Guitar and Bass Session Duo

Q: If you were on a desert island and could take just 5 pieces of gear, what would they be?

A: Matt: My Macmull S-Classic, a Two Rock Classic Reverb Sig, A roland Space echo, My Browne Protein, My Expresso FX Germanium Fuzz Dom: Moollon P bass, Sandberg Fretless, Genzler Magellan 800, Helix Stomp, Japanese Boss OC2

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Matt: I'm without a doubt a student of the blues there's a lot of Hendrix and other strat slingers like SRV and Sayce in my playing but I try to play with the sweetness of someone like BB King. I really feel John Mayer is proof that sweet blues style guitar is perfectly relevant when applied to pop, R&B and Soul. Dom: I would describe myself as a Rock/Soul bassist but with Prog and Jazz influences. When it comes to bass line creation, I am always thinking about how to serve the song, most of the time this involves staying out of the way and grooving with the drums. When it's my time in the spotlight I like to say something of value, simplistic but powerful.

Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?

A: Matt: For me it has got to be 1. John Mayer & Gary Clark Jr for the songwriting. 2. Steven Wilson & Porcupine Tree for pushing the boundaries. 3. Matt Schofield and Josh Smith for the pure guitar playing chops. Dom: 1. Pino Palladino, Colin Edwin, Dave Landreth and James Jamerson for their great feel and note choice 2. Jaco Pastorius, Janek Gwizdala and Gary Willis for their insane chops 3. Bill Evans for his melodic improvisation 4. Steve Jordan and Gavin Harrison for their groove and precision

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Always Analog but digital definitely has its place and works better for certain situations but you can't beat the organic feel of real analog gear!

Q: What's your 'promise' to your clients?

A: To always deliver based on their vision no matter what.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: Collaborating with artists to help them achieve their vision! And playing gigs when theres not a pandemic on...

Q: What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?

A: Can you do something that sounds like (insert artist here)? The answer is always we shall do our utmost!

Q: What's the biggest misconception about what you do?

A: That theres no money in it unless you're a rockstar...there are tonnes of musicians who make a perfectly respectable living from music that ain't Slash!

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: Tell us your thoughts on what you hear in your head for the Guitar/Bass parts so that we can fulfil your wishes to the best of our ability to ensure your artistic satisfaction. Please provide below the Key and Exact Tempo of your track in order to save time and correctly set up the recording session. Please provide links to your artist/company socials so that we can correctly tag you when making social media posts about the making of your track.

Q: What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?

A: Always pick the musicians that really understand your artistic vision over those that are the most expensive and most technically proficient. Look at Kurt Cobain...not the best guitar player but no one but him could get his point across so eloquently.

Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?

A: Neither of us have been playing professionally very long as we're only 23 and 18, however we have been both been playing a lot longer. So the career path is short but it's only just beginning

Q: Which artist would you like to work with and why?

A: Matt:

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Micing the rear of an acoustic can sounds really nice and when combined with a standard micing set up can give you good control of the low end later on.

Q: What type of music do you usually work on?

A: Usually Pop and more Bluesy Americana style songs but We are open to work on anything you throw our way!

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: We always try our best to bring a strong sense of groove when it comes to bass and rhythm guitar regardless of genre, we always look to lock with the drums and percussion in a way thats synergistic. when it comes to layers of chords and lead lines you've always got to make sure you don't step on the vocal however it works really well to reference the vocal melody in the guitar parts to give a sense of cohesiveness.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: We always start by listening to the track pre any guitars or bass and usually just sit with a guitar and see if any inspiration immediately strikes. If not then we usually look at the chord progression and what the vocal or instrumental melody is doing, based on that we look to lay down rhythm parts that stay away and compliment the lead melody, looking to accent key moments and changes in the song.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: We use a Mac based set up which is as follows. For Guitar the signal chain is: Guitar > Radial J48 DI > Pedalboard (Fuzzface, Univibe, Klon, Nobels, Bluesbreaker, Analog delay, Tape delay, Harmonic/amplitude Trem) > Modded Hot Rod Deluxe > Sontronics Delta 2 Ribbon & SM57 > Antelope Audio Discrete 4 > DSP based Vintage mic pre emulation. For Bass the signal chain is: Bass > Radial J48 DI > Pedalboard (Vintage style Octaver, Envelope filter, Line 6 Hx Stomp > (Genzler Magellan 800 if required) > Antelope Audio Discrete 4 > DSP based Ampeg SVT > Vintage Mic Pre emulation. For guitar and bass the DI's will be provided so that you may Reamp as you wish!

Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.

A: Most of our work has been putting guitar and bass on friends and clients tracks, We can also help with songwriting by providing tracks of a different flavour to what may have been previously envisioned.