Greatest Basslines

Greatest Basslines takes audiences on a deep dive into the world of the bass, curated by three extraordinary bassists: Peter Hook (Joy Division, New Order), Nate Mendel (Foo Fighters) and Melissa Auf der Maur (Hole, The Smashing Pumpkins). Each musician authors their own episode, deconstructing the iconic basslines that defined their careers while revealing the stories behind the strings. They also explore the grooves that inspired them, sharing the basslines that first turned them onto the instrument and shaped their playing. 

Joining them is a stellar supporting cast, including Glen Matlock (Sex Pistols), Mani (The Stone Roses), Gail Ann Dorsey (David Bowie), Geezer Butler (Black Sabbath), Deego (Fontaines D.C.), Victoria De Angelis (Måneskin), Guy Pratt (Pink Floyd/Madonna), Krist Novoselic (Nirvana), Adam Clayton (U2), Adrian Younge (Wu-Tang Clan, Kendrick Lamar) and Alex James (Blur), who bring their own stories, insights and exclusive performances to the series.

Vickie Mansell – Post Producer

Greatest Basslines had been in the works for some time following the enormous success of Greatest Guitar Riffs. It was finally greenlit in March and delivered in November, a pretty swift turnaround from shoot to screen. Our brief was to oversee Full Post and we took care of everything from ingest to delivery. The Offline team were able to work in a hybrid manner with us overseeing all media management, and then Final Post took place onsite at our West London facility. Whilst this was an HD delivery for Sky Arts the series was shot in UHD to futureproof the project for potential distribution. 

We worked closely with the team at Sony Music Vision throughout the production by creating and supporting a robust Camera-to-Post workflow. There were many of the usual Post Production challenges but nothing that was insurmountable for our team, even with plenty of archive and music to wrangle. We also dealt with various last-minute changes and tweaks to help accommodate the busy schedules of the talent, but everything ran very smoothly from end to end.

Music-wise, there were many transitions between the artist riffing in the studio interview set-ups which then segued into archive of a live performance. This was a good challenge for our Audio team, getting the key and tempo to blend seamlessly, but music programmes and documentaries are a strong part of their repertoire and the end results are absolutely brilliant.

Similarly, setting the Grade style was key to the overall feel of the film and we worked closely across several sessions with Producer/Director Andy Dunn to achieve a really beautiful look. 

As always, working with Sony Music Vision has been a delight – they are always so collaborative and really engage with our craft team in Final Post allowing everyone to maximise their creativity. It’s been such a joy to see these films come to life in their skillful hands.

It’s another huge success all round for the teams at Sky Post Production and Sky Arts!

Mark Mulcaster – Colourist

I was absolutely thrilled when I found out I’d be working on Greatest Basslines. When I graded Greatest Guitar Riffs, another three-part series for Sky Arts, I’d joked with the director that it would be brilliant to see a follow-up series focusing on bass guitarists as I’ve always felt that they're the unsung heroes in modern music. I have to declare an interest because, aside from being a Colourist, my other passion is playing bass guitar, so combining both on Greatest Basslines was a real pleasure. 

For this series it was great to be reunited with Producer/Director, Andy Dunn, who I had worked with on Johnson and Knopfler’s Music Legends. Andy has a strong vision of what he’s looking for from the Grade and this series proved to be no different. Both of us wanted the look to act as an accompaniment to Greatest Guitar Riffs so, where possible, we maintained some elements of the Grade from that series whilst also evolving the overall look.

A series such as this is built around multiple contributors so the Grade needs to support the interview setups. All the interviewees were colourful characters in their own right which led us toward a more saturated and brighter look. With the subjects filmed in various locations getting a consistent look across the board was that bit trickier. Some were shot in windowless recording studios whilst others took place in peoples' homes with more natural light as a result. As the interviews progressed there would often be a shift in the shadows as well as with the exposure in the room. Sometimes this could be easily adjusted for but it would become more complicated when the crew switched on interior lights to compensate for the loss of daylight. At that point the Colourist’s job is to match each shot as closely as possible to the scene reference. The key to the overall feel was to get each setup looking just right and to then try and shape the setups together so that saturation and contrast was consistent and therefore flowed throughout.

There was plenty of archive material and the task here was to lightly grade the footage where needed. Much of this was music videos from the nineties and early noughties which were already very heavy with both saturation and contrast, so that might mean adjusting the contrast or exposure or giving it a bit of a colour balance to fit into the preceding and succeeding shots. 

