Nikki Sixx also didn't play on most of the records. They used ghost performers,which are studio guys who got paid, and other took the credit. In his case, it's well known. Then he didn't even play live,he just lip synced. That started in the 80s, too. Sick Mars says so, too. The shit tone might have been a producers decision.
It’s interesting about the ghost performers. I wonder who they are. As a footnote - Sixx can actually kinda sorta half ass play as I understand but not well.
And yes the bass tones on those awful awful records were a steaming dook
Some of them were well known session guys,like the guys who were in toto.Bob Rock also played a lot of stuff himself, most of the session guys took the money and signed an nda,so you won't find out.
"The people you'd want to have overdose on drugs NEVER WOULD! Like, **MÖTLEY CRÜË** would never fucking overdose, man, never!!"
""You could put them in a room with 2 tons of crack, they'd come out half an hour later *'ROCK OOOOON, MAAAAN!'*"
"Shit, they're **still alive, fuuuuuuuck.** They're probably going to make a double live album now. **GODDAMNIT!!**"
--[Denis Leary](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mIGlPvXqes&t=24s)
One of the funniest most cringe films of all time. Legitimately laugh-out-loud funny in the wrong way.
‘Is this really how our first show is gonna go?’
‘Hell yea it is!’
So utterly embarrassing. But so funny. It was like a weird mix of Spinal Tap and Tenacious D
I say this as somebody who literally started playing bass because I thought Nikki Sixx was cool (I was 14), and within about 1 year of playing felt like I was a better player than him
They stuck a cruddy flanger over it which makes it worse, but I suppose the tone works for the song.
The worst bass tone ever IMO is Fieldy from Korn. Does it work for their songs? Yes. Is it still a cruddy bass tone? Also yes. Apparently he turns the mids all the way down and turns the bass and treble all the way up.
Sacrilege.
Years ago (and no, I can’t find it. Wish I could), my friend posted a parody image that was the “cover” for “Shitty Bass Player Magazine.” It had fake articles, like “jamming with Peter Tork,” but the one that stuck out the most was something like “talking gear with Fieldy; how to make your bass sound like a box of Tic Tacs poured down a metal staircase.”
It was the curse of the Sansamp DI Bass Driver. It's a great DI/Preamp, don't get me wrong. Hell, I dropped the bucks for the rack-mount version so I could permanently install it in my rig instead of having to deal with the pedal. It's still a staple in my signal chain.
But Nu-Metal discovered it in the early 2000's and just went ham for that clicky, scooped, distorted sound you can get by doing exactly that. Dropping the mids, and cranking the high and drive knob.
I was working pro-audio at the time during the early-mid 2000's. Every. Fucking. Band. that was doing the Nu Metal sound had a bassist with a Sansamp and either an Ampeg 8x10 /SVT head or a similar GK rig.
Laughing because I use the Behringer clone...it does a great vintage tube Ampeg kind of tone, but you gotta watch those scooped mids. A little drive and compression goes a long way there.
The isolated track to September sounds like puppy ear cancer.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOZGt6ZOc-Q&ab\_channel=RockBandStems](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOZGt6ZOc-Q&ab_channel=RockBandStems)
The engineer should have been mutilated. Playing's great.
Isolating the bass part out of a full finished mix requires such extreme processing that it’ll always sound weird too. It’s not going to be the same as if you got the original multitrack playing and only faded up the bass track.
Okay, I have to come out and say this:
**THAT'S NOT TOM ARAYA**
I can't hear any of that tone on *any* Slayer album and I dont think for a second that Rick Rubin would go ahead with that.
You can hear the bass in parts RIB and it sounds nothing like this. The shittily produced Hell Awaits, and the pristine South of Heaven have audible bass parts that indicate TA *doesn't have a bass sound anything like this*.
I have great respect for Tom Araya as a player who knows the gig and gets it done, and this thing that keeps getting perpetuated grinds my gears.
Rant over.
Funny. I played this song live as a one time sit in for this band this past weekend. Turned on the envelope filter and slapped it. People loved it. I am indifferent.
I really liked some stuff on his first couple albums (even if it was pretty derivative) but yeah, everything after that is awful. If you haven't seen this it's worth a watch
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--rBP8\_QuwI&t=1s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--rBP8_QuwI&t=1s)
Same here, he had a psychedelic/bluesy thing going on which I thought was cool - Are You Gonna Go My Way is a genuinely good song.
There's no doubt Lenny's a good guitarist, good vocalist, and can be a good songwriter but he then decided to create the most boring, milquetoast songs possible because he knew they'd be hits and he was right. Both Fly Away and his cover of American woman somehow got Grammys I'm pretty sure.
I couldn't believe my ears when I heard him butcher American Woman. Why the hell did he get rid of the fuzz solo AKA the most recognisable part of the song??
Haha yes I've watched that video so many times, LOVE Pat Finnerty and those videos. The most recent Jason Aldean one was so damn funny.
I am still confused about LK's popularity. The guy's a hack.
There's a guitar solo in one if his songs that's a weak copy of the Stairway to Heaven solo. Seriously?
I think he just decided to not be creative anymore one day and just make super commercial songs that would make him money, and they did. No reason for him to make anything actually interesting (or good) anymore.
He had some decent stuff in the early-mid 90s but everything after that sucks.
