Troy Sanders--How can I hear his basslines?

BassFTW · #1 09-05-2007, 05:41 PM

Their guitars cover up his lines and I can almost never hear them. I really like Mastodon but I'm almost positive he doesn't always follow the guitar, what can I do to hear him more clearly?

Matt Till · #2 09-05-2007, 06:35 PM

... he follows the guitar most of the time. There are some times he defines chord changes while the guitarists do some lead stuff, I can't think of any examples offhand, I have a couple Mastodon albums, but they don't spin very often.

He's very audible all the time, IMO. You just need to lock into what he's doing, he has very distorted tone more often than not. It meshes with the guitar, but I can pick him out of the mix, at least on Leviathan.

SuperSnake2012 · #3 09-06-2007, 02:49 AM

I like what he plays on The Wolf Is Loose from Blood Mountain... he's very audible during the lead guitar harmonies.

casio · #4 09-06-2007, 03:28 AM

He is an audible player IMO, but I can't say I enjoy his tone or style!
his brother seems to do a better job in bloodsimple, although I prefer mastodon's tunes...

MammaryVest · #5 09-06-2007, 02:17 PM

In a song like "crystal skull" he follows the guitars almost exactly for the whole song. but in a song like Aqua Dementia, he plays different things. You just have to know what your listening for.

Baryonyx · #6 09-07-2007, 07:11 AM

Yeah, I can pick him out pretty well. Keep listening for that low tone, and yes, he'll follow the chord changes wih the guitars most of the time. As has been said, he also uses a distorted tone, so be aware of this incase you're trying to recreate his sound. He does occasionally venture away from the guitars, there are a few parts of Remission where he does this. Keep listening and in time you'll learn to pick it out!

stabbicus · #7 09-07-2007, 12:40 PM

Just a suggestion, but isn't the Tascam Bass Trainer made for the purpose of isolating the bass lines in songs? Maybe look into purchasing one of these. I believe they can be easily had on the 'bay for around $50-$75.

BassFTW · #8 09-08-2007, 11:32 AM

Sounds like I'll have to go pick up blood mountain too then, thanks guys.

Satanstoenail · #9 09-09-2007, 12:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BassFTW

Their guitars cover up his lines and I can almost never hear them. I really like Mastodon but I'm almost positive he doesn't always follow the guitar, what can I do to hear him more clearly?

Turn up the bass on your eq?

Phlintlock · #10 09-09-2007, 04:32 PM

He may follow the guitars alot but I find with Mastodon alot some of their guitar riffs are so face crushingly awesome not to reinforce them with a low end would be a travesty, ala Mother Puncher (them not playing that live when I saw them was also a travesty :/ )

Baryonyx · #11 09-10-2007, 04:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Satanstoenail

Turn up the bass on your eq?

If anything that would mush things up and make it harder to pick out what the bass is doing...

slapagroov · #12 09-10-2007, 04:40 PM

also, don't just listen for the low end. he has a distorted tone most of the time, so be aware of that.
If you don't have Blood Mountain - get it!!!
Listen to Crystal Skull on Blood Mountain. At 1:07 it drops to one gtr. At 1:13 everyone else comes in and you can really hear the bass on that.

Also the first 14 seconds of Capillarian Crest from the same album the bass is very aparent. He's walking around while the gtrs. are playing higher melodies. You can hear his distortion well on that part.

NoNoise · #13 09-10-2007, 05:06 PM

I agree that his bass lines aren't too easy to hear. The same goes for when they play live. However, after a lot of practice developing my "bass ear," I've found I can pick out the bass most of the time. It helps to find a part where you can hear him clearly and then "remember" that sound as you listen to the other songs.

I've never used a Tascam Bass Trainer, but it does sound interesting...

Satanstoenail · #14 09-14-2007, 11:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris2112

If anything that would mush things up and make it harder to pick out what the bass is doing...

Well I was joking, but if that method was attempted then I would suggest not to turn the up to the point where anything was being mushed up, but instead to the point where bass response is at its optimal level.

CHILDISHGAMBINO · #15 09-14-2007, 11:29 AM

He plays some different lines on "Blood and Thunder" during the crazy guitar harmony part that's pretty easy to hear. He's very audible all over Blood Mountain IMO.