Since the early 1990s, a technological revolution has taken place in how CDs are made and how bassists work as session players. I remember the moment it impacted me.

I had just played on a project for one client, and he was telling me about this new digital multi-track called an ADAT that he could buy for the cost of what he had just spent on his studio time. He proceeded to buy one, added a second, and then bought mixing and effects gear and started doing his own projects at his house. Due to unlimited time and limited space, he started recording one musician at a time. Since he was a guitarist, he bought an inexpensive bass guitar and started to do some of his own bass parts. Ouch!

What has transpired in the last 15 years or so is that more and more recordings are being made in people's houses or garages or bonus rooms. With the advent of self-contained DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) technology, anybody can own a 4, 8, 16 or 32 track digital studio for less than a decent bass guitar or amplifier. I've made lots of recordings over the past decade in people's houses. In fact, I've done more sessions that way lately than in the conventional Brick and Mortar Recording Studio. I have a DAW in my music room at the house that can record 6 tracks of audio at a time and manage 50+ tracks for mixing, and it's my old and obsolete system!

How does this change your strategy as a bassist working on sessions? For one thing, it really downsizes your equipment. If you are set up in someone's bonus room for overdubbing or tracking there's just not enough room for 15 basses. I usually pare my system down to a fretted and fretless 6 (these days the Carvin LB76s with piezos and MM-style humbuckers alternate with 2 Modulus 6s) and I'll ask in advance if the client would like upright. If the answer is yes, I'll tend to use my Carruthers EUB (Electric Upright Bass) through my studio preamp. I've placed all of my studio gear in soft rack bags to more easily transport them up and down stairs, through living rooms, and pretty much wherever people have set up their systems.

Generally, I leave the effects out of what I'm recording, and recommend that they use plug in programs if they're recording to computer to patch in any effects after tracking. If that's not possible, I'll send an effects channel and a dry channel although that's not my preferred strategy. Most often, simpler is better, since you may be dealing with an inexperienced engineer (often the Artist).

If you are recording bass overdubs by yourself, the spotlight is on you. A common mistake is to feel so exposed it inhibits your playing. A good strategy here is to have a rough mix set where the bass is roughly the volume it will be mixed to so you can dig in and play. If it's too hot and too exposed, every little rattle and squeak will come out and that will make both you and your client very nervous. The good news is that often you will be able to play around a little more with the time, especially if you're playing with sequenced or looped drums. A little strategic laying back or pushing here or there is often what's needed to make the sequenced track feel more human and why you're there in the first place.

The ultimate cutting edge of all of this is recording your parts in your own house. I do this in two ways. I'll either get a physical track (often on CD) without bass or I'll have someone email me an mp3 of the track they want me to play on. I'll load the audio track into my music sequencing program (often that's either Cakewalk Sonar or Cubase, but any program that records multi-track wave files will work here) on my computer with the beginning of the track being the zero point. I'll then record my part onto a second track and may record multiple takes. I'll do an extremely rough mix of the track with my part added, encode it to an mp3 file, and email it back to the client for approval ( I may do multiple takes and send each rough mixed). Having a DSL or Broadband Internet connection for this is nearly a necessity because even a small mp3 file will tax a dial up connection. Usually, when we agree on the part I'll physically mail the part on CD back to them or overnight it via FedEx or UPS (on their dime, of course). In the future, I'll be using an FTP site to upload the track in wave form to the web where the client can use a password key and download it. With this sort of work, unless it's for a friend, I usually get an initial deposit with the balance due on completion or use PayPal or an escrow service.

As a bassist doing this, all you need is a way to get good quality audio into and out of your computer (an Mbox and Pro Tools LE works fine, although I use M-Audio and either Cubase or Sonar as I said). Since you're only recording your bass, you can make do quite well with 2 inputs and add any effects in your computer via plug-in programs. In reality, it's only a small step from here to using VOIP conferencing and literally "phoning in" your part. An earlier program, Rocket, allowed Instant Messaging and (sort of) real time recording, but I think the next few years will see even more revolution in this field. If the steep cost of premium DAW software intimidates you, you can do all of the things I've just laid out in inexpensive programs by N-tracks and PG music as well as the other entry-level programs available.

Since I've started working with this, I've become a regular subscriber to Electronic Musician and regularly check in on the many websites for home recording. A great portal for all of this is Harmony Central. It's a Brave New World, but at the end of the day you still have to make music and if you adapt to the new technologies and ways of doing things, you'll find yet another way to make money by playing bass.

Peace and Low Notes,
Roy C. Vogt
Teach Me Bass Guitar
Bass Instructor, Belmont University, Nashville, TN

Roy's Bio | Roy's Web Site | Teach Me Bass Guitar | Belmont U.