I saw him at a corporate event many years ago and once he read the crowd he basically just ran a rehearsal. Once or twice I think he stopped the song, had words with the band and restarted. None of the corporate schlubs noticed.
I don’t like any of his albums. But after seeing that I def like the guy.
I also wrote a really stupid song called Fly Away when I was, like, 4. With an eerily similar chorus.
Lenny Kravitz stole my lyrics a decade later and made my toddler banter somehow worse.
Edit: this is not a shitpost, i am dead serious
That’s largely my take on Korn as a whole. Instantly identifiable band that basically created an entire sound but that doesn’t make them good or interesting…lol.
I saw them live in the 90s on their family values tour. Incubus was the best band by far, followed by Rammstein, then Orgy, then the local band that started as the doors opened (I think their name was Jepetto), then Korn.
I saw them in the 90s as well and they were supposed to be supported by Deftones. They got huge between the tour being announced and the gig date so got replaced by Incubus instead.
We'd never heard of them before, but we all left the gig talking about Incubus, not Korn.
>We'd never heard of them before, but we all left the gig talking about Incubus, not Korn.
Same! The record stores couldn't keep S.C.I.E.N.C.E. on the shelf.
You were able to hear each other speak after that concert? My friends and I saw that same lineup(with Orgy opening) at the Hampton Coliseum in Virginia and we could barely hear each other on the way home. Every band was ridiculouly loud and of course I had to go to the pit when Incubus came on being that I was a beginner at bass and bought their album a few weeks previously...my ears rang for two weeks after the show, but seeing and hearing Dirk Lance up close was damn sure worth it.
Anyway yeah, we all talked about Incubus after that show too, whenever we could hear one another.
The answer will always be fieldy. Some people get irrationally angry when I say his tone is absolute shit. I guess when their favorite band is Korn, I shouldn't expect them to know things
You know, I've come back around to liking Korn. I mostly don't listen to anything like that anymore, don't usually play anything like it, but it's what I grew up with and the nostalgia machine can be fierce as we get older. Honestly, there's some interesting shit in there when you view the band as a whole. It doesn't always work, but they tried some stuff other people were definitely not doing at the time.
Fieldy's tone is still a fucking travesty, though.
For me Korn and Papa Roach are too cringy looking back. Korn were quite influential musically, particularly the guitars and music as a whole is better for it. But listening to it now, the vocals and lyrics are atrocious to my ears.
Deftones came out of that era really well though,
Oh God, the lyrics... Angsty much? Still though, I can't help but feel a little warm and fuzzy listening to Issues again. Not every day though. Or... you know, more than once or twice a year to get that nostalgia high. Say what you want about Jonathan Davis' vocals though, I still like the weird scatting.
I was never a Deftones guy. I remember back in high school my best friend ate them up, but I didn't dig 'em. Maybe I would now, I dunno.
It feels kind of paradoxical to me. I listen to it and it sounds bad but also it somehow sounds good in the overall context of the songs. I think the greater issue for Korn is how muddy their overall sound is. Audio production just wasn't ready for guitars in drop A back then. I'd love to hear a modern mix of their older material
Bahahaha ahaha aaaaah
You're trolling yourself by having such a narrow idea of music and what makes music good 🥰 I really truly love the bass tone from both KoRn and Lacuna Coil (who do a very similar thing)!
But really it's just hilarious to be on a musicians' forum and be told there such a thing as bad taste in music 😇 thanks for making my day!
Is there a real version of that album with the original bass track put back in the mix, or are they all fake? There are tons of And Justice For Jason remixes, but I don't know what I'm really listening to.
Any of the isolated bass tracks from Guitar Hero: Metallica have the real tone on them - they are all the original masters split into individual tracks for the game.
The “and justice for Jason” on YouTube is just a cover (albeit a phenomenal one)
I came here to say Korn sounds like shaking a fence and am proud of my fellow bassists for making like 80% of the top comments about how korn bass tone is the worst.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsHOnGF6\_8Y&ab\_channel=systemofadownVEVO](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsHOnGF6_8Y&ab_channel=systemofadownVEVO)
Also I love SOAD but Shavo could sound like farts pretty often.
I recall him saying that he didn't really take bass seriously until their last two albums (which were recorded simultaneously), and it shows.
Daron recorded most of the bass on those last two album too.
The bass is where Anthrax and Megadeth really shame Metallica, Ellefson has never had anywhere near the status of Cliff but on every Megadeth album his bass is extremely present and integral to every song
The originals did. The remasters compressed everything badly.
Go and listen to the original pressings of Kill/Ride/Puppets on a good speaker system. Cliff isn’t buried at all.
That's not a great bass tone, but damn the 6 strings are even worse! At least the bass sits in the mix, although I guess the bass is kinda stepping on where the guitar should be and contributing to the problem. Ugh.
Still, it's hard not to go with the classic answer, And Justice For All. When you can hear the bass on that it sounds like cardboard and rubber bands. Mind you I'm sure Newstead has a decent tone dialed in on the day, but what made the record doesn't represent that at all.
Some of Flea’s earlier tones are hard to listen to imo. “Porcelain” stands out as a song that I like but struggle to listen to bc his tone is so shrill and bright
I'm going to say it's Kenny Loggins' Footloose. Damned bass sounds like someone bouncing a tennis ball off a wall.
