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Am I overplaying?
- Thread starter Manuel101
- Start date
Since you are a very skilled player, I suggest you could try with a different type of bass!
I want to share something I experienced running sound for a musical some years ago. The bass player (whom I knew from before) was happy, since he had bought a used Smith bass, which are very rare here in Sweden. He had "upgraded" from a (mid 90s?) Fender American Jazz Bass V. He is a trained, and skilled player with high grade SWR gear, which all gave me something very nice to work with for the mix.
The thing was, that I knew how his bass and rig used to sound (really good!) and I found myself working quite hard to get this high end Smith bass to "sit" in the mix. With his Fender, a bit of mid boost and a modest boost in the bottom range gave an excellent sound in the PA as well as in the live recordings I did. In spite of much harder work with the Smith, it ended up worse in the mix and on "tape".
Going back to work with the recordings at a later stage, I noticed that I had to boost the very low end from the Smith by 15 dB (!) to keep up with the Fender's tone and drive. (Sustain and dynamics were fairly similar between them.) And that was from recording basically the same rig at identical settings. The limited output and frequency range of his SWR rig (compared to my PA or recording monitors) did "hide" the big difference while hearing the basses on stage. Wow...
I want to share something I experienced running sound for a musical some years ago. The bass player (whom I knew from before) was happy, since he had bought a used Smith bass, which are very rare here in Sweden. He had "upgraded" from a (mid 90s?) Fender American Jazz Bass V. He is a trained, and skilled player with high grade SWR gear, which all gave me something very nice to work with for the mix.
The thing was, that I knew how his bass and rig used to sound (really good!) and I found myself working quite hard to get this high end Smith bass to "sit" in the mix. With his Fender, a bit of mid boost and a modest boost in the bottom range gave an excellent sound in the PA as well as in the live recordings I did. In spite of much harder work with the Smith, it ended up worse in the mix and on "tape".
Going back to work with the recordings at a later stage, I noticed that I had to boost the very low end from the Smith by 15 dB (!) to keep up with the Fender's tone and drive. (Sustain and dynamics were fairly similar between them.) And that was from recording basically the same rig at identical settings. The limited output and frequency range of his SWR rig (compared to my PA or recording monitors) did "hide" the big difference while hearing the basses on stage. Wow...
My hat's off to you. Of all the idioms I've tackled there is none more difficult to wrap your head around than modern urban merengue bass playing. There are many subtle levels. On the surface it seems simple enough, but when you actually try to play it you quickly realize that it's pretty deep. Many of the things that you are doing that have been criticized are, in fact, defining features of the idiom. Exactly *how* to do them is the big trick to getting it "right". Even with the respectable amount of listening that I've done to this idiom, I'm not in a position to offer any advice. You know the idiom far better than I, so I just want to give you a big thumbs up. I think you will eventually get a better understanding of your uncle's concept, and then you'll nail it. You certainly have the talent.
you can play a lot, but fit in the pocket, too. listen to your bandmates, don't go crazy with it. Unless they give you room.
