Bass CDs
Mark Egan – Recording “About Now”
In our July cover interview with Mark Egan, mention was made of Mark’s impeccable ability to choose the instruments and gear that best serve his music.
For this article, Mark took time to break down the basses, recording equipment, and recording process used on his most recent release, “About Now”. The album is available now, published by Wavetone Records.
We recorded “About Now” at my new studio, Electric Fields, which was designed by Francis Manzella from FM Design. My basic recording path for my basses was first into a stereo pair of Radial JDI direct boxes with Jensen transformers.
Next, I went into to two Millennia TD1 mic preamps. The Millennia equipment offers pristine sound clarity, which I prefer for my Pedulla basses. They also have EQ built in that I use for some very subtle sound shaping.
Usually I add a little bit of the low-mids and a touch of the highs for clarity. With the TD1, you can use it as a tube or a solid state preamp and I prefer it as a solid state preamp. It is more pure and less colored than the tube mode, which seems to work with Danny’s drum sound.
Another aspect of the TD1 mic pre and EQ is that it’s very portable and easy to bring to other studio sessions. From the TD1 the signal went directly into a ProTools HD3 system for analog to digital conversion. We used multiple mics on the drums, most of which were Blue Microphones. The acoustic Piano is a rebuilt 1929 Steinway D and we also used two Blue Dragonfly microphones.
Here’s a song by song description of how the bass parts were recorded:
Sailing
“Sailing”, the opening track, was the first track that we recorded. I chose to start with “Sailing” since it’s a simple song and thought it would give us a chance to get comfortable with our headphone mix as well as give our engineer, Phil Magnotti, time to get all of the sounds together.
On that track I played a mono fretless track for the basic groove and stereo fretless for the solo.
Then I overdubbed the melody on 8 string fretless and doubled the part. Next I overdubbed stereo bass harmonics from my 8 string fretted bass. I recorded two different harmonic parts and then doubled each of those, so there are four tracks, in stereo, of the harmonics at the intro and the outro. For the harmonics, solo, and the melody effects I used a Korg AX-300B, which is an old multi-effects processor, which I use for delay and some chorusing. Most of the melodies and solos had these effects as well as reverb.
Slinky
This is a simple trio groove song played on my five string fretless Pedulla bass. There were no overdubs on this and we used a mono bass track.
About Now
I also played my five string Pedulla signature fretless and used a mono track for the bass groove and stereo for the melodies.
Cabarete
This is a Latin groove that I played the 5 string fretless for the entire track.
Graceful Branch
I played the groove bass on five string fretless in mono and overdubbed the melody and solo with the five string fretless in stereo, with effects – delay, chorus, and reverb.
Mckenzie Portage
It was recorded all on the five string fretless bass for both the basic groove and the solo. For most of this record I was going for a simple trio interaction. We use stereo chorusing, reverb, and delay on the solo section to help feature the bass.
Little Pagoda
This was all five string fretless bass. The track was recorded with stereo effects throughout, as I wanted to feature the lyrical sound of the bass.
Tea in Tiananmen Square
The basic track was played with my MVP five string fretless and then I overdubbed the melody with five string fretless as well.
Puerto Plata
This is a fretless Latin groove that was a jam that came out of the song Cabarete played live as a basic, mono track.
All of the tracks on the record were played as a trio, leaving spaces for overdubs if needed. Mitchel overdubbed some sparse keyboard pads on a few tracks. Some of the tracks were complete, in themselves. In those cases I would play the groove and then go into a solo, with Mitch then creating a bass function on the piano.
As I mentioned, Phil Magnotti engineered the sessions, which were recorded at my studio in three days. We mixed at Phil’s studio – Silvermine Studios in Norwalk, Connecticut –in about five different sessions. I wanted to get the music into a different studio environment for objectivity and a different perspective for mixing. The album was mastered in New York by Fred Kevorkian at Avatar Studios. He didn’t have to do too much additional equalization, except for adding some of the ultra low end and adjust for some midrange clarity and sparkle on the high end frequencies.
