Lots of people have warned of allowing the guitarist's tone to intrude into the bass spectrum, and although it's usually not been a problem for me, I found out that it's true.
We auditioned drummers (again!) Friday, and during the first session, I could not hear myself. I could tell that the bass was there, but couldn't differentiate anything that was going on. I tried adjusting my tone, turning up volume, etc. In between songs, it sounded fine, but it just wouldn't cut through while playing together. Just a roaring mush. I was even wondering whether the pickups or wiring in the bass had gone bad.
Setting up for the second audition, the guitarist is fiddling around with his pedals and all of a sudden rings out clear. He says, "THERE'S my treble -- sounds a lot better!" He apparently was having problems with his settings that evening. But the implication for me was that as we started the first song -- I was there again! Every note was articulate and clear, once the guitarist moved out of my sonic space. I was even able to turn the amp back down. It made the whole band sound cleaner, too. We rocked!
What an eye-opening experience. BTW -- we hired up the second guy, and we're back in business. Despite the efforts of our previous drummer (who quit in a snit with no notice last month) to trash us all over Craig's List. CL has become a cesspool as of late.
We auditioned drummers (again!) Friday, and during the first session, I could not hear myself. I could tell that the bass was there, but couldn't differentiate anything that was going on. I tried adjusting my tone, turning up volume, etc. In between songs, it sounded fine, but it just wouldn't cut through while playing together. Just a roaring mush. I was even wondering whether the pickups or wiring in the bass had gone bad.
Setting up for the second audition, the guitarist is fiddling around with his pedals and all of a sudden rings out clear. He says, "THERE'S my treble -- sounds a lot better!" He apparently was having problems with his settings that evening. But the implication for me was that as we started the first song -- I was there again! Every note was articulate and clear, once the guitarist moved out of my sonic space. I was even able to turn the amp back down. It made the whole band sound cleaner, too. We rocked!
What an eye-opening experience. BTW -- we hired up the second guy, and we're back in business. Despite the efforts of our previous drummer (who quit in a snit with no notice last month) to trash us all over Craig's List. CL has become a cesspool as of late.
