SubsonicSimpleton

When you listen to commercial recordings on speakers with no meaningful ability to produce bass frequencies but you can still hear the bass, what is happening is you are actually hearing the harmonic content of the bass notes, and your brain is filling in the blanks.

Listening to the track posted by @Nicko the bass sounds to me like too much of the top end and mids have been EQ'd away (or were not present in the original BG sound) which means that the harmonic information is no longer represented adequately in the midrange of the mix to allow the brain to reverse engineer the bass when listening on speakers that don't do much actual bass.

It's easier to understand this by example than theory so here goes with a practical listening example for anyone interested, apologies if this is teaching granny to suck eggs.

There are several short recordings that I made of my double bass back in the days of the noodle challenge that you can find here (double bass is mostly 1st/2nd order harmonics and not much actual fundamental frequency, and the transient is quite complex and distorted)

compare with a sine sweep (other sine sweep files which go higher are also available)which has very little harmonic content - BE CAREFUL WITH THE VOLUME, SINE SWEEPS CAN DAMAGE SPEAKERS

I can hear the sine sweep just fine on phones/proper speakers, but it disapears almost completely on the ipad, whereas the double bass still sounds like a double bass with the sub switched off on the ipad.

Just to be clear, I'm not trying to convince you that it isn't worth getting a proper DB, but it can be a bit of an expensive and time consuming rabbit hole depending on what you are after, especially the strings.

6 hours ago, JJRP said:

 

That's a Rode M3. There's only a little bit of resonance to work with on a Stagg eub though so it's a bit of a mission getting anything on tape without unwanted noise coming through. I had to wedge the endpin with foam to try and stop bits of buzz and rattle, and there's a bit of a metallic flavour where I'd like woody tones instead.

 

The Stagg has done an ok job for me in some situations where I'd have been stuck with midi otherwise but it's not really great to play - huge contrast to the SLB200 I tried, which felt and sounded quite nice - and mostly when I actually need an acoustic tone I'm tending to use my cello instead.

 

I'd like to get some arty ECM type recording done and for this mission I think I need a bit more wood.

 

In the short term, it might be worth looking at a mic with less self noise and better sensitivity - there are SDC mics that are a noticable step up(in spec terms) from the M3 without spending tons of money, have a look (listen) to some of this fellas videos (he compares the affordable mics with much more expensive options like Neuman) - the Line Audio CM4, SE Se8 and Lewitt LCT140 are all ~£150

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC--JRPkro6Q92rbmEt7MP3w/videos

10 hours ago, JJRP said:

This is one of my experiments with a mic on the Stagg with stock strings at a resonant spot on the back. Purely mic signal as I was having issues with the pup.

 

Not great, but I've literally just stuck a mic on a flat plank. I was hoping a chamber plus some pup signal to fill out the bottom end might get me into usable territory - I mean, the SLB200 sounded nice in my hands, had a bit of woodiness.

 

I probably just have to get a real bass.

 

 

 

 

Sounds pretty good to me - if you can get that from your existing setup why fix what isn't broken?

What mic did you use?

1 hour ago, Ed_S said:

The new material question is one I've contemplated over a few pints and came to the conclusion that bands tour albums too soon after their release. People haven't had time to work that material into their listening and think of it as a favourite by the time they hear it live, so the crowd reaction is lukewarm compared to the older material and that reinforces the idea that crowds only want a greatest hits tour. In an ideal world, I think bands should only tour their first album when they've released their second, then continue out-of-step like that, so they're always playing material that more people have had some time to feel a connection with. As an added bonus, if there's an album at the end that never gets toured as a result, that's leaves a great opportunity for a tribute.

Eh?

Radio is less important than it once was, and streaming platforms put new music in competition with nearly everything that has already been recorded over the last 70 years - some bands do sucessfully manage to harness the power of social media to garner a ready audience before commiting to touring, but for every Vulfpeck or PMJ there are hundreds of bands that never manage to garner big online only followings before booking gigs in meatspace.

Just now, tegs07 said:

Agreed. I would add that the energy costs are not as big an issue as the costs of remortgaging in 2023 or shrinking rental supply and rising costs of accommodation in general.

Yep, having a spare room full of instruments that don't get much play but you keep them all because [insert excuse], used to be very low ongoing cost, but now not so much.

I expect that quite a lot of people with higher amount of personal debt are going to struggle even if they are in well paid jobs, interest rates don't have to move very far north to completely toilet the housing market.

Sterling is in the toilet against USD and shop overheads are also being hit by energy prices, so I'd expect new prices to skyrocket on anything made in the USA and everything new and used in bricks and mortar stores to inflate to whatever is perceived as being what the market will stand.

The secondhand market local to me, private used prices went way up during lockdown, with a shortage of anything decent on the market music related, but in the last few months there has been a steady flow of instruments and equipment being dumped into the market and even the local bedroom traders have been dropping their asking prices.

As we get into autumn and winter, the reality of energy costs is going to start biting harder - I expect many bargains will be available in the short term for those who have the cash reserves.

Find the nearest mechanical engineers merchant and take the screw there, make sure that you also have pictures of the machineheads with you  - they will have the necessary thread gauges to determine what the thread is, so should be able to provide you with something that will work in its place, or inform you exactly what the thread specification is if they don't carry it in stock.

