"In Dreams"
Moderator: Shoshanah Marohn
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Frank Freniere
- Posts: 3969
- Joined: 23 Oct 1999 12:01 am
- Location: Chicago IL
"In Dreams"
Anybody know how the producer or engineer got that bass sound on this Roy Orbison song? It feels like an upright but there's an electric edge ("gunk") to it.
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Bill Hatcher
- Posts: 7303
- Joined: 6 Nov 1998 1:01 am
- Location: Atlanta Ga. USA
That is most likely a Bill Porter engineered recording. Bill was an absolute genius and the sound of the recordings he made with the gear he had back in the 60s proves it.
The bass sound is actually two bass players playing at the same time. One player is playing an upright bass and the other player is playing a Danelectro 6string short scale bass with a pick through an amp, muting the strings with his palm to only give the top "click" of the string attack.
The reason that the engineers used that sound was to put a little top end "point" on the track and make the bass a bit more defined and cut through the track better. With the introduction of hotter drum sounds and guitars and such the old upright was becoming lost in the mix and to turn it up just muddied the track. With the Dano bass part which was nicknamed "Tic-Tac" bass all you really heard from the Dano player was more of a "tic" and the upright provided the low bump. You had to have a very good team of players to pull this off as both are playing bass. Written out parts are no problem, but most of the time the parts were not written so you needed two players who worked well together doing this. That is most likely Harold Bradly playing that Dano part and Bob Moore on upright.
Not only did you hear this done in Nashville but in NY and LA also. I was doing some gigs with Henry Mancini and he asked for that sound which he had used on his records. It was a VERY popular effect to use until the Fender bass became the norm on recordings.
The bass sound is actually two bass players playing at the same time. One player is playing an upright bass and the other player is playing a Danelectro 6string short scale bass with a pick through an amp, muting the strings with his palm to only give the top "click" of the string attack.
The reason that the engineers used that sound was to put a little top end "point" on the track and make the bass a bit more defined and cut through the track better. With the introduction of hotter drum sounds and guitars and such the old upright was becoming lost in the mix and to turn it up just muddied the track. With the Dano bass part which was nicknamed "Tic-Tac" bass all you really heard from the Dano player was more of a "tic" and the upright provided the low bump. You had to have a very good team of players to pull this off as both are playing bass. Written out parts are no problem, but most of the time the parts were not written so you needed two players who worked well together doing this. That is most likely Harold Bradly playing that Dano part and Bob Moore on upright.
Not only did you hear this done in Nashville but in NY and LA also. I was doing some gigs with Henry Mancini and he asked for that sound which he had used on his records. It was a VERY popular effect to use until the Fender bass became the norm on recordings.
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Frank Freniere
- Posts: 3969
- Joined: 23 Oct 1999 12:01 am
- Location: Chicago IL
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David Doggett
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- Joined: 20 Aug 2002 12:01 am
- Location: Bawl'mer, MD (formerly of MS, Nawluns, Gnashville, Knocksville, Lost Angeles, Bahsten. and Philly)
Bill, thanks for the great explanation and history of Tic-Tac bass. Here's the song under discussion: In Dreams original
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Bill Hatcher
- Posts: 7303
- Joined: 6 Nov 1998 1:01 am
- Location: Atlanta Ga. USA
Thanks DD. The Youtube clip has very poor quality audio. I downloaded it from my MP3 searh place and listened to a good cut of it. I can't tell by listening which studio it was done at. The violins sound better than the usual fare at RCA studio B. Maybe Monument records had their own recording studio by 63' when I think this was cut.
Orbison...no one like him then or since.
Orbison...no one like him then or since.