BASS TONE GLOSSARY (WE NEED SOUND CLIPS FROM TB'rs FOR THESE TONES)

!WE NEED SOUND CLIPS FOR THESE TERMS FROM TBr's!

Paul has been cool enough to provide server space on TB for them. David Wilson was cool enough to agree to assist with screening since my laptop doesn't cut it for listening to clips. Were looking for short, simple, representative, original clips (ie., no copywrited material from popular songs). I figure 5 - 10 seconds should be sufficient time to identify most any tone. You should be able to attatch a clip file to my email at [email protected] to ship a clip. Studio quality/virtuoso clips are not necessary, just an audible representative sample.

This (Glossary in general) is NOT the finished product but an ongoing process that's up for alteration and revision as TBr's contribute.
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Acoustic tone:
1) sound of the bass unplugged
2) tone reminiscent of resonant qualities inherent in an acoustic instrument (ie. piezo-like)

Action: the distance between the strings and the fingerboard typically referred to as high, medium, or low

Active pickup: a pickup with an internal preamp requiring a battery to produce volume of any use. Typically assoiciated with EMG's, a Hi-fi tone, and no noise. Often misused in reference to a bass with an onboard preamp and passive pickups.

Aggressive:
1) Generally meaning a "hot" or "high gain" sound. "In your face" as opposed to "smooth" or "mellow".
2) It can also refer to certain EQ characteristics such as a harsh top, grindy mids, or a woofy bottom
3) An attack which is hard, sharp, snappy, etc.

Air:
1) typically associated with speakers and literally the amount of air it moves which affects the sound projected
2) a noticeable void in frequency response or thinness to tone

Articulate:
1) strong mids, especially upper mids
2) clearly defined tones
(Reflective artist: Chris Squire)

Attack:
1) process of setting a string in motion
2) rate of response of a pickup to the input signal

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Bass Frequency Range for bass:
Bass: 200 Hz down; Lo Mids: 200 - 400 Hz; mid mids: 400 - 700 Hz; upper mids: 700 - 1kHz; treble: 1kHz up
(reflectively lower than typical studio ranges)

Bark : strong upper mids and low treble. (Reflective artist: Larry Grahm)

Beefy: see fat
syn. full, thick, solid.

Bite: The ability of a tone to be noticed by virtue of it's (typically) treble/midrange pleasingly gritty edge.

Boom (boomie): bass and/or midrange tones lacking punch and definition which produce an apparent hollow wall of sound.

Boxie: higher frequency less pronounced boom.

Bright: having an abundance of high end response - emphasing higher frequencies in varying degrees. ant. dark

Bulge: fatter/longer decaying punch tone - typically with a noticably pronunced initial punch accompanied by a fairly harmonic thinner fading decay - floor tom like

Burp: primarily mid frequency tone that essentially sounds like the word "burp" verbalized. (Reflective artist Jaco Pastorious)

Buttery: extremely smooth
syn. creamy

Buzz Saw Distortion: distortion reminiscent of a saw missing teeth rather than a tube amp being overdriven. (Reflective artist Tim Commerford)

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Capacitor: A device which can store an electric charge. Probably the cheapest, easiest, most dramatic means of altering tone in a bass from changing component(s). Standard bass is .05 mfd, the higher the value the bassier the tone. Conversion chart for various expressive values: http://www.justradios.com/uFnFpF.html

Choke (choking):
1) a tone that dies prematurely (typically associated with bending).
2) a coil that is used to regulate frequency response - can literally be used to create an onboard 2 band (or more) passive circuit.

Chunky: pronounced attack resulting in a Big, fat, loud tone with resonance below upper frequencies. Lower frequency crunch.

Clean: well defined, undistorted, undadultered tone

Clear (clarity): distinct or defined tone [ant. muddy]

Coil Tap: a split coil pickup designed with a 3rd lead "tapped" in between the start and finish of the winding resulting in essentially two starts to the coil and functionally two different coil lengths within a single coil - thereby creating different tone. More common in older pickups - rare these days. Splitting the coils of a dual coil pickup is often mis-termed a coil tap.

Colored:
1) noticeable features of tone beyond the fundamental that add desireble texture
2) variable - qualities other than the acoustic properties of the bass or that override the acoustic properties

Compressed: a characteristic wide peak frequency envelope typically resulting in a more desireable definition of tone with the trade off of a proprotionately strangled feel and lack of response to dynamic range

Creamy: extremely smooth

Crunch: tone that is noticeably metallic, edgey, and brittle on top of lower frequency resonance

Cut: tone which is clearly distinguishable in a band setting

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Damping: a technique to dull, deaden, diminish string ring resulting in a desired degree of decay. Often referred to as palming when using the bridge hand and used with the fretting hand to prevent resonation from adjacent strings not being played. syn. muting.

