I am trying to record some songs I have come up with. I have an acoustic guitar and the backbone of a drumset, and I am just barely okay at both of them to be able to mix them with my basslines. The only problem is, is I don’t know what software to use. I would use garageband, but I don’t have a mac. So right now I am using two really crappy apps on my phone (bandlab and music editor) Both definitely aren’t good enough to actually make music out of, but at least I can capture my ideas with them. Also of course bass doesn’t really record well with my phone. If anyone has any ideas I would love to hear them!
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Some ideas here:
Audacity is probably the simplest start.
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@Vik If you’re going to do this, It might help to give the event it’s own topic where people can ask questions about getting it all set up and how to connect to you.
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Here’s what I came up with for the band I’ve got together.
Check it out, and below the vid I explain how I did it.
I did a bass track and - because my computer doesn’t have the horsepower to run iMovie and Logic at the same time - I recorded my part into Logic (straight DI)
Then I took a video of myself playing along to my own part.
Then I sent the video and the track (with the click track and without) to the band.
They each made their own video and their own audio track.
I took it all (except from the keyboard player… who just never got back to me - he’s fine and healthy, just not checking his phone) and had to do 4 videos in iMovie to get the 4 pictures to play together.
There are lag issues and sync issues (video quality differences, sample rate differences, just not syncing up cuz’ we’re humans, etc.) but the result is fun.
I made another bass track and sent it to the band. Hoping to make a few of these! We’ll see if people can keep things going. The malaise of stay-at-home-quarantine is no joke.
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Oh, man, that looks like a lot of fun!! Keep them coming!!
I got a new song from our guitar player (sent by email), along with a non-human drum track (for now), and now he is waiting for me to add the bass. Nice harmonies, nice flow, and I have a gazillion bass line ideas in my head, but to get them out through the bass and recorded, for a 6 minute piece no less, might just take all of the current lock-down period 
Then again, not the worst way to spend some time!!
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Great video @Gio! Thanks for posting. I’m looking forward to more. 
On the Mustang, how much do you end up using all the switches?
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Very cool!
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I agree and identify with all of this statement.
That is a good question.
I don’t use them at all. The bass is a Fender MIJ Juguar. It comes with PU selection switches and a parallel/series switch below the strings.
The switches on the top (strap) horn are to turn on/off the active electronics. The wheels adjust the treble and bass for the active electronics.
It is absolutely unwieldy, and the active pickups sounded real real real bad. I couldn’t figure out a good way to use them.
So.
I bypassed all of it, turned the single volume knob into a stacked volume knob, put some EMG JAX pickups in there, and have been very happy ever since!
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Thanks for this share - I’m sure this kind of remote collaboration was going on before, but I’m betting that this quarantine puts this method of interfacing with your bandmates into overdrive. I’m guessing anyone in an active band is going to have to do it this way for the time being, anyway. Really great how your video shows all the bandmates in the four corners, and, I think now I can appreciate the work you put in to get it all to sync up 
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Oh that’s right. I accidentally called it a Mustang. It sounds great and I like how all the switches look.
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Thanks! I love the switches. Sometimes, if I really wanna impress people I fiddle with them between songs. Fun stuff.
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Not that this really can match @gio’s contribution, but here is a little something born out of the current “remote collaboration” situation. The guitar player in the band I play send me his most recent track to add some bass. This is a first (rough) version - still lots of parts where I am not entirely sure what to play exactly and, hence, it is, as mentioned, a bit rough. The guitar player composed the song (sans bass) and recorded all instruments and a drum machine.
I wanted to work more on this, but I am struggling with some pain in the wrist of my fretting hand… very annoying… really annoying… OK, enough excuses - here is “Eclipse”
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sounds good overall for a draft, don’t be too rude with yourself. a lot of good ideas, but it’s still very “raw”. pretty normal, it’s a draft. I like that you let us ear that, it’s very interesting.
if you want my opinion :
- I think you start too fast, too “heavy”. too much notes, not enough silence. you could play a way more aerial line and add density very slowly, as the song progresses very slowly and progressively. I think it would work very well with this kind of song. also it would be very prog/fusion-spirit, so you can’t really disagree
- I find your bass line is too complicated …
- … in the sense that, if you’d let yourself more room, you could play some more “chiseled” parts, and it could sound more dynamic. as an illustration in my recent “work” (
) think of what I played in the “safe at last …” part on the cute Baby Shark song : it’s not complicated, it overlaps the exact same lyric line as the other parts of the song, but it’s very chiseled and it’s not at all the same bass line than on the other parts of the song. it creates some contrast and I think it works. (of course, as you know, the Baby Shark cover is just a joke, but it’s just to give you an idea of what I mean here)
well yeah, I’d say : more room, more air, less notes, more time to install your line, and a more chiseled line overall.
just my post-sludgy-2-cents, hope it helps
I must precise a thing : I’d have more to say to your guitar player than to yourself … 
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Wow, thanks Laurent - I really appreciate your feedback!
I think you are on to something here 
It is my big challenge that I always (want to) play too much… I hear all those melodic lines in my inner ear… maybe I am still more a sax player than a bass player after all… or just too much influenced by certain types of music…
Clearly something to ponder and to work with!! Thanks!
Ha, so what about that?? Now, I am intrigued 
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yeah Joerg I really understand you, you’re in the phase where you have a lot of melodic ideas and you have more or less the ability to play them so you do it we all have this phase, it seems pretty cool but after that you realize that it’s not a bass line, it’s a song. the song does not exist for your bass line, it’s more the contrary of that and as a bass player, your primary role is not to provide a dense melodic line. your primary goal is to provide a solid rythmic line, something efficient. if and only if it’s done, then you can add some refinement, it can be “more notes” (not the approach I like much), same notes but played at a higher speed (what I often do), or a real rythmic ornament (I prefer that). again as a very simple example the “safe at last …” part of my Baby Shark cover works well : not much notes, nothing complicated, but it’s very chiseled and at this point the bass line really pushes the dynamic of the song, that’s what I wanted to do. we have the power to do that ! but in this logic, the silences have more value than the notes themselves.
really I’d say, in this case, play a simpler line. don’t misunderstand : I like your line, there are a lot of good ideas and it sounds very melodic overall, that’s very cool. just too dense to really work as a bass line in this context, in my opinion.
about your guitar player, well, I’d say the record is a bit dirty but again it’s a draft so it’s fine
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That is the whole crux right there… I would agree, but I also like to challenge this… in the end, it is perhaps more important that all those playing together don’t get too much into each other’s way!?
A lot of wisdom there too…
Yes, I think he didn’t use a DAW - he apparently did everything on a looper 
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probably … I’d say that it’s you music and you do what you want 
I just give my analysis and point of view, hopefully giving you something interesting to work/think with. you do what you want with it. it’s your music, your bass line, your musical style, your feeling … you do what you want
that said, I think I gave you some interesting things to think about. just my crappy-post-everything-2-cents …
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A highly appreciated 2 cents, for sure! It is important to get pushed out of one’s own patterns of thinking and doing stuff every now and then! 
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