Anyone here tired of the way basses are mixed in modern recordings???

capnsandwich · #1 11-19-2008, 05:08 PM

So I'm listening to the radio on the way to work this morning, just like every morning. It's usually the same few songs that I heard the previous morning since they seem to rotate the same 20 songs all day long. Gotta love the corporate way of getting their music heard. Anyway, I'm listening to a song that has such a nice bass line on it but it sounds so low and deep with no clarity or preciseness to it at all. Almost like they took all the highs and mids out of it and just left the lows. It's like the bass is there just to be there, not to make any actual impact on the music. Is this the way the modern day producer and engineer want their basses to sound on the finished product or am I just listening to the wrong radio station?

Sorry for the rant but I just had to get that off my chest. Time to listen to the jazz station. They always have great bass tones in their songs.

unclekebm · #2 11-19-2008, 06:20 PM

I'm not really into the mid scooped, clanky, over compressed, over effected bass tones I'm hearing lately...

I mostly dig the bass tones of 70's rock & funk....also 2" tape

Willy2911 · #3 11-19-2008, 06:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by capnsandwich

So I'm listening to the radio on the way to work this morning, just like every morning. It's usually the same few songs that I heard the previous morning since they seem to rotate the same 20 songs all day long. Gotta love the corporate way of getting their music heard. Anyway, I'm listening to a song that has such a nice bass line on it but it sounds so low and deep with no clarity or preciseness to it at all. Almost like they took all the highs and mids out of it and just left the lows. It's like the bass is there just to be there, not to make any actual impact on the music. Is this the way the modern day producer and engineer want their basses to sound on the finished product or am I just listening to the wrong radio station?

Sorry for the rant but I just had to get that off my chest. Time to listen to the jazz station. They always have great bass tones in their songs.

What Are Mids

No Really I know what you mean. I think that it is just a trend.

burk48237 · #4 11-19-2008, 06:41 PM

Yeah, I call it the Cold Play syndrome. It is REALLY prevalent in most modern Christian Worship stuff. Not only do they play nothing but the roots, but where they come in during the measure in inconsequential since the bass is just a big mush anyway. It could be one, two, one and a quarter, three and a half, you wouldn't be able to tell.

If you want a real eye opener listen to the bass in the mix on Donald Fagens Kamirakand. The bass is clear and distinctive on every note.

20db pad · #5 11-19-2008, 06:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by burk48237

Yeah, I call it the Cold Play syndrome. It is REALLY prevalent in most modern Christian Worship stuff. Not only do they play nothing but the roots, but where they come in during the measure in inconsequential since the bass is just a big mush anyway. It could be one, two, one and a quarter, three and a half, you wouldn't be able to tell.

If you want a real eye opener listen to the bass in the mix on Donald Fagens Kamirakand. The bass is clear and distinctive on every note.

+1 on all counts. Is there just one studio guy in Nashville that plays bass on every CCM record that comes out?

It all sounds the like the same player with the same sound.

Walter Becker did all the electric bass on "Kamikiriad" - Sadowsky bass palm-muted and flatpicked.

mattygbass · #6 11-19-2008, 06:48 PM

i hear ya bro, its awful. i was however listening to death cab for cutie the other day. and that guy has a great pbass tone.

capnsandwich · #7 11-19-2008, 06:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mattygbass

i hear ya bro, its awful. i was however listening to death cab for cutie the other day. and that guy has a great pbass tone.

Every once in a while you'll find a song with a nice tone but the regular run of the mill CCM stuff is just flat out lifeless. Usually the older songs have better tone IMO.

lambro · #8 11-20-2008, 01:00 PM

why stop there, the entire radio market is hijacked with low common denominator dribble

the cascading effect of educating younger generations on less and less substantial offerings is a real problem

AgIdoc · #9 11-20-2008, 01:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by burk48237

Yeah, I call it the Cold Play syndrome.

weird i was just thinking that when i heard coldplay the other day. why even have a bassist?

on a slightly related note: how come i cant boost the low on my ipod? anyone know how to do this?

fretlessman71 · #10 11-20-2008, 01:55 PM

Actually, I enjoy listening to Coldplay's bassist. It's not upfront, but it's also not SUPPOSED to be. It's an ensemble, pure and simple.