Dark: emphasing lower frequencies in varying degrees. ant. bright

Decay: rate of reduction of tone following attack

Definition: The quality of a sound that allows it to be distinguished from other sounds.

Dirty: unclear tone typically produced by high inductance pickups which under given settings and conditions will cause the amplified signal to distort - the pickup itself does not produce a distorted output.

Distortion: technically any difference, apart from volume level, between an original signal and one that has been processed. Desireable disortion includes such controlled effects as fuzz, etc.

Dry: no incorporation of effects into the signal chain

Dual coil pickup: a pickup up with two coils most commonly referred to as a humbucker primarily becuase they make up the vast majority of such pickups.

Dual sound: a term coined by Dimarzio for series/parallel

Dub: pronounced low frequency tone primarily associated with studio recorded Reggae, ie Dub Reggae (Reflective artist: Jerry Jemmott)

Dummy coil: an additional coil that does not sense the strings but functions to cancel hum.

Dynamics:
1) The amount of fluctuation in level of an audio signal
2) the intentional playing of instruments loudly or softly at different times - typically in unison.

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Edge (edgey): distinguished, difined hardness to tone

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Fat:
1) lots of bass and low mids; heavy in low frequencies
2) apparent broad frequency range
syn. beefy, full, thick, solid.

Farty (farting):
1) speaker term - when the magnetic circuit loses control of the voice coil at high volumes on low bass notes. 120hz ripple
2) excessive low with slow decay

Flabby(flabby): Farty

Flange effect: A delay-based effect that produces a "whooshing" sound that sweeps across the frequency spectrum (created and coined by John Lennon)

Focused: see narrow

Full: see fat.

Fundamental: the lowest frequency that is present in the sounding of a pitch

Funky:

Fuzz: a very controlled distortion-like tone that emphasizes harmonics and sustain in a streaming line of signal. Produces a relatively soft, thin, buzz-like tone. (ei Stone's "Satisfaction").

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Glassy: varibable: strong in the upper treble range, with a significant loss of lows; excessive top end; sharp piercing, brittle highs

Grindy(grind): (Reflective artist: Jason Newstead)

Grit Gritty:

Growl:
1) Primarily a pronounced midranged (can vary low to upper) grrrrrrrrr-like tone. Often enhanced by aggressive technique, playing near the bridge, and accenting the bridge pup.
2) Gallien-Krueger definds growl as-a small amount of even order harmonic distortion (UrbanAssault415)
3) strings can produce a "string growl" exhibited during slides resulting from the strings lightly grazing the frets - becoming string rattle when the action is too low.

Grunt:

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Harmonics:
1) whole number multiples of the fundamental frequency (3rds, 5ths, etc.)

HiFi:
1) High Fidelty - clear, refined, controlled, recorded-like quality with no noise
3) historically - having redeeming qualties such as full range frequency response yet tends to be relatively flat, boring, and colorless as in the comparison of recorded versus live
(Reflective artist: Marcus Miller)

Honk (honky): Nasal/megaphone sounding resulting from a peaked midrange (typically 800 to 1200hz) that is up several db from the low end.

Hot: comparatively loud; high output (pup roughly 10K up)

Hum: Loosely - extraneous noise introduced into the signal albeit 60 cycle, microphonics, poor grounding, etc.

Humbucking(er) pickup a dual coil pickup which effectively cancels 60 cycle and extaneous hum/noise by using two coils wired out of phase and two magnets oriented with opposite polarities. The result is typically a less clear, but fuller, lower frequency tone with no noise.

Humcanceling pickup: typically a single coil pickup designed to reduce 60 cycle hum/extraneous noise, the success of which varies in degrees usually at the expense of clarity and higher frequencies.

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Jazz pickup: derived from the original Fender single coil Jazz bass pickups which set the standard for their dimensions. The dimensions no longer reflect the internal construction but has resulted in the overwhelming majority of bass pickups constructed of any single dimension, to be jazz pickups. Generally associated with a brighter, clearer tone.