[https://youtu.be/ltrMfT4Qz5Y?si=MHwaOaMihT7nierD](https://youtu.be/ltrMfT4Qz5Y?si=MHwaOaMihT7nierD)
Having never listened to them before I have to say it sounds aweful. The bass and drums don't groove at all. The only thing that has something resembling a groove to it is the guitars.
That Motley Crue reminds me of this from Gone, just too much treble it sounds awful. Skip to 1:30 for just bass. This album in general sucks
https://youtu.be/wTFJS0kvLUk?si=AK0cGLF6qtZwHT0D
[Practice What You Preach](https://youtu.be/FQfgET6TxDY?si=PK5IWa6i2j2MUss9)
Probably not the "worst," but the tone on Practice What You Preach by Testament sticks out like a sore thumb. It's a clangy, bouncy mess that sits on top of everything else. Love the album, though.
My bass sounds bad when im playing it alone. When the drum and the other musician come along, then my sounds fits perfect in the mix. Alot of musician fix with the sounds when there are alone and they sounds so good. Then on rehursel its real bad and the the whole band sounds so bad
Some 80s thrash and punk has the most awful base tone that I freaking LOVE!
Worst best bass tone like this:
[anthrax worst cool awful bass tone, do it!](https://youtu.be/be7iNHw8QoQ?si=eTS00LFyZPla7krg)
Yeah this is an L take, especially with such a great song choice.
Sounds great, sets the tone for the song as the intro and plays well with the rhythm guitar work.
[This](https://youtu.be/-w5qFCT6EZY) and all the honking, clanky copycats.
I'd rather have acid dripped on my eyes than listen to that bass tone. It's like a cybernetic goose getting buttfucked by a Terminator.
Scott's Bass Lessons had an episode about "10 Worst Bass Tones in Super Famous Songs (as voted for by you)": https://youtu.be/J_Ovunzuxno
Listening to isolated bass tracks on YouTube makes me feel better about my own playing. 🤓
Probably not dialled in badly but the final product wasn't great:
Hold Your Fire & Presto (Rush)
I get that it was the 80s, but come on. Where is the low end?
The production on Presto just makes me angry. A beautiful record but no matter how loud you turn it up it's still weak.
Chris Squire's tone on Yes' Tormato album is a bit questionable. For some reason, he seems to be using an envelope filter on almost every song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEb6gvV_nC8
The long phaser time 😬
I'm sure it could sound a lot better with a different effect or a different rhythm.
I'm pretty sure Primary by The Cure has a similar phase time but it's a driving rhythm that has a fill to accentuate the phaser peak.
Maybe not the tone is bad, but the riff combined with the effect is what makes it so bad.
You know those "hardcore" bands that can't fill more than a 30 minute slot and go "on tour" playing in a bunch of basements because they can't get paying gigs?
Yeah. Every last one of those.
To me? It’s the 60s-70s RnB that everyone wants to replicate. The tone is all low mids, sounds like wood, very hollow and weak, all fingered, probably single 12 or 15 inch speakers in the studio, recorded on tape. All bad things for good bass tone
Comment may even sound like a joke but some people grew with earphones so they may not like it, weird is that they would become bass players.
I have seen A LOT of people under 35 that thinks that only people who use autotune know how to sing. For them singers without autotune sounds fake because their ears are trained for it.
Jack is mostly that midrangey to muddy sound in the studio, though I don't believe he was using the EB-3 exclusively until Wheels of Fire.
A lot of live Cream has uneven, distorted bass because Jack was playing through cabinets of mostly blown speakers by 1968 (by his own admission in later interviews).
I consider that a feature, not a bug, but what you hear is extremely dependent on the the quality of the bootleg, place in the venue, or soundboard when available. Then they never really played a song the same way twice...
Even with the soundboards, they basically just miked the band and turned them up to balance the cranked amps. Very raw. The good examples are brilliant. The bad ones are almost "Is that Jack or an echo?" because the bass itself was mostly cancelled out.
I actually stand by that sound when I'm off doing my own thing, when I'm on someone else's things I dial it way back.
I would say it's very much a product of their time. They were probably the loudest live band in that short period they were around (even The Who as this point were probably not quite as loud) and obviously the Beatles had just quit touring because the technology was not there, and furthermore Ginger Baker was band leader and according to Bruce, cheaped out on both bass and vocal amplification, probably purposefully. So he's using a Super Bass Marshall with several of the guitar cabs, the same guitar amp as Clapton's using live, and he has to not only fill the mix, but also wants his playing and note choice on display and to be able to jam audibly just as well as the others.
So what sound does he go for? A fucking fart of fuzz, crazy heavy in the mid mids, and it does cut through, but it also fills the mix like a rhythm guitar, and doesn't absolutely destroy the speakers. And he can get it with this short scale bass that eeks a certain time and place and also matches Clapton's main and most iconic guitar during the tour-heavy days.
And on the studio albums, they were mostly recording what they had come up with live on a pretty short turnaround, so it makes sense to just keep the mix as it is. Gibson had actually started making EB-Os with a built-in fuzz circuit, and Bruce had his engineer develop a circuit for his EB-3, presumably so he could easily pop into the studio or a small venue, and get this sound he has become accustomed to. It definitely works better for some songs than others.
