Observations about all things Bass + Guitars + Microphones + Strings + Blue Jeans + Things

Hiyu' all, well, as a follow up from the controversial,  "Don't Buy a Fender Stratocaster, it's a Lazy Man's Choice of Guitar" Newsletter a few months ago, here's a few general observations about all things "Bass + Guitars + Microphones + Strings + Blue Jeans +Things".
 
Unlike the "Strat" Newsletter, where it was backed up historically, this stuff is only my opinion based upon recording over 300 CD's and 1,000 Demos, so probably more "Hysterical" than "Historical"..!!.. here we go, watch your step..
 
 
There are only 3 Basses you should ever buy..
 
 
* Fender Precision-- "P Bass"
 
* Fender Jazz Bass (if you can't get a "P Bass")
 
* Music Man Stingray Bass (for funky stuff)
 
Not wanting to ignite as many fires as the "Strat" Newsletter, but after recording 1,000's of Bass players, not just dozens or hundreds, but THOUSANDS, I've reached the conclusion that almost EVERY time I don't use a "P Bass" when recording, the Bass sound suffers, the mix suffers, there's something about a "P Bass" that just "sits" in a mix, almost ALL other Basses just muddy up into the Bass Drum frequencies, the lower guitar frequencies and just blur the sound. I'd also suggest to you, that 90% of hit records in the last 50 years, were on a Fender "P" Bass. I'd put money on it..
 
So, if you WERE to consider buying a Bass, which one would you buy, the one that has made history or some other Bass..??
 
 
Thin Strings
 
The THINNER the strings you use, the less TONE you get.. pretty well all the great guitar tones in the past by all the great Guitarists have been created on thicker strings (i.e. 10 or 11- 48, older recording more like 12-52.. the main reason is that there were no THIN strings back then) but bottom line, you'll get a better sound and the guitar will stay in tune better if you don't have a "9 gauge" string on your top E..!!
 
Go up just one gauge and see how much better you sound.!!
 
 
Pre Beatle Guitars
 
The best sounding guitars were the ones made BEFORE The Beatles made it big in America. Now you'll LOVE that one, but here's my reasoning.
 
Before The Beatles hit it big in the US (about Feb 1964) Fender/Gibson/Gretsch might have been selling 200 guitars a month, but after The Beatles played The Ed Sullivan Show and had the top 5 singles in the charts all at once, all the guitar manufacturers were all of a sudden selling 2000 guitars every month, which was fine until in 1965 sometime, when someone said , "hey Leo (Fender), we're running out of wood".. all the manufacturers who had a lovely stockpile of fabulous dried, seasoned wood started to need some real quick and the new stuff wasn't as dried, seasoned or whatever as the old stuff.. now forward to 1968 and all the wood used for guitars by that time wasn't nearly as good as the pre- Beatle wood, which by now is all gone..!!
 
Another factor was that when they needed to build more guitars, they needed more staff and there's only a certain amount of experienced luthiers at any time, so the companies would have had to hire less experienced staff to make the guitars..
 
So that's my theory, all the GREAT guitars were made by the mid-60's..!!
 
 
Youtube Clip... FUN
 
 
Just for fun, have a look at the youtube clip,
 
http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/ravi-sawhney/design-reach/youtube-serves-180-million-heartbreak
 
where a guy, David Carroll who's Taylor guitar was damaged by United Airways made a film clip about it and it ended up costing the Company $180M in lost Shareholders profits. He complained and tried to get some compensation from them, they said go and get stuffed, so he wrote a song about it. it's classic..
 
 
Cheap Guitar Pedals
 
Please don't think that you're getting a great deal when you buy a bunch of cheap guitar pedals. I had a guy come into the studio and he proudly displayed his amazing array of guitar pedals and he said" I bought the whole range, they're only $40 each".
 
When someone rings me up and asks for my price, they occasionally say "I can't afford to come to you, a mate of mine has a bit of a studio and he only charges $20 Hr".. I say, "mate, you can't afford NOT to come to me, if you want to achieve a great sound, a solid performance and a big boost to your career, you can't afford NOT to come to me for this important recording".
 
Bottom line, you won't achieve any of those things if you go to a mates studio, cause your mate ain't got the experience nor the gear nor the great sounding rooms..
 
So you guitarists out there, you can't afford NOT to buy better sounding (more expensive) guitar pedals, cause the cheap shit pedals sound like they are, CHEAP CRAP.. don't buy them, or if you do buy them give them to the competition, it'll make you sound SO MUCH BETTER than them...!!!
 
 
Bright Microphones
 
Don't use a bright Microphone to record stuff. Most guitars or instruments are pretty bright anyway, so why record them on a bright Mic, only Dogs hear those high frequencies..!!
 
Here's a theory.. if you play someone a few songs and one of the songs is LOUDER or has more BASS, that song will sound better, cause we like bass and volume is pleasing to the ear.
 
Similarly if you put up a few Mic's and try and pick the best one, you'll go for the BRIGHTEST Mic, cause that's what you ear likes (I fell for that in the early days).
 
That's why RODE Mic's have done so well with studios, they're cheaper + brighter, but the trouble is, if you start making records with RODE Mic's on a lot of the sounds, the whole record will sound bright and abrasive..
 
So again, bright is not always best, don't always go for a BRIGHT guitar sound, it gets boring after a while... look up "T-Bone Burnett" and check out his guitar sounds as an example of the opposite.. very mellow sounds..
 
 
Blue Jeans
 
Whatever you do, DON"T WEAR BLUE JEANS ON STAGE, they look 1970's, they look daggy, they also make you look like you've just walked out of your loungeroom and onto stage, they look cheap and just look like shit..!!

Permission to reproduce this article is available to all,
as long as you include attribution to myself including contact details
and let me know where you have used the material.
Jeff Cripps
A# Sharp Recording Studio
Email: jeff@asharp.com.au
Phone: +612 9153 9988

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