TalkingBass on better bass tone

[JapanAxe]

Some wisdom here:

 

 

[StickyDBRmf]

I saw that yesterday. I thought it was going to tell me something I DIDN'T know.

Not being ostentatious just thought it was going to be a Magic Bullet.

[JapanAxe]

13 hours ago, StickyDBRmf said:

I saw that yesterday. I thought it was going to tell me something I DIDN'T know.

Not being ostentatious just thought it was going to be a Magic Bullet.

Maybe it is a magic bullet! I’ve been aware of this for a while too, but maybe not everyone is - I’m thinking of newer players, but also older ones who have come up with the idea that a smiley graphic EQ means a happy amp.

[BigRedX]

There is no "magic bullet".

 

A good bass tone is one that works with the other instruments in the band/mix and that will depend entirely on what those other instruments are, what tone they have, and what role the bass is supposed to play in that particular set up. All of those variable can only bee known when you are actually playing with the other instruments.

 

Have a listen to any of the isolated bass tracks from recordings or gigs that are available on YouTube. Most of the time the bass sound on its own is not that impressive and often has a lot more "drive" then you would expect. However once in its proper place in the mix it sounds perfect.

[FDC484950]

The video is aimed at beginners. When I started out I knew none of this so it is helpful and it’s generally about live playing. Live tone and recorded tone are not the same thing - live you have acoustics, the room and other musicians (who are too loud or who have a crap sound that sucks up all of the bass frequency range). For a recorded bass tone, as BRX says it depends entirely on the song. And I’d go further and say that many isolated bass tracks sound terrible but work perfectly when in the mix

 

[BigRedX]

I've never needed to adjust my bass sound to cope with poor venue acoustics in over 40 years of gigging. The one place I have played where the acoustics were noticeably terrible plus the bass wasn't in the PA, simply closing the curtains over the large expanse of windows/glass doors down one wall made way more improvement to the overall FoH band sound than any amount of EQ fiddling could have done.

[Lozz196]

1 hour ago, BigRedX said:

There is no "magic bullet".

 

A good bass tone is one that works with the other instruments in the band/mix and that will depend entirely on what those other instruments are, what tone they have, and what role the bass is supposed to play in that particular set up. All of those variable can only bee known when you are actually playing with the other instruments.

 

Have a listen to any of the isolated bass tracks from recordings or gigs that are available on YouTube. Most of the time the bass sound on its own is not that impressive and often has a lot more "drive" then you would expect. However once in its proper place in the mix it sounds perfect.

Def, the first time I heard John Deacons isolated bass I was quite shocked.

[JapanAxe]

The video is specifically talking about live sound. All bets are off when it comes to recording!

[chris_b]

10 hours ago, FDC484950 said:

The video is aimed at beginners.

 

I think it's aimed at anyone who hasn't worked out how to get the best bass sound. IMO there are a lot of those around at all ages and levels of playing.

 

The simplest things are always the most effective. Good advice to everyone.

Edited May 5, 2022 by chris_b

[stewblack]

Hilarious how even experienced musicians believe there is a right and a wrong way to get a bass sound.

There is no such thing as the right bass sound. And therefore no right way to achieve it.

 

[Bassfinger]

I'm no Stephen Einstein, but he ain't telling me owt that I hadn't already figured out for myself.

 

 

Edited May 8, 2022 by Bassfinger
E=MC2