If they have something that will be a drop in replacement like a stainless steel capscrew, buy 4 so you have a full set of spares (or if you are ocd about things matching). While you are there also pick up a small tube of non-permantent threadlock compound (a small drop on the threads of the screw before assembly will prevent the screws accidentally vibrating loose).

The fixing you have pictured doesn't look like something you can buy off the shelf - if your luthier can't find the missing fixing you might have a bit of a job tracking down one exactly the same unless you can contact the company that manufactures these machine heads directly.

1 minute ago, Wolverinebass said:

You are JTUK and I claim my 5 pounds.

That blast from the past just resulted on coffee all over my monitor

4 minutes ago, nilorius said:

S i said before - thre are 20 bassists to choose that can play simple level, so how can i prove that i am better at least 15 from them??????????????????

Not many people can actually play simple sounding parts with really solid consistent timing.

Most people make the mistake when learning of equating complicated with good and neglect to ensure that their basic fundamentals are on point.

Based on my experience of playing in various musical situations, the most desirable musical colleagues are good listeners and have good time feel - absolute technical ability level is not particularly important, because if you can play a simple part well you make space for others to contribute, but playing a complicated part badly just smears shite over everything.

Nothing wrong with taking a break  - I've had a couple of lengthy complete breaks from playing, 1 voluntary and 1 due to injury.

If you are just fed up with the time/energy drain of being in a band and gigging, it might be better to spend a small and manageable amount of time on learning something new musically that interests you (not things that are mandated by the needs of being a supportive band player) - the older you get, the harder it is to regain your momentum so having a reinvigorating change is better than a complete layoff.

Might be that both mics would benefit from new ribbons, or the ribbons being retensioned - you already found the right people to do it.

14 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

 

What's so special about 59 Les Pauls? What makes them better than ones made in December 58 or January 60?

I have never been motivated to go into all the details - you would need to ask a Gibson fanboy, sorry.

Ultra rare and valuable instruments (like 59 Les Pauls) will propably hold their value, but I can't see the inflated prices that people are asking now for unremarkable 70s,80s instruments being sustainable in the long term.

33 minutes ago, Sambrook said:

Interesting. Could you expand on that, please?

Playing double bass is more like a wrestling match with a ships rigging while trying to dance a waltz with a wardrobe than playing a guitar.

Worth actively asking around local orchestras and strings luthiers and any local DB pros/tutors - there might be a DB gathering dust that is available but not actively being advertised for sale.

Unlike electric bass, double basses don't really have an equivalent of good budget ranges like Squier, and upgrading isn't quite as straightforward.

Bear in mind that strings are super important, and they are expensive, as is setup work(which is not really DIY territory) - this investment works on a different timescale to electric bass, as a set of spirocores and a setup might cost £400, but the spiros will last many years.

My advice would be to look at a realistic budget of £500-£1000 and buy an older well maintained ply or hybrid in good playable condition that will be enjoyable to play and hold it's value - if you spend 2-300 on one of the cheap chinese bass shaped objects you might find that it implodes, or would end up costing more to get in a playable condition than buying a decent DB in the first place.

A friend of mine built a homebrew amp based on one of the champ circuits (he plays bass and DB no skinny string), and tried a few things for the tone stack eventually settling on a baxandall circuit which works great - I spent some time twiddling and couldn't get a bad sound out of it, might be worth considering.

Tuning scheme should surely be dictated by the choice of repetoire, rather than being an idea set in stone.

What does your student want to learn?

Might be worth taking a look at the used market for desktop machines - gamers are always upgrading to be on the bleeding edge,

https://www.gumtree.com/p/desktop-workstation-pcs/six-core-gaming-pc-for-sale.-like-new./1437408093

There are loads of similar ads, this was one of the first that popped up - if you have the space and don't need to be mobile, the screen real estate on desktops makes life much easier.

If you go this route it is worth googling the main components - although this is 5 years old, it is still a massive step up performance wise (not quite as quick as the asus laptop according to CPU mark @12333, but worth remembering that you have complete freedom to upgrade/replace anything should you wish, but better cooling and more RAM and HDD storage and better cooling is likely to result in better real world performance)

If the hole in your bottom block has gone slightly out of round, the luthier will use a tapered reamer to bring it back to the correct shape before fitting the new pear - this might render a replacement unusable or make the fitting job more time consuming if you have jumped the gun and bought something that isn't quite right. Probably best to actually talk to your luthier before ordering parts.

Even if you can afford to spend 2k, it might be worth not taking that leap immediately because you might find that your perspective on what you need in an instrument changes along with your own style/skills on the instrument and the musical situations you find yourself in. Six months in you might try a different bass and have an epiphany.

My 2p is strings are king - the type of strings you use make a big difference to sound/feel, but that journey can be expensive even if you were to try only a handful of varieties.

And of course this (you could buy an old trace combo for a couple hundred, but make sure you have a good hernia surgeon on speed dial)

4 minutes ago, neepheid said:

Remember to budget for an amp...

Suzuki Splash - small car, but the rear seats fold completely flat and no boot lip.

You can fit a DB in everything but the smallest smartcar using the upsidedown on the passenger seat method, the main difficulty with hatchback vehicles isn't fitting the DB in (even things like the Yaris and Micra will cope fine) it is manouvering the DB over the lip as many vehicles rear doors don't open flat. Prior to the splash, I had a wagon R which replaced a much larger skoda estate(which was a pain because of the boot lip) - being able to slide the DB in and out makes life a lot easier and reduces risk of back and instrument damage.