That "smiley face" sound

[JustDavid]

Thanks!

Another way to look at it is to assess where you want to play. Thought it used to be different, now I don't really care how my sound is when practicing.

[MarkMcCombs]

I'm kinda confused on this subject all of a sudden....

I too have been told that the more midrange-y eq can be heard better at times on stage, but doesn't operating in your own sonic frequency range have something to do with it? If I'm too close to the sonic range of the guitars and/or vocals, how does increasing the midrange of my signal, where those instruments reside sonically, help me "cut thru" or be heard better? I'd think 100-400 hz is where I can be heard the best. Yes, I know the ear is more sensitive to mid-range, but I'm talking about competing frequencies and instruments in a band setting. I'm not talking about cutting mids completely, either.

Or, put another way, if I'm a flower in a meadow of all yellow daisies, wouldn't I stand out better as a red poppy than I would a yellow dandelion?! Yet, I keep hearing that to be seen (or in our music world - heard) I need to keep bringing on more yellow.

[Williamsburgjim]

Mark, I think there are a bunch of technical/physics reasons having to do with all the other stuff like sound wave transmission viz. the room acoustical properties (each space has it's own resonant freq.) which will vary depending on the space. You probably know some of that stuff...I hope someone here will chime in on that theory.. .

IMO, I think one other (fairly easier) way of distinguising bass is by virtue of timbre. My own theory is the natural timbre of the bass instrument if played at the same freq. range as opposing instruments will stand out better when EQ'd without a lot of lows. Kinda like 80's music, or maybe even The Who (ie, being heard over Keith Moon/Townsend.) Or even when doubling parts on vocal harmonies (doubling the root note or melody an octave up/down), by virtue of the persons natural timbre, you get a different/better sound. I don't know, I'm speculating on those analogies...interesting subject.

I could stand corrected.... .

Jimbob