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Tone/articulation in Metal!

#21
Hobobob said:
Focus more on the low mids, so you slip in above the kick and below the guitars. Also, if your guitarists' bass knobs are anywhere above 12 o'clock, they're contributing to the problem...
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For the most part I would agree with this.
Still...telling anyone else what to do with their knobs is inviting them to tell you about yours. Maybe an open conversation about cooperative eq is better than finger pointing.
Low mids is where I've always found the best use of my eq. More articulation but still sounds like a bass.
Also left hand technique can be just as important on chug riffs. Learning to do exaggerated left hand muting made staccato notes stand out for me.
Compressors will help too, but learning good dynamic control without is rather important.
Good luck dude.
 
#22
Midfour said:
I don't think it's so much that fretless cuts through better, it's just that metal bassists who play fretless tend to be virtuosos (Malone, DiGiorgio, et al) and thus tend to get mixed higher out of respect.
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I don't know if they are virtuoso or not but they don't always follow the guitar, don't use a pick and they don't use fuzz/overdrive/distortion. All of that result in disapearing in the mix.

As for me, I find it easy to get hear when I play fretless, the mwah sound just don't get eat up by everything else.
 
#23
I've noticed that for when I dabble in metal, now only is a strong mid presence necessary, but also something to CUT the bass frequencies in there. Unison lines and such turn into a chaotic mess if you have too much rumble down there, and an easy way I have found of cleaning that sort of thing up is by playing with a pick.

Yes, I know everybody here loves to eschew pick playing whenever possible, whether out of the pride of playing metal without a pick, or just no desire to learn a new right hand technique, but one of the big problems I've found with fingerstyle in metal is that it is conducive to a very "wide" and bass-heavy tone. That's actually why for 90 percent of other styles I prefer playing pizzicato - the thumpy, thick bass tone that locks in so nice with the groove, but it does tend to feel a tad too weighty and bass heavy when in a live situation. I found when I started playing with a pick I got much better results with not only blending, but cutting through.

For a really nice metal bassist's tone who plays with a pick, check out Nolly from Periphery. Insanely tasty, ballsy tone (and playing!).

 
#24
been playing finger style drone metal and now that i use a 215, 200 watt tube head, and an L2k or sb-2 i've been fine volume wise with the frowny face eq boosted to max at 250k, but i don't go super distorted or effecty, just max clean volume with ever so slight od

so some of these components make the bass really loud and cutting whether more bright with the sb-2 or deep with the L2k
 
#25
HaVIC5 said:
For a really nice metal bassist's tone who plays with a pick, check out Nolly from Periphery. Insanely tasty, ballsy tone (and playing!).

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One of the only metal bassists I've known to be able to play in G# in an articulate manner. Pity I don't like this band; too pretty. Thanks for posting that though. That tone actually sounds like it's got the mids scooped to a certain extent. New strings, heavy pick, fair amount of drive.

This guys rack unit would look more at home on at NASA than on stage though.
 
#27
This is a sick tone as well.

These are actually THE tone I'm looking for but failing miserably at the moment. If any of you have any tips on how to obtain it I would be grateful. Spector rebop 5 with Agui OBP3 pre, Bart pups, Rotosound Swing 66 (45-130) GK 1001RBII, Traynor TC810 with one band and a Mesa PH412 with the other, Tech21 VT bass. I also have a Tonebone bassbone that I haven't really experienced with yet.

Rex Brown of Pantera.


This should give you a good idea of the tone I'm loooking for.
 
#32
I think Frank Bello's tone on Among the Living from Anthrax is where it's for metal tone. Guitars however have had an ever increasing amount of lows since then. Big LOUD amps seem to be the key. I also think a P/J set of pickups run wide open is helpful. New stings are a requirement either flats or rounds.
Just my 2 cents....
 
#33
I dont know why every says you cant hear the bass in metal. With the exception of Metallica and Slayer and some newer stuff that is just tuned to low, I have no issue hearing bass on 90% of it. Testament, Anthrax, Megadeth, Sepultuta, OverKill, Iron Maiden. Theres tons of great 80s/90s metal band that you can hear the bass just fine of.
 

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