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Double Bass Post some sound clips...If not already out there.

S

SplitNick

Aug 1, 2003
345
5
North Alabama, Huntsville
www.myspace.com
#1
It seems like most of us are constantly searching for pick-up and mic improvements, ways to get our amplified sound to match our acoustic sound.

I am hoping that we can start an archive of sound clips that represent what TBers are using.

Please post a sound clip from a hosting site.

Specify:

What pick-up/mic you are using...

What preamps are you using...

What bass you are using...

On a scale of 1-10 how faithly does your gear reproduce your acoustic sound...

What do you like/dislike about the gear, or what are the limitations to the gear...

What characteristics do you look for in your selection of pick-ups and mics...

I will post a clip after this opening.

To mods...if this is a lame idea or has been done and I just haven't found it, please axe the thread.
 
#2
Link Removed PlayingRoundinG

Using an Underwood...

Using a Fishman BII, direct into Audacity on PC...

This is a Wilfer Conservatory...

I give the Underwood a 6 for faithful reproduction...

I have to do a lot of boosting on the bass frequencies and cutting on the mid/treble to get the sound I like...

I am looking for a pick-up that reproduces the clarity of my bass, without sacrificing the thuddiness I like, and without sounding nasal as all get out. I want warmth with definition. Oh yeah...I need as little feedback as possible in loud situations. I haven't found it yet, but I am working with what I've got.
 
#5
If we are going to truly create an archive it should all be in one place. A bunch of links is going to be hard to navigate. If there is sufficient interest I would be willing to host such a resource.

The only problem I see with this is that every bass, setup, and player is different and a sound clip resource like that might not be the most useful.

The other thing I'd suggest is that if we are really looking at the amplified sound you are getting these should probably be clips of the sound coming out of your amp not a direct line signal.

Thoughts?
 
#6
I agree with Marc. The collection could be useful as an interesting comparison as long as everyone understood that what was being compared was as much or more the player, the bass, the strings, the setup, and the room than the amp or the pickup.

I also agree with Marc about the amp part, although the direct line in restriction would be welcomed by some folks. Whenever I record direct to the console with a pickup, the resulting sound never satisfies me and I would never perform with it sounding like that. If that sound were coming out of my amp I'd be EQing it until it sounded better, or at least more to my liking. I'd find hearing the finished product of amplified sound more useful, but that's just me.

And Nick, if you really want to record pickups straight into the board for this thread, don't let us stop you! You can do whatever makes sense with your experiment; you just asked for some opinions, and we gave you some.
 
#8
Chris Fitzgerald said:
I agree with Marc. The collection could be useful as an interesting comparison as long as everyone understood that what was being compared was as much or more the player, the bass, the strings, the setup, and the room than the amp or the pickup.

I also agree with Marc about the amp part, although the direct line in restriction would be welcomed by some folks. Whenever I record direct to the console with a pickup, the resulting sound never satisfies me and I would never perform with it sounding like that. If that sound were coming out of my amp I'd be EQing it until it sounded better, or at least more to my liking. I'd find hearing the finished product of amplified sound more useful, but that's just me.

And Nick, if you really want to record pickups straight into the board for this thread, don't let us stop you! You can do whatever makes sense with your experiment; you just asked for some opinions, and we gave you some.
Click to expand...

Mark and Chris are right, but if you wanted to do it IMHO you would need to go to a friend with a recording studio (unless you have your own) and get a good reference recording that represents what the bass sounds like through a high quality mic, like a Neumann. IMHO it's kind of an exercise in futility since everyone's bass will sound differently through different pickups. I always thought it would be better to have a pickup trial kit with a variety of different pickups that you could ship around to players, but then there's the expense of the thing, and then there's the mounting stuff.

Ric
 
#9
Ric Vice said:
IMHO it's kind of an exercise in futility since everyone's bass will sound differently through different pickups.
Click to expand...

Right on the money again, Ric! In addition, when you consider the other variables already mentioned (e.g., different players, rooms, amps), there would be very little useful information in such an archive that could be used to make meaningful judgments. Even if you could standardize the signal chain for all these recordings (which is not likely to happen), the interactions between different pickups and different basses would be quite large.
 
#14
Jason Sypher said:
For the sake of science...What about if the pick-ups were put on the same bass (or better yet, a carved and a ply), in the same studio, same settings, same player. I think that would be very revealing....
Click to expand...
This would only tell us that that particular bass likes / doesn't like specific pickup and we would never learn that the pickup which sounds bad on that bass might sound great on some other bass. And vice versa...
 
#15
I've been out all day, church and a matinée.

I saw one post mention a trial kit, with some mics or p/u's in it. I love this idea. If we have enough people that I have old, unused equipment about, as well as trustworthy folks on the receiving end, it would work great. I'd be willing to throw in my Golden Bullet to the kit if others were into it.

Another possibility is an exchange program using one of the classified boards. Kind of like a student exchange program for our unused equipment.

Also, if a retailer like Bob were to put together a trial kit and charge a fee for a brief rental period, that would be cool and maybe a way to put a little dough in the merchants pocket while helping out TB'ers.

Just some self serving brainstorming.
 
#17
Jaromir said:
This would only tell us that that particular bass likes / doesn't like specific pickup and we would never learn that the pickup which sounds bad on that bass might sound great on some other bass. And vice versa...
Click to expand...

Well. This isolates a few of the variables doesn't it? Same bass, same player, same strings, same recording set up? I wonder if a certain profile will emerge that, while in no way is conclusive, will reveal some qualities. Of course there is no way to compare any of this stuff, really, but you could say that for nearly 90% of what we talk about here on TB. Yet, we continue to talk about basses, strings, pick ups, amps etc. A full-circle sounds different on every single bass but I, by reading the boards, feel like I have a general idea of the characteristics of that pick up.
 
#18
ed_fuqua's sounds on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free



Specify:

What pick-up/mic you are using...
On THIRD WORLD and CATTIN' I am using the NO MIC/PICKUP, on FALLING GRACE there are two Telefunken U 47s

What preamps are you using...
I use and endorse the NO PREAMP, and use it extensively on all of these recordings

What bass you are using...
German factory bass, mid 20s
MattandEd2.jpg


On a scale of 1-10 how faithly does your gear reproduce your acoustic sound...
The NO PICKUP, NO PREAMP and NoAMP get amazingly close to the acoustic sound of my instrument

What do you like/dislike about the gear, or what are the limitations to the gear...
I like the way all of the NO GEAR sounds. It's extremely portable as well....

What characteristics do you look for in your selection of pick-ups and mics...
Transparency, obviously....
 

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