviously, test it if you're using it on a session. But yeah, you can chain your shit together.

That is what I have been indeed been conceiving as a possibility, I was gonna ask how it would be done but you went ahead and took care of that for me!

Well fuck, overdriving my tube preamp is fucking DOPE sounding. Did exactly what I wanted it to do, get me in the area of the GBV vocal sound, which I unsurprisingly am using to record another GBV cover. Purposefully slightly out of tune acoustics, sloppy (though, IMO interesting on this this song) drumming, and distorted vocals. I will share what I have done soon, though it will not be done yet. Needs melodica, this one.

I figger'd you might need to know. Everyone always needs more channels in.

I'm curious to hear the pre on guitars as well. Play around with the gain settings there. 'S more of a close mic thing, that little trick, but worth knowing just how far you can push the thing before it just sounds like a fucked-up recording. Takes some experimentation; it's surprisingly subtle and doesn't sound like you're adding more dirt. It does something to the guitar tone, specifically the top end, that sounds like money; 's the sound of a million records. You need something that saturates in a pleasant way to get there.

And this is without getting into tube swapping. If it's a 12ax7 or similar, any 12xx7 type will work.

By the way, I don't know which of the Line 6 plugins you have courtesy of Gearbox, but they can be surprisingly useful. Definitely "character" things.

And do you know someone with a melodica? They're not the most common things...

Anyone got any new years' party fancy dress ideas? The theme is anything so its hard to think of a good one. Preferably something some of us can do as a group, even funnier if it singles one person out - ie 5 nazis and one jew, that sort of thing

Actually, I might just go as a fine english gentleman/djentleman

I will definitely have to fuck with that, I am pretty stoked on what I am hearing so far, though I have the gain maxed so not much of an indicator of how it would work in that situation.

Speaking of tube swaps, I guess they are highly recommended for this particular preamp, I guess they are something cheap in there and I guess it's the generally considered the most beneficial "mod" you can do, I guess a lot of dudes like to fuck with these things.


My ex-girlfriend plays piano/melodica/accordion and sings jazz, she's volunteered to play melodica on some stuff for me (I guess the accordion is fucking with her back and has to use the melodica).



Hehe, this cover of Queen of Cans and Jars is turning out pretty solid. Got the rhythm guitars (two acoustic tracks and a 'lectric), drums and main vocals done, Working on the weird little guitar figure that goes through the whole thing, tracking that a couple of times and changing it up throughout the song.

It's certainly the easiest and cheapest. Most stuff ships with cheap t00bs. I have a NOS Mullard 12at7 and Sylvania 12au7 in my ART DMPA. The two channels sound pretty different; the Mullard is more midrange-focused while the Sylvania is more "open", though a bit noisier. Mic pres often like lower gain tubes, so even classy vintage ones are fairly cheap- not as desirable to guitarists. I keep meaning to try a JJ 12ax7 in there though- it's a gain monster, but it's a thick sound, at least in a guitar amp, so I wonder.

I think I payed $60 for a pair of Mullards, NOS, new in box from TubeDepot. They were highly recommended in a thread on Gearslutz dedicated to swapping the tubes in the ART MPA series pres. The same tube recommendations may or may not be relevant here; I'll try and dredge it up.

And that would 'splain it- you know someone who plays the melodica.

The accordion thing reminds me- there are MIDI accordions. I think that would make a great live synth controller for an industrial band.

Definitely need to re-track the vocals, but it is not bad so far. I need to think up a good bassline for it and write a melodica part, then it will be done.

http://soundcloud.com/cameron-heck/qocaj-temporary-mix

Ah man, that two tube setup is a good idea. I will be sure to get a JJ actually just for the sake of it, something potentially really thick sounding is something I could use.

As for the MIDI accordion, just the sheer visual of that would be worth it.

Accordion is fucking hard to play.

Not technical or anything, it's like piano. But god damn does it take a fuck of a lot of physical effort...

That is what I have indeed found out myself, her accordion was pretty decently heavy and getting a decent amount of sustain out of shit and then smoothly transitioning into something else, that shit is nuts in the way of multitasking.

Fuck, man. Sometimes I really enjoy playing bass/writing basslines because it is so easy and natural, other times I am just fucking bummed out because I know what I am doing is not optimal for the song. I have been trying to think up general basic outlines for what to do with parts, and I'm having a hard time straying from starting every part on the root. Problem is, seem starting on one of the other intervals almost always changes the entire feel of the song in an undesirable way, but I am trying to break out of my box. Any ideas, bros?

I start most of my basslines on the root. I just don't stay there the whole time. And sometimes just following the changes is the appropriate thing for the bass to be doing. Other times you can really add something by going off.

