Consistently Bad Recorded Tone - Is It Me?

[jaywa]

So I listened to yet another recording of myself last night (DVD of our church's Christmas production), and heard the same crappy bass tone yet again. It's warm and has a decent amount of bottom, but too clacky on the high end and without the definition that captures the articulation in my playing. I guess the word to best describe it is "flabby".

It has been the same problem with two different instruments... my 78 P-Bass with EMG PJ pickups, and my Ibanez BTB with quasi-Bart soapbars. Since the tone on tape always seems to be the same, regardless of venue or instrument, I'm starting to wonder if its general crappiness is technique related (I play fingerstyle 98% of the time, and vary my RH placement between practically on the neck for mellower stuff, to pretty close to the bridge for harder driving stuff).

Just once I'd like to have something on record that I could play back and say, yeah, that sounds GOOD. I've been playing for over 30 years so you'd really think I'd have a good sound dialed in by now but apparently I don't.

Thoughts?

[Selta]

"Good" is relative. Can you post up some of the clips so we can hear what you're saying though?

[jaywa]

I'll try on the clips... no guarantees though.

One thing a lot of people have commented on when I play with them is that I use a pretty light touch. Maybe that's why my tone has no character... perhaps I need to turn down the amp and dig into the strings more?

[stflbn]

Maybe the house sound people are eq'ing everything to sound like that flabby tone?

[jaywa]

Originally Posted by stflbn

Maybe the house sound people are eq'ing everything to sound like that flabby tone?

If it were just the stuff recorded at my church, that would be my explanation too. But there's been other stuff recorded with other bands at other venues (including an outdoor show), with other people on the sound board, where my bass comes out sounding a lot the same way.

For a long time I was figuring it was just my P-Bass not cutting it, but the DVD in my OP was recorded with my Ibanez and things didn't really seem to improve at all with that bass, either.

It's mostly my recorded tone that seems to suffer... I do occasionally get someone at one of my live shows saying the bass lacks definition too, but the real "flabbiness" always seems to show up on DVDs that are usually recorded with an audio feed from the board.

[silky smoove]

What else is in the signal chain between your bass and the signal that hits the FOH?

[jaywa]

Originally Posted by silky smoove

What else is in the signal chain between your bass and the signal that hits the FOH?

At my church the signal chain is:

Bass > Korg Pitchblack Tuner > Genz Benz Shuttle 6.0 head w/XLR direct out to board (line level, pre-EQ).

Everywhere else it's:

Bass > Korg Pitchblack Tuner > SWR WorkingPro 400 head w/XLR direct out to board (line level, pre-EQ).

I use Hartke 4x10 cabinets both at church and elsewhere but they are never mic'd.

[silky smoove]

Line level to the board? You should be sending a mic level to the board. Line is usually intended for things that need a hotter signal, like a power amp.

[jaywa]

Silky - Thanks for that info. I'll make that switch next time and see what happens.

[blakelock]

you say that you vary your technique during a session with some playing near the neck for mellow stuff and near the bridge for driving stuff. can you hear a difference between these tones on the recording? if not, i suppose it's a problem with the recording equipment accurately capturing what you're doing onstage.

i think the high-end clackitty sound can be removed by dropping the highs on the head. i play a shuttle 9 and drop the highs a little bit.