There was also additional B-Roll of the featured artist in each episode which saw them in and around their home towns and in regular hangouts and haunts. Each one had its own local characteristic from New Order’s Peter Hook walking the canals of Manchester to Foo Fighters’ Nate Mendel in a bright and sunny California. The aim here was to give the footage a saturated but still natural feel and for that I leant towards a Kodak Porta (Portrait) look but I was still able to adjust each set-up according to the contributor and the space. The rehearsal scene in Melissa Auf der Maur’s episode, for example, was given a grungier look with cyan-bluey-greens and red in the shadows which complimented her vibe as well as the environment.

Both Andy and I were very pleased with the Grade for the series. I’d love to see it do well and that a second series gets commissioned. Who knows, maybe next time I’ll also be asked to appear in front of the camera?

Monica Ramirez Leon - Re-recording Mixer

The project kicked off with a conversation between me, Producer/Director Andy Dunn, and the Offline Editor, during which we discussed the various musical elements in the edit. The key challenge was to seamlessly merge live performances with recorded commercial tracks while managing the multiple microphones and sources used throughout the film. This was a refreshing departure from my recent projects and required a completely different mindset and approach to the Mix.

Andy was brilliant to work with; it felt like proper teamwork from the start. He’s very knowledgeable and brought interesting contributions to the table while also giving me the creative freedom to explore ideas. We shared plenty of conversations about music and documentaries throughout the process, which made the whole experience genuinely enjoyable. The goal was to create something fun, engaging, and dynamic. With music constantly coming in and out, the mix needed real energy ... and I had a lot of fun delivering it.

The main challenges revolved around multiple contributors recorded in different locations with varying background noise levels. Live bass performances needed to be blended with commercial tracks, and these weren't always perfectly aligned in terms of timing or tone. For the mix process, I grouped elements and used automated reverbs and plugins throughout while routing folders helped keep everything controlled and organised. On the technical side, iZotope RX10 and Supertone Clear were essential tools that enabled us to deliver high-quality results to a tight deadline.

I worked closely with Online Editor, Chris Hay, throughout the project. A production like this has multiple stakeholders all with creative input and all aiming to deliver the best show possible, so we needed to be able to accommodate any changes against a tight deadline. Chris is always collaborative and kind so it's a real pleasure working with him, and Vickie Mansell the Post-Producer was also excellent at managing the whole project whilst keeping everyone and everything on track.

As a music lover (though, sadly not a musician myself), I found the stories from each of the main subjects and contributors genuinely fascinating. Bass is often overlooked but this film made me reconsider its role completely and has actually sent me back to revisit loads of classics with fresh ears. I'm very pleased with how it turned out. It's an absolute must-watch for music lovers.

Chris Hay – Online Editor

I’ve worked on plenty of music programmes for Sky over the years from Classical and Ballet to Gospel and Rock. Greatest Basslines falls firmly into that final category and it feels like a real privilege to be working on something that’s just so hugely enjoyable. Producer/Director Andy Dunn and I worked together previously on another music series Johnson & Knopfler’s Music Legends. Andy really knows what he’s doing. He’s an absolute muso and has a great relationship with the contributors in each episode. He instantly puts them at ease and gets a real warmth from them which makes for a very watchable and interesting series.

Greatest Basslines is a follow-up or companion piece to Greatest Guitar Riffs and really shines a spotlight on an overlooked skill. As part of the rhythm section bass players don’t tend to get the kudos they deserve, but listening to them talking about their craft really does make you think about their place at the beating heart of the band. My personal favourite would have to be the episode featuring Peter Hook. Definitely my era and great memories, not just of New Order but Joy Division as well.

The series is really nicely put together. Monica’s Mix was so good and Mark’s Grade so strong that it felt like all I had to do was bring all those elements together and deliver them to the client! Obviously, there’s the small matter of working through the footage to ensure that everything is of the highest quality (improving wherever possible), in the correct aspect ratio and with no repeated frames or blanking errors, but that’s all par for the course for an Online Editor.

The series was shot in UHD/SDR and delivered in HD with some really beautiful, high quality modern day footage to work with for the interviews. And then, as you’d expect from a show of this type, there was also tons of brilliant archive material. This was mostly music videos from the 1990s and early 2000’s to illustrate the subjects’ careers, the bands they’ve played in, and the other bassists who inspired them. All of that had to be seamlessly woven into the main body of each programme without jarring, which is where Colourist Mark Mulcaster and I come into our own.

This was a really enjoyable series and we all worked brilliantly together as a team. I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved and can’t wait for people to see it.