TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
I use a D112 on the kick drum because it works well with the scooped, hollow sound I like from a kick drum. I can't imagine being happy micing a bass cabinet with it, though. A D4 is an interesting idea, although the USA 360M has DI capacity, as does the Tonehammer pedal. DI works for me in the extremely rare instances I have FOH support.
That's a sadly often overlooked, great mic for bass. A fine all around close-mic mic.
I'm getting used to this neck. Probably will seek out a sticker solution.
Thanks for the thoughtful responses. When I used to gig, I always used a direct box. I know where to find a trusty SM57, which is the Swiss Army knife of mics. I am surprised the AKG D112 didn't get more love here. They seem to market it as both a bass drum and bass mic, which seems intuitive but I guess not. This might also seem a tad dense but do you find that the cab/speaker size is a factor in this equation? Playing live, one might pair a 2 x 10 and a 12 or 15 to round things out. But wouldn't you use one mic off axis on a single bass speaker for recording? Kat, they do make a new AKG: http://www.akg.com/pro/p/d112mkii
I have seen both new and used AKG 112 for $150 and under (stateside).
That particular soundman was a real piece of work. I was playing in two bands at our local county fair, day 1, loaded in, his immediate comment "Don't bother plugging it in, you're just going into DI" to which I say, "Well, I'd much prefer it if you could just mic it with a SM57." "Ugh, yeah, sure."
I hear you about that. It's rare for me to have FOH support anyway, but I really like the way an Acoustic 360 sounds. Nothing like a big ol' folded horn. And, really, if you have one of those, who needs to mic it anyway? That's another reason I rarely mic the bass amp. It's already too #$% loud once you get out into the audience. I guess there's some kind of cancellation going on up close, because it's either seismic or fairly quiet. The new one does have DI capability, and it's post eq, so that's good. The little Carvin doesn't have the same sound, but it's serviceable and has a pre or post eq DI. It's all just tools, but I know what I like and wouldn't schlep the folded horns around if I didn't like that sound.
Sounds worthy of a flaming bag of dog poo at his door (that is MY 20-something lobe at work, which still often guides my behavior).Maybe, but the dents in their face from the rings will be worth it.
I keep the amp pretty low onstage, right around 2 on the volume knob, so that the other band members on stage could hear it and the amp is just opening up. In our maybe 3rd song the soundman comes up and starts yelling at me mid song "You need to turn down," to which I reply "I'm only on 2, I can't really turn down anymore, but I'll try." Turn it down a bit, but now no other member on stage can hear me, I can't hear myself, and talking to friends in the crowd afterwards, they could barely hear me either. Alright, sure, whatever.
So next day, I'm playing in a different band. We setup, same rig, Sunn 2000s. There's a drummer, Sax player, two guitars, and me. I'm getting everything together, soundman comes over while I'm not with my rig and starts trying to plug in his DI between my pedals and Amp. "Oh, hey, I'd like to do the same setup we did yesterday, and just mic my cab."
"Nope."
"Pardon me?"
"I said no. We did it your way, now we're doing it my way"
"Well, I'm the one playing and I'd really like it if we could go ahead and mic my cab, like you're doing for the guitar cabs."
"No, you sound like $***. So I'm DI'ing you so I can make it sound okay."
So at this point what ensues is a rapidly escalating back and forth of "Excuse me? How dare you" and "You can't play and your sound is *insert expletive*" until the sax player steps in and I remove myself before I lose it (I know I have a temper, and try to take myself out of the situation before it boils over). So I go off, grab some food, and come back at sound check. He's got the DI setup, fine whatever, let's not let this ruin the show. So we're running soundcheck, he checks me, fine, I roll the volume off on the amp so there's no extra sound until we start. But hey, since the DI is before that, guess what, I can't mute that. So while walking about the cable pops. It doesn't come through the amp, but it does over the PA.
To which the lovely soundman then says, live, in front of the gathering crowd "Hey, just so you know, your bass player is a total ***h*le".
To which the guitar player replies "Hey man, do you have something to say to us? Then you can come up here on stage and say it to us".
"Nope, I've said what I have to say."
Throughout the show there's other issues. After multiple songs the guitar player/singer asks for his monitor to be louder, and eventually just on, and the soundman keeps replying it is on, until one of the other sound crew members walks up to the stage and discovers that the monitor wasn't plugged in. Members can't hear each other in the monitors, etc. When the other band members ask what I want to do/say about the soundman, I say "We'll thank him at the end. We'll look professional and maybe it'll hit home to him what an a$$ he's been in public."
So we do. We're breaking down (we were the last act of the night), and guess who wanders on up?
"So you guys sounded alright tonight."
Sticks out his hand to shake mine.
"Man, I'm not shaking your hand."
"Why not, I had you guys sounding good"
"Why? Because you came up here and personally insulted me and my playing, and then did the same over the PA. I'm not shaking your hand."
