What was the first sublow bass?

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Title says it all really.

― Jedmond, Wednesday, 7 January 2004 13:32 (twenty-two years ago)

Orchestral timpani get down to 25-30Hz, don't they? Search: any classical record featuring such from the mid-50s onward (to be honest, I bet they rolled off the sub-bass in those days - no one was likely to be able to reproduce it at home).

Unless 'sublow' means something I don't understand.

― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Wednesday, 7 January 2004 14:49 (twenty-two years ago)

I think "sub bass" is the common term for the "sound".
I can't recall having a record from before the 80s which has a really rumbling bass (not including ones which later have been processed with eq or suchlike).

I agree with Michael, prior to the 80s it was common for engineers to minimize the sub 80hz (or so) bass in order to make the record sound good on cheapo equipment. I guess fashion within the industry also
has got a lot to do with it (the present fashion with loads of bass, started sometime in the mid 90s).

Anyway, the first record I find by just taking a quick glance on my records is... Run DMC - Peter Piper (from -86, clearly not the first one).

I'll get back to you on this one.

― Jim Janse, Wednesday, 7 January 2004 15:36 (twenty-two years ago)

I think Chic's "Dance, Dance, Dance" was the first track not to cut off below 50Hz, though it seems like some earlier 70's rock didn't, either.

― Brian Miller, Wednesday, 7 January 2004 15:39 (twenty-two years ago)

probly not the first, but nicely early if I'm grokking you right:
Mandrill - "Don't Mess With People"

even earlier, the first Meters album (-w- "Cissy Strut", "Sophisticated Cissy", etc) already had serious bass heft

― Paul (scifisoul), Wednesday, 7 January 2004 16:30 (twenty-two years ago)

Pulse X ?

― billy the piper, Wednesday, 7 January 2004 17:02 (twenty-two years ago)

By asking about basslines similar to Dillinja's Silver Blade, or Prince's Get Off - Huge churning wall of bass

― Jedmond, Thursday, 8 January 2004 04:27 (twenty-two years ago)

Actually, it would be fascinating if someone could sketch a rough history of extreeeme bass from the birth of hi-fi onward.

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Thursday, 8 January 2004 04:33 (twenty-two years ago)

a rough history of extreeeme bass

Gah, now I have ideas of 1993-era idiots skateboarding down sand dunes and drinking 'Sunny D, man' while they do versions of "La Villa Strangiato."

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 8 January 2004 04:34 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm pretty sure I've heard early '70s records from Jamaica with big fat bomba bass hits.

― Ian Christe (Ian Christe), Thursday, 8 January 2004 06:39 (twenty-two years ago)

Weren't Jamaicans the first to modify factory-made amps in order to produce deep bass and build their own speaker cabinets that would accomodate it?

― oops (Oops), Thursday, 8 January 2004 06:44 (twenty-two years ago)

I want a copy of "A Rough History of Extreeeme Bass" - and the cover mount cd (which would have to come with a warning).

― Jedmond, Thursday, 8 January 2004 12:10 (twenty-two years ago)

Paul McCartney was one of the first (maybe the first?) bass players to record direct into the board rather than through a mic'ed-up amp, thu "Sgt. Pepper's" is an early example of big-ass bass.

― Colin Meeder (Mert), Thursday, 8 January 2004 13:16 (twenty-two years ago)

I think Macca did this even earlier with "Paperback Writer."

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Thursday, 8 January 2004 13:18 (twenty-two years ago)

My copy of The Beatles' Recording Sessions has some interesting info on this but I'm already late for work!

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Thursday, 8 January 2004 13:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Thursday April 14 1966

"There had been for some time puzzlement at Abbey Road as to why records cut in America sounded so much better than British cuts. The bass content in particular was greatly diminished on British records. Jerry Boys [one of the Beatles' engineers] has a clear recollection of John Lennon demanding to know why the bass on a certain Wilson Pickett record far exceeded any Beatles disc. Certainly one has to listen very intently to hear Paul McCartney's bass playing on Beatles records pre-1966. But on 'Paperback Writer' all that changed.

"'Paperback Writer' was the first time the bass sound had been heard in all its excitement," says Geoff Emerick. 'For a start, Paul played a different bass, a Rickenbacker. Then we boosted it further by using a loudspeaker as a microphone. We positioned it directly in front of the bass speaker and the moving diaphragm of the second speaker made the electric current.' This was an invention of Ken Townsend's -- but he paid the price, being called in to the office of Bill Livy, chief technical engineer, and reprimanded for matching impedances incorrectly!"

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Friday, 9 January 2004 01:52 (twenty-two years ago)

Alex Sadkin to thread!

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Friday, 9 January 2004 01:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Wednesday 1 February 1967

Re: the song "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"

"Paul's bass was recorded by direct injection of the sound into the recording console, as opposed to being recorded through an amplifier and a microphone. 'I think direct injection was probably used on Beatles sessions for the first time anywhere in the world,' says Ken Townsend. 'We built our own transformer boxes [called DIT boxes] and plugged the guitars straight into the equipment.'"

John Lennon becomes enamoured of the DI process, and asks George Martin if there's any way to plug his voice directly into the console. George Martin replied "Yes, if you go and have an operation. It means sticking a jackplug in your neck!"

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Friday, 9 January 2004 01:59 (twenty-two years ago)

http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/research/story/0,9865,1074154,00.html

― udu wudu (udu wudu), Friday, 9 January 2004 02:55 (twenty-two years ago)

udu, thanks for that revelatory (and magma-related) clip!

http://www.artistdirect.com/Images/Sources/AMGCOVERS/music/cover200/drc500/c508/c5081901t06.jpg

― Ian Christe (Ian Christe), Friday, 9 January 2004 03:00 (twenty-two years ago)

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