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A good approach can be to start with an even volume among all instruments and just play with the cab orientation: if your instrument is not heard by you, you redirect towards your position, vice versa towards the others if the they don't hear your instrument. If everyone does it, there should not be so much need to touch the volume.
I use a tilt stand like this:
Markbass Mark Stand Folding Cab Stand
super portable and suitable for different cabs.
I use a tilt stand like this:
Markbass Mark Stand Folding Cab Stand
super portable and suitable for different cabs.
buldog5151bass
Kibble, milkbones, and P Basses. And redheads.
How about everybody turn down? Number of musicians shouldn't matter if the mix is right.
Try this. Mute your amp for several songs and just smile and pretend like you're playing. Then see if anyone in your band notices. If nobody notices, then it might be time to start looking for a new band.
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1. Tell the guitar to roll off the bass a bit as it is conflicting with the bass and muddies up the low end. Better yet get a sound man to tell them. (I call this the bedroom sound mix, no bass player so they compensate by turning up the bass, and then they don't understand how to fit in with others in the mix ). what may sound great by itself may suck in the mix and vise versa.
2. Put you amp on the floor and stack as high as you can for coupling (this is more important in sound systems but still has an effect on improving bass).
3. If the Guitar has a combo amp get it off the floor to reduce coupling and bass response .
4a. If you have a great monitor system ignore step 1. it doesn't matter, sound man can put you thru the monitors for stage sound.
4b. Try in ear monitors.
5. If none of that works get two SVTs and tell the guitar players until they learn to play well with others (including sound mix) you will be forced to use these. and turn them up till their ears bleed.
6. Iv'e also threatened to put up a Plexiglas blast shield in front of the guitar amps when running sound to combat the 11 must be better than 10 syndrome most guitar players are afflicted with.
7. If all else fails fire the drummer and rage quit then post it here so we can enjoy.
2. Put you amp on the floor and stack as high as you can for coupling (this is more important in sound systems but still has an effect on improving bass).
3. If the Guitar has a combo amp get it off the floor to reduce coupling and bass response .
4a. If you have a great monitor system ignore step 1. it doesn't matter, sound man can put you thru the monitors for stage sound.
4b. Try in ear monitors.
5. If none of that works get two SVTs and tell the guitar players until they learn to play well with others (including sound mix) you will be forced to use these. and turn them up till their ears bleed.
6. Iv'e also threatened to put up a Plexiglas blast shield in front of the guitar amps when running sound to combat the 11 must be better than 10 syndrome most guitar players are afflicted with.
7. If all else fails fire the drummer and rage quit then post it here so we can enjoy.
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Ooooh, a musician that plays guitar. I want to play with more musicians too!
For me its hardly a question of not how many guitarists you have but what they are playing, generally if the bass player isn't playing a octave lower then the guitarist your not going to be heard. I guess if theres a second guitarist and you like to play up high theres a greater chance of that happening, I don't mind playing with 1 or 2 but I do alter my playing depending on what the guitarist is playing. On rare occasion i've had a issue with 1 or 2 guitarists adding too much bass but not often.
This is even worse when your a sound engineer, although half the time the issue is the valve amp that doesn't sound good unless its really cranked, (i'm very much looking forward to the day when all valve amps have a 0.3-1w output so the guitarists no longer have an excuse). Not that I do sound a lot any more. But there has been 1 or 2 times when i've been doing sound with gear not provided by me where i've had to go up to the guitarist and say this crappy venue PA can't keep up with your amp If you would like the audience to hear anything other then yourself I suggest you turn down a bit.
If you wanna be happy for the rest of your life, play with a pianist. Guitarists are simply everywhere.
actually the opposite is true, for bass you want to be as far away from your amp as possible so the lower frequencies have more time to expand properly. Having a Bass amp pointing directly at your legs will not help you at all, if I couldn't get mine further away then 3-5 metres i'd always find something to lean it on so it was pointing up at a 45 degree angle to me. Of course if your playing through a 8x10 this is much less of a issue. At a church I once used to play at i'd use the house 4x10 + 1x15 as a speaker stand for my 2x10 the house combo was too muddy for my taste but having my 2x10 almost at head height made it much easier to hear.
At times I've had more issues hearing myself over the low end of a piano then the guitarists
Incorrect.You're up against a basic effect here I think - higher pitched notes carry more than lower pitched notes. As has been suggested, turn the guitars down. I used to use silicon earplugs too
Step one. Get a life-size cardboard cutout of yourself and place in the practice room.
Step two. Hang your bass on it.
Step three. Go hang out with one or both of their wives/girlfriends. The poor ladies are probably starving for someone to give them some proper attention.
Step two. Hang your bass on it.
Step three. Go hang out with one or both of their wives/girlfriends. The poor ladies are probably starving for someone to give them some proper attention.
I haven't heard one of these yet, but this sounds like an intriguing solution : [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
I played bass at church once with an organist. She was pretty good on the pedals but I'm like - I only have ONE NOTE - and you're on it!At times I've had more issues hearing myself over the low end of a piano then the guitarists
Welcome to being a bass player.
Sadly, as much as I like the song writing possibilities having two guitars offers, it does create a sonic problem for bass players. When I think of the bands that have really audible bass tones, the good majority of them only have one guitarist. When you have two guitars it really eats up a lot of your space.
If you have a good relationship with your guitar players, you might be able to discuss it. Have them work with you on their EQ and volume levels.
I don't have that. My guitar players are very typical in that you can tell them to turn down, and they might start lower, but then keep tweaking knobs until they are blasting over everything because they "can't hear themselves." Awe, poor babies. I'd say I can't hear myself clearly at 80% of the live shows we do, and generally rely on memory and my feet to figure out what I'm going.
My challenge is to constantly re-examine my tone and look for holes in their guitars to poke through. This is one the reasons I laugh in the face of tone dogma on TB. What most of these guys call a "good tone" would vanish instantly in my world. So you have to think outside the box a little. Do you need some more hi-mids to sharpen your attack? Do you need some overdrive to fatten up your mids? Do you need to look at playing more than just roots; maybe an octave up or down will give you space?
What stinks about these situations is since you are being mic'ed or DI'ed you have no idea what the audience is hearing, and they may be able to hear you just fine. Yet, for what ever reason, I can never get my bass through the stage wedge monitors, if there are some. They probably can't handle the lows. I wish I had bionic ears that would let me shut off or turn down what I don't want to hear.
That is also my experience: I hear myself better when I play across the room, away from my amp. I do this sometimes at rehearsal to check if I'm too loud / not loud enough for others to hear me correctly.
I would probably prefer one guitarist, though having two, if done correctly, is awesome, too.
I've found that most guitarists tend to muddy up the mix with too many lows &/or mids, especially with effects running (which I believe any guitars should be very hollow sounding when with a full band/bass guitar.). Due to this, I always bump the highs on my bass while playing with ANY guitarist/s. Gives you more attack, helps make the bass more percussive & and allows you to hear yourself better. Cutting the mids helps clear away some of the mud.
But that's just like, my opinion, man...
I've found that most guitarists tend to muddy up the mix with too many lows &/or mids, especially with effects running (which I believe any guitars should be very hollow sounding when with a full band/bass guitar.). Due to this, I always bump the highs on my bass while playing with ANY guitarist/s. Gives you more attack, helps make the bass more percussive & and allows you to hear yourself better. Cutting the mids helps clear away some of the mud.
But that's just like, my opinion, man...
