Guess who!!! (I could really go on forever but let's pretend that I'm mainly into rock and pop/rock/soul/blues hybrid) I must thank Angus Young for praising Chuck Berry so clearly in those first few interview videos I as an 11yo could see in 2007 or whatever (my irreplaceable RU-vid account is from 2009 I think). It was so easy to go back when they were so clear about that. Bon Scott said Sam from Sam and Dave was his favourite singer. Elmore James was Malcolm Young's favourite. Who is left for the full throttle power influence? Brian Johnson's clear favourite is Little Richard. It's all there when you stumble on all the other names along the way. Malcolm's right hand is the medium to nuclear powerful expression on a set of string with a wounded G. Massive headroom strings and also on the very clean set marshall and low output clairty focused filtertrons on his Gretch. And his groove. I haven't nearly ever been able to play straight since the AC/DC intense learning period. Even at my first conserts, I could only syncapate with clap alongs. Listening to isolated Malcolm tracks, you can always hear some predisposed upbeat action. Then you have ABBA in Sweden, that right when I grew up you didn't have to hide your love for. We sang gibberish English of ABBA songs as 3 year olds. Obviously, you'd easily think that they're all about melodies, but the groove from Benny on piano is insane. He used to be super particular about the tempo of the ABBA songs and spending time stomping his fot and time checking that band to make sure they had it. Rutger Gunnarsson is the Bass Players who put down those Dancing Queen and Mamma Mia bass lines. Groove/Melody glue of the century. The clip of him picking up his old Jazz and playing along with Dancing Queen is one of the most beautiful moments we can return to and watch to remember him and I'm so happy that it seems to spread all over RU-vid shorts and Instagram posts and such. You can't beat that. So this last summer I had owned my first (Japanese made Fender Jazz) bass for some months, and I played and tried to get that percussive style right of that Dancing Queen clip (between all times I practiced Good Times which was twice as much). Can I avoid going on with this with Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers? No, lol. Let's only say the verse of Everybody Dance. It's like the resolve of the chorus and the release of the chucking animal that is Nile Rodgers (and yeah, mr pointy-finger-as-pick chucker Bernard Edwards). I seriously can't mention the chorus because those chord voicings are too much. Let's pretend I'm not into Jazz (and man Bonham and Jazz ugh.) Thank you for letting me fry my brains with admiration.
I worked for a producer years ago in Nashville, he later played with Charlie Daniels on some project, Charlie said Stroud played in the ‘gray’ area of the groove, never figured out what he meant, the ‘on top’ or ‘behind’ the beat never made any sense to me, now that I’m old I think of it feels good it must be right, I wasted so much time (no pun intended) back in the 90’s consumed with this, now I realize it doesn’t matter, if you can clap your hands and tap your feet, it’s right, love your videos
Wild Cherry "Play That Funky Music". Lenny Kravitz - Always On The Run. That's gotta be some of the funkiest bass playing I've ever heard. Just killer funk!
I was lucky, grew up playing music for people who danced, and if the grooves didn't make people want to move, the band didn't get called back for more jobs. We equated the groove with the distance between the downbeat and the upbeat, and placement on or off the "pulse" (grid) of the song, and everybody did their part by reinforcing the beat or creating tension by pushing or lagging (together). We built grooves this way: drummer (groove) sets the foundation for downbeat; bass follows kick; keys follow bass and other drums; for upbeat, guitar follows hat and snare. And at the same time, the drummer leans into what everyone else is doing. We watched the dancers and leaned into the grooves they danced to and found different grooves in this way: whether their hips moved more than their feet or their feet moved more than their hips. "Swing" was right when their arms and shoulders moved, maybe with a bit of head-nodding. Tempo was established by heartbeat: 60-100bpm = resting; under 60bpm was calming and over 100bpm was exciting. Groove makes ya wanna move.
For a summer In the mid 80’s I had the opportunity to jam with George Porter- Bass player for the Meters - several nights a week. As a keyboard player, cosmically aligning with the foundational feeling and groove that he laid down was a masterclass in keeping hold of the tempo “reigns” and thusly ebb & flow of the groove. Many memorable priceless performance moments were had. Keep up the good work Warren. BTW: Did you ever talk to Brian M.? After our phone discussion… pre-Covid.
I'm just old enough to remember disco, learnt to play bass (adequately-ish) playing along to Tina Weymouth's basslines, and I also share my birthday (groovy osmosis hope) with Bootsy Collins. No matter how many basslines I try to emulate, no matter how many tutorial videos I watch/play along to, I just simply do not have the funk. Nor the groove for that matter. I honestly believe there are some of us who are and never will be groovy or funky.
For me Drums on Chuck E’s in love is the definition of feel and groove. Stevie Wonder on the synth play out in Frontline. Anything played by Oscar Peterson particularly any ballad.