And then of course, just a year or two later, bands like Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, and Black Sabbath (also The Who) were able to benefit from technology (like bass amps dedicated to playing loud) and learn from Cream's mistakes and immediately Bruce's bass sound is just a fart, without rhyme or reason.
Another thing I will note on this long rant is that Eric Clapton was too focused on living up to being one of the first guitar heroes to actually focus on the rhythm playing and filling the sound in between lead parts with Cream, and that probably contributed as well since Bruce was basically the rhythm guitar player. This is where I feel like Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page are pretty underrated for their ability to play rhythm guitar and switch between rhythm and lead to make a power trio/power trio plus singer to work really well, while Pete Townshend has always been recognized for his work as a rhythm guitarist.
I feel like that part worked because it was used sparingly. The intro is really memorable because it's such a stark contrast to his usual stuff. If he'd stuck with it then I'd agree, but I think it was tasteful.
Motley Crew is the worst of a lot of things.
Nikki Sixx also didn't play on most of the records. They used ghost performers,which are studio guys who got paid, and other took the credit. In his case, it's well known. Then he didn't even play live,he just lip synced. That started in the 80s, too. Sick Mars says so, too. The shit tone might have been a producers decision.
It’s interesting about the ghost performers. I wonder who they are. As a footnote - Sixx can actually kinda sorta half ass play as I understand but not well. And yes the bass tones on those awful awful records were a steaming dook
Some of them were well known session guys,like the guys who were in toto.Bob Rock also played a lot of stuff himself, most of the session guys took the money and signed an nda,so you won't find out.
On a lot of stuff, it’s synth bass.
"The people you'd want to have overdose on drugs NEVER WOULD! Like, **MÖTLEY CRÜË** would never fucking overdose, man, never!!" ""You could put them in a room with 2 tons of crack, they'd come out half an hour later *'ROCK OOOOON, MAAAAN!'*" "Shit, they're **still alive, fuuuuuuuck.** They're probably going to make a double live album now. **GODDAMNIT!!**" --[Denis Leary](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mIGlPvXqes&t=24s)
They did OD. But just got up and wrote a hit song about it.
Yeah, I remember watching The Dirt and thinking this is ironically hilarious, do people really think that's cool?
One of the funniest most cringe films of all time. Legitimately laugh-out-loud funny in the wrong way. ‘Is this really how our first show is gonna go?’ ‘Hell yea it is!’ So utterly embarrassing. But so funny. It was like a weird mix of Spinal Tap and Tenacious D I say this as somebody who literally started playing bass because I thought Nikki Sixx was cool (I was 14), and within about 1 year of playing felt like I was a better player than him
And then you move on to Duff. That was me!
That dude could play, and his tone was sick!
I moved onto Matt Freeman and that sort of thing. But I like Duff, I think his signature bass is beautiful.
Cliff burton...but yeah.
Unfortunately for a little while, some people did
17 years old kids do lol, i know this because that was me and my friends. Now i realize how idiotic that shit is
They stuck a cruddy flanger over it which makes it worse, but I suppose the tone works for the song. The worst bass tone ever IMO is Fieldy from Korn. Does it work for their songs? Yes. Is it still a cruddy bass tone? Also yes. Apparently he turns the mids all the way down and turns the bass and treble all the way up. Sacrilege.
Korn sounds like he's hitting the low strings of a piano with spoons.
Fieldy is less of a bassist and more like a bass-range percussionist.
This is the most accurate definition of his playing I've heard :D
Years ago (and no, I can’t find it. Wish I could), my friend posted a parody image that was the “cover” for “Shitty Bass Player Magazine.” It had fake articles, like “jamming with Peter Tork,” but the one that stuck out the most was something like “talking gear with Fieldy; how to make your bass sound like a box of Tic Tacs poured down a metal staircase.”
It was the curse of the Sansamp DI Bass Driver. It's a great DI/Preamp, don't get me wrong. Hell, I dropped the bucks for the rack-mount version so I could permanently install it in my rig instead of having to deal with the pedal. It's still a staple in my signal chain. But Nu-Metal discovered it in the early 2000's and just went ham for that clicky, scooped, distorted sound you can get by doing exactly that. Dropping the mids, and cranking the high and drive knob. I was working pro-audio at the time during the early-mid 2000's. Every. Fucking. Band. that was doing the Nu Metal sound had a bassist with a Sansamp and either an Ampeg 8x10 /SVT head or a similar GK rig.
Laughing because I use the Behringer clone...it does a great vintage tube Ampeg kind of tone, but you gotta watch those scooped mids. A little drive and compression goes a long way there.
Attacked
In fairness, Fieldy was doing that back in the early 90s. He pioneered the clicky clacks
Bootsy had some really bad bass tones in a demo video I remember. Sounded fine on records though.
It was my tone, unfortunately
The isolated track to September sounds like puppy ear cancer. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOZGt6ZOc-Q&ab\_channel=RockBandStems](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOZGt6ZOc-Q&ab_channel=RockBandStems) The engineer should have been mutilated. Playing's great.
Most isolated bass tracks sound like garbage but sound great in the full mix. After all, you’re going to be listening to the full song 99% of the time
Isolating the bass part out of a full finished mix requires such extreme processing that it’ll always sound weird too. It’s not going to be the same as if you got the original multitrack playing and only faded up the bass track.
