Dynamic (Dynamic Playing) or Consistent (Dynamic Writing)?

[lightninz]

Hi there everyone,

I am just very curious as i am recording a few bass tracks. Definitely throughout the song we definitely have to keep it dynamic to keep the song interesting and bring the listener to places. So here is what puzzles me.

One, should we play very dynamically in terms of volume through to song to pump different levels in the song for example reasonably loud in verses but pumping hard on those final choruses.

or Two, should we play very consistent in volume but through the number of notes and lengths determine the dynamic level.

I do feel that most song will need a combination of both but more heavily on two. Wanted to see what view does the rest have on it. and also, Does it change when i comes to live?

 

[JonathanPDX]

I've never been in a studio/recording situation that didn't start with an expectation that the bass play at a more-or-less consistent volume level. Your personal dynamics might shift a bit but having the actual gain go up and down just creates a giant headache for the engineer later on. It's very easy to adjust the bass up or down to play with dynamics from a volume perspective, but it's a huge time sink to try to level out all those bass dynamics before you can even begin the mixing process.

Live is a different animal. For one, live sound is dynamic by nature. The people in the room soak up different frequencies and are responding to the dynamics of the band in real time. On a record you are producing a consistent product that's probably being so compressed by many factors that it's incapable of the same dynamic shifts as a live performance.

 

[SteveCS]

There are countless ways to 'develop' music - melodic decoration, ornamentation, thematic repetition and development, tempo and key, tonality/modality or even something as simple tone/timbre can add or reduce tension or induce/suspend movement just as much as the individual and collective dynamics. But without context of the specific song it is impossible to advise or offer opinions as to which migh be right in your situation.

It really does depend on the music; but whatever you do, provided it is based on good (defensible) musical choices, don't give a second thought to the engineer - his/her job is to represent the music, not talk you into changing the composition for ease of recording or other reasons of 'compensation'.

If you really want to get under the hood of ways in which the various compositional devices can work watch some really good movies. Some film soundtracks are incredible and are a rich source of learning:

The Silence of the Lambs
Hannibal
Any 'Harry Potter' movie
Psycho
Jaws
Philadelphia

 

[Les Fret]

or Two, should we play very consistent in volume but through the number of notes and lengths determine the dynamic level.

In most pop, rock, metal and funk option two is more likely. More or less the same volume for recording bass. But for jazz there may be more be more volume changes. All depends on the music, the context and the situation and what the rest of the musicians do.

 

[lightninz]

Thanks guys for these insights, they are very interesting and definitely start to set me up towards a good directions

 

[el murdoque]

An example for the use of dynamics in terms of volume might be Tool.
Their albums work best for me when I set the volume on the playback device so that the loud parts are a little too loud for comfort - and I like to think that they were engineered to work exactly like that.

This makes them more or less useless to be played in elevators, supermarkets or morning radio shows, where music has a constant volume level and zero dynamics - but oh so much greater to listen to from the comfy chair in your music room.

I think these dynamics are quite rare nowadays. Music that goes silent and then comes back louder demands attention and will be harder to ignore. People that use music as a background noise don't dig that.

 

[lightninz]

True that too, taking into account the consumption pattern of the listeners