Your Tone, right?

woody357 · #1 09-24-2010, 04:28 AM

I hear a lot of talk about tone on these forums. I can't speak for others, and maybe it's just me, but my tone is not really the same at gigging volume, as it is when I'm alone, plus I really can't hear what the crowd hears when I'm playing on stage. I said all this because even if can get the sound you had at low volumes do you really have that much control when you are coming out of the Pa?

KJung · #2 09-24-2010, 04:55 AM

There are lots of questions and issues in your post.

Home versus gigging volume... yes, rooms, audiences and volume level (especially if you have a rig that is too small for the venues and volume you are playing) can have a big impact. Also, user error on EQ (too much scooping of the mids and deep bass boost) and technique issues (sloppy right or left hand technique, too soft or too hard of an attack) can really cause some problems (i.e., making the sound that sounds good at home result in a mushy, boomy mess on the gig).

Assuming technique is not the issue, one of the best ways to experience the above issue is to make sure you play your amp in your practice space at home with the exact settings you used on a larger gig that sounded good to you. Invariably, it will sound a bit thin, harsh, and too mid present in a small room solo setting. That is a great learning experience, and an eye opener

.

Regarding front of house sound, that's a large topic

Of course, the sound person is going to dial in the sound that he thinks is good. However, a professional sound person will also take a few minutes to listen to the sound of your rig and at least try to get in a similar tone universe for you (i.e., big and wide and clean, dark and/or old school, bright and grindy, wide and sizzly, etc.).

RNV · #3 09-24-2010, 05:43 AM

During sound checks I always try to sit with the sound guy and offer advise on "our" sound. This is after I ask him, I never impose. I also have a good friend who has run sound for us many times and we have taken the time to dial our sound through a board and a good mid size PA. If the sound guy we are using for that venue is cool enough to let us have input during sound check, our settings are handed off as a "starting point" for the new sound guy. Amateurs take offence and Pros normally will look it over and get a better idea of what we are looking for. You may want to try that approach if you have the resources.

Floyd Eye · #4 09-24-2010, 05:51 AM

Use a giant bass rig and give the sound guy a mic feed. DI is for chumps.

RNV · #5 09-24-2010, 05:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Floyd Eye

Use a giant bass rig and give the sound guy a mic feed. DI is for chumps.

Boy did you just kick the hornet's nest across the freaking yard!

Floyd Eye · #6 09-24-2010, 05:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RNV

Boy did you just kick the hornet's nest across the freaking yard!

Hey, Jimmy will back me up.

RNV · #7 09-24-2010, 06:52 AM

I do too, but alas... us little guys get what they give us.

One Drop · #8 09-24-2010, 11:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Floyd Eye

Hey, Jimmy will back me up.

Maybe, maybe not...

bucephylus · #9 09-24-2010, 01:55 PM

This is certainly a key, but never ending discussion, as Ken mentioned.

Key, because how you get sound for both the stage mix and FOH depends now on so many things, but ultimately determines what kind of gear you are going to choose. Bottom line is that with most large PA systems, "your" tone is no longer defined by just your bass, rig, and settings, but by what the sound guy chooses to do with it. One hopes they do as Ken suggests and try to get what you are targeting.

Lets just say you will find cats on here who use an SVT along with the PA and others who got rid of their amps entirely and go straight out with a Sansamp or similar DI, and everything in between; which means rig size has become somewhat subjective. Almost anything can be made to work. Or not.

As to what I expect from sound guys, well, I take the Brubaker (the movie, if you've seen it) approach. Redford goes into the pen and goes to get his hair cut. The guy in front of him is giving the "barber" these complex instructions. When Redford sits down he says something to the effect of "leave the ears." With sound guys, I hope for "leave the bass." Sometimes I even get it.

BTW and further off topic, but I dug the scene in Crazy Heart in which Bridges goes toe to toe with the sound guy, and says exactly the right things to him in a heated confrontation. Man, did I identify with that scene....