It's the mix, not the bass. That being said, Stingrays are harder to bury.
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P and J basses get lost in live mixes?
- Thread starter boilingTheDead
- Start date
Going on YouTube feels exactly like going to Walmart.... just a mountain of garbage to wade through and I am only there for one little thing that I need so I've gotta do it quick before I have to listen to someone's opinion.
JeezyMcNuggles
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- Feb 23, 2018
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That's my thought too. He may just be referring to factors beyond his control. I'm sure he's capable of getting a good sound from a Fender.
Geez, the way some people are pouncing on one little comment! Maybe he'll chime in?
Please no hate to Marcelo or his channel!
..thats not the point of this threat
The question is about the tone of stingrays in live mixes, has nothing to do with him or his channel. Nobody says a stingray is the one and only..
..thats not the point of this threat
The question is about the tone of stingrays in live mixes, has nothing to do with him or his channel. Nobody says a stingray is the one and only..
He needs to listen to that live Viva Las Vegas Elvis album. Jerry Scheff was up against an entire orchestra in that recording but you can clearly hear him and his Fender.
- Oct 18, 2012
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Any bass will cut through if EQ is used properly. Typically, people who claim one bass cuts through better than others usually have the "set it and forget it" mentality when it comes to using the EQ. Another mistake is setting the EQ when nobody else is playing and them leaving it. I read an article about 20 years ago that mentioned that when adjusting your EQ you should set it a little brighter than you like because it will cut through the mix better. I've done it and it works well.
I am a bass player and a sound man. As a sound man my goal is not to get anybody to cut through more than another, but a beautiful blend with occasional highlights or solos. its more important that when anything cuts through it sounds great. As a bass player I want exactly the same thing. more important to blend than to stand out. I wont sacrifice sound just to stand out.
Gee, and the two things I got out of that video in the first post were:
-somewhere around 6 minutes in, he talks about "the 'tone' is all in your hands" which I've always agreed with. No matter what bass I play, I'll always sound like myself.
-somewhere around 11 and a half minutes in, he talks about how he prefers his Fender Jazz for G-string pulloffs. And I know all you peanut gallery people are laughing with your minds in the gutter.
And my snarky joke answer to the live mix quandry is... Spector
In all seriousness though, EQing makes all the difference in the world and should be adjusted depending on the venue. I've known musicians who kept notepads of EQ settings for venue types, like the "small bar" setting or the "camping festival" setting, etc. This way it was easy to dial in and adjust the knobs in seconds. Sound travels differently at an outdoor camping festival than inside a pub. And the mix differs depending on what kind of musical situation you're in. I've heard stories where a phat buttery tone that sounded great in the bedroom got buried in the mix, whereas a tone that owned the mix sounded obnoxious and "honky" in the bedroom.
But anyone who's done extensive gigging and experimented with gear (even down to strings) will have anecdotes where they hit upon a killer combination of gear that didn't need to be fiddled with much at all. And for the guy in the video, his 'Ray is more-or-less that bass.
And, again, that "planets align" combination for one person may be a tonal nightmare for another. I remember buying a bass from someone who said they had to twiddle like crazy with its knobs at every gig, yet with me I could pretty much "set it and forget it."
-somewhere around 6 minutes in, he talks about "the 'tone' is all in your hands" which I've always agreed with. No matter what bass I play, I'll always sound like myself.
-somewhere around 11 and a half minutes in, he talks about how he prefers his Fender Jazz for G-string pulloffs. And I know all you peanut gallery people are laughing with your minds in the gutter.
And my snarky joke answer to the live mix quandry is... Spector
In all seriousness though, EQing makes all the difference in the world and should be adjusted depending on the venue. I've known musicians who kept notepads of EQ settings for venue types, like the "small bar" setting or the "camping festival" setting, etc. This way it was easy to dial in and adjust the knobs in seconds. Sound travels differently at an outdoor camping festival than inside a pub. And the mix differs depending on what kind of musical situation you're in. I've heard stories where a phat buttery tone that sounded great in the bedroom got buried in the mix, whereas a tone that owned the mix sounded obnoxious and "honky" in the bedroom.
But anyone who's done extensive gigging and experimented with gear (even down to strings) will have anecdotes where they hit upon a killer combination of gear that didn't need to be fiddled with much at all. And for the guy in the video, his 'Ray is more-or-less that bass.
And, again, that "planets align" combination for one person may be a tonal nightmare for another. I remember buying a bass from someone who said they had to twiddle like crazy with its knobs at every gig, yet with me I could pretty much "set it and forget it."
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Very full mixes can have other instruments in the bass's sonic space. Lower tuned guitars, too much left hand on the keys, can all compete for your space.
I, also, find that active basses are louder than passive basses, generally. 
Any bass can get buried and any bass can cut through the mix. If the stage volume is good, that's a FOH issue and the soundman's. For a bar band that's everyone in the band's fault and some players just play too damned loud.
Changing strings on almost any bass and it will cut through a mix.....
I think it really comes down to the band and what else is going on and the player and their settings. All of them can sound great in the right hands and in the right situation. I personally like how my Dingwall gives me what I like from a stingray and a p, and I also have a fender jazz when I specifically want a jazz. But I've also heard them all sound terrible when people do things like use extreme eq settings, over compression, or year old super dead roundwounds.
The most important thing bass players can do to make sure they "cut through the mix" or "sit well in the mix" is to be nice to the sound guy.
We play electric basses. That means eq is part of your instrument - whether it's in the instrument, the pedalboard, or an amp. Use it judiciously, and you can cut through or support a mix. A Stingray may require less additional eq (on top of the gobs that are already built in) to cut through a mix, but I play in churches, and it's not often I hear people say "Can you make your bass cut through more? The words are too easy to hear, and we'd like you to interfere with them if at all possible."
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