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I tune my bass slightly flat when recording. Is that wrong?
- Thread starter Santol
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- flat intonation recording tune
I had a Rick 4001 that had a nice feeling setup. Was in tune open and at the 12th fret. Lower frets were slighly sharp with lesser amounts of sharpness until about the 7th fret where it was so little that it didn't matter. Had to have a new nut made. The nut had been cut wrong and the break point was too close to the frets. New nut had that point set back further. Was perfectly in tune everywhere then.
A well made, well setup instrument... YES. My Dingwall with a fresh set of strings and a good setup will be dead on with the strobe tuner on every string on every fret. A cheap bass that is well setup, you should expect less than 2 cent variance at any fret. I used to set my intonation about 2 cents flat at 12 on a cheaper bass and then pull the string to pitch if I needed to. But I no longer own a cheapo.
My fretless bass isn't always in tune everywhere no matter the setup...
I use Melodyne a lot for both "fixing" things, and also as a creative tool (like, making mutant harmony vocals etc. etc.). It does work a treat on many things, but it can easily introduce noticeable artifacts, so ya gotta be judicious with it. I wouldn't track something counting on fixing things later with it. Unless it's some deliberately "out" thing, like something you grabbed field recording or whatever, that you know you'll be playing with later.
I would suggest at least trying the flatter neck and compare the tone with what you currently have, you might be pleased with the change and, of course, you can always go back.
When I setup my Tbird with very flat neck relief and very low action I got the improved playability that I was looking for. What I also got, unexpectedly, was improvement in intonation, tone and sustain. I did have a luthier install a bone nut cut for my strings and for the low action and light touch that I use.
One should always get the "best" performance possible. Then, judiciously use tools like Melodyne for those one or two notes that need a little massaging. The goal being a Happy Ending!
The opinions expressed here are all over the spectrum. I'll go with the consensus and try to get it set up to perfection. If it doesn't work, I'll throw rounds on this and get the classic P bass+flats. Possible a PJ bass+flats, just to be sure I can get some of this jazz sound I like so much.
yeah, my bass is within the 99 percentile of being pitch perfect, when properly set up.
Has your bass been set up by anyone else?
I understand the DIY mindset, and applaud it, but sometimes, having someone else do something for us is the best way to learn.
I thought i liked high action. All my basses had high action. One of them developed a problem not dissimilar to yours so i took it to a knowledgable tech. By default, he set up my bass with super low action, which i never thought to do. Upon recieving the bass, i discovered that low action made the bass SOOO much easier and enjoyable to play. Now that's how i do my set ups & i'd never have known it except by having someone do it for me.
A luthier could lookat your bass and figure out why your fretted notes are sharp, which it seems is a thing outside your scope of knowledge. Simple as that. Be it a warped neck, a truss rod that needs adjusting, or a nut not properly filed. And, once done, you'd have learned something else to look for when setting up your basses in the future.
It sure as hell is more enjoyable and easier to play. But it seems to be common knowledge that it affects the sound as well. I haven't tested it myself on this particular bass, but I can't lose the tone I'm getting here. If I have to lose a bit of comfort playing high action, I don't mind.
And i can dig that. But the general consensus, what I'd think, is that something somewhere is off a bit. A second set of eyes might could see something you don't.
That's all.
Coming in later to the party.
Nope, at all, I set up my bass so the fretted note, with my usual mode and force, will be perfectly in tune. A good bass should allow this by regulating the octave, given the bass has a normal action setted by turning the truss rod. Unless the bass is severely damaged, I can't see a reason to not solve the issue or limit the symptom
If you didn't notice it, it wasn't a problem
. Seriously, though, don't let yourself be a slave to a chromatic tuner.Human beings pressing strings against metal frets = not every single note being perfectly in tune.
That said, I had a guitar which had intonation issues, and I would just tune it so that whatever part I was recording was as close to being in tune as possible. Sometimes I'd change the direction I applied pressure to compensate for flat/sharp notes.
But whatever you do, don't fret
.
Just yesterday I watched this very interesting video in which this guy explains the "James Taylor" tuning method,
where he tunes every string of the guitar few cents flat. Maybe it's appliable to the bass guitar?
Have a look.
where he tunes every string of the guitar few cents flat. Maybe it's appliable to the bass guitar?
Have a look.
