how much bass?

  • Thread starter Thread starter steppingonmars
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I’d say too little bass. I’m wearing cans that really carry a lot of bass too.

Heard a plosive early on and the first time the BGVs came in they were a bit loud.
 
I can hear the bass. But it's hard to tell if it's too little or two much. My impression is that you may have applied ovrall verb-wash to the piece in excess...including the bass...and the play has lost edge that would make it stand out more?

The verb is sloshing a lot of clarity and impact from this very careful, well made recording and the performances. So it gets hard to judge things like level...cuz it's kinda soupy.

"Cowboy poet without a sky..." Excellent. I think you're solidly into Len Cohen/Neil territory with the lyric and rootsy appeal of your music. [I know you didn't ask...but I had to tell you how much I like the tune]

I think if you dried things up, what needed what would be a lot more apparent. Another thing that would highlight the bass part , even as it is, is a little more business goin' on...like scale or arpeggio action carrying on , leading into sections...it always plays in unison and rooting the block changes....needs a little self-identification?

BTW...it's kind of a cowboy song..the lead slide would be awsome done of acoustic or dobro!

I think you may have used the reverb to smooth the 'grit'? Grit is good...especially in these kinds of tunes.

Grit in the lead vocal, especially....dry it out and crisp it up...would be great.

There's a long wait between the 1 verse, chorus?, and the next verse. I'd suggest editing a bit of it...or have a solod, melodic harp or guit solo to stand-in for a lead vocal for the duration....

The lyric-hook at the end is real good..."that is whachoowant". On the very last cycle, you add a little tail. I'd suggest you do that for every second cycle....or extend the "whacoowant" to quarter notes on every other one. A little tweak, and cycle-action. Bump up interest.

Wicked nice composition. A little arranging and out of the verb cave...y' got a winner...as it stands, and even a good piece of film music...with or without vocal.
 
Thanks Jeff

I actually posted the wrong song, but that's fine.

This isn't my band and I'm not wearing the producer hat either on this one so unfortunately I'm not going to be able to change much of that. There is no reverb on the bass, however it was all recorded live other than the vox and the acoustic guitar so the room might be part of the wash. They also wanted a hall kinda sound so I'm kinda at their mercy there as well, but i might shorten it up a bit to make it a little more intimate

I like this song as well, it's one of my favourites of theirs, the lyrics are what set it apart for me, the song just kinda raps around it.

Thanks again
 
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I thought the bass was at about the right level. The best way I think to figure that out is to listen to a pro mix in the same genre ON YOUR MONITORING SYSTEM and set your level so that it approximates it.

I agree that there's too much verb on things. A decent sounding verb, just too much of it.

I thought the tempo was just a bit too slow and plodding. It shouldn't be a quick tempo for a song like this of course. It just seemed like the song was dragging a bit.

There also sounds like a distorted electric guitar that comes in during some of the louder parts. I think I hear it pop in for the first time at about 1:44. To me it's over distorted quite a bit. It's fizzy and gets washed out in the mix.

Performances are good (other than being slow) and other than that one guitar, I thought things had good tone on them.
 
Kind of spastic. Bass sounds okay to me but the mix is like un-mastered to mastered to louder and louder.

Drumming feels a little loose.

It's like Alan Parsons meets Tears for Fears.
 
Nice, nice tune...like it berry much.

I can hear the bass...but when it gets into the sub 140-ish range, it doesn't seem like there's any actual bass range in it...just harmonics. The only thing registering at usual level down there, on the graph bars, is the bass drum...which I think is a little uppish.

A real good, ear-friendly composition. Kudos!

Oh.....the fuzzzzbox guitar R nearer the end sucks. Only thing.

Oh...you didn't write it. Never mind! Tell the author.
 
Thanks again

Maybe I'll pull down that kick a little and everything will come out better, I'll check the eq on the sub frequencies though

As for the fuzz guitar, yeah it sucks, not my choice, but the paying customer, at least I talked him out of using it for the whole chorus :)
 
Nice mix overall - the bass is not very defined and doesn't pop but that's not necessarily a problem, just an observation. Cool tune I agree....
 
steppingonmars said:
I'm having a problem with overthinking bass lately, take a listen to the mix and let me know if it's too much or too little, you can critique the rest as well :)

Thanks


http://www.box.net/shared/7m0xy55tyj
Click to expand...
someone said "kind of spastic" I think that comes from the guitar parts both sort of doubling what's going on in the drums through the whole first section.

only out of balance thing I really hear is the second guitar that comes in in the B section in the L channel. I think it's cool that it hits loud, but something needs to build to that more smoothly or something.

I wouldn's switch the radio off if it came on.

around 3:40 and on, I don't like your stereo placement. the backing vocals over the solo in the left channel is weird, with nothing in the right but the rhythm. I kind of wanted the solo to cut right down through the center of things, maybe with that lead vocal doubled and panned hard right and left?

things do seem panned too hard overall now that I think about it. You can pan things less and still get a cool effect going on. Lots of people are listening in headphones, so you can capitalize on that.
 
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