Records These Days.....Where's The Bass?

[theevilplankton]

Is it me, or do modern records leave you cold with their lack of a good bass sound?

I'm 36, but I notice it this last few years more than ever.

I love a bass on record that jumps out - it could be a Geddy, Squire, Ron Carter, Lou Barlow....whatever genre. However, I find now that 'bass' just tends to be a low, bottom end, non-descript thud. Just no definition in 'that's totally Ric/P/Jazz', etc.

We did a band demo just after Christmas, and I made sure it captured my Ric. I said to the engineer, don't make like so many others today, no bass!

I love Rush, but even 'Snakes And Arrows' I find at times losing itself bass-wise. I hate to compare old to new, but the bass of 'old' Rush to 'S&A' is soooo different.

I just want a bass to sound like a bass, sit nicely in the mix, and not get buried. Many albums of the last few years especially have this...even last years fav for me, 'Farm' from Dino Jr. Great record, but where's the bass? Lou Barlow used to sit distinctively in the mix, but on this, it's just lost.

There are exceptions- any Erase Errata has a massive bass tone, but I find now this is the exception rather than the rule....whereas many old '70s+ albums sound so much better to me.

Anyone else got any thoughts on this?

[superbassman2000]

maybe they are going for more of an overall balanced mix?

[DWBass]

Depends on the genre. Aside from Rock music, there's plenty of bass to be heard!

[chaosMK]

It's rough and kind of an uphill battle. Generally as a modern rock/metal bassist, you have to put extra effort into your contribution to the overall sound being taken seriously by your band members (it helps to be loud, have a great distinctive cut-through sound, be a powerful player, and very included/involved with the writing process).

Then, once you are in a studio the same battle occurs again- whoever you are recording with will probably favor an old school bass mix (by this I mean "you are supposed to feel the bass, not hear it" - my experience doing our first rock/modern metal album with an old school 80's former lead guitarist at the board). I can only imagine how it gets when there are high dollar producers and a lot of money involved- whatever is considered "commercial" at the time will probably be how it's mixed.

I just imagine that a lot of bassists these days who don't have much of a place in the mix aren't big personalities and kind of end up getting shafted by everyone in the process.

With that said... I can hear myself fine on this last album (www.myspace.com/leftbrainmusic). [evil laugh]