more mids?

Fishbrain · #1 07-12-2007, 06:53 AM

I played a gig last night and was told that my bass could come through a little muddy, that I need to turn my mids up. I already have my mids higher than bass and treble (on the three band bass, mid, treble and the 9 band EQ) should i just crank it even more or turn down the bass?

I'm playin my first festival on saturday an i want my sound to be just right for it. any advice?

OriginalCrash · #2 07-12-2007, 07:00 AM

Turn down the bass some. It takes a lot more of your amp's power to get those frequencies out there. Since you've already got the mids boosted quite a bit, try cutting the lows, and that should help get you heard.

Brian

DocBop · #3 07-12-2007, 07:34 AM

Also if you other gig is at a different location what you do for this room might not work for the other gig. Every room and stage is different.

Fishbrain · #4 07-12-2007, 07:42 AM

thanks for the advice

Scot · #5 07-12-2007, 03:19 PM

It sounds like you've already got the mids cranked up quite a bit. Is it easy to dial in a good bass tone when it's just you and the drummer playing together? It could be that the guitar player in your band (if applicable) needs to make some tone setting adjustments to leave a little sonic space so you don't have to make extreme EQ adjustments to get your sound to cut through, which can sometimes cause your tone to muddy up. It might not be your bass sound at all and some guitar players can be frequency spectrum hogs, particularly the ones that only listen to themselves all the time and not the rest of the band. It seems like most of us bass players are hip to the fact that a bass tone that sounds good solo may not sound as good with the whole band but I think there's a lot of guitar players out there that didn't get the memo.

If you're strings are old and dead you might also try changing them. If you have a battery (or two) in your bass try changing it too.

Fishbrain · #6 07-13-2007, 02:24 AM

i always keep fresh strings and batteries on my bass and my tone (i thought anyway) was pretty good on its own and with the drummer! damn this guitarist, whose also my brother, i'll have to have a word!!

TheBassBetween · #7 07-13-2007, 05:38 AM

Well now, don't go insulting your guitarist/brother. Make sure you explain the situation to him

.

Also, there's nothing wrong with cutting some lows, but it could be that the tone YOU want and the tone that your band wants is different. If so, you're gonna need to find a compromised spot, tonally.

202dy · #8 07-13-2007, 06:45 AM

Sometimes boosting the mids is the answer. Sometimes cutting low mids is the answer. Try decreasing the eq at 250 Hz. That may thin out the mud a bit.

Double Agent · #9 07-13-2007, 02:40 PM

I agree with 202dy. How is your amp set up? If you have a graphic EQ and your mids are boosted there AND at the bass, it can have a similar effect as turning up the bass, especially if low-mids are cranked. Adding yet more mids might actually make the situation worse. If you can, add some high mids maybe, but not low mids.

I generally leave my EQ flat at the amp and boost/cut at the bass so I can make changes quickly, but if you don't make a lot of changes in your sound throughout a gig, its probably better to leave your bass flat and set your EQ at the amp.

Scot · #10 07-13-2007, 05:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fishbrain

i always keep fresh strings and batteries on my bass and my tone (i thought anyway) was pretty good on its own and with the drummer! damn this guitarist, whose also my brother, i'll have to have a word!!

LOL! Are you the elder? If so...well, you know what to do. If not, go to his guitar while he's not looking just before the downbeat of the first set/show and cut in half his low E and A strings. That should do the trick.

Good luck on Sat.

Fishbrain · #11 07-15-2007, 02:56 AM

im the younger haha. I'm bigger than him though so its ok :P

the gig went really well but as it turned out we weren't allowed to bring any of our own backline! so it didnt matter anyway!

i'll try addin some high mids an cuttin the low mids though, thanks.

Deacon_Blues · #12 07-15-2007, 04:07 AM

I've been mixing a few rock gigs and on the mixer, I've almost always turned up the mids/high mids (1-4 kHz) and cut the low mids/bass - on the GUITAR channels on the mixer. That clears up a lot in the sound and makes it easier to dial in a good bass sound, as the bass then handles almost all low frequencies itself together with the bass drum. It also means you can lower the volume on the guitars while they're still being heard well.