1:16 I once heared a producer or mixer rather say that they could not get the live recorded string to sit in the mix, and then used a very cheesy strings patch from a synthersizer and that worked really well. Stunning imo, that a well known song got that and everyone liked it.
the TASCAM portastudios call gain "trim" adding to the confusion in my world. Once you've recorded a track, the knob does nothing, so trim seems like an inappropriate term.
When I write a part using a virtual instrument and then play it, I noticed that I often play it differently than I wrote it adding more mannerisms to it and it sounds more interesting. That happens even if I actually recorded the midi for the vst on a keyboard and added articulations. It just comes out different on a real guitar or bass. On the other hand, if Jordan Rudess used a vst to record something on the keyboard it would definitely sound great.
I quite like keyboard virtual instruments just because I don’t have the space or budget for a bunch of different real keyboards. They also sound close enough to the real thing for my purposes.
When the Roland g30 strat came out, i saw a guitarist play a trumpet solo... amazing. No different than someone on a midi keyboard playing a vi part. Still a human behind it. Just need to see it as another tool in the toolbox.
also, my favorite virtual instrument is a mellotron... I can't expect i'll ever see one, let alone own one. If i'm using a virtual instrument in a final product, I'll almost always send it through a guitar amp through some pedals
Addressing the points of both live versus plugins/samples/etc and what makes good feel, the answers are largely the same - IMPERFECTION. As Rick Beato once demonstrated by time aligning a John Bonham riff, it sounded stale and lifeless but the original which was all over the place did not. The same goes for vocals - if you have a vocal that is feeling great, raw and not entirely in tune it sounds FAR better. The brain tends to pick up slightly on imperfection and notice SOMETHING, but not necessarily exactly what it is unless it's really apparent. It's a bit like flash frames in video. THat's what I firmly believe. And because of this it will always have it's place because people do want to hear that. And of course, every now and then someone comes along that is god like, like Jimi Hendrix who sounds like no other too.
Interesting! Thanks for sharing! For me pushing and pulling the feel isn't out of time, merely timing Bonham to a grid forgets that in classical music the interpretation of tempo is not hard and fast and agreed, all great music adheres to a breathing principle of pushing and pulling the time, I don't think of it as imperfection, random or loose, great Latin percussionists will play with the same groove and feel consistently. Thanks for the great comment!
I heard Zep's Whole Lotta Love with the drums stuck hard to the regular click... omg it sucked the life right of one the most moving rock songs ever recorded.
the man in black is back!😂 the sunglasses are still missing!😎 Hey, you sound like Rodney Mullen when he talks enthusiastically about skateboarding, It's the same with you, just about music!🙏🤗👊❤️ I like this...
@@Producelikeapro Rodney Mullen is called the god father of freestyle skateboarding.. 😉 is a product legend in the area! you have something in common You can feel the joy when you can talk about your passion.. For you it's the music, Warren. You become a child again because you can see the joy in your eyes.. and with R.Mullen it's exactly that - the enthusiasm right down to the details!😉👍❤️
@@Producelikeapro Amazing! id say Bernard Edwards was the reason i picked up a bass...then as i grew up, i noticed so many tracks i loved were produced by either one or both of the duo. Warren, where is best to email you directly, some interesting projects coming up
You like groove, some gigs i did... Funkadelic - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-wnh6K9yowrc.htmlsi=uhHE-1Y7m4OA09Wm&t=673 NEVILLE BROTHERS - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-itBBHYlxHdU.htmlsi=xWH6VS6dCa7VRB6j Kid Creole And The Coconuts - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-GsllpO3u1Js.htmlsi=OMbEIrY-y9Vg1Vv3&t=255 Little Feat Live - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-yvm-nhb9Dfw.html and my all time favorite gig... Pete Townshends Deep End - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-LgRMIvDviUg.html
@@Producelikeapro Your best bet at getting bucket's direct contact info is Bootsy Collins. I bet if you set up a Bootsy interview for your channel, he'd b willing to pass on bucket's info. It's the best I can do.
Check out some early mothers finest from the late 70’s , way before their time, no clicks or drum tracks in those days, anything on tape is usually good stuff, I miss that music, no matter the genre
I'm no expert, but I think of gain as a multiplier, hence why you can overdrive it (either nicely or badly, depends on the kit), I've never had any kit with trim on it but to pull back an overdriven signal so it doesn't keep clipping through the rest of the signal chain sounds very plausible. And volume is not adding any extra output, so it's like a percentage of the feed (and has something to do maybe with why it's a logarithmic scale) - though it gets weird because I think if you take it over 0db (I would consider that 100%) that too can overdrive, so I really know what I'm talking about!! 😆
Hi, I have noticed that you do provide a production course in your website. Is there anywhere I can find a full list of what you teach? At least to know what I'll be paying for. Cheers
We've been going through the mixes as they arrive! I will check in with Joe on Monday to see how he;s been doing. The quality is VERY high, so we will have been going through them very slowly! Won't announce until everything has been listened to!
I find virtual music and virtual movies are always missing those little pieces of magic you get in a performance you didn’t plan. Sometimes it soars too the heavens themselves, sometimes it craters so hard you want to run and hide. But there ain’t nothing like it.
