Just a few observations:
Was at an ACDC-gig a few month ago (not my favourite kind of music, I'm not into rock or metal at all, but I always loved them). It was exactly like you describe. You couldn't hear one single note of Cliff Williams with the exception of about 3 notes of Let There Be Rock. But there was an earth shaking amount of Subbass.
This said, I listen to a lot of bass heavy music or music that is mixed bass-heavy on records. I play a lot of Amy Winehouse stuff lately, and some of her tracks are mixed on records like Hip-Hop and Club music (for example the studio version of "Stronger Than Me" or the DJ-mix of "In My Bed"), esp. a lot of her first record "Frank".
Just read an article on Sound On Sound how after being recorded in a very vintage way, the producer added drum samples to Rehab (kick drum and snare) after the song was recorded to make it played on the radio and in clubs.
I like that a lot. Live most of the songs sounded very different.
The Subbass on the records is very carefully mixed. Sounds good on all kind of devices.
I have Adam and Focal monitors at home, but can't listen very loud. Where I am right now I have very cheap Logitec 2.1 speakers (Z4) with a subwoofer - was about 100,- or so - but the room sounds very very good and everytime I'm here I really enjoy listening to the speakers. They even have a very good location.
That being said and back to Winehouse: The subbass content of the records is very well defined. It's really low but at a decent volume you can hear every single note being played. It shakes your stomach and balls, but it isn't muddy.
Most clubs today have very good sound systems that reach the same result. In a way I would like to reach the same sound playing live. Esp. if the music or some of it makes the audience dance.
Played a small local open air gig lately that was recorded with a decent video cam - someone in the audience liked us and filmed the gig. The sound system was very good (two large Dynacord line arrays and prof. mixers), but apart from songs, where the mixer noticed that I was playing melodic center pieces, the bass sounded just like a low floor under the voice. Undefined. On stage it sounded much better.
A lot of the times I feel like rock music mixers just do what they always did. They don't understand what you want if you tell them you want a defined club-sound like bass and kick drum.
Maybe it is asking too much: music listening today is between small speakers and small devices like tablets on the one hand and nearly perfect professional sound systems in clubs and cinemas. Maybe many live locations or small live clubs simply cannot compete with the Discos etc. and the stadiums for large shows aren't chosen for their accoustic qualities but because ACDC can make 4 million in one night playing in front of 40.000 people.
Was at an ACDC-gig a few month ago (not my favourite kind of music, I'm not into rock or metal at all, but I always loved them). It was exactly like you describe. You couldn't hear one single note of Cliff Williams with the exception of about 3 notes of Let There Be Rock. But there was an earth shaking amount of Subbass.
This said, I listen to a lot of bass heavy music or music that is mixed bass-heavy on records. I play a lot of Amy Winehouse stuff lately, and some of her tracks are mixed on records like Hip-Hop and Club music (for example the studio version of "Stronger Than Me" or the DJ-mix of "In My Bed"), esp. a lot of her first record "Frank".
Just read an article on Sound On Sound how after being recorded in a very vintage way, the producer added drum samples to Rehab (kick drum and snare) after the song was recorded to make it played on the radio and in clubs.
I like that a lot. Live most of the songs sounded very different.
The Subbass on the records is very carefully mixed. Sounds good on all kind of devices.
I have Adam and Focal monitors at home, but can't listen very loud. Where I am right now I have very cheap Logitec 2.1 speakers (Z4) with a subwoofer - was about 100,- or so - but the room sounds very very good and everytime I'm here I really enjoy listening to the speakers. They even have a very good location.
That being said and back to Winehouse: The subbass content of the records is very well defined. It's really low but at a decent volume you can hear every single note being played. It shakes your stomach and balls, but it isn't muddy.
Most clubs today have very good sound systems that reach the same result. In a way I would like to reach the same sound playing live. Esp. if the music or some of it makes the audience dance.
Played a small local open air gig lately that was recorded with a decent video cam - someone in the audience liked us and filmed the gig. The sound system was very good (two large Dynacord line arrays and prof. mixers), but apart from songs, where the mixer noticed that I was playing melodic center pieces, the bass sounded just like a low floor under the voice. Undefined. On stage it sounded much better.
A lot of the times I feel like rock music mixers just do what they always did. They don't understand what you want if you tell them you want a defined club-sound like bass and kick drum.
Maybe it is asking too much: music listening today is between small speakers and small devices like tablets on the one hand and nearly perfect professional sound systems in clubs and cinemas. Maybe many live locations or small live clubs simply cannot compete with the Discos etc. and the stadiums for large shows aren't chosen for their accoustic qualities but because ACDC can make 4 million in one night playing in front of 40.000 people.
Last edited:
