Miking the UBass! (Headway EDB-1 preamp, Røde NT1-A, Oktava MK-012, Golden Age R1 and AKG C414)

Hi!

I’m trying out new ways to record the UBass. Up until now I have used only the DI in my Headway Preamp into my Universal Audio Twin-Finity 710 (tube/solid state) preamp or my Fishman preamp into the same UA preamp. Recently I started to put a mic on the speaker cabinet (different ones depending on where I recorded). I then mixed that signal with the DI/line signal.

Now I’ll put a mic in front of the UBass to pick up on the acoustic sound coming directly from the UBass.
With this approach comes a couple of things to consider.
First of all; the UBass is really not that loud acoustically (this is of cause nothing new to those who have played the UBass). The ”loudness” can differ depending on if you use the stock strings or another of the available sets. (Read more about the different strings here and here). I haven’t yet tried other strings than the stock ones but will do that as soon as possible. This approach will probably work best in a controlled studio environment. On a live stage the ”leakage” from other instruments will probably make it hard to get a good and solid tone from the UBass since you have to compensate for the low volume coming from the the instrument acoustically. It might work with a super cardioid mic. (I’ll try this in a future lab!)

Studio Labs
Ok. How should you do to record the acoustic sound from the UBass?
Well here are some suggestions based on my different ”labs’.

I tried different condenser microphones. Large and small diaphragm. I also tried a ribbon microphone and a tube condenser to make it a nice ’roundup’. The tube condenser mic is visible in this photo. (This photo was taken during a session with Nelson Faria. Read more in this post.)

I chose to play the melody to the song ”How insensitive’. (Jobim). (Right now I’m working on a recording project that might feature that song. So it was convenient to try this technique on that tune.)

As a background for the melody I’m using one of the over 100 CD’s by Jamey Aebersold. These are made for practicing melody, improvisation skills and bass lines (mostly walking bass) on mainly jazz tunes. But there are other genres represented like the Bossa Nova tune I used in the ”lab’.
(This song is featured on vol. 98 Antonio Carlos Jobim – Bossa Nova).
These Aebersold CDs use a neat ”minus-one” feature. If you pan hard right you can remove the bass part. If you pan hard left you remove the piano/guitar (Some tunes are with guitar and others with piano).
I used this feature to make my recording a bit more authentic. Since you hardly ever play with two bass players (Ok, there are exceptions. Please check out live recordings and shows with Victor Wooten for an excellent exception!) I muted the regular bass part so the UBass melody was the only bass instrument. This will also let the listener focus in on the ubass melody/solo OR bass part.

The different microphones in the ”labs”

Mic 1 (Oktava MK-012 in super cardioid and cardioid mode)

Mic 2 (Microtech Gefell M92S Tube)

Mic 3 (AKG C414 XLII in cardioid mode)

Mic 4 (Golden Age R1 Active Ribbon)

Mic 5 (Røde NT1-A)

In part 2 you will be able to listen to the different mics. Maybe you will be able to pick out a favourite mic/type that you think sounds best? Hopefully you will at least get the chance to hear a couple of different microphone types and how well (or not) they work in reproducing the acoustic tone of the UBass!

Let me introduce one of my guitar playing friends, Marcus Måttgård! Please check out some of his stuff on his YouTube Channel. In the photo above we rehearse some country tunes (by Jerry Reed) that hopefully will end up on my CD ”Speaking UBass!?”. The CD will feature different musicians and me playing UBass on all the tracks! (I might sneak in another bass on one or two tracks…) You can ”REED” more about it in my previous post or on the special page i just created that here at playubass.com!

On that page I will update the progress and and let you listen to some ”snippets” of the different recordings as I make them!

Yihaa ya all!!

Hi!

Jammin” video no. 20!

For the first time I’m playing a Kala S.U.B. solid body UBass! The video is from last Sunday’s annual gig at Svampen. (A water tower with a ”roof top” restaurant in Örebro, Sweden).

I will make more videos and a review/test about the solid body UBass version soon. Until then here is a song from the gig. It’s a song by Bobby Gentry called Ode to Billy Joe. There is also a version with Swedish lyrics called Jon Andreas Visa. Here is a link to a great version by my second cousin Rebecka Thörnqvist and pianist Anders Widmark.

More UBass S.U.B. videos, reviews and lessons soon!

Right now I’m playing a Sunday gig at the annual Svampens Dag (The Day of the Mushroom!?) in Örebro, Sweden.
See this previous post from last year.

I just got back from a trade show in Gothenburg yesterday. It was the annual Fuzz Guitar Show, the biggest in Scandinavia.

The Scandinavian retailer of the Kala brand Akustikken.dk gave me a Kala Ubass S.U.B to review.

So I decided to ”jump-right-in” and bring it to today’s gig!

This UBass, with the sunburst finish, just arrived to the retailer and the strings are not yet ”stabilized” so I guess there will be a few turns on the tuning pegs

Stay tuned for an in depth review in Swedish (and English) soon!

Magnus and Nelson in the studio

Hi!

This Tuesday [April 24] morning I recorded with the great Nelson Faria. Read about him here and at [www.nelsonfaria.com/music]

I will post some ”audio/video-snippets” from the recording but we’ll start with a couple of pics

Please note that I recorded the UBass both direct (from my Headway EDB-1, see this post) and with two different microphones. I’m writing a seperate blog post on the use of microphones to record the acoustic tone of the UBass. Stay tuned for more on this topic!

See this live at http://www.kalabrand.com/

A little Q for U!

Is there any song or style that you want me to cover in a future video lesson?

It could be everything from a ”note-for-note-true-to-the-original-transcription”
to a more free interpretation of that song or style. Ask away!

