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Author Topic: Bass mud  (Read 2909 times)

Kevin Maxwell AKA TheMAXX

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Bass mud
« on: February 03, 2005, 04:11:45 PM »

Do we just have some weird bass players in our church or has the way people play bass changed. The bass player for our contemporary service seems to always be playing lead bass. He seems to be playing way too many notes and it all just becomes mud. Is this the latest style or what? I like a nice solid bass line but this is just distracting and not complementary to the music.
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Kevin Maxwell
Freelance Audio Eng. QBE

Kevin Ballard

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Re: Bass mud
« Reply #1 on: February 04, 2005, 11:41:46 AM »

No, you just have a bass player influenced by jazz.

Don't know about the musical style of praise music you have and it's not really the sound dudes job to tell them how to play. You might mention your opinion to the M.D. and see if he takes it on board.
(But you could always try limiting the snot out of it and ducking it with the kick drum.)  Twisted Evil  Oops did I say that?
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Kevin Ballard

Fear defeats more men than any other single thing

Kevin Maxwell AKA TheMAXX

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Re: Bass mud
« Reply #2 on: February 04, 2005, 11:53:16 AM »

I have only seen him play bass but I am told that he is actually a keyboard player. He is not a young guy he recently retired (a little early I think). He really gets into his playing (too much).

The music minister is relatively new and doesn’t seem to know how to change these peoples bad habits. I don’t think all of the people are team players.

The mix is very rarely good. I make my living doing sound and I wont mix at my own church because it wouldn’t really help that much. Garbage in garbage out.

I have been very lucky in that the jazz players that I have worked with knew how to play nice with each other and not selfishly ruin the whole thing so they could go crazy.
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Kevin Maxwell
Freelance Audio Eng. QBE

Mad Mixer

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Re: Bass mud
« Reply #3 on: February 04, 2005, 03:57:27 PM »

The band I mix for has a very busy bass player too.  It seems like he is always playing lead, lots of notes and lots of funk.  So it's no longer the bass buried somewhere in the mix, instead it's the the bass upfront.  I always have problems at church because alot of people don't want to hear the subs at all.  The beauty of having a bass player who always plays lead is if you give his fader a bump you know a good lead is coming.
You can check it out if you'd like www.trial-by-fire.org.

Later Reggie
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Thomas R. Pullen

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Re: Bass mud
« Reply #4 on: February 06, 2005, 11:12:04 PM »

Is he playing through an amp?  The only way to properly manage bass from stage (especially at church volumes) is to use a SansAmp BassDI with a nice monitor blowing back at him (unless you use ears).  Next best thing would be an amp with 10" speakers instead of 15".  They react faster and are not as "woofy".

You could try this but it will never work.....have him listen to some recordings and emulate the style.
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Thomas R. Pullen

Scott Helmke (Scodiddly)

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Re: Bass mud
« Reply #5 on: February 12, 2005, 05:21:14 AM »

Common problem with non-bass-players playing bass is technique - a good bass player damps notes so that they don't run together.  That right there is usually the biggest difference between players and how they sound in a mix.
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Scott Helmke
TC Furlong, Inc.

Kaff

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    • http://www.muzic.net.nz/artists/genre/2/1484.html
Re: Bass mud
« Reply #6 on: February 14, 2005, 05:49:43 AM »

Being an ex-bassist{I focus on keys and vocals now, although I do casual sound tech work for some of the locals}, I have to agree that a lot of people try to play too many notes on a bass without stopping the previous one...  Also many inexperienced bass players mistakenly assume that its the same as playing a guitar or a keyboard....  you see a gap and you fill it.

Unfortunatly this is not ideal with a bass,  the bassist is the grounding member of the team, and the KISS method works best, KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID.  your bassist is either over playing and making things harder for the team and you as a whole or he doesnt really know how to tighten up his sound...  if you can pull his hand back to the bridge then you'll improve it straight away {no more floppy sound from the bass} next worry about the amp sound, 10" speakers work wonders in tightening sound but if your stuck with a fifteen, check the EQ, and get rid of any smiley faces...  having alot of bass is okay but you want a bit of low mid and tops to bring out the definition...

even just working on those three things will improve the overall sound no end!!
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Kane Griffin

Why do we say we are going down the road when we are walking up hill?

Kevin Maxwell AKA TheMAXX

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Thank you
« Reply #7 on: February 21, 2005, 02:16:57 PM »

Thank you for the responses. I am thinking of printing out this thread and giving it to the music minister.

The bass player is playing thru an amp. It was changed about a year ago from a Create keyboard amp with a 15 and a piezo tweeter to a separate head and a cabinet with 4 – 10” speakers. I don’t know the brand or model number as I have been staying away from this end of things lately.  
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Kevin Maxwell
Freelance Audio Eng. QBE

ProSoundWeb Community

Thank you
« Reply #7 on: February 21, 2005, 02:16:57 PM »


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