On Saturday I played a pretty big gig (and by big, I mean we were in a large warehouse looking thing) with PA support. Unluckily for me, the bass was not coming through properly in sound check, making me look like a diva. Normally I'm not very particular about my FOH tone as long as it's present and clean. Here were the problems:
1. When plugged DI, the soundmen kept saying that when I was playing my sound would be loud on the board, and then cut out. What could cause this? They said it was my cable, but when I used different cables it didn't change. I tried enabling the pre- and post- EQ on my amp and got nothing.
2. When running through my monitor mix, I sounded like I was playing through a tin can and this was true for FOH. Even the guitarists and drummers asked "why does your bass sound like that??" The house set up included Mackie 12" monitors for everybody, some unknown subs, and 4 12" speakers as PA support.
I felt really bad about being so particular, and I was really understanding and respectful to the sound guy. By the end of the sound check, I just asked if I could crank my amp's stage volume to replace my monitor mix and have him run a DI for PA support. That really helped; as long as I can feel and hear myself the way I like to sound, I let the soundman do his job for FOH. But as soon as this happened all the people in the band told me that the sound was 300% better.
But my biggest concern is that DI problem. What could cause that?
1. When plugged DI, the soundmen kept saying that when I was playing my sound would be loud on the board, and then cut out. What could cause this? They said it was my cable, but when I used different cables it didn't change. I tried enabling the pre- and post- EQ on my amp and got nothing.
2. When running through my monitor mix, I sounded like I was playing through a tin can and this was true for FOH. Even the guitarists and drummers asked "why does your bass sound like that??" The house set up included Mackie 12" monitors for everybody, some unknown subs, and 4 12" speakers as PA support.
I felt really bad about being so particular, and I was really understanding and respectful to the sound guy. By the end of the sound check, I just asked if I could crank my amp's stage volume to replace my monitor mix and have him run a DI for PA support. That really helped; as long as I can feel and hear myself the way I like to sound, I let the soundman do his job for FOH. But as soon as this happened all the people in the band told me that the sound was 300% better.
But my biggest concern is that DI problem. What could cause that?
