Who Gets the Low End?!!

Who Gets the Low End

  • Bass Guitar

    Votes: 20 25.0%

  • Kick Drum

    Votes: 24 30.0%

  • MY GUITAR!

    Votes: 1 1.3%

  • Varies from song to song

    Votes: 25 31.3%

  • Other (specify)

    Votes: 10 12.5%
  • Total voters
    80
miroslav said:
That's cool. :)

I know what you mean about easily (or not) transposing by watching where they fret...!!! :D

I play both guitar and keys...I can get my head around that stuff most times.

The times I tune down is mostly when I don't like where the chords are falling on the fretboard, and I want that thicker sound.
Usually I'm only tuning down a 1/2 step...occasionally a whole step...rarely 2 steps.
Click to expand...

With drop C you're only tuning down the low E string two whole steps.The rest are only just one step with the low E string tuned to the D string,which of course is now the "C string"


I use drop D flat and drop C tunings.It doesn't screw the action up as much as you'd think but you gotta set it up properly.

I havn't recorded my bass yet with drop C so it may get a bit floppy.When i bought the bass from my old drummer it was tuned to B and it was real floppy.

I had to reset the action but i havn't checked the neck to see if it needs a truss rod adjustment.I should do that real soon cause i plan on doing some bass recording once i get some of those felt picks.
 
mcmetal said:
With drop C you're only tuning down the low E string two whole steps. The rest are only just one step with the low E string tuned to the D string, which of course is now the "C string".
Click to expand...

Yeah...but drop C would still be a bit loose if you had low action to begin with.
I was just curious how different folks (or if they) compensated for that.

I don't really play much in either drop D or C, but what I've also done on occasion is tuned down all the strings equally...a 1/2 or whole step...that way I can still play in the standard tuning with standard chord fingerings, but just have a lower vibe by moving things down.
The drop tunings are OK for easier chord playing...but don't work as well for leads without relearning new scale formations on the lower strings, though I guess whatever works for your style...it's just a matter of adjusting how you play. :)

I've seen some videos of old blues players using the handle of a butter knife to bar chords and play slide...or you have someone like Taj Mahal who uses his huge thumb to bar chords from the top and he never uses his other fingers...he gets away with that by always using open tunings per/song. :cool:
 
miroslav said:
Yeah...but drop C would still be a bit loose if you had low action to begin with.
I was just curious how different folks (or if they) compensated for that.
Click to expand...

Yeah, pretty much as you expected - you set your guitar up with that tuning in mind. The action isn't really a problem as long as you go up a string gauge or two.

I think when you set a guitar up, the objective is to set it up for the tuning it'll be used in, rather than trying to set it up for "all" tunings. If nothing else, dropping from E standard to Drop-C will change how the guitar intonates, and will require adjustments - I basically pick one "standard" tuning for a guitar, and set it up to be tuned that way (for me, that's almost always E or B standard, depending on the number of strings, but I have a PRS SE that I'm thinking of setting up for drop-D or Drop-D down a half step).
 
DrewPeterson7 said:
Yeah, pretty much as you expected - you set your guitar up with that tuning in mind. The action isn't really a problem as long as you go up a string gauge or two.

I think when you set a guitar up, the objective is to set it up for the tuning it'll be used in, rather than trying to set it up for "all" tunings. If nothing else, dropping from E standard to Drop-C will change how the guitar intonates, and will require adjustments - I basically pick one "standard" tuning for a guitar, and set it up to be tuned that way (for me, that's almost always E or B standard, depending on the number of strings, but I have a PRS SE that I'm thinking of setting up for drop-D or Drop-D down a half step).
Click to expand...

Exactly.That's why i have more than 1 guitar.At least that was the process when i was playing in a band.Now i'm just sitting at my computer and recording several songs i've written over the past few years with seperate tunings.

I'm working on 7 songs in drop D flat and 5 tunes in drop C. So i'm recording in one tuning,setting up two guitars so i can double track in that tuning,then i'll move to the other songs and have to set them up for that tuning.Yeah and the bass will need set up too.

PITA.I have 5 guitars but only like to record with my V and my roadster.Whatever gets it done.
 
SouthSIDE Glen said:
Whatever the arrangement calls for.

G.
Click to expand...

+1 on that. Also, I generally try to tune my bass drum where it sits in the low part of the "hole" between the guitars / keyboards and the bass.

However, if the bass player and I are doing some tight grooving, I'll tune my bass drum so it sits right in there with the bass, although the bass player is usually playing a little higher in the instrument's range when we're doing that...
 
miroslav said:
Right.

I try to fit both the kick and bass in the "low end" rather than rolling one off in favor of the other.

Also...even though the location/direction of low frequencies tends to be less identifiable in the stereo field than higher frequency content, I still don't like to stick the bass and kick both dead center in the mix...rather I pan them each slightly off center (11:00 --- 1:00) to open up the middle for lead elements like vocals, but I also think that allows them to keep their individual low end character a little better without as much fighting.

But yeah...each mix will call for a little different treatment of the low end elements.
Click to expand...

I actually try and find bass and kick that don't share the same freq range. I give a slight boost to the kick in the freq it works best at. Then I find the best freq in the bass and cut that freq from the kick. To this for both. Then cut all below 60hz on everything else in the mix. Usually gives the kick and bass their space in the mix without the mud.
 
timbreman said:
I actually try and find bass and kick that don't share the same freq range. I give a slight boost to the kick in the freq it works best at. Then I find the best freq in the bass and cut that freq from the kick. To this for both. Then cut all below 60hz on everything else in the mix. Usually gives the kick and bass their space in the mix without the mud.
Click to expand...

Agree with this.

I genrally find that the bass and the kick fill up the bottom end. Its always important to me to make sure I get the bass and the kick sounding great togther as even though they may be rather small parts they have a massive impact together in th mix and getting them to "sing" well together to make or break the track. But 9 times out of 10 I find my self giving them different space within the bottom end, it helps to give them some separation yet blend together nicely
 
timbreman said:
I actually try and find bass and kick that don't share the same freq range. I give a slight boost to the kick in the freq it works best at. Then I find the best freq in the bass and cut that freq from the kick. To this for both. Then cut all below 60hz on everything else in the mix. Usually gives the kick and bass their space in the mix without the mud.
Click to expand...

This is pretty close to how I approach it. I work them off of each other. I like to try and get the kick to be the attack of the bass note.
 
This thread is stupid...when will people realize that different songs call for different things? There is no magic balance that works for every song.
 
guitaristic said:
This thread is stupid...when will people realize that different songs call for different things? There is no magic balance that works for every song.
Click to expand...
It's not that daft. What you've said is generally true but some people only work within a specific genre or parameter and different people have different preferences. I think it's a pertinent question ~ over the last 7 or so months, it's certainly caused me to think about it on a different level and that's made a difference to the way I approach the tracking of bass, drums, keyboards and guitars.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top