I hope I’ll be able to make at least some of your wishes come true

If you want a specific song or a style not represented in the poll below please write it on the ”free-text” alternative and why not drop me a line with your suggestions to:
ubasslessons@gmail.com

Recording UBass Lesson 7!

Hi!

Time for part 2!

Now it’s time to learn/play the bass part.
Tune up your Ubass (or any bass really!) to 440 Hz and get ready!

The video will go through the whole song and then break down the different parts and riffs!

Please check out part 1 to get some in-depth analysis about the music theory behind the different riffs and parts of the song

There are three parts in this – plus 12 minute – video lesson:
1. The whole song in original tempo (108 bpm) with three video angles!
2. The same as 1. but with the sheet music in the top of the video. (If you want to download the sheet music see info below!)
3. The different parts of the song (Intro/solo/outro, verse and chorus) but in half tempo (54 bpm).

Slurs and slides
As you can hear and hopefully see I use some ”ornaments” to ”spice up” the bass part. If you want me to make it more clear on how to play these drop me an email to: ubasslessons@gmail.com

4/4 or 12/8?
As a compliment to part 1 of this lesson here is a short video on the differences and similarities of 4/4 and 12/8 notation using Riff 1 (intro/solo/outro) from Satellit as example!

Download PDF?
Please send email to ubasslesson@gmail.com for a link to a downloadable PDF!

Good luck!
/Magnus

Ok now it’s time for part one of my lesson on the song ”Satellit” by Ted and Kenneth Gardestad. (For a short live clip of this song go to this blog post).

In part 1 we will focus of the music theory side of the song.

Parts Of The Lesson
We will look into triplet/shuffle playing and use the classic Swedish pop song as our ”tool”.
(Read more about the song in this post.)

There are other songs in this shuffle or 12/8 style that you might be more familiar with. One of the most famous might be ”Hold the line” (by Toto).

We will also check out what scales (modes) the different riffs derive from.

Triplets and Shuffle
In the sheet music I use triplets to write down the bass part. (See video – coming soon in Part 2 of this lesson). You can think of an 8th note triplet as three 8th notes evenly spaced where you normally would play just two. One way of describing this could be with the use of the 12/8 time signature. When I describe shuffle rhythm I often use the 12/8 example and the take away the middle 8th note of every group of three 8th’s. For more on shuffle rhythms and a way of playing those see this video.

Either way you should divide the pulse into four beats. In 4/4 it will be four quarter notes and in 12/8 it will be four dotted quarter notes.

Since ”Satellit” is mainly based on triplets (or groups of three 8th notes) I choose to write it in 4/4. Jazz notation: In the case of swing music notation you often use regular 8th notes and write at the top of the score or lead sheet that the 8th notes should be played with swing/shuffle rhythm feeling. That way you don’t have to write out every triplet.

Here’s a pic of the how shuffle notation looks like in 4/4 and 12/8:

Shuffle with 8 note triplets in 4-4 and 8 notes in 12-8

Besides the 8th note triplets there are also a couple of quarter note triplets. The same method is used here. You ”squeeze” three quarter notes in the space of two. These triplets are a bit harder to do. But if you play along with the video (in part 2) and maybe the original recording or why not other songs using these triplets I think it can help you get good at this quickly!

For more on triplets please check out John Goldsbys column in Bass Player!

Riffs and what scales they are made from
There are two main riffs in ‘Satellit”. The whole song starts with Riff 1. In the chorus it’s time for Riff 2. Riff 1 is also played during the guitar solo and outro.

Riff 1

Riff 2

Okey. What are the scales/modes used in these riffs?

Riff 1 is clearly based on the G minor pentatonic scale. This scale uses five notes from the G minor scale.
G minor scale: G-A-B flat-C-D-E flat-F-G
G minor pentatonic: G-B flat-C-D-F-G.

Riff 1 starts on scale degree 1 moves down to scale degree 7 and then climbes up the scale. Let’s devide the riff into three phrases.

Phrase 1: 1 – b7 – 1 – b3 – 4 – 5
Phrase 2: b7 – 1 – 4 – 5 – b3 – 4 – b3 – 1 – b7 – 1 – b7 – 1 – b3 – 1 – b7
Phrase 3: 4 – 5 – b7 – 4 – 5 – b7 – 5 – 4

I think this is a nice way to really make the most of this scale. Making up little motifs based on small parts of the scale and the make connections between these motifs using nothing more than notes from the scale!

Riff 2 is really based only on the Bb major scale! And this works really well because the the key of the tune is B flat major. Let’s break it down a little bit.

B flat major: B flat-C-D-E flat-F-G-A-B

If we build chords based on the Bb major scale we get these chords:
Bb major – C minor – D minor – Eb major – F major – G major – A minor b5

In the chorus we have these chords:
Bb major – D minor 7 – Eb major – F11. (F11 is a E flat major triad with F as bass note). As you can see all of these chords derive from the B flat major scale and chords based on that scale. This means the B flat major scale will work throughout the chorus!

On the first chord (B flat major) the riff starts on the 3rd degree (Bb: 3-2-1) and then moves to next chord using the same three notes landing on the D. After this we have a long scalar motion starting on the Eb (the 4th degee of the Bb major scale) moving all the way to the high Bb.

Conclusion
Now we know that Riff 1 is based on G minor pentatonic and the chorus riff is based on the Bb major scale. How come this works? Well it’s because these to keys are related [G minor is the relative minor to Bb major] and use the same notes with different starting points/notes! Check out this picture of the circle of fifth. As you can see B flat major and G minor both have flatted B and E!

Links
Watch the original version with Ted Gärdestad from the Melodifestivalen 1979 (Swedish TV) on YouTube.

Stay tuned for part 2 for a video lesson on how you can play the bass part!

/Magnus