I generally agree with G. Wood's comments.  Mastering does affect the overall volume level but it also can shape the sound of each track.  Shmo, I can't tell from your post whether you attended the mastering session, or whether you sent the tracks to someone to master and they sent them back to you.   I recommend that if you get the opportunity to attend a mastering session, that you do it.  And while you are there, ask all of the questions you have about the mastering process.  I also recommend that you have the tracks mastered by someone other than the person who mixed (and/or recorded) the tracks.

Yeah, good question. Mastering consists mainly of setting EQ, and making it consistent throughout the album, applying compression, and setting master volume. At 58, my ears are pretty much unreliable. What sounds good to me is a lot of highs, but this sounds too brash to most people with better hearing. Compression is a tricky thing, the right amount sort of glues everything together, too much makes everything sound kind of muffled. 

Garage fans like a rawer sound than regular humans, so we're sort of disabled in that way. In the end, I'd say, Mastering: Yes. Then there's the little issue of finding someone who knows what they're doing. Different people will produce a different sound. Your mileage may vary!

anybody out there that leans towards not mastering your recordings despite any downsides like radio stations won't take it, and what ever else. I'll be the first to admit that i don't fully understand mastering, and that i'm paranoid that it is just an up-sell. ( it's the underbody protection of the music industry). but we just got our album back from mastering, and besides it playing louder i didn't really notice much difference. if i can tell a difference i think i like the raw better. OR is that because i've been listening to the raw for 2 weeks and now the mastered is here, and it is not what i'm used to?

One of my bands, Tombstone Hearts, has no bass player; my other band, Nero Burns, does - the best of both worlds! It's apples and oranges, really. Gotta admit, I love the sound of early Cramps, but when they added the bass....it just wasn't the same. But then again, where would the Ramones have been without Dee Dee? It's apples and oranges, really.

Glen Matlock was/is a good bassist. Now Sid on the other hand...

don't forget the sex pistols.... haha.

yeah, we had a guy approach us and said almost the exact  same thing.... we never got to try him out for geographical reasons, but i would bet dollars to donuts that he would have chopped the tops off the sound we are going for. and, in turn put everybody in the audience in a comfortable upright, head bobbing toe tapping position. people like bands like THAT because they don't have to worry about missing a show.... there will be another one just like it.

i sincerely mean no disrespect... but we get the "where's the bass player" thing a lot. usually before they have heard us. and i am way more concerned about where the energy is, and where the emotion is than where the bass player is.

John Carlucci said:

Well I have to admit, I'm biased about this topic.  Yes there are bands that sound okay without a bass player, but IMO, they would sound better with one. Just about any band I've ever seen live that had no bass player, whether it was Suicide, The Cramps, Black Keys, or even my good friends the Vooduo, when I'm there watching them play, I'm playing along with them, on bass, (in my head) & I hear things that would help tie everything together.  @ John B above...Lee Michaels played bass pedals on the Hammond live. Suicide used a bassy tone on their keyboards & played repeating bass patterns much like a bassist would do. No-one mentioned The Doors, they had no permanent bassist, In the studio they used session bassist Harvey Brooks & live Manzarek played Fender Keyboard bass. The Dead Boys used local NY musicians to play bass with them until Jeff made the move from Ohio. One of which was Rudi from The Fuzztones who played live with them at least once at CBGB's.

Also, IMO most of the bands doing the no-bass thing are doing so out of convenience.  Take my own former band, The Speedies. They played out for 6 months without a bassist before I came along. I saw them play at Max's and I could feel what they were missing. I walked up to Allen, the drummer & flat out told him, you need a bass player & I'm him. We tried it out the following week, and they never went back to playing without one.

 

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion!

I could not agree more. Where's the interplay and harmony? A troubling trend in rock music today. You need at least three people in a band! Of course there are exceptions but most people are not as talented as The Cramps or White Stripes or whoever...

