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Why is my sound so "muddy"?

Octaves

Octaves

Guest
Jun 22, 2012
386
14
#1
Hi.

Been playing bass (not professionally, more of a serious hobby) for about five years now. I used to put in a lot of practice, don't really practice as much anymore. Have some basic knowledge of music theory and can pick up straight 4:4 basslines pretty quickly.

Listening to recordings (room mic placed in rehearsal room) I sound pretty "muddy". Bass is a P Bass, out of a Little Mark 500 watts and Markbass 10" cab, with Master all the way up and Gain to 5 (half way). Have attached file for anybody who is interested and can give feedback (excuse errors).

It sounds like I am not articulating notes property and it sounds muddy. What can I do to improve my performance? Please recommend some exercises (eg, drills etc) that I can do during a practice routine.

Thanks in advance if you can help.
 

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#2
The "amps and cabs" section typically correlates mud with excessive low end EQ, and high-pass filters and/or removing some of the low end on the eq (which is two ways to doing the same thing) as the solution to it.

Unless adjusting your eq is "technique", I don't now what technique has to say about it.
 
#4
Yeah I'm not familiar with the EQ section of that amp, but turning your tone knob up and dialing the lowest frequencies back usually helps. Get your punch from the low mids, not ultra lows. And err on the side of higher tone on the bass.

Bedroom tones rarely sound great recorded or in a live mix.
 
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#8
In addition to Gain and Master, where do you usually have your VPF and VLE controls?

The VPF (Variable Pre-shape Filter) only cuts frequencies centered at 380Hz and the VLE (Vintage Loudspeaker Emulator) cuts frequencies from 250Hz-20 kHz unless I'm mistaken. These controls could also be contributing to your muddiness.

Another big factor besides EQ is where your amp is positioned in the room. Is the floor a concrete slab or a wood covering for a gaping pit? Experiment with moving your cab around (closer and further away from walls and corners for example), and see what happens.
 
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#9
BunchyMutt said:
In addition to Gain and Master, where do you usually have your VPF and VLE controls?

The VPF (Variable Pre-shape Filter) only cuts frequencies centered at 380Hz and the VLE (Vintage Loudspeaker Emulator) cuts frequencies from 250Hz-20 kHz unless I'm mistaken. These controls could also be contributing to your muddiness.

Another big factor besides EQ is where your amp is positioned in the room. Is the floor a concrete slab or a wood covering for a gaping pit? Experiment with moving your cab around (closer and further away from walls and corners for example), and see what happens.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I will look at this, play closer to the bridge and adjust my EQ.. Hopefully that will solve it.
 
#11
I listened to your performance. Nice job, you are on the right track!

AC/DC songs are simple, but deceptively difficult to play well. It is all about rhythm and having a good rock "feel."

In my opinion, listening to your cover version, the drummer and guitarist are locked in with each other, but you are not feeling the beat where they are. They are "pushing" or "driving" the rhythm (like good little rock and rollers) but you are holding back with a more relaxed feel.

Here are two specific exercises you can do:

1. Really listen to how your drummer subdivides the beat. Feel the 8th notes and 16th notes. Focus on executing your notes exactly in time with the drummer's 16th note subdivisions.

2. Jam along with the AC/DC original recording (and maybe some live recordings, too) to really capture the feel and nuance of this "simple" song. Try to make your bass sound as close as humanly possible to his bass. Listen to this song a dozen times on loop if you need to, to understand and feel the rhythm and drive.

I'll end with some general advice one of my teachers gave me a long time ago: Notes aren't just when you pick them; every note you play should have a deliberate beginning, middle, and end. One of the key factors to playing these "simple" rock songs is muting the sound at the right moment to create rests and silences for the other instruments to shine through. Keith Richards calls this "the ancient art of weaving."
 
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#13
Mushroo said:
I listened to your performance. Nice job, you are on the right track!

AC/DC songs are simple, but deceptively difficult to play well. It is all about rhythm and having a good rock "feel."

In my opinion, listening to your cover version, the drummer and guitarist are locked in with each other, but you are not feeling the beat where they are. They are "pushing" or "driving" the rhythm (like good little rock and rollers) but you are holding back with a more relaxed feel.

Here are two specific exercises you can do:

1. Really listen to how your drummer subdivides the beat. Feel the 8th notes and 16th notes. Focus on executing your notes exactly in time with the drummer's 16th note subdivisions.

2. Jam along with the AC/DC original recording (and maybe some live recordings, too) to really capture the feel and nuance of this "simple" song. Try to make your bass sound as close as humanly possible to his bass. Listen to this song a dozen times on loop if you need to, to understand and feel the rhythm and drive.

I'll end with some general advice one of my teachers gave me a long time ago: Notes aren't just when you pick them; every note you play should have a deliberate beginning, middle, and end. One of the key factors to playing these "simple" rock songs is muting the sound at the right moment to create rests and silences for the other instruments to shine through. Keith Richards calls this "the ancient art of weaving."
Click to expand...

Thanks Mushroo. I've probably improved a little since the recording (hopefully) as it was in Dec and i've since learned the song as close to the original as possible. Interesting what you say about a "relaxed" feel. I've probably been a little too like that in my playing, so time to ramp it up. I also worry about the band speeding up, but I'll try to have faith that it will all work out in the long run!

Strings: GHS bass boomers.
 
#17
I used to play with my eq more towards the low end... I didn't realize it consciously but eventually I discovered that this was partly to cover up my mistakes more... Now I use a little less bass... Boost the mids and not too much treble.. but it works for me.
 

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