Doing some recording, God I thought i sucked SOO bad, until i heard this!!

[Deathshead]

Hey Guys, I have been messing around with riffworks a little bit today, just recording some stuff and playing it back to critique my playing..
Its been years before i recorded anything, and playing my tracks back to myself it sounded soo god awful terrible..

Then I thought to myself lets listen to some isolated tracks on youtube.. 

Its just the nature of the beast i guess many isolated bass tracks sound like crap until they are mixed.

heres an example. Isolated Van halen bass track,...

[OldManC]

And people wonder why EVH stopped letting MA do the bass tracks on Van Halen albums right around then. 

[Deathshead]

 

[Psycho Bass Guy]

I don't find anything too terrible about the playing on that track. It's obviously been "doctored" to sound bad on Youtube, probably as a swipe at MA, which would certainly be in keeping with the Van Halen brothers' previous behavior. I have a studio reference audio interface and monitors on my internet computer, and there is almost no low end there, just a farty, clacky, SVT tone that has had all the life compressed out of it by something of the 1176-ilk. The fret and string noise are horribly exaggerated, while the "meat" of the tone is missing completely and there is virtually no dynamic movement at all. MA isn't my favorite player by any stretch, but old Van Halen albums don't have that bass sound either.  

[Deathshead]

I don't find anything too terrible about the playing on that track. It's obviously been "doctored" to sound bad on Youtube,

Many of the isolated tracks on youtube are pulled from the Guitar hero and rockband games that use the actual masters.
there are alot of really cool examples too, like for instance a few guys actually turned on the bass in the Metallica and justice for all album, sounds great!

[Psycho Bass Guy]

No doubt that it's cool to hear with some bands, ... And Justice for All (including Jason Newsted) but as far as the master tapes being accurately presented, it still boils down to how the video game engineer mixes what he/she has been given and then how it's captured to Youtube.  I didn't realize that it was a homemade clip from a videogame, and was thinking along the lines of EVH putting it out to rub some salt in MA's wounds. With that in mind, it sounds like what it is: a cheap computer mic on a TV speaker playing back an mp3.

[Deathshead]

Just listening to it again just made me almost
piss my pants, it's just so badd it's hilarious, pbg, I think
I'm starting to go with you on this.


Hahahah

[n!k]

It doesn't even sound like it's the same tempo. I'm going to say it's a fake.

[Hornisse]

I always thought he did a galloping type part.  That's the way I've always played the song.  Maybe I was just hearing Alex' double bass drums. 

[Basvarken]

I can highly recommend the book plus two CDs "Standing in the Shadows of Motown" About the legendary James Jamerson.
There are many bass legends contributing on these CDs and book. Big names. Really big names
The bass parts are in the left speaker. The rest of the music in the right speaker.
And if you listen to their bass parts most of them sound crippled and awkward.
But in the music they sound perfect. That's what matters.

[Barklessdog]

I can highly recommend the book plus two CDs "Standing in the Shadows of Motown" About the legendary James Jamerson.
There are many bass legends contributing on these CDs and book. Big names. Really big names
The bass parts are in the left speaker. The rest of the music in the right speaker.
And if you listen to their bass parts most of them sound crippled and awkward.
But in the music they sound perfect. That's what matters.

Excellent point. Things out of context should not be judged on thier own

[lowend1]

And if you listen to their bass parts most of them sound crippled and awkward.
But in the music they sound perfect. That's what matters.

+1k
I doubt that Berry Gordy would have sold many records recording albums/singles filled with bass solos.

[uwe]

I agree, I find this hard to judge as a solitary track. It might sound horrible with drums or groove nicely.

I saw VH(agar) at the Nassau Coliseum,  in 1988. He was exactly what you could expect of a bass player with his experience: rock solid. The whole band war darn tight and it struck me at that concert just how good a rhythm player Eddie is. I found the difference of his rhythm playing to Sammy Hagar's more pronounced than the difference in his lead playing!

[slinkp]

Has nobody else noticed that the part sounds doubled?  In a few spots it's really obvious that there are two bass tracks going. Dunno what's up with that.

[GonzoBass]

I have a hard time believing that this is Mike.

Wasn't there a supposed "Cliff Burton Isolated Bass Track" posted a while ago too?