THE BASS TONE GLOSSARY CONTINUES NEXT POST

BASS TONE GLOSSARY CONTINUED

Loose: noticeably lacking control, not tight

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Midrange Frequency for bass: 200 Hz - 1 kHz (1000 Hz)
1) Lo Mids: 200 - 400 Hz
2) mid mids: 400 - 700 Hz
3) upper mids: 700 - 1 kHz

Muddy: poorly defined tones

Music Man pickup: (MM) Dual coil large diameter pole OEM pickup installed the original Music Man Stingray bass which is now used to refer to replacement pickups of the same dimensions.

Mute: see damping

Mwah: horn (brass instrument) like tone obtained with fretless resulting from strings lightly grazing the fingerboard with proper setup - see setup. (Reflective artist: Mark Egan)
(bassybill)

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Narrow:
1)tone with a peak in the mids somewhere giving a distinct, cutting voice and and some treble and bass roll off
2) more generically, any tone reflecting narrow bandwidth

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Old school: relatively unrefined, primarily low end/mid range tone, which lacks definition in varying degrees (Reflective artist: James Jammison)

Open:
1) transparent, uncolored
2) a less controlled and in sync style of play

Out of Phase: Out of phase sounds consist of very little bass, dominate mids and highs with a characteristic 'nasal, honky' sound and have much lower output. Occurs when 2 pickups or coils are connected in such a way that the current flows are in opposite directions and tend to cancel one another - intentional through a phase switch or accindental through inadveratant crossing of leads.

Output: voltage (in miili-volts [mV]) a pickup prodcues most often indirectly referenced through dc resistance (approximations = low 6K & below and high 10K above) and functionally equates to relative volume - higher numerical values becoming louder.

Overtones: see harmonics

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P bass pickup: see precision bass pickup

Palming: see damping

Parallel: pickups wired so that the start (hot) of each coil and the finish (negative or ground) of each coil are joined to function as the terminal connections for the pickup(s). Typically resulting in a tone that is clearer, softer, higher frequency but with considerably less output, fullness, and low end.

Passive pickup: a pickup that essentially consists of coated conductive wire wrapped around magnetic(s) resutling in a complete circuit with no internal preamp and does not require a battery to produce useable output.

Peaked (peaky): variation between peaks and dips in frequency response such that the peaks are pronounced and very audible

Phase effect: a delay-based effect that produces a liquid, shimmering sound

Piano Like: rich in overtones/harmonics; sounds like an acoustic piano (that brand new unaccompanied round wound sound)

Pickup placement: location of a pickup and the given affect on tone. In general, given the same pup moved from bridge towards the neck, the dark, dirtier, and louder (approximately 3 times as loud at the neck than bridge) the tone will become. Cool link to play with compliments of Luke Sheridan. http://www.till.com/articles/PickupResponseDemo/

Piezo: piezoelectricity results when variable pressure/vibration is applied to a crystalline substance and that can be utilized in a pickup configuration generically referred to as piezo's. The tone produced is a thin, hollow, high frequency, acoustic like tone

Pounding : see thump

Precision bass pickup: coined after the Fender pickup in the first popular mass produced electric bass guitar (Precision was in reference to the accuracy of play possible from the fretted neck - since it's acoustic predicessors were fretless). The initial pickup gave way to an improved version that was split into two staggered halfs with bi-pole magnets as it's known today. Generally known for a deep, thumpy tone.

Present (presence): The quality in sound of the instrument being right there next to you, typically obtained in bass with a treble boost centered around 3 kHz
(Reflective artist: Flea)

Punch(punchy): strong low mids; pronounced dull intial attack, lots of body, good control over the power band - muted/padded kick drum-like in character (Reflective artist: Berry Oakley)

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Rawness (Raw): any primitive, rudimentary, unrefined character to tone (dirty, edgey, etc.)

Retro: vintage

Round (rounded): smooth, broad, full tone; reflective of a curve rather than peaked signal (ant. edge/edgey)

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Scooped: lacking mids, strong in highs and lows (Reflective artist: Stanley Clarke)

Sensitivty: relative rate and magnitude of response

Series: pickups wired so that the finish lead (negative or ground) of one coil is joined to the start lead (hot) of another coil so that the start of one coil and finish of another coil become the terminal connections for the pickup(s). Typically resulting in higher resistance (more output) and a tone that is beefy, solid, with more low end but with less high frequency response, less clarity, and less softness.

