Annoying 'clank' sound when tapping

[Momus]

I've been trying to play the bass tapping part in the song Millenium Quest by Hibria (Starts at 3:57 or just the bass tapping)

Obviously speed is a problem right now, but I can just build it up. My concern, as the title says, is that everytime I tap, there is this 'clank' sound that is louder than the note I play. Maybe it's the fact that I play roundwound strings, that I play pretty hard or that my action is pretty low. (As you can see I have no clue about bass setup for tapping) I would just like to know if this situation is normal and I just need more practice (I've been playing bass for a year exactly today, yay!) or if there may be a problem with my setup.I play an ESP LTD D-6 with an Ampeg BA-112 amp, bass at 6 and mids/treble at 5 and not too loud since I live in an appartment, so around 5 in volume on the amp and the volume of the bass way down with flat EQ.

Any tips regarding technique are appreciated!

[WardEarth]

Try cutting the highs in your eq, if possible. That sound is probably within that spectrum. If you have a "band" 5/7/11/whatever eq, just keep cutting the higher areas and see if it disappears. You can try cutting your treble too, maybe ever some mids. Also, mess with the tone on your bass, a higher tone is probably brighter. Some semi-flat or flat wound strings might help as well. But...I'm no tapping expert.

[Momus]

Thanks I'll try putting some flats on my bass instead!

[johnboy65]

Originally Posted by Momus

I've been trying to play the bass tapping part in the song Millenium Quest by Hibria (Starts at 3:57 or just the bass tapping)

Maybe it's the fact that I play roundwound strings, that I play pretty hard or that my action is pretty low.

Yes the combo of this is most likely your problem. I wouldn't go with flats... maybe half rounds or ground wounds (or keep the rounds). The neck may need a slight adjustment, but you're most likely playing too hard.
It's a beast of a part so rock on!

[BillW87]

Getting good tone to your tapping can be a serious pain: set the action too high and it'll slow you down and wear your hands out but set it too low and you'll get fret noise (sounds like that's what's happening to you). Adjusting your truss rod to get a little more bow to your neck and raising your action a bit can cut down on these issues, but I wouldn't recommend messing around with that unless you've done it before and are comfortable adjusting your instrument. Changing strings might improve the tone, but its not going to eliminate fret noise if that's what's happening, just make it less noticeable.

Tapping is also a technique that requires at least some level of amplification because it causes the string to vibrate in both directions away from the fret that you're striking so if your amp is too low you might just be picking up a lot of stray noise from your actual instrument and because of the way the neck is curved you'll pick up more fret noise from the vibration towards the head than the pickups. Try turning up your amp a bit, and if the buzzing is being picked up by the amp then you'll probably have to adjust your truss rod and bridge to get a cleaner tone. If not then turn up your amp a little higher don't stress the buzzing too much because it's not being picked up by the pickups and therefore wouldn't be a factor in a performance situation (if noise is a problem in your apartment headphones are a great investment for practicing!).

[plangentmusic]

Personally I hate half wounds -- dead as flats with all the drag and clank of rounds. The worst of both worlds.

Your frets may be the problem. But it didn't sounded pretty good to me. Clank is a part of the tapping sound. Cut 4 k a bit and boost 400 hz. That should smooth out the sound.