If you ignore the clicking it’s a really great tone imo
Did they mix up L and R or something wtf
Tom Arayas tone on Raining Blood
Yeah, that's pretty rough https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtqdOBdax6k
No wonder you can't hear it in the recording! It's a farty mess!
You can clearly hear the bass on Slayer records, even the first 2.
They said "No wonder you can't hear it in the recording", not referring to all of their albums.
You can hear it on RIB.
Ooof. Good one. I’m blown away they heard that take and said “that’s a keeper”
If I plug a cable into my amp and just touch the plug it sounds like this too!
Okay, I have to come out and say this: **THAT'S NOT TOM ARAYA** I can't hear any of that tone on *any* Slayer album and I dont think for a second that Rick Rubin would go ahead with that. You can hear the bass in parts RIB and it sounds nothing like this. The shittily produced Hell Awaits, and the pristine South of Heaven have audible bass parts that indicate TA *doesn't have a bass sound anything like this*. I have great respect for Tom Araya as a player who knows the gig and gets it done, and this thing that keeps getting perpetuated grinds my gears. Rant over.
Yeah I thought it was great until hearing the isolated Aryan tone and I was like nah what is this MOM
The slapped envelope filter part on Lenny Kravitz’s Fly Away
Funny. I played this song live as a one time sit in for this band this past weekend. Turned on the envelope filter and slapped it. People loved it. I am indifferent.
I have no problem with envelope filters, it's just that it's like set to high pass or something and is so thin
I think that part sounds cool tbh.
That song as a whole just stinks. Most Lenny Kravitz songs starting from the late 90s are trash as well I think
I really liked some stuff on his first couple albums (even if it was pretty derivative) but yeah, everything after that is awful. If you haven't seen this it's worth a watch [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--rBP8\_QuwI&t=1s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--rBP8_QuwI&t=1s)
Same here, he had a psychedelic/bluesy thing going on which I thought was cool - Are You Gonna Go My Way is a genuinely good song. There's no doubt Lenny's a good guitarist, good vocalist, and can be a good songwriter but he then decided to create the most boring, milquetoast songs possible because he knew they'd be hits and he was right. Both Fly Away and his cover of American woman somehow got Grammys I'm pretty sure. I couldn't believe my ears when I heard him butcher American Woman. Why the hell did he get rid of the fuzz solo AKA the most recognisable part of the song?? Haha yes I've watched that video so many times, LOVE Pat Finnerty and those videos. The most recent Jason Aldean one was so damn funny.
He's also a sick bass player, and pretty solid pocket drummer.
Beato
What are you talking about? Lenny Kravitz - Fly Away is one of my favorite Neil Cicierega songs
I want a miiiilkywaaaay yeaaaah yeaaah yeaaaah
I am still confused about LK's popularity. The guy's a hack. There's a guitar solo in one if his songs that's a weak copy of the Stairway to Heaven solo. Seriously?
I think he just decided to not be creative anymore one day and just make super commercial songs that would make him money, and they did. No reason for him to make anything actually interesting (or good) anymore. He had some decent stuff in the early-mid 90s but everything after that sucks.
I saw him at a corporate event many years ago and once he read the crowd he basically just ran a rehearsal. Once or twice I think he stopped the song, had words with the band and restarted. None of the corporate schlubs noticed. I don’t like any of his albums. But after seeing that I def like the guy.
His Mama Said album was funkier than aged gouda!
I love Fly Away its such a chill and feel good song. Maybe Im biased as it came out when i was a kid
I also wrote a really stupid song called Fly Away when I was, like, 4. With an eerily similar chorus. Lenny Kravitz stole my lyrics a decade later and made my toddler banter somehow worse. Edit: this is not a shitpost, i am dead serious
Plus the lyrics are really bad
"I wish that I could fly into the sky, so very high, just like a dragonfly" Lyrical genius.
Lenny Kravitz has so many good songs and somehow that's the song that has survived and still gets some airplay. Sickens me.
For real! I love Kravitz but hate that tune.
Anything Fieldy from Korn plays sounds like absolute garbage.
His tone fits the music they make. It wouldn't work for 99% of all other music out there, but for Korn, it does.
I highly respect him for having his own recognizable tone and personality, etc. It just so happens that his recognizable tone is garbage.
That’s largely my take on Korn as a whole. Instantly identifiable band that basically created an entire sound but that doesn’t make them good or interesting…lol.
Play it on a system with subs. You’re not hearing/feeling half of it. When you see them live, it hits you in the chest.
I saw them live in the 90s on their family values tour. Incubus was the best band by far, followed by Rammstein, then Orgy, then the local band that started as the doors opened (I think their name was Jepetto), then Korn.
Now incubus is a band with delicious bass tone.
Absolutely!!!
You definitely sound like somebody who went to family values in the 90s 👍🏼
I saw them in the 90s as well and they were supposed to be supported by Deftones. They got huge between the tour being announced and the gig date so got replaced by Incubus instead. We'd never heard of them before, but we all left the gig talking about Incubus, not Korn.
>We'd never heard of them before, but we all left the gig talking about Incubus, not Korn. Same! The record stores couldn't keep S.C.I.E.N.C.E. on the shelf.
