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Why does this Alembic sound so bad?

#82
I really can't stand it when when people post in these threads solely to make fun of styles of music they don't like. Honestly, I didn't like any of the clips posted that show what an Alembic is "supposed to sound like". In fact, for the most part (with the exception of Entwhistle's clip) I dislike the styles of music. With that said, I'm not going to knock what those guys are doing purely because it's not my thing. I'm not some raging metalhead -- I listen to a huge range of music -- but I think metal certainly has it's place in the musical world.

To those who feel the the need to make fun of sepultura because they think thrash isn't music... grow up, get a life, post elsewhere, and stop trolling in these threads if your only intent is to bash on something to make yourself feel good. Sepultura have probably had a lot more musical success than you ever will (and no, it's not all "marketing", their early albums were hugely influential and they're one of if not THE most successful acts to come out of Brazil), they're a hard working band, and for those that appreciate what they've done, they have some truly classic albums to their name (Arise is fantastic, IMO). Personally I don't care for any of their music from Chaos AD and onward, but their importance in the metal world cannot be underestimated as they were one of the key bands that led to the creation of death metal, even if they soon moved in a different direction. And yes, death metal has it's place too. Metal is music, whether YOU like it or not.

This clip admittedly sounds bad. I've seen other live footage of them where the bass sounds fine, but I don't think he always used an alembic either (though I could be mistaken). But what band doesn't have some bad live footage out there? For a band who has played literally thousands of shows it's inevitable that some of them will have bad live sound. It could very well be user error resulting in the ugly tone, or like others have said, it could have been an ugly DI'd tone that the sound guy didn't know how to work with. Who knows. But to take a conversation on tone and turn it into an attack on musical style and on the musicians themselves, it's not only lame, but it's disrespectful... and there shouldn't be any tolerance for it on the boards, IMHO.

EDIT: I just watched the video of them again. I think it sounds fine, actually. When it's in the mix the bass sounds more or less the way it should... only when solo'd did it sound bad, and that's often what happens when you get a sound that works well within the mix. Obviously it's not a perfect sounding bass tone, but for punked-out thrash it certainly works. And to those that want to knock the band based solely on this performance: that song is NOT indicative of what sepultura sound like. It was written as a throwback to all the hardcore punk they grew up on, and was written as a protest song about the police in brazil. Their earlier sound is typified by a highly technical brand of thrash bordering on death metal at times, and they evolved into a more tribal, stripped down form of modern metal which was very important in defining what would later become nu-metal... which I'll be the first to admit I don't like at all, but hey, a lot of other people did, so props to them.
 
#85
I really can't stand it when when people post in these threads solely to make fun of styles of music they don't like. Honestly, I didn't like any of the clips posted that show what an Alembic is "supposed to sound like". In fact, for the most part (with the exception of Entwhistle's clip) I dislike the styles of music. With that said, I'm not going to knock what those guys are doing purely because it's not my thing. I'm not some raging metalhead -- I listen to a huge range of music -- but I think metal certainly has it's place in the musical world.

To those who feel the the need to make fun of sepultura because they think thrash isn't music... grow up, get a life, post elsewhere, and stop trolling in these threads if your only intent is to bash on something to make yourself feel good. Sepultura have probably had a lot more musical success than you ever will (and no, it's not all "marketing", their early albums were hugely influential and they're one of if not THE most successful acts to come out of Brazil), they're a hard working band, and for those that appreciate what they've done, they have some truly classic albums to their name (Arise is fantastic, IMO). Personally I don't care for any of their music from Chaos AD and onward, but their importance in the metal world cannot be underestimated as they were one of the key bands that led to the creation of death metal, even if they soon moved in a different direction. And yes, death metal has it's place too. Metal is music, whether YOU like it or not.

This clip admittedly sounds bad. I've seen other live footage of them where the bass sounds fine, but I don't think he always used an alembic either (though I could be mistaken). But what band doesn't have some bad live footage out there? For a band who has played literally thousands of shows it's inevitable that some of them will have bad live sound. It could very well be user error resulting in the ugly tone, or like others have said, it could have been an ugly DI'd tone that the sound guy didn't know how to work with. Who knows. But to take a conversation on tone and turn it into an attack on musical style and on the musicians themselves, it's not only lame, but it's disrespectful... and there shouldn't be any tolerance for it on the boards, IMHO.

