Rock: well recorded bass...60s/70s

I would look back and question the technology that existed for actually tracking bass in the 60-70's.

First, the bass guitar itself was just barely becoming its own instrument at the time. The bass was being developed from a stand up hollow-body instruument to a horizontally held solid-body. There was probably much speculation on the appropriate scale of the neck, the wind of the strings, the materials, not to mention was technology would go into the pickups or what type of amp-speaker cab would be usable.

On top of that running bass direct, combinded with stage amps as we know it today didnt exist then. Players sought out reliable stadium level equipment. Not to say they didnt do a damn good job, but todays bass equipment has 60+ years of science and passion in it...they had 20 tops.

Then go to the studio -- now your tracking an instrument that is relatively new. What speaker cabs and mics are best? What mic distance and angle provides the best results. etc, etc.

All of this new technology was done magnificently well for how young it was. I'm not suprised in anyway that bass recordings are lacking from that time range compared to other periods and genres.

Fightingwords

Really like your addition to the thread. Bass reproduction from a playback and recording perspective was in its earliest stages. With that said,there were some great producers who knew how to record the bass. Ken Scott and Glynn Johns come to mind.

Any thing done by Supertramp.

>>I'm not suprised in anyway that bass recordings are lacking from that time range<<

Well that is simply wrong.

And I have thousands of albums to prove it.

Perhaps your system needs some work.

Electric bass was around for a good bit by the late 60s/70s.

Bass overall was recorded as well back then as later as a whole I think.

The difference is there were few recordings labeled "audiophile" or explicitly being marketed to audiophiles back then.

There were innovations that extended range and such on bass guitars in the 70s according to WikiPedia.

But is still plenty of good bass on older recordings. You do need a good record playback system or good CD remasters on a good system to fully appreciate it though.