Fender Telecaster Bass transformation

[chromium]

The Telembic sounds great!

Nice looking studio too.  I think I saw a Mellotron in the myspace pics - have you used that on anything?

[hieronymous]

Nice looking studio too.  I think I saw a Mellotron in the myspace pics - have you used that on anything?

Unfortunately, no. I usually only record backing tracks at this studio, then take those and overdub back at home. It's weird too, because I used to be a HUGE fan of Mellotron stuff - Genesis, King Crimson, Yes. But then again, it's only been the past couple of years that I've become a bit more confident in my keyboard playing, so maybe next time I will take a stab at it!

[hieronymous]

I found something else that I recorded with the Telembic and forgot about - it's a demo for a full-band version of my Buddhist podcast. The drum track is great, the bass part needs to be rerecorded to be harmonically correct, and everything else was recorded really quickly just so I could give the drummer an idea of what I wanted. But it didn't really matter, because I am going to use this take. Anyway, here it is:



(The volume of the recording is pretty low) The Telembic is on both the bass part and the distorted part that is doubling the keyboard melody (effects being Budda Phatbass and EH Small Stone).

[Rhythm N. Bliss]

Coooool, hieronymous! Sounds slick!

[hieronymous]

Thanks R'n'B! It's weird, I'm really happy with it as a demo, despite the fact that it is so imperfect - I think it's because of the feel of the original drum and bass tracks. The next challenge is rerecord the bass part (and hopefully maintain the magic) and overdub new synth etc. stuff on top.

[hieronymous]

I cleaned up one of the songs I posted earlier in this thread - fixed a couple of things, did some more panning, and then mastered it with my snazzy new mastering plug-in Ozone3:



It's definitely louder and brighter than the original mix, but it's also the first time I tried to master a track, so any comments are appreciated.

[rockinrayduke]

Harry, that is a beauty. Hell of a job by Krishna.

As for Mellotrons we carried 2 on the road with us in the 70's & early 80's. Pain in the ASS. No staying in tune, always repairing them......definitely not roadworthy but when all was right they sounded SO good.

[drbassman]

Wow, very nice! Sorry we missed this one in the Project forum. Nicely done!

[slinkp]

When I found a used set of Alembic Activators for $275 (they usually go for close to a grand!)

they WHAT??? 

(slinkp looks at his battered mojo activator-equipped ibanez blazer with a little more appreciation)

[chromium]

I like the way those flats sound with slap.  What other stuff are you using in there? what keyboards(s)?  guitars (or baritone)?  and what was responsible for that bit o' reversed guitar?

The remix/remastering really made a difference!

[hieronymous]

Upon listening to the remaster in the car, I realized that there was some tubbiness to the low-mids and the mid-mids/high-mids were lacking, so I redid it again:



And here's the original mix for comparison:

Here's the story behind the song: It was basically just a drum & bass jam. The strings are D'Addario Chromes, pretty new, with the filter on the Alembic pups turned all the way up, and the bright switch engaged on the F-2B (by accident!). I had brought along a few toys for that trip: the new Boss Space Echo pedal, and the MFB Synth Lite II. My friend had an Oxygen keyboard which I used to control the MFB via MIDI, and we printed those tracks with the Space Echo. I wasn't particularly happy with my synth parts, it was more just experimenting.

The next day, I go into the studio and Damon (the engineer) had stayed up tinkering with the track (he's a real night owl). He picked the bits of the synth playing that he liked, and added his '80s reissue Strat, recorded through the F-2B as well (he was blown away by it - David Gilmour is his idol, and Gilmour used a modded F-2B, but Damon was impressed with it unmodded). All the guitar bits are assembled from a variety of tracks. As for the reversed guitar, I'm not sure what he did! But it's easy enough in ProTools to flip things around.

At the time he said that he wasn't too happy with what he played either, but I think both of us came around, I think the synth & guitar bits fit the song, which is really just an excuse for a drum & bass jam!

I'm glad I reposted in this thread for those who didn't get to see it the first time around!

[chromium]

As for the reversed guitar, I'm not sure what he did! But it's easy enough in ProTools to flip things around.

That reminds me of a video I saw up on Sonicstate involvong some strange vocal reversals.  Kinda creepy!  Very David Lynch/Twin Peaks.

    http://tv.sonicstate.com/play.php?vid=203

As for Mellotrons......definitely not roadworthy but when all was right they sounded SO good.

Coincidentially, I noticed the same lady posted a nice demo clip of one of the new Mellotrons.  That thing sounds amazing!

    http://tv.sonicstate.com/play.php?vid=174

[hieronymous]

Been posting about my Rickenbacker cousins in this thread, but I also used my Telembic:



In this pic you can see I'm running it in stereo - if you remember, Krishna outfitted it with a copy of a Rickenbacker jack-plate. You can tell it's fake, because it says "stereo-sound" instead of "Ric-O-Sound," which is appropriate because it is just two mono outputs, one for each pickup, instead of one mono and one stereo jack like Rics. I think it sounded great, the original humbucker has some nice deep bass that isn't immediately apparent with the Alembic pups, but the Alembics let you dial in the classic P-Bass midrange growl.

I'll post some new soundclips when I get the chance!

[godofthunder]

That is stunning !

[hieronymous]

That is stunning !

Thanks - I used to have a love-hate relationship with this bass, but since Krishna refinned it and put in the Alembic pup, it's 100% love!

Here's another shot - too much flash on the body, but you can see other things more clearly (I'm also still running it in mono here):