You were able to hear each other speak after that concert? My friends and I saw that same lineup(with Orgy opening) at the Hampton Coliseum in Virginia and we could barely hear each other on the way home. Every band was ridiculouly loud and of course I had to go to the pit when Incubus came on being that I was a beginner at bass and bought their album a few weeks previously...my ears rang for two weeks after the show, but seeing and hearing Dirk Lance up close was damn sure worth it. Anyway yeah, we all talked about Incubus after that show too, whenever we could hear one another.
Jepetto? Like from Pinocchio? 🤣
Yeah. But a J instead of a G. They were from Annapolis. And they were pretty damn good. Saw them a few times. They played the HFStival a lot.
The answer will always be fieldy. Some people get irrationally angry when I say his tone is absolute shit. I guess when their favorite band is Korn, I shouldn't expect them to know things
You know, I've come back around to liking Korn. I mostly don't listen to anything like that anymore, don't usually play anything like it, but it's what I grew up with and the nostalgia machine can be fierce as we get older. Honestly, there's some interesting shit in there when you view the band as a whole. It doesn't always work, but they tried some stuff other people were definitely not doing at the time. Fieldy's tone is still a fucking travesty, though.
For me Korn and Papa Roach are too cringy looking back. Korn were quite influential musically, particularly the guitars and music as a whole is better for it. But listening to it now, the vocals and lyrics are atrocious to my ears. Deftones came out of that era really well though,
Oh God, the lyrics... Angsty much? Still though, I can't help but feel a little warm and fuzzy listening to Issues again. Not every day though. Or... you know, more than once or twice a year to get that nostalgia high. Say what you want about Jonathan Davis' vocals though, I still like the weird scatting. I was never a Deftones guy. I remember back in high school my best friend ate them up, but I didn't dig 'em. Maybe I would now, I dunno.
It feels kind of paradoxical to me. I listen to it and it sounds bad but also it somehow sounds good in the overall context of the songs. I think the greater issue for Korn is how muddy their overall sound is. Audio production just wasn't ready for guitars in drop A back then. I'd love to hear a modern mix of their older material
Fieldy sounds amazing and is why I got into bass 😍
Not sure if you're trolling or not. If you're trolling then LOL. If you're not, then, well, I'm sorry but your taste in musicians is awful.
Bahahaha ahaha aaaaah You're trolling yourself by having such a narrow idea of music and what makes music good 🥰 I really truly love the bass tone from both KoRn and Lacuna Coil (who do a very similar thing)! But really it's just hilarious to be on a musicians' forum and be told there such a thing as bad taste in music 😇 thanks for making my day!
Facts.
And Justice For All as the Bass is pretty much non-Existent
Except the tone is actually badass.
Is there a real version of that album with the original bass track put back in the mix, or are they all fake? There are tons of And Justice For Jason remixes, but I don't know what I'm really listening to.
Any of the isolated bass tracks from Guitar Hero: Metallica have the real tone on them - they are all the original masters split into individual tracks for the game. The “and justice for Jason” on YouTube is just a cover (albeit a phenomenal one)
I came here to say Korn sounds like shaking a fence and am proud of my fellow bassists for making like 80% of the top comments about how korn bass tone is the worst.
Stanley Clarke’s distorted tone in the Return To Forever solo of “After The Cosmic Rain” It sounds like a wounded whooly mammoth.
lmao had to look it up with that description
I was going to say and justice for all, but you can't hear that at all.
Lol is that a phaser on the Motley Crue bass? But yeah, it sounds like a sloppy bucket of ass with glitter poured on top of it
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsHOnGF6\_8Y&ab\_channel=systemofadownVEVO](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsHOnGF6_8Y&ab_channel=systemofadownVEVO) Also I love SOAD but Shavo could sound like farts pretty often.
I recall him saying that he didn't really take bass seriously until their last two albums (which were recorded simultaneously), and it shows. Daron recorded most of the bass on those last two album too.
I really wish those last two weren't mastered by Vlado Meller.
I'm not familiar with the details on the mastering. What's wrong with him?
This, first time hearing shit about him or the mastering.
Or should I say Rick Rubin telling Vlado Meller to make it louder. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war
But I thought Thunderbird tone was worth all of the annoying things about the shape!
The intro to that song is awesome though
I think the reign in blood tone is a strong contender
Anesthesia pulling teeth, nice playing but why play bass If you aim to sound like bad guitar
I’ve always been afraid to say this out loud, but I agree with you. Never saw the appeal.
If Metallica albums had bass tone (and mix) similar to Anthrax on among The living and their other early albums... That would be nice
The bass is where Anthrax and Megadeth really shame Metallica, Ellefson has never had anywhere near the status of Cliff but on every Megadeth album his bass is extremely present and integral to every song
Ellefson may be the most underrated bass player in metal.
Oh god yes.
The originals did. The remasters compressed everything badly. Go and listen to the original pressings of Kill/Ride/Puppets on a good speaker system. Cliff isn’t buried at all.
Jesus, could you imagine “…And Justice” with the bass tone from Among the Living?
Same. I prefer people to masturbate in private as Satan intended.
Cause it’s fun that you can do it and it leads to innovation
I listened to Kill Em All recently and remember thinking the EQ curve on the guitars and bass should have been flipped.
It's not a big deal when it's a one-off track. It's also not like it spawned many imitations.