Sometimes we forget that songs aren't written to showcase the sound of the bass - they're written because someone heard something a certain way. Want to hear the bass upfront in a song? Write one and record it yourself. Bass is always going to get short shrift - that's the bear we all have to cross.

tomvelsor · #11 11-20-2008, 02:03 PM

i have to agree that 70s bass tones gennerally were better..they had some feel..some girth to it. not its just a thudding to fill out the mix. might as well boost the guitar track at sub-frequencies, the band would sound the same.

HOWEVER i did notice yesturday in steve & barrys in the mall, all the music they were playing was horrible..but the bass tone in all of them was really good. coincidence? i dont know. maybe. i distinctly remember this very tight punchy p-bassish tone with a light low resonance flange on it. sounded killer. all the other songs had gnarly tubey grind sounds. really weird coincidence?

Blueszilla · #12 11-20-2008, 02:04 PM

I think you're listening to the wrong radio station. Don't listen to the radio, too many subliminal meanderings meant to daze and confuse...

XansNiceSweater · #13 11-20-2008, 02:14 PM

Modern bands have bass players?

capnsandwich · #14 11-20-2008, 02:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blueszilla

I think you're listening to the wrong radio station. Don't listen to the radio, too much subliminal meanderings meant to daze and confuse...

I agree with you there. I'm actually in need of getting some new CD's but I just haven't yet so I've been listening to the radio to get some ideas of some CD's to pick up.

On another note, whatever happened to the 70's and early 80's bass tones like Stevie Wonder and some of the classic rock stuff like Blue Oyster Cult and Yes? To me those were great bass tones on those recordings and all of them got plenty of air play back then, but somewhere between then and now something changed.

baalroo · #15 11-20-2008, 02:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lambro

why stop there, the entire radio market is hijacked with low common denominator dribble

the cascading effect of educating younger generations on less and less substantial offerings is a real problem

I've noticed a generation gap that keeps coming up here on TB and causing confusion. The radio is not an outlet for listening to music for young people, it's just(at best) background noise. If a young person wants to listen to music they hit the internet or their mp3 player. The youth tend to resist this sort of indirect/passive marketing that a lot of us grew up on and prefer the more active/viral way of receiving info that the net offers. Rock radio is really aimed more at the 25-40 year old demographic... it's actually many of OUR peers who like this trash. The younger people really have little interest in old media IME. Don't blame the kids, blame the 30 somethings wearing backwards ballcaps.

ksandvik · #16 11-20-2008, 02:35 PM

For a long time many songs had a bass line as one of the main attention grabbers. Seems that style of compositions in contemporary music is gone, for the time being. Which is sad.

rockambo · #17 11-20-2008, 02:46 PM

My problem isn't so much that the bass is buried in the mix, that's an age old issue, I hate the super compressed quality of so many studio produced tracks. There a very limited musical spectrum.

RedCoatMonster · #18 11-20-2008, 03:31 PM

I guess it depends on what youre listening too and what tones you like.

IMO Jazz tones, while being better than alot of the mushy tones you hear on the radio, still sound awful. But I do agree, way too much mush.

Steve · #19 11-20-2008, 03:32 PM

Yep. +1 to all of that^.

Friggan@#$ can't mix....#%&can't play....don't care@#%er's

#20 12-28-2008, 10:25 PM

Yea, this is all true, but having a stevie wonder-esque tone is really punchy, mid rangey, and awesome for that style of music, but doesn't sustain well enough, and doesn't blend well with distorted guitars. It tends to sound a little out of place, especially when the bass is usually doubling the guitar or playing a supporting role (IE:roots and 5ths). I think that yea, it's true that the bass is mixed really low in the mix, but at the same time... half the time i wouldn't want those boring bass lines to be heard above anything else, and if it wasn't there you probably would feel like something is missing.
This is all just my opinion as a modern rock bassist. I think that if someone were to write a good bass part (IE: bands like Incubus, RHCP) then usually the bass comes through really well and it's mixed accordingly, but if it's just some boring supporting line, well, that's how it should be mixed... like a boring support line