I like bass too, but THE HONEY HARLOWS use a 70's Fender Super Six 6X10 combo, everything turned up to "11", and it's actually better than the 5-piece Ampeg/Marshall assualt--don't get me wrong, I like that!--but the heavy low end and treble with reverb, you can't go wrong and our recording has a lot of punch and lo-end for a 2pc.! Possibly the equipment has a lot to do with what the ear hears, for me anyway.

Im more for the drummer/bass lineup.. but like many have said it's different between bands...

Also at John... I was the first Bass player in Head Cat with Lemmy. I played electric, he played acoustic guitar. Also.... someone mentioned baritone guitar. I also play baritone & I've been hired to do an occasional Rockabilly gig to play along with a standup. Basically I play bass lines exactly like I would on an electric bass, but since it's tuned to B you get a cool effect. And I add echo. BTW, don't confuse a baritone with a bass VI. They are different. Bass VI is 30 inch scale tuned to E, baritone is 27 inch, with lighter strings, tuned to B. I play both.

Agree wholeheartedly with John C. bout The Miracle Workers and The Pandoras.They were my faves too.

One question that always came up in our little clique was "The Chesterfield Kings or The Tell Tale Hearts?"

Yup. I was around then. Played bass in The Fuzztones from 86-90. Did gigs with a lot of the bands that were mentioned above. My faves from back then? Miracle Workers & Pandoras

 Thanx for the kind words John! Much appreciated...

We actually had Gerard (singer/guitarist) in town last summer at a University convention (he's a linguistics Prof now) and we were able to do a mini-Deja Voodoo reunion (only half the band, as drummer Tony is on the opposite coast of Canada)...but man was that ever fun seeing Gerard up on stage with a guitar belting out Deja Voodoo songs!!! We had a Mist R. Eeee drummer who did an excellent job...there's pictures posted somewhere on this site. And that's about as close as we'll get to a Deja Voodoo reunion...

My wife caught the Toronto Deja Voodoo reunion with Bloodshot Bill on the tubs and said it was a TON of fun!!

Keep pumping out your work on those Roctobers John! We're diggin' it!!

John Battles said:

The Gruesomes , how could I forget.....I saw the reformed band a few years back , sounded great. Deja Voodoo were hilarious. Their first LP was like a Cramps bootleg (The Cramps are plenty hot'n'horny with me, bt , it's cool.). Bloodshot Bill played drums at a "Reunion" show a while back.

THIS was rebellion?!!! Oh , well. Sorry to get so longwinded. yeah , I have one of your magazines , Dave. Very cool.

Err... yeah...

Whoa! Perfectly horrible.

 ...........!!!!!!!

Yes, KKBB has a CD out called "Kaboom" it's on Itunes.  BTW, I have the ORIGINAL Quick lp on vinyl.

Wow cool, do you guys have anything recorded? Any releases out? I loved that Speedies lp! So good!

John Carlucci said:

I still have the Speedies release for sale on Itunes& Amazon. It's also on spotify. A friend of mine found the vinyl copy of the Radio Heartbeat lp at Amoeba in LA. Otherwise Ebay is your best bet.

For any Speedies fans out there living in the NYC area, my new band Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is playing at Cavestomp on July 28th, and we will have a special guest (Eric Hoffert, my former Speedies bandmate) will join us on guitar for one song.

 
Duke Of Earl said:

Where can you buy the crushed butler and speedies records?

Yeah, there was a couple years there where Radio Heartbeat stuff was all over and I picked up most of them, trying to find the Quick lp though. The Crushed Butler LP is awesome if you can find one.

I just received my North Effects Rite pedal today.  Man, I got to thank you waveclipper for hipping me to this great pedal.  Yeah, this is the fuzz sound I was looking for.  I've been terrorizing the family with this pedal.  To cite my 10 year old daughter, "It sounds too ugly to listen to."  Gotta love it.

Rock And Roll Dance Party 07/10/12

"God save the Queen" covered by Motorhead

Nifty thread thanx :):)