We were very pleased when we brought back the master to Electric Fields studio and realized that the sound was true to the sound that we recorded at the original sessions. It gave us a lot of confidence in how Francis Manzella tuned the control room. One of the most difficult things about getting a well balanced sound in a control room is the management of the low end frequencies and FM Design got it right.
Mark’s Gear
Basses
All of the basses are M.V. Pedulla Mark Egan signature models. I’ve been working with Michael Pedulla for many years, since 1978. The first bass that I bought from Michael Pedulla was the first Buzz bass in 1981 and I’ve loved the sound of his basses ever since then. He continues to evolve his bass designs.
He worked on a signature model of the MVP-5 fretless and fretted bass that are featured on this recording, About Now. The necks are a little bit thinner, front to back, and the cut out is scooped out so that my left hand can play all of the way up to the 24th fret.
For electronics, they have a mid-range boost with Bartolini pickups and preamp.
My fretted bass has a J-J configuration and my fretless bass uses a P-J combination, also Bartolini pickups. For the fretless I wanted a warmer sound and for the fretted I wanted it to be a punchier sound. It turns out that both combinations are punchy, but the P-J combination gives it some low-mid warmth that is really desirable for the fretless.
Strings
I’ve been playing D’Addario strings exclusively since 1976 and generally use the XL170 nickel round wound strings. I like the clarity, punch and center of tone that the strings create as well as the great feel.
Here’s what I use specifically on my various basses:
M.V.Pedulla 5-String fretted and fretless Mark Egan signature basses: D’Addario XL 170 – E, A, D, G (100, 80, 65, 45) with XL 125 low B
M.V. Pedulla 8-string fretless and M.V. Pedulla double neck with a 4 string fretless and an 8 string fretted: D’addario XL 170 on the regular E, A, D, G (100, 80, 65, 45) D’Addario XL8 for the doubled strings E, A, D, G (45, 40, .28, .18p)
Amps
I’ve been playing Markbass amps since 2011 and really enjoy the sound they produce with my instruments. They are warm and punchy with plenty of power. Their new Multibass stereo amp is a state of the art modeling amp as well as having great effects.
Markbass Amps Big Bang (300 watts@8ohm)?2xNY 121 each with single 12′ speakers
Bass Multiamp Stereo (2×300 watts@8ohm) or (1000 watts bridged) Traveler 102p (2×10)?Standard 102HF (2×10 front ported)
Little Mark 800 (500 watts@8ohm)
Visit online at markegan.com
Bass CDs
New Album: Jake Leckie, Planter of Seeds
Bassist Jake Leckie and The Guide Trio Unveil New Album Planter of Seeds,
to be released on June 7, 2024
Planter of Seeds is bassist/composer Jake Leckie’s third release as a bandleader and explores what beauty can come tomorrow from the seeds we plant today.
What are we putting in the ground? What are we building? What is the village we want to bring our children up in? At the core of the ensemble is The Guide Trio, his working band with guitarist Nadav Peled and drummer Beth Goodfellow, who played on Leckie’s second album, The Guide, a rootsy funky acoustic analog folk-jazz recording released on Ropeadope records in 2022. For Planter of Seeds, the ensemble is augmented by Cathlene Pineda (piano), Randal Fisher (tenor saxophone), and Darius Christian (trombone), who infuse freedom and soul into the already tightly established ensemble.
Eight original compositions were pristinely recorded live off the floor of Studio 3 at East West Studios in Hollywood CA, and mastered by A.T. Michael MacDonald. The cover art is by internationally acclaimed visual artist Wayne White. Whereas his previous work has been compared to Charles Mingus, and Keith Jarrett’s American Quartet with Charlie Haden, Leckie’s new collection sits comfortably between the funky odd time signatures of the Dave Holland Quintet and the modern folk-jazz of the Brian Blade Fellowship Band with a respectful nod towards the late 1950s classic recordings of Ahmad Jamal and Miles Davis.
