@skub - To continue...ISOL8 is a freebie, so that's cool. The Yamaha John Patitucci That's one hell of a bass to have your hands on...good that you boy allows your to fondle it.
It is definitely no sin to pick a bass, it really depends on the song, I'd ALWAYS use a pick where it sounds better, than fingered, once you've got the ear for how it sounds, it's an easy decision, heavy rock bassists tend to use it a lot, also things like 'The Forest' by the Cure, somethings cannot be played with a pick (most Japan, Level42 etc.), Bernard Edwards from Chic sounded like he used a pick but he used his forefinger nail.
A common production technique for a bass gtr is to copy the track, add more bass to one track and more Highs to the other, changing the amount of compression on each, a bit like a vertical Mid/Side. Personally I don't bother with it, as it's difficult enough to get it right without that faff.
I know you know about sidchaining compression, and that can work well to retain the bass centre stage, as it were, if that is the primary feature of the song, shoving the rest of the stuff out of the way.
I use the free SCAN plugin occasionally to I know where the clashing frequencies are, quite revealing sometimes.
As you know skub, from normal song production, the bass will sound very different on different listening devices, and many will criticise it for being too bassy and not bassy enough, but once your'e happy with it on a couple then stick with it.
Bet you miss the jams with him...as I do with my daughter.
Regards
Rich