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You think the audience doesn't notice? Think again!

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#303
Joe Nerve said:
OK. 15 pages in and I can't contain myself anymore.

@JimmyM , 20 people? 20 NON musicians? Really? REALLY? I love ya as much as the next guy, but REALLY?

I don't even care about any of the other stuff - though I really don't think people care about our tone unless it's waaaay off.... not even band members. Experienced musicians often think anything coming out of the sub-woofers is coming out of me.

But back to this... 20 people? Please tell me either that was a typo, or ya had a couple too many beers when you posted that :).
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If it wasn't 20, it was close. This is a venue where I know probably 100 people that show up to every gig by name.
 
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#304
BassDudeSA said:
Totally agree. I've been playing gigs for over 35 years and though I have received some great tone comments over the years, mostly from other musicians, I can say that the audience, generally speaking, cannot tell the difference in tone between different instruments. What they hear is the band as a whole, which sounds either good or bad to them. Common comments are "too loud", "can't hear the singer", "not loud enough", "sounds horrible", "sounds great", "can't hear the guitar solos", etc. No, they don't care how the bass sounds, it is how the BAND sounds. How well they can hear the words, etc. A common problem for bass players is not bad tone, but rather muddy and blurry tone, where the notes cannot even be distinguished and rather it is just a changing wall of bass-mush. Heck, with most live music I see, even as a bassist looking at gear and listening, is just bass. Most bass tone is washed out to the point of just hearing "bass".

etc
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All true..I have honed a killer sound onstage, but reproducing that out front is usually not going to happen. It's difficult and frustrating, but thats just the way it is.
 
#307
Joe Nerve said:
20 people may very well have commented that one bass was edgier than another. I’m just confused as to why me and I think only one other person has a tough time believing that.
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I have zero problem believing that for a few reasons.

It’s a residency gig. Jimmy is a super friendly dude, a terrific showman, pro musician and this audience feels a strong connection to him. I don’t remember Jimmy saying the audience members said anything other than they noticed something sounded ‘different.’ What’s clear is Jimmy’s audience loves Jimmy. Why is that hard to believe?

Your role in a band could be a huge factor too. Some situations put the bass player more out front than others. I play a lot of slap upright gigs, in small combos where I’m put right up there in front. It’s not nearly as common, so people tend to react and comment a lot more than say, a gig where I’m in the back, reading charts. Both have their function, but one naturally gets more compliments than the other.
 
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#308
el jeffe bass said:
I'm not one of the more active posters on TB so perhaps I have missed something but I can't see a reason to call into question his veracity. How this turned controversial is beyond me.
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Thank you for that, El Jeffe. I guess some people believe that because an experience never happened to them, it could never happen to anyone.
 
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#309
Jimmy’s got some loyalty goin on here like someone else these days who’s name I can’t mention or it will cause problems :). Not sayin that’s a bad thing either. Well, for Jimmy (or this bass community) I mean.

@JimmyM , be honest. If someone else posted that 20 non musicians commented on their tone at a gig, you wouldn’t question that?

I’ll add that I never said it didn’t happen. Only that I find it difficult to believe, and interesting that I seem to be one of the only ones who does.
 
#310
Joe Nerve said:
Jimmy’s got some loyalty goin on here like someone else these days who’s name I can’t mention or it will cause problems :). Not sayin that’s a bad thing either. Well, for Jimmy (or this bass community) I mean.

@JimmyM , be honest. If someone else posted that 20 non musicians commented on their tone at a gig, you wouldn’t question that?
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Not on a gig where so many people have known them for years and years and about 3000 people showed up.

At any rate, you and everyone else can choose to believe it or not. It's minutiae that's only distracting from the real point that audiences are quite often a lot more sophisticated than musicians want to give credit.

Also, I don't consider it any sort of loyalty to agree with me on this point. There are people on here who vehemently agree with me on this point that will vehemently disagree with me on another. And that's fine by me. I'm not looking to start a cult :D
 
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#311
Joe Nerve said:
I’ve played, collectively, to millions and millions of people over the past 40 years. If 20 non musicians in all that time came up to me and commented in any way whatsoever on my tone, I’d say that was a lot.

I don’t even think there’s been 10. Not saying that has never happened to anyone, but it hasn’t with me.
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I may have played to tens of thousands cumulatively over a similar time span, certainly nothing like millions. Hundreds of non musicians have commented on my tone in that time, and definitely not always favorably. Maybe you just need to work harder at sucking!
Yel_wink.gif
 
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#312
Passinwind said:
I may have played to tens of thousands cumulatively over a similar time span, certainly nothing like millions. Hundreds of non musicians have commented on my tone in that time, and definitely not always favorably. Maybe you just need to work harder at sucking! View attachment 2854473
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Hundreds?

Now I don’t believe anybody about anything.

:)

FWIW, I don’t interract much with my audience. Ever. Could be why my experience is much different. I know this might be a tough one for some of yas to believe, but I’m kinda shy. Introvert by nature. Iz all in my book :).
 
#313
Joe Nerve said:
Hundreds?

Now I don’t believe anybody about anything.

:)

FWIW, I don’t interract much with my audience. Ever. Could be why my experience is much different. I know this might be a tough one for some of yas to believe, but I’m kinda shy. Introvert by nature. Iz all in my book :).
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I'm naturally a bit shy myself. But I have long since moved past that, and my friends and bandmates bust on me relentlessly for being so chatty these days. Anyhow, I often play weirdo music with weird gear, so it seems natural to me that civilians are moved to discuss it. And gear and the tech side have always been way more of my thing than playing, so I am pretty much always happy to accommodate that. Back on topic: as a longtime sound provider, I know for certain that many of those "drunks in the back of the club" are paying a lot more attention than many people give them credit for.
 
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#315
JimmyM said:
If it wasn't 20, it was close. This is a venue where I know probably 100 people that show up to every gig by name.
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When jimmym quotted 20. His estimate is one significant number, if he had said 19 or 21, then his estimate is two significant numbers. As a member of the mediocre bass players, I tune to an A with a value some what less than 450 or I say " My bass is tuned to 440A plus or minus 20 Hz. So who says I'm out of tune?, I'm not playing viola".
 
#320
IME-
Most audiences can't tell if the song is dragging/rushing. Most can't tell if the vocals are out of tune. I can't imagine those same people honing in on the nuances of bass tone.

Just my two bits not adjusted for inflation;)
 
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