Has FOH ever done this to you without your knowledge?

[badinage]

...So let me ask this since you have some pretty good experience with on the fly mixing - why did you never use it on a bass guitar?

Never came up, the need never presented itself, and no one ever requested one on the bass guitar. I (almost) always had at least two "bass" lines and two (sometimes three) "bass" channels on the mixing board: One for a "direct" line, and one (sometimes two) "mic" lines/channels. If "more low end" was needed, it was available on the bass "direct line" which was almost always used (at least at some level) in the mix. I also had a channel for a "bass amp mic" (usually a large diaphragm dynamic), available for if/when a mic'd cabinet was desired/requested or otherwise seemed appropriate. So. Using the subharmonic synthesizer on a bass never crossed my mind, as far as I recall.

In the scenario you described in your original post: using a subharmonic synth on your bass as you described: un-requested and quite audibly (like an octave-pedal) seems very in-appropriate.

I think I may have used one on a tuba once.

 

[eniac]

I've had something new happen that perplexed me enough that I had to speak up where I would normally just stay in my lane. I'm not going to dwell into that aspect of it as a conversation took place and it's being discussed beyond my pay grade, but here's what happened...

I was listening to the playback of a recent gig and I noticed something very odd about what I was hearing with my bass vs what was actually being played - both visually and audibly in comparison to what I hear in my in-ears and send to the FOH. And then it clicked...our FOH engineer had applied a sub octave effect to everything I was playing on every song completely without my knowledge. It's literally like I had an octave pedal engaged over everything I was playing. If I played C on the third fret of the A string it sounded in the PA and recording as if I was playing a C on the first fret of the B string, and so on. Whole set, entirely like that. I had some melodic parts on a song that were being played above the 12th fret and it turned it all into garbled mud. All of my playing dynamics moving between octaves - gone.

I'm not going to pretend to know what our FOH has to deal with sonically in that room as I'm aware enough to hear with my own ears that it could be a handful. Our stage is silent except for drums (which are shielded), and the PA has flown mains with a couple stacks of dual 15 or 18" subs on each side. Amplifying bass in, in my mind, should not be a problem.

My setup to get a signal to them is with a Darkglass Anagram. At their request they get two channels from it - one that has an amp and cab sim applied, and one that does not. Either will get my effects when I apply them, and with the routing options of the Anagram it makes it super easy to do. I do my best to not over-EQ anything on the wet channel and it is essentially just a fattened tone, and I'm mostly flat on the electronics on my basses with usually a cut in treble depending on which bass I use. The dry channel is obviously everything without the amp and cab sim and it's as straight from my bass to the console as it can get. Effects are used very, very sparingly.

Talkbass - What the heck is going on that they felt they needed to run a sub octave effect? I've tried to read up on this and there seems to be no straight answer. I could understand maybe needing to fill some sonic space, but it was done completely at the expense of destroying my playing dynamics and note choice. I use a 5 string bass and I have no problem treading into the lower range especially since we've had to pitch songs down to accommodate vocal range. I feel like I've given them enough choices to work with that finding what works shouldn't be a tall task. With every mix I've ever heard the simple solution that I could think of to have more bass would be to turn up its volume and find a good eq curve that works. It shouldn't be complicated!

Help educate me if I've missed something new in the 27 years I've been playing bass.

That happened to me at a multisite church I played at many years ago. The generated sub component was at least the volume of my original signal, and probably a little more. I objected strongly during run-through, but the sound man basically gave me the International Single-Digit Salute on the matter. That incident was one of the many reasons I finally left those clowns.

 

[kittywithabanjo]

I can see this for maybe a really dubby song, but wow, sounds like a recipe for mud, Do you have an amp too?

 

[fauxtoe]

I can see this for maybe a really dubby song, but wow, sounds like a recipe for mud, Do you have an amp too?

Full in-ears. All of the amplification is handled by the PA, which is fully capable and can hit concert level dB's with building shaking bass. They've had them loud enough before when doing some testing to where I could feel the pressure wave while on stage and I stand nowehere near them, which would be far too intense for most situations. It very well could be they are having to keep them turned down to where they aren't running at their optimal volume and are trying to find some way to make up for it. Dunno...total shot in the dark for that.

 

[Aussie Player]

I've had something new happen that perplexed me enough that I had to speak up where I would normally just stay in my lane. I'm not going to dwell into that aspect of it as a conversation took place and it's being discussed beyond my pay grade, but here's what happened...

I was listening to the playback of a recent gig and I noticed something very odd about what I was hearing with my bass vs what was actually being played - both visually and audibly in comparison to what I hear in my in-ears and send to the FOH. And then it clicked...our FOH engineer had applied a sub octave effect to everything I was playing on every song completely without my knowledge. It's literally like I had an octave pedal engaged over everything I was playing. If I played C on the third fret of the A string it sounded in the PA and recording as if I was playing a C on the first fret of the B string, and so on. Whole set, entirely like that. I had some melodic parts on a song that were being played above the 12th fret and it turned it all into garbled mud. All of my playing dynamics moving between octaves - gone.

I'm not going to pretend to know what our FOH has to deal with sonically in that room as I'm aware enough to hear with my own ears that it could be a handful. Our stage is silent except for drums (which are shielded), and the PA has flown mains with a couple stacks of dual 15 or 18" subs on each side. Amplifying bass in, in my mind, should not be a problem.

My setup to get a signal to them is with a Darkglass Anagram. At their request they get two channels from it - one that has an amp and cab sim applied, and one that does not. Either will get my effects when I apply them, and with the routing options of the Anagram it makes it super easy to do. I do my best to not over-EQ anything on the wet channel and it is essentially just a fattened tone, and I'm mostly flat on the electronics on my basses with usually a cut in treble depending on which bass I use. The dry channel is obviously everything without the amp and cab sim and it's as straight from my bass to the console as it can get. Effects are used very, very sparingly.

Talkbass - What the heck is going on that they felt they needed to run a sub octave effect? I've tried to read up on this and there seems to be no straight answer. I could understand maybe needing to fill some sonic space, but it was done completely at the expense of destroying my playing dynamics and note choice. I use a 5 string bass and I have no problem treading into the lower range especially since we've had to pitch songs down to accommodate vocal range. I feel like I've given them enough choices to work with that finding what works shouldn't be a tall task. With every mix I've ever heard the simple solution that I could think of to have more bass would be to turn up its volume and find a good eq curve that works. It shouldn't be complicated!

Help educate me if I've missed something new in the 27 years I've been playing bass.

Sabotage was a standard application to support acts when I started. I just outlined a couple onninstances on an accompanying thread.
If the sound guy is not on your payroll, he's not working for you. There are professional sound guys with talent and ettiquite, but not evey band has one.