EDIT: I just watched the video of them again. I think it sounds fine, actually. When it's in the mix the bass sounds more or less the way it should... only when solo'd did it sound bad, and that's often what happens when you get a sound that works well within the mix. Obviously it's not a perfect sounding bass tone, but for punked-out thrash it certainly works. And to those that want to knock the band based solely on this performance: that song is NOT indicative of what sepultura sound like. It was written as a throwback to all the hardcore punk they grew up on, and was written as a protest song about the police in brazil. Their earlier sound is typified by a highly technical brand of thrash bordering on death metal at times, and they evolved into a more tribal, stripped down form of modern metal which was very important in defining what would later become nu-metal... which I'll be the first to admit I don't like at all, but hey, a lot of other people did, so props to them.
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119101EKMJ_w.jpg






:hiding:
 
#90
You can't seriously mean that this is good/nice music... it's just some simple riff with way too much cheap distortion and a bunch a barking dogs.. Some people stop evolving when they've learned to play Smoke on the Water on the E string. (well drop D in this matter)
 
#91
Parabolic Box said:
I was thinking this:

:D
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Ah... Entwistle's "(Fool me once... :D ) We won't get fooled again" track isolated.

Now, that's a sound I'd never expect to hear from an Alembic, for some reason. Not to speak ill of the dead, but when I think "Alembic", I think of a refined, controlled tone, regardless of the style of music or the volume level it's played at. This here's an example of anything but- there's a twang that starts the note and it dies off as the string vibration gets back under control. Well, not really a twang, but the tone of each note changes throughout the duration of the note. If he'd just used a lighter touch and turned up (more?), those notes would have a consistent sound throughout their duration. Probably just me, but this is a sound I associate with passive basses and rigs that aren't accompanied with compression enough to smooth out what plenty of well-known players (not just the Ox) do not.

Then again, I never noticed it in all the times I've heard this song, so maybe I'm overanalyzing things a bit.

Essen said:
Shame to use an Alembic for that kind out "music".. Such a great instrument played in such primitive basic way.. Some people aren't supposed to make music, although they try.
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I thought the same thing when Jason Newsted started using Alembics and then Sadowskys... and I have no problem with Mettallica. I just wonder why he isn't playing a Thunderbird or a Ric or a P-Bass.

Then again, he buys those basses with his own money or his fame, so maybe I'm overanalyzing things a bit :D
 
#92
Chris2112 said:
Yeah, they should have! :p

Also, by saying "25 string '"bass" ", you're implying that a bass with 25 strings would not be a bass. You would do well to remember that predjudice against ERB's is not looked upon kindly at TB.
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I've got no problems with how people make music or what instrument they choose to make it with. My point is that I have noticed lately that any thread that involves metal in any way always contains a statement about how metal sucks or it isn't music etc, etc. You yourself have made at least 3 such comments that I can remember recently. Usually these types of comments are made by guys who prefer some form of Jazz on some form of extended range bass which is all fine. The part that I don't get is that I don't see metal fans and players commenting about how the genre of music you happen to prefer sucks. Sorry if I came off has sounding anti ERB. Seems like it's perfectly fine to continually be predjudiced against metal and the musicians who happen to play and enjoy it though.
 
#95
CHILDISHGAMBINO said:
I've got no problems with how people make music or what instrument they choose to make it with. My point is that I have noticed lately that any thread that involves metal in any way always contains a statement about how metal sucks or it isn't music etc, etc. You yourself have made at least 3 such comments that I can remember recently. Usually these types of comments are made by guys who prefer some form of Jazz on some form of extended range bass which is all fine. The part that I don't get is that I don't see metal fans and players commenting about how the genre of music you happen to prefer sucks. Sorry if I came off has sounding anti ERB. Seems like it's perfectly fine to continually be predjudiced against metal and the musicians who happen to play and enjoy it though.
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I think part of what you're seeing is a natural aspect of being part of a site full of musicians and not music fans period. Jazz and classical are genres that allow the musician to make the most use of his training. Rock and metal are, for the most part, not.

Also, there are many mature (40-50something) players here who are beyond their rebellious-for-the-sake-of-being-rebellious years. That tends to mean that they're probably not into metal anymore.

With my house payment on the line, I'd wager that there are more music fans here who evaluate music from a technical POV (along with simply enjoying it as a layman does). Combine that with the anonymity of the Net, and you have the comments you've seen here. The thread itself has an opinionated title.
 
#96
ishouldbeking said:
I really can't stand it when when people post in these threads solely to make fun of styles of music they don't like. Honestly, I didn't like any of the clips posted that show what an Alembic is "supposed to sound like". In fact, for the most part (with the exception of Entwhistle's clip) I dislike the styles of music. With that said, I'm not going to knock what those guys are doing purely because it's not my thing. I'm not some raging metalhead -- I listen to a huge range of music -- but I think metal certainly has it's place in the musical world.

