I found a 20 foot or better cord works just fine. Although someday it will be a 100 foot and a wireless mike so I can sit in the crowd like Albert Collins used to do 
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I've got a problem
- Thread starter musicman281
- Start date
will33 said:
Yeah but i'm not truly in a gym i'm up on the weight deck above the gym and it has concrete walls all around it but my sound has to be projected down to the gym where the audience is so it's kind of a double whammy of sorts
Wow you do have a problem! Remember bass carries really well and the higher the "note" the less distance it will carry. You REALLY need to cut back on the contour there!
Some may argue this but my bass and my drummers kick can be heard for miles when we play outside, the rest of the sound from the band drops off pretty quick.
One more thought is the amps need to be as far forward as possible, those concrete walls are going to cause BIG problems.
Wow you do have a problem! Remember bass carries really well and the higher the "note" the less distance it will carry. You REALLY need to cut back on the contour there!
Some may argue this but my bass and my drummers kick can be heard for miles when we play outside, the rest of the sound from the band drops off pretty quick.
One more thought is the amps need to be as far forward as possible, those concrete walls are going to cause BIG problems.
+1 to this.
Bass carries for blocks, middle and higher sounds don't. Roll the contour back, put the mids back in and cut the bass. That situation is so extreme, it'll probably sound like a mosquito fart to you, and at the same time, as good as you can get it in the audience......an extreme example of taking one for the team.
Adjust to taste. Try to have somebody else play it for a minute so you can go out and listen. Or have a friend who's ears you trust in the audience giving advice, hand signals, whatever. It'll be a bit astonishing at first how different things sound where you are and where the audience is. Start with the bass low, then roll in just enough to put a little fullness in the sound. Too mich can get really boomy/echoey really fast and drown out some of the other instruments.
I don't envy this gig situation. It's hard to get good sound in there. You basically have to do the best you can for the audience and just deal with whatever that sounds like up close....which likely won't be pretty. Just keep in the back of your mind " it sounds good out there, much better than it does here "., let loose and have fun.
I don't envy this gig situation. It's hard to get good sound in there. You basically have to do the best you can for the audience and just deal with whatever that sounds like up close....which likely won't be pretty. Just keep in the back of your mind " it sounds good out there, much better than it does here "., let loose and have fun.
I played in a indoor arena with a church group once. Was meant for livestock shows really so the room was SOOOO echo-y. The director "helped" me balance my EQ. I hated the sound up close, sounded like I was back to playing guitar through speakers bolted into wood orange crates..............EVERY other bassist wanted to play my rig cause it sounded so awesome out front. BTW PA's in those days were for vocals only, maybe a little from the drum kit but FOH was your stage rig. 
I learned a lot fast from that gig.
I learned a lot fast from that gig.
Alright cool thank you very much you and b-string have been especially helpful
+1, youre in good hands with Will and B-string - theyre good guys.
Those contour knobs are just awful. Some of them scoop all the mids instead of a few select frequencies.
I agree with the advice given so far. You'll never be heard musically with the contour knob all the way up, unless you're using multi kw subs.
Roll that contour knob all the way flat (counterclockwise).
If you want a "scooped" aggressive sound roll the lower mids back to 10:00 (-4 or -5 db @ 250 Hz) and boost the upper mids to 4:00 (+4 db @ 1 kHz). Those eq controls on the Backline 600 don't boost or cut a whole lot (-10 to +6 db) so turning them all the way is fine.
Midrange is very expressive. You can get pronounced effects with subtle changes if you just experiment and listen. If you roll it all off, most of the musical information is gone. The human ear can't hear notes well in the range of the treble and bass knobs. That's not where your "tone" comes from.
If you want a thick sound instead of bright, boost the low mids to 2:00 and cut the high mids to 10:00. Roll off some tweeter and a little treble for an old-school sound.
A flat sound with both mids at noon is also very useful.
When you set up in a room, adjust the treble to how much clack you want and then roll the bass knob all the way down and turn it up until it fills out the sound, like will33 said. A mic'ed kick drum will bury your subs anyway, so it's usually best to leave it at noon or lower.
I agree with the advice given so far. You'll never be heard musically with the contour knob all the way up, unless you're using multi kw subs.
Roll that contour knob all the way flat (counterclockwise).
If you want a "scooped" aggressive sound roll the lower mids back to 10:00 (-4 or -5 db @ 250 Hz) and boost the upper mids to 4:00 (+4 db @ 1 kHz). Those eq controls on the Backline 600 don't boost or cut a whole lot (-10 to +6 db) so turning them all the way is fine.
Midrange is very expressive. You can get pronounced effects with subtle changes if you just experiment and listen. If you roll it all off, most of the musical information is gone. The human ear can't hear notes well in the range of the treble and bass knobs. That's not where your "tone" comes from.
If you want a thick sound instead of bright, boost the low mids to 2:00 and cut the high mids to 10:00. Roll off some tweeter and a little treble for an old-school sound.
A flat sound with both mids at noon is also very useful.
When you set up in a room, adjust the treble to how much clack you want and then roll the bass knob all the way down and turn it up until it fills out the sound, like will33 said. A mic'ed kick drum will bury your subs anyway, so it's usually best to leave it at noon or lower.
For those who haven't read fedeck's paper that I linked to back on page 1 of this thread, "flat" on the Backline 600 (according to fdeck's careful measurements) is:
Treble -2
Hi Mid +1
Lo Mid -1
Bass -3
Contour counterclockwise (off)
Treble -2
Hi Mid +1
Lo Mid -1
Bass -3
Contour counterclockwise (off)
Good job
You know most won't click on the link even though the info there is wonderful. 
Thank you everybody that gave me advice i just finished with graduation and i got at least 5 compliments on how well my bass sounded so once again i really appreciate it
Anytime...
That same kinda thing can apply in a lot of places you may find yourself playing. Not to the extremes of this gym, but in general, sounding just a littke bit thin on stage keeps it from getting too woofy/muddy out in the room. All rooms are different, it's not a hard and fast rule, but something to try if you're having problems getting a good live sound mix.
That same kinda thing can apply in a lot of places you may find yourself playing. Not to the extremes of this gym, but in general, sounding just a littke bit thin on stage keeps it from getting too woofy/muddy out in the room. All rooms are different, it's not a hard and fast rule, but something to try if you're having problems getting a good live sound mix.
Thank you everybody that gave me advice i just finished with graduation and i got at least 5 compliments on how well my bass sounded so once again i really appreciate it
That's awesome and you now have a whole new skill set to build on!
Keep them rockin.