The title track, “Planter of Seeds,” is dedicated to a close family friend, who was originally from Trinidad, and whenever she visited family or friends at their homes, without anyone knowing, she would plant seeds she kept in her pocket in their gardens, so the next season beautiful flowers would pop up. It was a small altruistic anonymous act of kindness that brought just a little more beauty into the world. The rhythm is a tribute to Ahmad Jamal, who we also lost around the same time, and whose theme song Poinciana is about a tree from the Caribbean.
“Big Sur Jade” was written on a trip Leckie took with his wife to Big Sur, CA, and is a celebration of his family and community. This swinging 5/4 blues opens with an unaccompanied bass solo, and gives an opportunity for each of the musicians to share their improvisational voices. “Clear Skies” is a cathartic up-tempo release of collective creative energies in fiery improvisational freedom. “The Aquatic Uncle” features Randal Fisher’s saxophone and is named after an Italo Calvino short story which contemplates if one can embrace the new ways while being in tune with tradition. In ancient times, before a rudder, the Starboard side of the ship was where it was steered from with a steering oar. In this meditative quartet performance, the bass is like the steering oar of the ensemble: it can control the direction of the music, and when things begin to unravel or become unhinged, a simple pedal note keeps everything grounded.
The two trio tunes on the album are proof that the establishment of his consistent working band The Guide Trio has been a fruitful collaboration. “Santa Teresa”, a bouncy samba-blues in ? time, embodies the winding streets and stairways of the bohemian neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro it is named for. The swampy drum feel on “String Song” pays homage to Levon Helm of The Band, a group where you can’t always tell who wrote the song or who the bandleader is, proving that the sum is greater than the individual parts. Early jazz reflected egalitarianism in collective improvisation, and this group dynamic is an expression of that kind of inclusivity and democracy.
“The Daughters of the Moon” rounds out the album, putting book ends on the naturalist themes. This composition is named after magical surrealist Italo Calvino’s short story about consumerism, in which a mythical modern society that values only buying shiny new things throws away the moon like it is a piece of garbage and the daughters of the moon save it and resurrect it. It’s an eco-feminist take on how women are going to save the world. Pineda’s piano outro is a hauntingly beautiful lunar voyage, blinding us with love. Leckie dedicates this song to his daughter: “My hope is that my daughter becomes a daughter of the moon, helping to make the world a more beautiful and verdant place to live.”
Bass CDs
Debut Album: Nate Sabat, Bass Fiddler
In a thrilling solo debut, bassist Nate Sabat combines instrumental virtuosity with a songwriter’s heart on Bass Fiddler…
The upright bass and the human voice. Two essential musical instruments, one with roots in 15th century Europe, the other as old as humanity itself.
On Bass Fiddler (Adhyâropa Records ÂR00057), the debut album from Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter and bass virtuoso Nate Sabat, the scope is narrowed down a bit. Drawing from the rich and thriving tradition of American folk music, Sabat delivers expertly crafted original songs and choice covers with the upright bass as his lone tool for accompaniment.
The concept was born a decade ago when Sabat began studying with the legendary old-time fiddler Bruce Molsky at Berklee College of Music. “One of Bruce’s specialties is singing and playing fiddle at the same time. The second I heard it I was hooked,” recalls Sabat. “I thought, how can I do this on the bass?” From there, he was off to the races, arranging original and traditional material with Molsky as his guide. “Fast forward to 2020, and I — like so many other musicians — was thinking of how to best spend my time. I sat down with the goal of writing some new songs and arranging some new covers, and an entire record came out.” When the time came to make the album, it was evident that Molsky would be the ideal producer. Sabat asked him if he’d be interested, and luckily he was. “What an inspiration to work with an artist like Nate,” says Molsky. “Right at the beginning, he came to this project with a strong, personal and unique vision. Plus he had the guts to try for a complete and compelling cycle of music with nothing but a bass and a voice. You’ll hear right away that it’s engaging, sometimes serious, sometimes fun, and beautifully thought out from top to bottom.”