To those who feel the the need to make fun of sepultura because they think thrash isn't music... grow up, get a life, post elsewhere, and stop trolling in these threads if your only intent is to bash on something to make yourself feel good. Sepultura have probably had a lot more musical success than you ever will (and no, it's not all "marketing", their early albums were hugely influential and they're one of if not THE most successful acts to come out of Brazil), they're a hard working band, and for those that appreciate what they've done, they have some truly classic albums to their name (Arise is fantastic, IMO). Personally I don't care for any of their music from Chaos AD and onward, but their importance in the metal world cannot be underestimated as they were one of the key bands that led to the creation of death metal, even if they soon moved in a different direction. And yes, death metal has it's place too. Metal is music, whether YOU like it or not.

This clip admittedly sounds bad. I've seen other live footage of them where the bass sounds fine, but I don't think he always used an alembic either (though I could be mistaken). But what band doesn't have some bad live footage out there? For a band who has played literally thousands of shows it's inevitable that some of them will have bad live sound. It could very well be user error resulting in the ugly tone, or like others have said, it could have been an ugly DI'd tone that the sound guy didn't know how to work with. Who knows. But to take a conversation on tone and turn it into an attack on musical style and on the musicians themselves, it's not only lame, but it's disrespectful... and there shouldn't be any tolerance for it on the boards, IMHO.

EDIT: I just watched the video of them again. I think it sounds fine, actually. When it's in the mix the bass sounds more or less the way it should... only when solo'd did it sound bad, and that's often what happens when you get a sound that works well within the mix. Obviously it's not a perfect sounding bass tone, but for punked-out thrash it certainly works. And to those that want to knock the band based solely on this performance: that song is NOT indicative of what sepultura sound like. It was written as a throwback to all the hardcore punk they grew up on, and was written as a protest song about the police in brazil. Their earlier sound is typified by a highly technical brand of thrash bordering on death metal at times, and they evolved into a more tribal, stripped down form of modern metal which was very important in defining what would later become nu-metal... which I'll be the first to admit I don't like at all, but hey, a lot of other people did, so props to them.
Click to expand...

Thank you. You summed up my feelings on this thread perfectly.
 
#99
ishouldbeking said:
I really can't stand it when when people post in these threads solely to make fun of styles of music they don't like. Honestly, I didn't like any of the clips posted that show what an Alembic is "supposed to sound like". In fact, for the most part (with the exception of Entwhistle's clip) I dislike the styles of music. With that said, I'm not going to knock what those guys are doing purely because it's not my thing. I'm not some raging metalhead -- I listen to a huge range of music -- but I think metal certainly has it's place in the musical world.

To those who feel the the need to make fun of sepultura because they think thrash isn't music... grow up, get a life, post elsewhere, and stop trolling in these threads if your only intent is to bash on something to make yourself feel good. Sepultura have probably had a lot more musical success than you ever will (and no, it's not all "marketing", their early albums were hugely influential and they're one of if not THE most successful acts to come out of Brazil), they're a hard working band, and for those that appreciate what they've done, they have some truly classic albums to their name (Arise is fantastic, IMO). Personally I don't care for any of their music from Chaos AD and onward, but their importance in the metal world cannot be underestimated as they were one of the key bands that led to the creation of death metal, even if they soon moved in a different direction. And yes, death metal has it's place too. Metal is music, whether YOU like it or not.

This clip admittedly sounds bad. I've seen other live footage of them where the bass sounds fine, but I don't think he always used an alembic either (though I could be mistaken). But what band doesn't have some bad live footage out there? For a band who has played literally thousands of shows it's inevitable that some of them will have bad live sound. It could very well be user error resulting in the ugly tone, or like others have said, it could have been an ugly DI'd tone that the sound guy didn't know how to work with. Who knows. But to take a conversation on tone and turn it into an attack on musical style and on the musicians themselves, it's not only lame, but it's disrespectful... and there shouldn't be any tolerance for it on the boards, IMHO.

EDIT: I just watched the video of them again. I think it sounds fine, actually. When it's in the mix the bass sounds more or less the way it should... only when solo'd did it sound bad, and that's often what happens when you get a sound that works well within the mix. Obviously it's not a perfect sounding bass tone, but for punked-out thrash it certainly works. And to those that want to knock the band based solely on this performance: that song is NOT indicative of what sepultura sound like. It was written as a throwback to all the hardcore punk they grew up on, and was written as a protest song about the police in brazil. Their earlier sound is typified by a highly technical brand of thrash bordering on death metal at times, and they evolved into a more tribal, stripped down form of modern metal which was very important in defining what would later become nu-metal... which I'll be the first to admit I don't like at all, but hey, a lot of other people did, so props to them.
Click to expand...

looks like someone knows a lot about metal :hyper: great comment. But, you gotta admit, if I remember correctly, sepultura plays is C flat and most bass at this tuning won't sound pretty good.
 

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