Re: starting on the root, this is where theory comes in handy. Moving the root (tonic) out of the bass changes the chord progression, period. No way around that. At the very least the chord becomes an inversion if you're starting on the 3rd or 5th (dominant). Now, I tend to treat the bass as a melodic instrument much of the time, when I feel it's appropriate and there's room for it. Both in my own stuff and bassing on things other people wrote. If you have something where the guitars are fairly static harmonically, this gives the bass lots of room to work. You can dress up chugmetal nicely this way.* If the guitars are fairly active melodically, I usually treat the bass as their equal- or the bass serves the function of rhythm guitar.** Bass/guitar counterpoint- multiple melody lines at once- can be very effective in creating some really cool riffs if it's done right, and the technique's older than dirt.*** It's not where you start so much as where you end up. Even if the bass is hitting the root on every change, what's it doing in the interim? Part of it's about structure, too; when you hear a particularly awesome bassline, note what the rest of the band is doing.

Like anything else, part of it's looking at your influences and then looking at their influences, not only in terms of tone or what sort of line they'd play, but how that part fits into the larger picture. Take that and build from it. The why here is just as important as the what. And starting the bassline on something other than the root of the first chord (often but not necessarily the tonic of the key) alters the tonality of the whole progression. When you start to get clever with things, this is where theory can rear its ugly head sometimes.

*- See also: a whole lotta funk, where the guitar becomes the rhythm instrument vamping on two chords while the real action is going on downstairs.

**- See: Sisters Of Mercy, First And Last And Always. Two guitars riffing away contentedly on independent single-note lines while a midrangey distorted bass either does the same or acts as rhythm guitar throughout the whole record, mostly. Yes, I know, I know, but it really does show what I'm on about here.

***- It is, in fact, older than your topsoil. It predates classical music. Which if you have any patience for sonically, can be really rewarding re: harmony and arrangement. Even, and sometimes especially at its most straightforward.

This. Unless the bass is taking the lead on the melody most often than not I find myself starting on the root. Where you decide to go from there (up or down the scale or whatever) is really where the interesting stuff comes in.

But as snaxie explained far better than I could have, it is kind of just how the damn thing is. It is how things have been done for a long time, and the reason is because it works. Even look at some of the crazier funk-slap bass shit and you will find that a lot of those crazy riffs start with the root as the lowest rhythmic note (as in the lowest note played that is often played at the rhythm of the song to keep the crazy slapsticks anchored to the tune).

Also, the ear likes when things match up, and if it sounds good well ...

I guess it makes sense, it's just it seems like such a repetitive exercise to me.. So in a way, I kind of immediately question it and see what can't be done with it. Unfortunately, not much can be done unless I want to radically alter the feel of the progression. Well, I guess at the least I'll do this somewhere on a final chorus or something to completely fuck with your ears.

I find it is only repetitive if you make it so.

I mean, if you think about it in order for a song to not be a complete clusterfuck, the instruments have to be doing a bunch of different things in two (and maybe three) different ways: identical or complimentary, with a possible third thing being conflicting (but in a way that sounds good). That means they have identical/complimentary/conflicting melodies, identical/complimentary/conflicting rhythms etc...

So take the guitar and bass relationship. Either the bass plays something that is identical/complimentary/conflicting to what the guitar is playing, or it is just nonsensical Jazz*. No matter how you go about doing it though, you are always going to be considering what the guitar is doing. If you take a guitar playing G - C - D, the bass is going to do something identical/complimentary/conflicting in reference to G - C - D (the root notes of each chord specifically). There is no way around it unless you are just playing Jazz.

So you have a guitar riff/progression/melody/whateverthefuckyoucallit and you want to write a bass line/melody/fuckyouwhatever to accompany it, the first thing you are going to do is think about what the guitar is doing (the root notes of each chord/scale specifically). If you don't do that, you are just going to end up playing Jazz.

Now, whatever identical/complimentary/conflicting thing that you do is up to you. Sure there are the basic rules above, but those are pretty broad things to consider. There is a LOT you can do on bass over a guitar playing G - C - D, and a lot of that does not even involve hitting a G, C or D on bass (and even then you are still thinking about it in terms of the guitar playing G - C - D.)

Even if you are dead set on not playing the root along with chord changes, you are still thinking about what the root is so that you don't end up playing Jazz. Often times I just start writing the riff using the roots and let evolve naturally, sometimes I try to make the entire bassline compliment the guitar without copying the progression and sometimes I throw in a pinch of dissonance (conflicting) to make a certain bit stand out. No matter how I do it, I am always considering the root notes of the progression of the melody of the song, because if I don't I end up with Jazz.

The more theory-knowledgeable guys could probably explain this a lot more elegantly then I could, but fuck you whatever.

* - I'm going to use Jazz as a term for "a bunch of chaotic shit happening at the same time that you are doing just to not do what everyone else is doing"