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Bass Tone/Dealing With Frequencies

#21
joshbassistct said:
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=uATFL8nptrw&desktop_uri=/watch?v=uATFL8nptrw

Two minutes in Nolly's bass tone. Something like this but clean and not distorted
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How can it be anything like that and yet be without distortion? You'll have to come up with a "clean" demo for us to know what the tone in your head is. "Nothing Else Matters" bass tone? :hiding:

Jimmy might please tell you where nominally flat is on the SVT III eq. It probably isn't with the knobs at noon.

I'm guessing you get all the distortion you (don't?!??:eek:) need from the amp itself being cranked up to the max?

This is how you get booomf while saving a bit of power for other things and not flabbing your ported cab into producing muddy distortion harmonics of fundamentals smack in your breadbasket mids:

"Flat" with the SVT EQ and drop the 33hz on your graphic to the floor for starters. Be very hesitant to boost the 50hz on the amp, in fact it would probably pay to cut that a little also. Now boost 80 and 130 on your graphic, I would be more careful boosting 80hz if using a more powerful amp. This knocks out the fundamental frequencies in favour of the 1st overtones.

For the rest you must experiment with yours and guitars EQ's through and through. You can get a baseline setting for everyone that doesn't need too much tweaking venue to venue.

To really hear the bass sing, guitar EQ will be entirely different from what they are used to dialing up. They must be onboard with letting bass be bass and guitars be guitars to have any hope of doing any better than filling in a leftover scrap of tonal range with bass tone. Otherwise they will dial back in their overpowering lows every time your back is turned.

How technical do you want to get to a great sound?

What are the guitar players using for rigs?

In a practice studio 4x12 halfstacks need to be lifted up to give the guitarists a true impression of the sound they are putting out. You can lift a bass cab 2 1/2' off the floor without losing low end so have no truck with that, it's a trick of the mind as you hear the higher directional frequencies so much better when they aren't directed at your legs.
 
#24
I always start with EQ flat, and if I don't play on my amp and cab, I subtly EQ until my guitar sounds flat.
Than, I try it just with drummer to adjust general volume and low frequences (if needed). Than with other instruments and listen to my mid range. In the end, I listen to the vocal, and my high mids and treble, to see if I am intruding vocals frequency space.
If something sound out of place, I rather cut frequency (always a little at time).
Only if my bass sound lifeless, I boost (very rarely).
In the end, my EQ is most often flat or very close to flat.
 
#32
Foz said:
Chunk it in... get an accordion and a wah wah pedal.
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I recommend playing a wind-up tambourine monkey doll.;)

The POD high gain tones have a synthesized low freq thump, to make it sound like just like the stereo. And I bet they use lots of reverb and digital delay too? Those effects only bury them in the mix, so then they turn up louder yet.
As long as the guitars use them, you will never be heard.

I've tried for years to get my guitar POD to work good live, but never could. I wanted the versatility that the POD provides. The cab simulations were always the problem, because I play thru a 100 watt tube head with a 4x12 cab. The cab simulations are not needed with 4x12, and with the cab simulations disabled, the POD sounds really bad.
I use my POD in my basement recording studio, and its awesome for that, I almost get a tone close to my JCM2000.
 
#36
AuntieBeeb said:
From what I've heard, he may well have given you that info in good faith. Trouble is, plenty of (perfectly well-meaning) producers and sound engineers are taught that there is a set formula to mixing things - i.e., that "bass" is EQ'ed a certain way, "guitar" another and so on, and they never learn to mix with their ears.

Of course, every band sounds different in their own particular way, so you can't apply a formula to these things. Your best bet is to ignore him and start with the EQ flat. If you feel it's missing something, play around with your settings until you like it. Then stick it in a band setting and see how well it sits - adjust again if necessary.
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+1

If this guy is primarily a metal producer, I'd take his advice with a huge grain of salt. There are bazillions of modern metal records out there with the bass buried under gobs of scooped, compressed guitar tone and kick drum mixed way too low in the mix. For my money, the modern metal bassists with the best tone are the cats from Protest the Hero, Dillinger Escape Plan, and Unearth. You can actually hear the articulation of their instruments, even in a metal mix. Of course, all three of those bands have something else important: Guitarists with great tone (i.e., not smilie-faced EQed, stupid gain level guitar tone), which is half the battle, especially in a metal mix. I totally disagree with the idea that anything above 5k on the bass is worthless. In a metal mix, sometimes getting that really high frequency presence with even a little fret click is just what you need.
 
#37
joshbassistct said:
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No body to the bass (drums, too) so it/they gets lost under the guitars which actually have a very nice tone to them, not at all what I was expecting, so kudos to them for that. The mix also could be better, it is very guitar heavy, level wise, with both the bass and the drums too low. With a better balanced and EQ'd mix this could sound much better, IMHO. Is this pretty typical of how deathcore mixes sound?
 
#38
joshbassistct said:
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Holy cow, I concur with Jeff. Your producer has a guitar fetish. Drums sound like some cheesy electric kit. I wish I could say tweak this and that this way and that way but I am lacking drumset EQ clues too. Less guitar please.

No guts to the bass behind the guitars in the ragy bits. It makes the woomf drops dramatic but too costly.

An experiment for you: line up the rigs altogether along the longest wall. Bass in middle. 4x12 each side up on stands, toed in so there is a sweet spot in the centre. Take turns on the sweet spot but line up "side-a-ways" along the centreline as if you were on a tiny stage almost back to back.

Have another bass player take control of the knobs. Blast off, get a mix. It might take awhile, wear earplugs! Note strange new EQ's which look all wrong but sound great together.

Note how the mix goes to hell when you step out of the centre zone while remaining in the hot zone of one of the 4x12's. I don't know how big your gigs are but asuming you are still playing to bars you might want to then think about a major downsizing of rigs and using a ******* big PA instead.
 

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