Recording Rock Bands Without a Bass Player

[lukeduplex]

The rock band i am in right now has no bass player, just 2 guitars and drums. Therefore I have a question: What would be some cool/creative techniques to make up for this in the recording process? I am a budding recording engineer and have some ideas, but i'd like to hear what others have done. I'd also like to hear an argument or two against the "making up for it" approach. So what if there is no bass in the recording, right?

Thanks
Lucas

[leigh]

I would just look at it as, more room in the mix for kick and the low end of guitars. So in that way, it's not "making up for anything," by adding anything, there's just fewer things competing for that frequency range. Mixing (which is an art of compromise to begin with) becomes simpler.

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion album "Orange" is a well-produced example of this. There's bass on some tracks, but on much of it, it's just Jon playing low chords/bass lines on his guitar. The other guitar player, Judah, typically takes a higher register for his parts, so the low end stays uncluttered. And then there's plenty of room for that kick!

Track 4 on Orange, an instrumental titled "very rare", illustrates this mix approach. There's a few overdubs of extra guitars, organ, and claps, but just in parts, to add a bit of flavor here and there. The basic "frequency structure" of the mix has the low end coming from one bassy guitar line and the kick.

Leigh

[Moon Unit]

I had a band come in once that had a guy sing the bass parts in to an octave pedal. Afterwards we'd fuzz it up a little and jack up the low end. And it sounded really cool.

[nlmd311]

...I'd also like to hear an argument or two against the "making up for it" approach. So what if there is no bass in the recording, right?

Thanks
Lucas

Go see the Oxes!, well um atleast listen to them. I could be wrong, but I don't believe there is to be a single bass to be found on their recordings. Regardless, a great bass-less band!

I like what leigh said about having that extra room there. Really when it comes down to it, you will have one less source to muck up things. It really depends on what you are playing though and how it is being tracked I suppose.
Are you feeling that the songs you are to record could use the help of a bassline or two, or just hypothetically wondering? Sometimes when I don't want a really "bassy" bass part (read not a bass part, but a bass part... ) I will turn the tone knob down a little on one of my guitars, drop the pick and pluck the string. That has helped me out of a jam many a time and gives you a cool other sound without having to have another instrument plugged in, or tuned, etc.

-Darrill

[darjama]

if you don't want a bass "substitute," make sure that you've got a well-tuned kick and you're happy with the sound. Probably a tighter sound is better.

You'd be surprised how much bass you can get out of a closed miced guitar amp without any low cut too.

[assfortress]

yeah make the kick drum the hugest thing ever,

[8th_note]

One trick I've used is to copy a guitar track and use a plugin to make the track an octave lower. You can play with the EQ of the track before the plugin to help get the proper effect.

[jc]

turn the guitar amps all the way up.

use more amps than there are guitars.

i realize that this may sound like a joke.

[0xeneye]

Listen how Sleater Kenny do it...

[marcusb]

I've recorded a few local guitar + drums only bands and came to the conclusion that they don't have bass so why try and "substitute" at all. I know it can initially feel a little weird mixing without bass but like many have mentioned it really does open up a world of interesting options at mix-time.

You can really really go to town on the guitars which is nice. I do find however that the band can't afford to be sloppy cos the engineroom can't pickup the slack so much.

CHeers,
Marcus

[Rigsby]

I have this boss pitchshifter that has two outputs and we used to have one clean signal going to the guitar amp and the pitchshifted output to a bass amp. Often we wouldn't use the pitchshifter at all, just the pedal to duplicate the signal and we'd take out all the treble from the bass amp, just allowing the low end to shine through. Helps to have a compressor in the chain too.

[AGCurry]

Well... bass playing is more than the instrument you use; it's really a state of mind, or better, a way of thinking. If you have no one who can "think like a bass player", it's better to arrange your music so it needs no bass. I'm not familiar with the contemporary bands stated above, but I'm thinking of most of Little Walter's work on Chess, which has no bass. Contrary to what others say, I would NOT make the kick drum huge, as that will only emphasize the basslessness.

[E-money]

Can anybody in the band play tuba?

[jp76]

I assume you wrote the tunes without a bass player? Seems like if that worked, you should be able to make the recording work, too.

[azsmith]

the last us maple record (purple on time) has that huge kick thing going on, and i think it sounds pretty cool. it definitely jumps out at you, especially when you compare it to their older recordings. that one of the guitarist has a bass string or two on his guitar (i think) changes things, too.