Eq for a Dance Mix, judge me

[higgi]

My guitarist just sent me a spectrum analysis of my bass signal direct from the board at a show. It looks like a typical mid notch with out the upper hump. I use a .1uf tone capacitor and roll my tone all the way down most times. I use an EHX Bass Metaphors for my DI.

From my stage position it sounds good, people in the crowd say nice things about it. But does it look or sound like mud? I try to sound a little synthy by focusing my sound towards the fundamental freqs. I also try to leave room for the other instruments and voices.

As you can see I have no upper range. Should I add more midrange? Does it look or sound acceptable for a live sound?

These are the live clips the sample was analyzed in.

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[walterw]

i'm no audio engineer, but my understanding is that graphs like that tell us way less than we think they do. they don't account for time and phase, or especially room anomalies, and are mostly useful only for spotting feedback frequencies.

 

[bassman1185]

Why do you care what your sound LOOKS like? If it sounds good, it sounds good. The visual readout is irrelevant if it fits in the mix and compliments the rest of the band. Plus, this readout is just you, not the rest of the band, so we have nothing to base any speculation on.

 

[WayneP]

My guitarist just sent me a spectrum analysis of my bass signal from a show. It looks like a typical mid notch with out the upper hump. From my stage position it sounds good, people in the crowd say nice things about it. But does it look like mud? I try to sound a little synthy by focusing my sound towards the fundamental freqs. As you can see I have no upper range. Should I change? Does it look normal for a live sound?

You really can’t tell much from a “snapshot” like that. It would have to be a real-time analysis (i.e. “time-lapsed&#8221 to be meaningful.

For instance, I once set up an RTA to see what it registered when I played through an old LAB Series combo amp. I was surprised to see that no matter where I played on the neck, the response display didn’t change much: It showed a “haystack” response peaked at about 100-125 Hz, and falling off above and below that.

Obviously that amp was severely coloring the sound of my bass. The RTA display or graph should clearly register everything you play, from high to low notes. While other frequencies will register on the display, you should see the fundamental note you’re playing as the peak on the graph, and that peak should move back and forth as you move up down the scale from high to low notes. With the possible exception being the lowest notes: if your bass and/or the sound system / bass amp can’t reproduce the fundamentals of the lowest notes, you may see the display showing the peak frequency to be an octave higher - i.e., not the fundamental, but the harmonic.

Of course, all of this is only going to be viable when you’re playing all alone in a room. Add in the rest of the band and the RTA is going to register all that, too. That makes it tough to use spectrum analysis in a performance situation. So you have to play it by ear. What I usually listen for, if I’m able to get out into the audience during a sound check, is to make sure all notes come through clearly, from the highest to the lowest. Often it requires parametric equalization to say, get the extreme high notes from the second octave of the neck to penetrate the mix. You’d be surprised, the highest fundamentals of the bass are only in the 3-400 Hz range.

In the first track at least, it sounded to me like everything you were doing, from high notes to low notes, was clearly coming through. That’s what you’re looking for.

By the way, you have great sounding band there, really tight, excellent vocalists. It’s pretty difficult to get a live recording that’s worth listening to. Kudos.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[TimmyP]

Listen with your ears, not your eyes. Borrow a wireless so you can walk the house and see how it sounds.

 

[natw42]

Listen with your ears, not your eyes. Borrow a wireless so you can walk the house and see how it sounds.

+1
And I voted carrots, of course.

 

[higgi]

bump