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neyman
Junior
Username: neyman

Post Number: 21
Registered: 7-2002
Posted on Thursday, March 30, 2006 - 6:49 pm:   Edit Post

I remember waaay back (when I was just starting out on bass) hearing the Buggles tune "Video Killed the Radio Star". That bass tone sent chills through my spine.

Lately, I've been hearing it a lot on XM satellite radio, and I was wondering if anybody knows how Trevor Horn developed that sound? I know from the video that he played an Alembic Series II (maybe a Series I?).
lidon2001
Intermediate Member
Username: lidon2001

Post Number: 119
Registered: 4-2005
Posted on Thursday, March 30, 2006 - 7:29 pm:   Edit Post

Hi Dan,

I believe the bass he was using in the video was an Aria SB1000. I had one, a poor man's Alembic, but a great bass.

T
adriaan
Senior Member
Username: adriaan

Post Number: 827
Registered: 6-2002
Posted on Thursday, March 30, 2006 - 11:56 pm:   Edit Post

T, as usual, the bass in the video is not necessarily the bass you can hear in the soundtrack. Not even sure Trevor Horn plays bass at all.
jacko
Senior Member
Username: jacko

Post Number: 587
Registered: 10-2002
Posted on Friday, March 31, 2006 - 1:26 am:   Edit Post

Trevor did play bass. He also had an alembic at one time although the SB1000 was the weapon of choice for alot of players in the early 80s. I'll check the video out tonight to see what he's playing
0vid
Junior
Username: 0vid

Post Number: 23
Registered: 4-2003
Posted on Friday, March 31, 2006 - 2:04 am:   Edit Post

T Horn also played a Wal bass, and Macartney got into them after seeing Trevor Horn play one. This is all recorded in some interviews somewhere in the rags.

BTW, T Horn also played bass for Biddu and his lurve orchestra before buggles, Biddu being the man behind Carl Douglas "Kung Fu Fighting", and Tina Charles "I Love to love". Tina Charles and T Horn lived in a flat together in Streatham. So there you go, .....

(Message edited by 0vid on March 31, 2006)
adriaan
Senior Member
Username: adriaan

Post Number: 829
Registered: 6-2002
Posted on Friday, March 31, 2006 - 6:41 am:   Edit Post

Ah - pop trivia ... Trevor went on to produce Frankie Goes To Hollywood and other 80s and 90s niceties.

There's a Dutch television series, half-hour documentaries on "one hit wonders", aptly named Single Luck. I remember they did one on Kung Fu Fighting - interviews with the artists, musicians and producers. There's an internet site where you can watch lots of programs from the national broadcasting organizations, but it doesn't seem to have any episodes of Single Luck - too bad, this was really good, both bloody serious and highly entertaining.
lidon2001
Intermediate Member
Username: lidon2001

Post Number: 120
Registered: 4-2005
Posted on Friday, March 31, 2006 - 7:07 am:   Edit Post

Clearly an Aria SB1000. I haven't a clue as to what he actually used in the studio. All I know was that this bass tone haunted me and I had to go get an Aria because of it. My bass was very heavy, and I found the filter pretty much useless except for one position. But the couple times I used it in the studio it produced a great, clean, full tone that I remember to this day without the benefit of a copy of the recording.

Horn_Aria

MyAria

(Message edited by lidon2001 on March 31, 2006)
jacko
Senior Member
Username: jacko

Post Number: 588
Registered: 10-2002
Posted on Friday, March 31, 2006 - 7:14 am:   Edit Post

Well done Tom. Saves me watching the video now;-)
Anyone here see Yes when Horn and Downes joined? I saw them in Newcastle and was appalled at the halfwits in the audience that were Booing and heckling. I thought Trevor did a fine job of singing Jon andersons lines and the material off the drama album wasn't that bad at all. (in fact I might just listen to it when I get home.)

The Friend I bought my precision from replaced it with a fretless SB1000. I always loved playing it - fantastic tone and a lovely feel.

Graeme
811952
Senior Member
Username: 811952

Post Number: 701
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Friday, March 31, 2006 - 8:28 am:   Edit Post

Trevor Horn played bass on "Run Through The Light" on the Drama album. Very nice fretless work, great tone, etcetera. Squire played piano. I heard rumors that Trevor played that song in concert with YES on that tour as well, though he didn't when I saw them in Champaign, Illinois, and I've never seen any photos of it.. Trevor also produced 90125 for YES and some (all?) of Seal's stuff. And some for 10cc I believe.. Sharp guy.

John
neyman
Junior
Username: neyman

Post Number: 22
Registered: 7-2002
Posted on Friday, March 31, 2006 - 7:36 pm:   Edit Post

Aahh...

Well, it has been nearly 20 years since I'd seen that video (has it REALLY been that long?).

Still, it's an awesome bass tone.
lidon2001
Intermediate Member
Username: lidon2001

Post Number: 122
Registered: 4-2005
Posted on Friday, March 31, 2006 - 7:53 pm:   Edit Post

But as Adriaan alludes to, you never know what you're hearing. He could use one bass for the first part then another for the hook. Who knows? As mentioned on this site somewhere, we'd all be surprised to find out how often we are actually hearing an Alembic when various performers’ contractual obligations show them playing other instruments in videos and live. Of course, guys like me shoot logic to the wind and just go out and purchase what we see and perceive to be true. It turned out to be a great bass none the less.
adriaan
Senior Member
Username: adriaan

Post Number: 832
Registered: 6-2002
Posted on Saturday, April 01, 2006 - 7:36 am:   Edit Post

I remember listening to (not Beverly Hills 90210 but) 90125 on a set of 7 ft tall electrostats - Infinity? - in an 8x25 ft room, with the speakers firing off the LONG wall. You could 'see' the opening guitar riffs jumping top to bottom, left to right. Great fun. Strange situation, but nonetheless great fun.
dfung60
Intermediate Member
Username: dfung60

Post Number: 151
Registered: 5-2002
Posted on Saturday, April 01, 2006 - 6:47 pm:   Edit Post

Trevor Horn is a great bassist, as well as producer! Many of the bands that he produced under the ZTT (Zang Tum Tum) label had extraordinary bass tones - Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Seal, to a lesser extent Art of Noise.

The bass on Video Killed The Radio Star sounds like a fairly heavily processed P- or J-bass to me, rather than a neck-through or exotic. I'm pretty sure that I've seen pictures of him with a very beat up Rickenbacker as well.
rockbassist
Member
Username: rockbassist

Post Number: 73
Registered: 8-2005
Posted on Thursday, April 13, 2006 - 8:54 pm:   Edit Post

neyman, about that same time that the buggles came out (by the way that was the first video ever played on MTV) the Romantics also had "Talking In Your Sleep" on MTV. The bass player for the Romantics used a Rickenbacker with an Ampeg SVT head and 8X10 cab. To this day, I think it is one of the best tones I have ever heard. Fat, punchy and rattle your ass without losing definition. But I also have to add that the best tone I have ever heard is Marcus Miller. "I guess Video Didn't kill the radio star after all. It's a great song though. I wish I wrote it. It was the perfect song for that era! I remember it well. I was in my early 20's and gigging 5 nights per week. Now I am married (18 years) and have a 17 year old son. Thanks for the memories.

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