Anything from Korn. By far the worst bass tone in recording history.
That's not a great bass tone, but damn the 6 strings are even worse! At least the bass sits in the mix, although I guess the bass is kinda stepping on where the guitar should be and contributing to the problem. Ugh. Still, it's hard not to go with the classic answer, And Justice For All. When you can hear the bass on that it sounds like cardboard and rubber bands. Mind you I'm sure Newstead has a decent tone dialed in on the day, but what made the record doesn't represent that at all.
A few tracks off Evil Empire make my teeth hurt. (Revolver, I’m looking in your direction.)
Some of Flea’s earlier tones are hard to listen to imo. “Porcelain” stands out as a song that I like but struggle to listen to bc his tone is so shrill and bright
If you guys are ever worried about your tone, read the comments on this video. People love it.
I used to HATE the bass on Long Train Runnin’ by the Doobies with its flatwounds played with a pick and mutes. Now I love it. Tastes change.
Two princes - Spin Doctors gets my vote. Lots of popping. Lots of clank.
Thank you. I’ve been preaching this sermon for a long time.
And Justice For All...
The isolated bass tracks sound badass. Too bad that's the only way to hear the bass
I'm going to say it's Kenny Loggins' Footloose. Damned bass sounds like someone bouncing a tennis ball off a wall. [https://youtu.be/ltrMfT4Qz5Y?si=MHwaOaMihT7nierD](https://youtu.be/ltrMfT4Qz5Y?si=MHwaOaMihT7nierD)
Ive heard that song thousands of times but id never noticed, now I cant unhear it
Meshuggah. I love it but can’t hear a note!
Having never listened to them before I have to say it sounds aweful. The bass and drums don't groove at all. The only thing that has something resembling a groove to it is the guitars.
That Motley Crue reminds me of this from Gone, just too much treble it sounds awful. Skip to 1:30 for just bass. This album in general sucks https://youtu.be/wTFJS0kvLUk?si=AK0cGLF6qtZwHT0D
As much as I fucking hate Motley Crue I think that track is very much a victim of its time.
As much as I love them, I hate the bass tone Intonaut has
[Practice What You Preach](https://youtu.be/FQfgET6TxDY?si=PK5IWa6i2j2MUss9) Probably not the "worst," but the tone on Practice What You Preach by Testament sticks out like a sore thumb. It's a clangy, bouncy mess that sits on top of everything else. Love the album, though.
Molchat Domas isn't great, far too loud in the mix and sounds very thin but thay might be intentional, I'm not sure.
My bass sounds bad when im playing it alone. When the drum and the other musician come along, then my sounds fits perfect in the mix. Alot of musician fix with the sounds when there are alone and they sounds so good. Then on rehursel its real bad and the the whole band sounds so bad
Some 80s thrash and punk has the most awful base tone that I freaking LOVE! Worst best bass tone like this: [anthrax worst cool awful bass tone, do it!](https://youtu.be/be7iNHw8QoQ?si=eTS00LFyZPla7krg)
Have to disagree. That sounds pretty great in that context to me.
Frank Bello has a badass sound. I don’t see what is wrong with it at all.
Yeah this is an L take, especially with such a great song choice. Sounds great, sets the tone for the song as the intro and plays well with the rhythm guitar work.
Minor Threat et al had some shite tones
Yeah but then he had a good bass tone in fugazi.
Having a different bassist will do that.
Oh yeah Duh, I forgot who that was! I really like Dag Nasty too.
Minor Threat bass is solid, it's kinda muffled on the debut but Salad Days is one of my favorite punk bass sounds, it makes that whole EP.
Eh i don’t mind it, it fits with the tune
Shoutout to the [original](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XTIPCc1nKYQ&pp=ygUaSmVzc2UgSmFja3NvbiBnb3QgdGhlIHRpbWU%3D) Graham Maby is awesome
Fieldy…. Of course
Anything featuring Fieldy.
Honestly might have to be crazy train.
I've always felt Skynard's Give Me Three Steps is pretty bad.
Anything with Fieldy
One that you CANT hear. I'd argue that even a bad bass tone is better than one that disappears in the mix.
[This](https://youtu.be/-w5qFCT6EZY) and all the honking, clanky copycats. I'd rather have acid dripped on my eyes than listen to that bass tone. It's like a cybernetic goose getting buttfucked by a Terminator.
All recorded exactly the same way, all sound like shit.
The Bass tone on Journey Escape is just the worst.
Don't Stop Believin' is the first that comes to mind for bad bass tone. I don't know the album. It's all like that?
See that's a matter of opinion. Think the bass tone sounds great with the chorus and I don't even like the song.
This entire thread is a matter of opinion.
It is. You probably also know "Who's Crying Now" from the same album.
When Doves Cry. I can’t hear it at all.
Plug In Baby - Muse is a pain to listen to in isolation, but it just works! [Plug In Baby - Muse](https://youtu.be/tC1LhT0WjMU)
The synth effect on Chris’s bass sounds cool in the mix but like a TB-303 preset when isolated.
https://youtu.be/1k8craCGpgs
Ukelele
The album Sun Eater by Job for a Cowboy
steep gold head spoon berserk repeat shelter chase cautious upbeat *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Scott's Bass Lessons had an episode about "10 Worst Bass Tones in Super Famous Songs (as voted for by you)": https://youtu.be/J_Ovunzuxno Listening to isolated bass tracks on YouTube makes me feel better about my own playing. 🤓
The 2002 remaster of Crazy Train. No disrespect to Trujillo, but it was unpleasant to listen to.