Series/parallel: installing switching which permits the selection of either. see series, parallel

Setup: process of adusting nut, neck, and bridge to obtain the desired relationship between the strings and fingerboard (action).
Fretless: Invalid Link Removed

Single coil pickup: a pickup with one coil. Typically producing a brighter, clearer tone at the expense of loss of lower frequencies with the added disadvantage of extraneous noise/hum when pickups are used alone or in combination when volume controls are not on maximum setting.

Smooth: controlled, rounded, well balanced frequency response, good sensitivity, varing degrees of color, with no apparent harshness

Soapbar pickup: a term coined in likening their rectangular, smooth (non-exposed pole) appearance to bars of soap. The reference is to the housing only and does not reflect internal construction. Housings vary in dimension and can accomodate any coil configuration.

Solid: see fat

Solo:
1) bass played without accompaniment or as the featured instrument
2) a pleasing tone when the bass is played by itself (such tone typically does not work well played with the band)

Split coil pickup: see coil tap

Splitting coils: a dual coil 4 lead pickup (with a start and finish to each coil - or the equivalent) where the coils are functionally wired as two separate single coils rather than wiring them as a dual coil in series or parallel. Splitting a dual coil pickup will produce a different tone for several reasons but in part because each coil reads a different section of the string.

String rattle: unpleasant, uneven, metallic (strings to frets) clatter when action is set too low.

Sustain: the tendency for a tone to keep ringing after attack. Within the bass itself, results from a combination of factors - including the pickups.

Sweet: smooth highs

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Timbre: the quality of a musical note or sound which distinguishes one instrument from another even if they are playing notes at the same pitch and amplitude (or notes which are otherwise equal).

Thick: significant Low mid range emphasis (ala Dimarzio Model J)

Thin:
1) lacking bass and low mids
2) apparent narrow frequency range

Throaty:

Thump: Strong lows, sound you can feel, low frequency punch

Tight:
1)strong fundamental, especially in the lows. Doesn't have the low lows (40Hz and lower)
2) very controlled and clearly defined tone (ie. compressed)

Transparent (transparency):
1) an overall open frequency range with no (or little) emphasis on any particular frequency range.
2) a frequency range that does not cut, is very thin, or has more air than anything
3) Uncolored tone - the degree to which amplification of only the acoustic tone of the bass is achieved

Treble Frequency Range for bass: 1 kHz up

Tubular: a flange-like tone with a rushing air quality - especially through a cylinder

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Uncolored: the degree to which the amplified sound accurately reflects the acoustic properties of the bass

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Vintage tone: typically low to mid mid heavy, warm, unrefined, inclined to exhibit some degree of noise, lacking clarity to varying degrees.

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Warm: a little less treble and presence, slight boost in the bass - primarily a moderately dark (lower frequency) tone, typically lacking defintion and frequently associated with vintage tone

Weak:
1) lacking in all frequencies
2) comparatively quiet; low output (pups roughly 6K or below)

Wet: incorporation of effects in the signal chain

Wide: tone extending far into the bass and treble regions

Wolfe (wolf) Tones:
1) discordant, warbling like tone resulting from excessive pull on the strings at the point of the pickup magnets which produces a string with extended cycle time and uneven oscillaton. Due to improper pickup height or dirty/rusty strings.
2) an eccentricity of resonance which either enhances or damps the note in question. Sounds like a strange mixture of beats because of the periodic diminution and augmentation of the odd harmonics of a string. Result of imperfections in construction but which can occur regardless of quality of the instrument.

Woody: originally an acoustic guitar reference to describe instruments having a predominant midrang and rather short decay with a noticeable character change as it fades as opposed to just a simple volume reduction. Enhanced by playing near the bridge. Found in soft lightweight bodies or hollowbodies with lightweight bridges.(Reflective artist: Jimmy Haslip)
Sample Clip
Sample Clip

What the hell,

just going on initial input, let the fun begin.

Probably a good idea to just forget about the arguing and debate over someone's definition - you know the bashing stuff.

Either throw out a term you want defined or throw a definition on the table as you see it and a comparison of definitions of a given term should establish some commonalities.

I've got to attend to an ebay add but I'll put out transparency in a while.

Jabberwock, if any of those engineering terms seem to fit and you recall them, toss 'em out. Studio lingo is something that could be useful to all of us.

Yep,

this is going to be interesting.

Retro

The only one that even jumps at me at all is retro - latin to go back. In bass associated with vintage and the retrofit preamps called of things, retro because they were desinged to drop in without modifications that would be a permanent alteration from stock.

But I don't do vintage so who really knows?

