Is Over-Compressing Causing my Tone to Mush Out?

[smeet]

If you slow down the attack time on the compressor, it can actually enhance your attack, as the attack of your note won't be compressed, but the sustain will. Too much of this will give you a pronounced "pop" at the start of the note, but it can be very nice if done properly.

 

[klaus486]

And still felt like I was actually more present in the mix with the BDDI off than with it on. Considering a Tone Hammer very strongly for that reason.

Also thinking I may want to go into my channel on the board and play with the EQ a bit?

If it felt better with it off then why bother with placing anything else in the signal chain?

I've found simpler is better.

Don't be afraid to experiment. Always use the basic unaffected bass signal as the reference. Anything that detracts from that should be removed.

My rig is J bass - Radial J48 DI - Ibanez Promethean P5210 which is used as a monitor.

I do all my recording with just the DI.

 

[RockNRollAl]

Too much compression? Try turning down the volume knob on your bass - try half way. You'll get dynamics back without a loss of volume.

You can get the full compression back by turning the volume knob back up again.

 

[Chaddycakes]

I also use a sansamp and fender PJ.
The sansamp does compress the signal, and I dislike most board compressors. The settings you stated are very close to how I set mine. The one thing you have not said yet is how you set you pick up blend when the bass driver is on.
I almost always slightly favor the jazz pick up when I use mine. I feel I get more definition in the attack this way.
So I guess my question is, do you adjust your pick up blend, or do you set it and never change it?

Any distortion/overdrive will compress your tone by definition, which is why guitar players use it adding sustain to leads. I've always thought of compression as 'clean' overdrive.

 

[Chaddycakes]

Too much compression? Try turning down the volume knob on your bass - try half way. You'll get dynamics back without a loss of volume.

You can get the full compression back by turning the volume knob back up again.

I fixed a student who was clipping a house circuit this way during a recital this weekend by having em turn down. It is the number one instant fix for sure.

 

[jaywa]

UPDATE -

Armed with the suggestions offered here (and some other Internet research I had done), I played around with the bass channel on our Yamaha digital board before soundcheck last night.

The attack on the compression had been set exceedingly short ... something like 6 msec. I opened that up to about 70. The ratio was set at 3.5:1 so I backed that off a little but nothing major (I have pretty decent technique so don't need radical "squashing" usually). It was also set for hard knee so I "softened" that up a bit.

Then on to the EQ, where the settings for bass were bizarre to say the least and not really complementing the kick drum EQ at all. By giving my bass a little bump around 125 Hz and a bigger boost at 350 Hz... and "scooping" the kick (boost at 70 and another at 4 K), I got both instruments to really start sounding nice together. And I found the definition and "punch" in my bass tone that had been lacking.

Unfortunately it was an outdoor gig and we had to bag after 4 songs... but I was amazed how much even that little bit of tweaking could do.

So anyway, thanks for all the advice!

 

[Bredian]

do tell where they had you set before