While this record is, at its core, a folk music album, Sabat uses the term broadly. Some tracks lean more rock (‘In the Shade’), some more pop (‘White Marble’, ‘Rabid Thoughts’), some more jazz (‘Fade Away’), but the setting ties them all together. “There’s something inherently folksy about a musician singing songs with their instrument, no matter the influences behind the compositions themselves,” Sabat notes. To be sure, there are plenty of folk songs (‘Louise’ ‘Sometimes’, ‘Eli’) and fiddling (‘Year of the Ox’) to be had here — the folk music fan won’t go hungry. There’s a healthy dose of bluegrass too (‘Orphan Annie’, ‘Lonesome Night’), clean and simple, the way Mr. Bill Monroe intended.
All in all, this album shines a light on an instrument that often goes overlooked in the folk music world, enveloping the listener in its myriad sounds, textures, and colors. “There’s nothing I love more than playing the upright bass,” exclaims Sabat. “My hope is that listeners take the time to sit with this album front to back — I want them to take in the full scope of the work. I have a feeling they’ll hear something they haven’t heard before.”
Available online at natesabat.bandcamp.com/album/walking-away
Bass CDs
New Album: Avery Sharpe, I Am My Neighbors Keeper
Avery Sharpe and his Double Quartet to release, I Am My Neighbors Keeper
A new recording will be released on JKNM Records by internationally renowned bassist/composer Avery Sharpe, “I Am My Neighbors Keeper” is scheduled for release in June 2024.
Sharpe has composed a new work that highlights our commitment to one another. Avery initiated the project as a response to the political and racial division that has grown over the past seven years in the country. “The U.S political climate has drastically changed in the past 40-plus years, especially during the last seven of those years. In this age of greed, which Sharpe refers to as “IGM,” I Got Mine, basic human compassion has been eroded. Racial, economic and social strides are being turned back.
“We have food insecurity, the unhoused, pandemics, school shootings, domestic violence, and an opioid problem, just to name some. There is a need to remind people that each of us is here on this planet for a very short period of time. It doesn’t matter if one has a religious approach or a secular approach, it all comes down to concern and compassion for each other. Through these compositions and recordings, Avery’s mission as an artist is to remind us that we all are interconnected and that ‘We Are Our Neighbor’s Keeper.’ When we help to uplift one, we uplift everyone,” Sharpe said.
Each movement in the piece describes the values we should strive for to help one another for this multi-media (video slide show during performance) and multi-discipline performance.
Many of Sharpe’s projects and recordings have been about “standing on the shoulders of ancestors, heroes and sheroes.” Among his recordings and projects, include “Running Man” (celebrating the athlete Jesse Owens), “Ain’t I A Woman” (about Sojourner Truth), and his most recent project “400: An African American Musical Portrait” (marking the 400 years from 1619 to 2019).
Avery Sharpe has recorded and performed with many jazz greats from Dizzy Gillespie to Yusef Lateef. He had an illustrious run of 20 plus years with the legendary Jazz pianist McCoy Tyner, of which he recorded more than 25 records with Mr. Tyner and performed countless worldwide concerts.
Visit online at averysharpe.com/
Bass CDs
New Album: Killing Bees, Racing Towards Ruin
Killing Bees Racing Towards Ruin out May 10th via Tonequake Records.
There are some records where the first note grabs you and doesn’t let go. Before the first lyric is sung, Killing Bees pull you into Racing Towards Ruins via the sheer power of TONES, MAN, TONES. Brown-note bass reverberations and gut-punch kickdrum snap the listener out of daily reverie instantaneously. Together, bassist/vocalist Nic Nifoussi and drummer Ray Mehlbaum (both of Automatic 7) and producer Andrew Scheps (Mars Volta, Audioslave, Adele) have crafted a piece of art that fuses low-rock minimalism, post-hardcore aggression, and SoCal throttle rock urgency into, well, a real ass-kicker.