"Yeah, I told you the truth. You do play like **** and sound like ****. You're a real piece of work, you'll never work professionally."
"Look man, walk away. You are absolutely unprofessional and ******* rude. I'm not shaking your hand. You're being a real ******* a******, and I want you to get away from me right now."
"You're a ******* s*******. You have no idea what the **** you're talking about."
"Yeah, well at least I'm not a *expletive not common to the US*"
"I'M GOING TO MAKE YOU EAT THOSE WORDS."
At which point other members of the sound crew pulled him away. The rest of the crew were great, they kept coming up during the set and asking if there was anything they could do for me since they could hardly hear me in the mix (big surprise), but we soldiered through.
As it turns out, he was a surly piece of work with other bands as well, and numerous other players had issue with him as well. Hopefully they'll never hire him again. He was the worst sound engineer I've ever dealt with far and away. Just immediately resorted to insults and pettiness. And I can be a real butt when it comes to my sound sure, and I probably threw in a few more swear words than portrayed above, but he was a real piece of work.
Been there. I just refuse to play unless the DI is removed and a mic put in front of my cab.Maybe, but the dents in their face from the rings will be worth it.
I keep the amp pretty low onstage, right around 2 on the volume knob, so that the other band members on stage could hear it and the amp is just opening up. In our maybe 3rd song the soundman comes up and starts yelling at me mid song "You need to turn down," to which I reply "I'm only on 2, I can't really turn down anymore, but I'll try." Turn it down a bit, but now no other member on stage can hear me, I can't hear myself, and talking to friends in the crowd afterwards, they could barely hear me either. Alright, sure, whatever.
So next day, I'm playing in a different band. We setup, same rig, Sunn 2000s. There's a drummer, Sax player, two guitars, and me. I'm getting everything together, soundman comes over while I'm not with my rig and starts trying to plug in his DI between my pedals and Amp. "Oh, hey, I'd like to do the same setup we did yesterday, and just mic my cab."
"Nope."
"Pardon me?"
"I said no. We did it your way, now we're doing it my way"
"Well, I'm the one playing and I'd really like it if we could go ahead and mic my cab, like you're doing for the guitar cabs."
"No, you sound like $***. So I'm DI'ing you so I can make it sound okay."
So at this point what ensues is a rapidly escalating back and forth of "Excuse me? How dare you" and "You can't play and your sound is *insert expletive*" until the sax player steps in and I remove myself before I lose it (I know I have a temper, and try to take myself out of the situation before it boils over). So I go off, grab some food, and come back at sound check. He's got the DI setup, fine whatever, let's not let this ruin the show. So we're running soundcheck, he checks me, fine, I roll the volume off on the amp so there's no extra sound until we start. But hey, since the DI is before that, guess what, I can't mute that. So while walking about the cable pops. It doesn't come through the amp, but it does over the PA.
To which the lovely soundman then says, live, in front of the gathering crowd "Hey, just so you know, your bass player is a total ***h*le".
To which the guitar player replies "Hey man, do you have something to say to us? Then you can come up here on stage and say it to us".
"Nope, I've said what I have to say."
Throughout the show there's other issues. After multiple songs the guitar player/singer asks for his monitor to be louder, and eventually just on, and the soundman keeps replying it is on, until one of the other sound crew members walks up to the stage and discovers that the monitor wasn't plugged in. Members can't hear each other in the monitors, etc. When the other band members ask what I want to do/say about the soundman, I say "We'll thank him at the end. We'll look professional and maybe it'll hit home to him what an a$$ he's been in public."
So we do. We're breaking down (we were the last act of the night), and guess who wanders on up?
"So you guys sounded alright tonight."
Sticks out his hand to shake mine.
"Man, I'm not shaking your hand."
"Why not, I had you guys sounding good"
"Why? Because you came up here and personally insulted me and my playing, and then did the same over the PA. I'm not shaking your hand."
"Yeah, I told you the truth. You do play like **** and sound like ****. You're a real piece of work, you'll never work professionally."
"Look man, walk away. You are absolutely unprofessional and ******* rude. I'm not shaking your hand. You're being a real ******* a******, and I want you to get away from me right now."
"You're a ******* s*******. You have no idea what the **** you're talking about."
"Yeah, well at least I'm not a *expletive not common to the US*"
"I'M GOING TO MAKE YOU EAT THOSE WORDS."
At which point other members of the sound crew pulled him away. The rest of the crew were great, they kept coming up during the set and asking if there was anything they could do for me since they could hardly hear me in the mix (big surprise), but we soldiered through.
As it turns out, he was a surly piece of work with other bands as well, and numerous other players had issue with him as well. Hopefully they'll never hire him again. He was the worst sound engineer I've ever dealt with far and away. Just immediately resorted to insults and pettiness. And I can be a real butt when it comes to my sound sure, and I probably threw in a few more swear words than portrayed above, but he was a real piece of work.
