• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Everyone read this post . Looking for forum wide feedback.

D

Drop1

Mar 28, 2019
1,601
1,796
#1
In my quest for strings and searching for a good bass I realized how difficult it was to find examples of how they sound online.

I have come up with an idea. It will take some work and a website (maybe talkbass could create a section).

What I propose is a searchable sound bank.
Categories would be bass (the make and model)

Strings (stock or otherwise)

Pickups (which pickup used and stock or aftermarket.)

Style (slap, finger, pick, ect.)

This would be user created material.


The users (us) would record di with everything set to flat , and enter our bass type, string type and style as well as which pickups we used. Then we upload.
Entering the information would be done with drop down menus.
Finding sounds would need a search bar but after the data base gets moving we could use drop down menus for searching by brand , style, string type.

This would be an incredible resource for those wanting to know how a particular bass sounds or a set of strings on a particular bass.

Its sounds complicated but it very similar to sites like photo bucket and imgur.

So, what do you guys think? Is there enough interest to make the work worth it?
 
  • Like
Reactions: porterbass, scottm, tommyr01 and 18 others
#5
Paulabass said:
Every computer, every computer speaker, every set of headphones sounds different. Even face to face, every player sounds different.
Click to expand...

They do indeed. It really doesnt matter though. People adapt to what they listen to and the brain subconsciously corrects sound for us. We can perceive tone and key even when the fundamental and some of the harmonics are completely missing.
Being able to hear just one instrument would not be helpful but being able to compare would be very useful.
We listen to bands all the time. We can hear an instruments character just fine on everything from earbuds to 6 figure studio monitors, even though on some speakers more than half the frequency range is completely missing.

I will agree that the ideal listening application would be to play the sample directly through your amp but any sound source you are accustom to will work.

Have you ever searched YouTube for demos? Even in far less controlled recording circumstances you can get a fairly accurate idea of the sound.
 
  • Like
Reactions: filwitheneff, RumbleMan3, jonlimo and 2 others
#6
@Drop1 , you have a very good point and any ability to be able to compare would be extremely useful. I typically always use YouTube demos for this purpose, but in order for it to be a BETTER comparison than YouTube demos, a lot of "controls" or rules to recording these "comparison demos" would need to be established.
 
#8
Well it looks like they moved the post to a lesser trafficked area of the forum. I was hoping to contribute something useful that would also draw in more people.
Bemo said:
Seymour Duncan does this for pickups with their Pickup Selector for guitar.
you select the Pup configuration, guitar composition and tonal requirements and they give you suggestions based on your input complete with sound samples.
Click to expand...
DR does it for their strings too. That's what initiated this. It was great to to be able to compare their strings back to back. Imagine being able to compare any bass or strings or combinations of either.
 
  • Like
Reactions: fhm555 and Ghastly
#10
How do you demo other people's right hand? Just me personally, I can go from mellow vintage thud to near-slap and most in between just by changing where and how I attack.

I can appreciate the logic and it does seem like a potentially helpful tool. I just see too many folks ignoring the "rules" and running DAWs, racks, mic'd cabs and all kinds of other colors; not to mention one-off custom modded or diy stuff.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MynameisMe, AngelCrusher, bfields and 5 others
#11
basscooker said:
How do you demo other people's right hand? Just me personally, I can go from mellow vintage thud to near-slap and most in between just by changing where and how I attack.

I can appreciate the logic and it does seem like a potentially helpful tool. I just see too many folks ignoring the "rules" and running DAWs, racks, mic'd cabs and all kinds of other colors; not to mention one-off custom modded or diy stuff.
Click to expand...
That would be my concern, as well. Rules or not, if it's an uncontrolled situation people are going to do what they want, and that could include people uploading samples that have been made to sound very good in order to sell whatever they're selling.
 
  • Like
Reactions: slapshot
#15
There are some quality comparison channels on YouTube, like "guitarbank", same guy plays same riff on different basses, comparing different styles of playing and tone 100/50/0%. They dont pay much attention to strings tho. It would be nice if someone did it himself, like different strings on same bass, especially at certain points in their lifetime, but that would require hell lot of time and money. As others mentioned you would have to compare one player, one riff, different settings, different basses. But again, basses are made of wood, which is very erratic material regarding its characteristics. So no two "same" basses will be the same, and will respond differently to different strings. These are my 2cents, but I am just an amateur that attempts to make noise on 4 strings.
 
#17
There's a website called bass tasters that seems to have to have started out as an attempt to make something like this. What I got from listening to their samples is that all this stuff sounds about the same. The differences between pickups, preamps, etc are subtle. Chasing a tone through gear is a mistake. The sound comes mainly from your technique. Stainless rounds sound different compared to flats, but the difference between two sets of stainless rounds isn't night and day.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MVE, Mili, sikamikanico and 1 other person
#18
I think the biggest problem you'll run into is that a given set of strings will sound different depending on the bass and the setup. Several times, I have discovered strings that work great on one of my basses, but not at all on the others. After that, there's the individual player's technique to consider, that results on certain types of strings working better for that particular player than other types.

At the end of the day, I think the only way people can discover what works best is to give in to the notion that you're gonna have to try a bunch of different strings and spend some money
 
#20
Paulabass said:
Every computer, every computer speaker, every set of headphones sounds different. Even face to face, every player sounds different.
Click to expand...
I'd like it if someone with the appropriate experience could recommend a pair of headphones with flat enough response and approachable enough price point that there could be a ubiquitous recommendation in these situations.
 
  • Like
Reactions: petrus61

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back