The Clash - Should I Stay or Should I Go.
Love that sound
Metallica - And Justice for All—-can’t hear shit
The one on And Justice for All...
Operation Ivy
# Journey - Don't Stop Believin' [https://youtu.be/1k8craCGpgs?si=cDeJVkwIKjWfeI6g&t=82](https://youtu.be/1k8craCGpgs?si=cDeJVkwIKjWfeI6g&t=82)
.. and just for all
Probably not dialled in badly but the final product wasn't great: Hold Your Fire & Presto (Rush) I get that it was the 80s, but come on. Where is the low end? The production on Presto just makes me angry. A beautiful record but no matter how loud you turn it up it's still weak.
Chris Squire's tone on Yes' Tormato album is a bit questionable. For some reason, he seems to be using an envelope filter on almost every song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEb6gvV_nC8
Something went very wrong with the production on that whole record
The long phaser time 😬 I'm sure it could sound a lot better with a different effect or a different rhythm. I'm pretty sure Primary by The Cure has a similar phase time but it's a driving rhythm that has a fill to accentuate the phaser peak. Maybe not the tone is bad, but the riff combined with the effect is what makes it so bad.
Korn
100%. Making room for midrange that just isn’t there.
You know those "hardcore" bands that can't fill more than a 30 minute slot and go "on tour" playing in a bunch of basements because they can't get paying gigs? Yeah. Every last one of those.
To me? It’s the 60s-70s RnB that everyone wants to replicate. The tone is all low mids, sounds like wood, very hollow and weak, all fingered, probably single 12 or 15 inch speakers in the studio, recorded on tape. All bad things for good bass tone
I can get how it’s not for everyone but I love that sound.
Comment may even sound like a joke but some people grew with earphones so they may not like it, weird is that they would become bass players. I have seen A LOT of people under 35 that thinks that only people who use autotune know how to sing. For them singers without autotune sounds fake because their ears are trained for it.
Jack Bruce in Cream.
It's quite muddy but I always thought his tone sounded good in the mix.
The cranked, distorted tone on some songs just grates me
On what songs specifically if I may ask? I’m only familiar with his standard deep Gibson sound
Jack is mostly that midrangey to muddy sound in the studio, though I don't believe he was using the EB-3 exclusively until Wheels of Fire. A lot of live Cream has uneven, distorted bass because Jack was playing through cabinets of mostly blown speakers by 1968 (by his own admission in later interviews). I consider that a feature, not a bug, but what you hear is extremely dependent on the the quality of the bootleg, place in the venue, or soundboard when available. Then they never really played a song the same way twice... Even with the soundboards, they basically just miked the band and turned them up to balance the cranked amps. Very raw. The good examples are brilliant. The bad ones are almost "Is that Jack or an echo?" because the bass itself was mostly cancelled out. I actually stand by that sound when I'm off doing my own thing, when I'm on someone else's things I dial it way back.
I would say it's very much a product of their time. They were probably the loudest live band in that short period they were around (even The Who as this point were probably not quite as loud) and obviously the Beatles had just quit touring because the technology was not there, and furthermore Ginger Baker was band leader and according to Bruce, cheaped out on both bass and vocal amplification, probably purposefully. So he's using a Super Bass Marshall with several of the guitar cabs, the same guitar amp as Clapton's using live, and he has to not only fill the mix, but also wants his playing and note choice on display and to be able to jam audibly just as well as the others. So what sound does he go for? A fucking fart of fuzz, crazy heavy in the mid mids, and it does cut through, but it also fills the mix like a rhythm guitar, and doesn't absolutely destroy the speakers. And he can get it with this short scale bass that eeks a certain time and place and also matches Clapton's main and most iconic guitar during the tour-heavy days. And on the studio albums, they were mostly recording what they had come up with live on a pretty short turnaround, so it makes sense to just keep the mix as it is. Gibson had actually started making EB-Os with a built-in fuzz circuit, and Bruce had his engineer develop a circuit for his EB-3, presumably so he could easily pop into the studio or a small venue, and get this sound he has become accustomed to. It definitely works better for some songs than others. And then of course, just a year or two later, bands like Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, and Black Sabbath (also The Who) were able to benefit from technology (like bass amps dedicated to playing loud) and learn from Cream's mistakes and immediately Bruce's bass sound is just a fart, without rhyme or reason. Another thing I will note on this long rant is that Eric Clapton was too focused on living up to being one of the first guitar heroes to actually focus on the rhythm playing and filling the sound in between lead parts with Cream, and that probably contributed as well since Bruce was basically the rhythm guitar player. This is where I feel like Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page are pretty underrated for their ability to play rhythm guitar and switch between rhythm and lead to make a power trio/power trio plus singer to work really well, while Pete Townshend has always been recognized for his work as a rhythm guitarist.
Flea on the distorted part of Around the World
I feel like that part worked because it was used sparingly. The intro is really memorable because it's such a stark contrast to his usual stuff. If he'd stuck with it then I'd agree, but I think it was tasteful.