My personal opinion on the matter of analog VS virtual instruments is there there are countless little mistakes/anomalies that are practically imperceivable to the average untrained ear but they undoubtedly add a humanistic touch to the songs that can't be replicated... Tempo changes, little coughs or even minuscule flubbed notes or vocals that add to the characteristics to the songs. Almost every Beatles and Stones records are chalked full of them... along with all the legends of the past. Of course they weren't done on purpose and I would never go into a session looking to make a mistake (who would!) but with the advent of virtual instruments and the current state of production, everything is too perfect... I despise working with a click because it's too robotic. If a band has done their due diligence and their as right as can be, slight tempo changes actually adds a natural dynamic that when done correctly, it can go just about unnoticed... the band just gets in the groove and ebbs and flow together... like slightly speeding up during a chorus and bringing back down in the verses to give the chorus more oomph... Humans are not meant to play robotically, in my humble and experienced opinion. Also, virtual drums have a very distinct quality that is too perfect to the point of being lifeless at times. Not to mention so many pop songs sound the same because they use the same virtual gear. I think it just ruins the point of being in a band and mastering your instruments/gear. There is of course a heavy dose of nuance and necessity when it comes to budgets like using strings and whatnot... but even the new modeling amps is a shortcut to becoming a great player who knows how to use a tube amp to get it cranked so that you can drive it hard one second to get a wicked crunch and then immediately switching to a softer touch to get a clean sound. To me, that takes lots of practice and skill that is being lost in today's recordings. There's a reason why so many people gravitate to music from the 60s, 70s and even earlier because it doesn't sound perfect to the the point of being lifeless. I try and shy away from using plugins for the same reason... I value proper musician ship where someone has taken the countless hours perfecting their tone using the gear to get the sound they desire. And then there seems to be the lost art of tuning drums...I was just at a studio doing some session work and all of their toms sounded as though they had been run ever by a tractor and then thrown into an industrial dryer, lol. Please allow me reemphasize again , so as not to sound like I'm overgeneralize on a skyscraper sized soapbox and beat a dead horse. Using the same plugins and virtual instruments leads to blandness... and it's become widely acceptable because it can be a quick and easy shortcut to getting a track out to the publicly as quickly and painlessly as possible. For instance, the new Olivia Rodrigo song "Vampire" has a wonderful melody but it lacks dynamics... same with Miley Cyrus' "Flowers"... everything comes off as one note, especially the drums. And it's all pushed up the middle for the most part which really diminishes what could be an even better chorus... but that also seems to be a problem with the lost art of panning. I'm only 36 but I've been playing professionally in bands and studios since I was 15... not to say I know all there is to know but the difference in musicianship and production from years past to today is night and day... Thus the classics hold up over time. Again, this is just my opinion and my preferred way of playing/recording so I don't mean to insult those who dig the new technological way of doing things, to each their own... I just feel I'm more right than wrong, haha. Anyways, Warren I'm a massive fan of your work and your knowledge... I throughly enjoy your input on these matters and bringing the discussions to the table... Although I was a bit bummed out when you praised the new Fender solid states... There is absolutely no denying that tubes impart a very specific tonal quality because they are of course using analogue tubes that cannot be replicable due to the physical nature of how vacuum tubes work and again how they can be cranked up but if you know how to control your playing as every guitarist should then you can get very clean tones with a red hot tube by strumming gracefully but with precision... Analogue equipment just can't be replicated... it's like the difference between listening to an album on vinyl with a receiver and needle because each component imparts its own specific sound, it's just how it works. An iPod isn't going to have that natural warmth that only analogue equipment can provide. Okay, that's my rant. I hope I didn't offend anyone, I'm always welcome to discourse and be proven wrong or taught something new... This is why this channel is so fantastic because it's a safe space to have these discussions without trolls being too stubborn and cruel to agree to disagree... Once again Warren you are the man. And everyone who enjoys your videos and tutorials are better for it. Cheers from Austin. -Aaron Ps: you can Spotify me under my artist name Queen Henry to listen to a single I wrote and produced in 2001 using analogue equipment of course. Would love to hear some feedback... I'm leaving session work behind to get back into recording my own material again... One of my dreams is to record a full album to tape! God bless the producer who will agree to take that endeavor on! ✌🏽🙌🏼
When I could play bass, I worked on techniques to modify my groove, ie change right hand technique. I would record myself to analyze my results to ensure I was modifying my groove correctly. And to see how my right hand techniques changed the initial attack of my bass which also affects the groove. I would also sequence bass parts and modify the groove and use that as a guide at times. My research also helped my sequencing.
What makes a good groove? Well, I believe the rather predictable "shortlist" of people / bands mentioned here is WAY too limiting. An orchestral piece can have a great groove, even Muzak or "elevator music". It's all about interaction between instruments and rhytm.
Of course! However, when talking to people who don't have a point of reference, which you clearly do, it is best for educational purposes, to talk about and recommend archetypes that will inspire people.
