salsa bass

[peterlemer]

I am working on a salsa project and have bumped into a problem with the bass.

It's acoustic upright, and I'm finding that I can't get it to sound like so many on the big band cuban and NY salsa music I listen to. It's rather fat and woolly. I've compressed and EQd but can't quite get the punch and definition I want.

Any tips and tricks available for this particular genre?

One simple option is go electric, fretted or fretless, but I think much of the earlier recordings were done using upright.

Is the secret of successful montuna/tumbao sound simply in the fingers of the muso?

( my bassist is very good, though from the prog-rock stable)

pete

 

[Markdvc]

FWIW, my experiences with Salsa music have been with E-Bass, although our Big Band bassist switches between Contrabass and electric depending on what we are playing.

I must ask him why he prefers E-Bass for Salsa, he usually plays with a relatively slank, slightly percussive sound - I would describe it as "light" or "floating", and not at all Bass heavy. I am sure he will say, it is 99% in his fingers!

Here are a couple of examples:

[YOUTUBE]VWbjS-W4xQ0[/YOUTUBE]

[YOUTUBE]mNi7dOVU8MA&feature=related[/YOUTUBE]



kind regards

Mark

 

[peterlemer]

thanks very much, mark - splendid, in fact!

yes - a very clear and precise sound - perfect for the job.

If you do ask him about this, also ask whether there's any reason he might prefer fretted to fretless ( if indeed that's his preference).

Also, do you have any examples of his double bass sound in the big band?

pete

 

[Markdvc]

thanks very much, mark - splendid, in fact!

Always a pleasure, Peter! I should mention though, those video clips are NOT from our bassist.

If you do ask him about this, also ask whether there's any reason he might prefer fretted to fretless ( if indeed that's his preference).

He plays a fretted E-Bass, haven't seen him with fretless.

Also, do you have any examples of his double bass sound in the big band?

Sorry no, he hasn't been with us that long, we haven't recorded anything in quite a while.

kind regards

Mark