Burp

I knew immediately but putting it into words is another matter. In my experience primarily a slap tone (though not necessarily cause I've had it otherwise) resulting from slap hammer-ons and to a lessor degree pops. Not much here but a start.

Transparency

1) an overall open frequency range with no emphasis on any particular frequency range. Some mean an overall open range *with* some frequency range emphasis being acceptable (excerpt for DavidWilson's post).

2) Typically a frequency range that does not cut, is very thin, or has more air than anything - which may be inherent in the pup or dialed in or out through adjustment. A scooped pup would have transparent mids cause obviously mids are being generated but the pups will not cut them, they are very thin, or you can adjust them in or out (mine).

3) I've always figured transparent to mean that the Pup brings through the natural tone of the instrument itself, the sound of the neck wood and body wood in combination with the strings and the bridge (Big Evil Robot).

Which is to say uncolored which is the amp interpretation I alluded to earlier.

This is a pilfering of jive1's thread which didn't seem to draw any argument per se regarding the tone term and frequencies realted - at least from the responses to the thread. Just to have them on the same page. As Jive himself stated, feel free to jump in, add or state your related thoughts.

Warm - a little less treble and presence, slight boost in the bass
Growl - Strong midrange
Thump - Strong lows, sound you can feel
Punch - strong low mids
HiFi - Clear highs, and bass.
Glassy - strong in the upper treble range, with a significant loss of lows
Pounding - see thump
Fat - lots of bass and low mids
Bark - strong upper mids and low treble
Thin - lacking bass and low mids
Weak - lacking in all frequencies
Present - strong highs
Woody - strong upper mids
Piano Like - rich in overtones/harmonics
Tight - strong fundamental, especially in the lows. Doesn't have the low lows (40Hz and lower)
Articulate - strong mids, especially upper mids
Scooped - lacking mids, strong in highs and lows

paintandsk8 said:

....But anyways, I was thinking that putting together a database of sound clips would be useful. But so much of that depends on the recording and playback equipment, so we would not get very consistent results from computer to computer. thoughts?

Click to expand...

Never thought about soundclips cause to me for the most part they're useless but they would be very useful for something like this. Where it's very difficult to convey some sounds with words. Open is probably one of them. No doubt I've heard it but can't say as I've ever attached that name to it. Clips would also be a good adjunct to a written glossary

jabberwock777 said:

So how do we get sound clips? Classic bass sounds from albums? Somebody with a nice studio and a wall o' basses?

Also, I want a definition for a "cheap" sounding bass.

Click to expand...

Some funny posts - which beats ugly cuase with terms like Farty things could get ugly real fast.

Don't do sound clips myself and have no idea but I know DavidWilson, Smash and some others have jacked with them and will probably have something useful to say.

bassybill said:

Isn't this just quiet?

Interesting thread - some of the terms are obviously fairly self-explanatory (eg, scooped) ...

Not going to attempt burp (?!) or bulge....

Click to expand...

Most of these so far are from Jive1's post referenced earlier. This will be ongoing, in process, adding and deleting for a while. What's there so far is was really stuck there to give an example of the process. It's open for anybody to toss a different definition for any of them.

Bulge is a word I made cause I didn't know if it was called anything else, just a fatter punch or a punch with swell or higher frequency thump. LOL

Burp is a wierd one to put in words, but if you simply say it out loud in a medium tone - that's what it sounds like.

And yeh, scooped is self-explanatory once you know what it is but I remember when I didn't and I see period threads asking.

tonenazi said:

I'm game with some quick takes...

Click to expand...

Appreciate all the input. One thing I want to clarify in terms of the specific frequencies listed is I know I've read studio engineers pieces on frequency ranges that yield relatively specific results in terms of recording but that's an after the fact thing - adjusted relative to the bass and rigging for the tune at hand and outcome desired.

For the bass and rigging in a band setting in my experience the pups, amp, and cabs can drastically affect that. For example in a mid range heavy rig (like my Poly) cutting mid frequencies 4dB or (even 12dB) is probably not going to result in a scooped tone. The same could be said with a heavy mid range pup like a DM model P.

I'm not up on specific frequency responses and so the clarification - from anybody and everybody. This particular example jumped out but I'm also wondering about the application of frequencies in general - especially more narrow bands.

Also just cause some contributions aren't thrown into the mix at this time doesn't mean they're not acknowledged, valued, or worthy. This is not going to be done if a few days. Probably on-going like the other threads.