The bones of Killing Bees began their calcification when Nifoussi started a high school punk band called Automatic 7. They signed to BYO Records upon graduation and soon found themselves in need of a new drummer. Enter Ray Mehlbaum. Tours with Bad Religion, Social Distortion, Face 2 Face, Bouncing Souls, Suicide Machines, Unwritten Law, Youth Brigade, DOA, and others followed, as well as a deal with A&M Records. A&M got bought by Universal, the band moved to Vagrant Records, cut a new record, toured, then broke up.
“Eventually, Ray and I decided to start a two-piece band” explains Nifoussi. “I was trying out a new sound using 2 amps and an A-B switch. Overdrive through one amp and playing a lot of chords to get a guitar-like sound. After years of playing together, we were already tight and used to writing together. The songs came quickly and easily.”
Via Brett Gurewitz of Bad Religion, the band had come to know Grammy-winning producer and engineer Andrew Scheps. Though originally recommended as a producer for Automatic 7, when the band played him the Killing Bees songs, he loved the concept and the trio got to work on their self-titled debut. Following the record’s release on Guano Loco/Loose Fang Records, “we played a bunch of shows and eventually started writing the new record in our North Hollywood lockout” says Nifoussi.
Recorded once again at Scheps’ studio, drums and bass were recorded live, the only overdubs being vocals and some bass and accordion textures (Nifoussi is an accomplished accordionist). “We tracked the two together over 4 or 5 days and everything you hear was played live by talented humans, not put together after the fact. I think that live energy is what makes the record so compelling!” says Scheps. “Andrew wanted to challenge us. We came in wired towards traditional songwriting – he wasn’t interested in that” explains Mehlbaum. “He encouraged us to think about instrumental bits that would drive the tune, as opposed to the sing-along chorus of a traditional song. As a drummer, he kicked my ass. I remember him saying “we’re gonna turn the click off. I want you to go completely ‘out of time’ then come back in.” That’s some crazy shit! But I fucking loved it.”
Thematically, the record deals with the dangers of love and politics in equal measure. As Nifoussi puts it, “if there’s a takeaway, it’s to be careful with who you love… and vote into government.” So, Racing Towards Ruin. A concise, compelling listen, arresting at first blush, and deeply moving upon completion. A modern rock record (not a modern-rock record), unrelentingly heavy and sonically immaculate. And loud. Super loud.
Bass CDs
New Album: Lucy Clifford, Meeting Place
Bassist and composer Lucy Clifford has announced the release of her new EP ‘Meeting Place’.
This live studio recording was captured at Golden Retriever Studios in Sydney, and features Australian guitarist Felix Lalanne and Swiss drummer Jessie Cox.
As a bassist who has dedicated many years to accompanying artists of different kinds, Lucy shares some of her own music in a kaleidoscope of sounds and influences that have shaped her creative identity. The trio explores Lucy’s compositions, which weave between both energy and repose, lyrical soundscapes colliding with dynamic grooves that are sure to occupy your mind. This 4 song EP is presented as an uninterrupted musical odyssey and serves as a dedication to the places and people that hold a profound ability to anchor us in the present moment, our meeting places.
For Lucy, this meeting place created with Felix and Jessie is a “celebration of collaborative spirit and the immersive spatial movements of sound. In an era where connections are more crucial than ever, this music emerged while reflecting on the many borders, barriers, and structures that currently hold back human connection and communal bonds. We need reminding to rediscover our meeting places, that bring us the love, comfort, truth, and creativity we so urgently need.”
‘Meeting Place’ will be out April 5th on digital platforms, along with the live studio performance for viewing on Youtube.
Visit online at www.lucycliffordmusic.com
Interview With Bassist Erick “Jesus” Coomes
Working-Class Zeros: Episode #2 – Financial Elements of Working Musicians
Tour Touch Base (Bass) with Ian Allison
New Gear: Spector Woodstock Custom Collection Volume II
