The best luck I have with recording bass is to put the player in the room with his amp for a fewminutes to get his sound. Then I mic his amp...put him in an iso closet, and mic his strings with acondenser mic to get the acoustic attack. Putt the mic on the strings, right at the pickup end of thefretboard. Blend a LITTLE of this in with the direct / cabinet sound.
I think his point was that the bassist's overall "perceived sound" includes those subtle artifacts (that extra zing coming from the string noise, etc..), and by blending that in he can recreate that perceived sound once the bassist is done tracking and back in the control room.
I do believe that is what he said Bret