is there too much bass on this thing?

  • Thread starter Thread starter jeap
  • Start date Start date
The snare drum doesn't have enough snap!! So there!!! :D

I have cheap headphones, so I shouldn't be the definitive answer your question about the bass. I would say that, doing my best to adjust for the headphone thing, the bass sounds a bit muddy. Maybe get some lows out of it.

I really liked that tone you got on the lead guitar. You played an nice part there too. But I didn't care for the tremelo thing on the rhythm guitar. A little reverb on it might sound nicer.

Had a little trouble hitting some of those low notes on the vox. Oh well.

Pretty decent song. But it doesn't top Addicted to You. That one kills. Jiggy's cool too.
 
About the Bass

Man, I like the thread title...quick and to the point. Is there something down there WITH the bass...like a moog or something? It almost sounds like the bass has a tremolo on it too. I would vote for "Yes," too much bass...but I'm not sure I would have made the same comment if you hadn't asked...So I'm not sure what that means.

While I may not know what that means, I know what it TELLS you...that I am a moron.

Better luck with more people.

interestingly cool tune...since you posted it, "I am lucky too"
:D
-chris
 
I wouldn't say too much bass. Well its just that its a bit muddy. The drums are a bit distorted though. I quite like the guitar but dont car much for the vocals and the drum machine. The hihats sound like there glued close or like someones holding them tight. Nice song too.

Scott...
 
I agree with Scott,not too much,just not very clear.
The bass line sounds good though.

Nice song!

Pete
 
imo, yes...

santana on lead??

the rest of the band is sober, aren't they??:p
 
Kind of reminds me of Lou Reed...

Okay, is there too much bass? I don't think so, but there are many more discerning ears around here than mine, so trust them ...

I was a little bit distracted by the rhythm ... it kind of has that "going to fall apart at any moment" quality ... cool for creating a kind of tense-ness -- not too distracting, just a bit...

I will give you your props, however, for making such a creative tune and I like your vocals.
 
No, not too MUCH...

But there are some issues to look at. Nothing major though... What jumped out at me first was the absolutely delicious sound on the rhythm guitar, and how juxtaposed it is against the grungier EQ curves of the bass and drums. Like they were recorded at totally different studios at different times by different engineers. That guitar sound is where the master EQ curve should be at ... The drums are crispy above 1KHz, but muddy and ill-defined at the bottom. This is almost always remedied by mic placement; sounds like you were too far away on the kick and toms, and almost too close on the hat/snare.

The set tuning leaves a bit to be desired, being loose to the point of being distracting. the kick and snare especially.

The bass sounds like it was through an amp, miked with a small diaphragm mic and too much ambient sound pressure. Amsller diaphragms can't handle transients and low frequencies like the 1" and up crowd.

I'm guessing the "retro dirty garage' thing was for effect, but for my ear, you took that notion one notch too far, and then sent a mixed sonic message with that wonderful guitar sound...

All that tech stuff aside, I REALLY enjoyed the song itself, kind of Jim Morrison-meets Edie Brickell, stylistically. Very engaging patina. The kind of piece that would be at home in a Tarantino film, ya know? Would love to hear the final tweaks on this one...

Cheers!
Phil "Llarion: The Jazzinator" Traynor
www.llarion.com
www.artistlaunch.com/llarion
 
cool tune ... bass is pretty sub-sonic ... I think tighter bass would be better ... I think I like those loose sounding drums ... they are real right ... so much stuff in the clinique I can't even concentrate :D anyway you got some suggestions to try ... wanted to say I listened, I like it, I care... :D
cheers
 
dunno bout the bass....but why did you record the vox while driving down a bumpy gravel road.......:D

ok ok serious ....that lead guitar is the stuff!!!..what stuff you ask??..why ill tell you.......the stuff that i dont have...the stuff that makes me seeth with anger and jealousy..about the way you flaunt it around like it 's just no big deal.....THATS the stuff.....nice work....lou-reed sorta....

cool man.
the chosen one
 
JAMAL'S AN ASS

and he needs to clean out his PM box...NOW!!

(sorry jeap...I'm still voting for too much bass, but maybe it's just because JAMAL WON'T CLEAN OUT HIS PM BOX OR CHECK HIS EMAILS)..

again, sorry.
 
good song...........i'd agree that the bass isn't too much but might be too muddy......not crisp enough down there.........i'm no expert, so i won't try to give you advice as to how and fix this, just thought i'd lend my ears to the cause............also, great leads man...i dig
 
i agree.....
jaml is an ass....
however his e-mail isnt full so much as he just has you on ignore..........lmao



ok its fixed ..




SORRY FOR THE INTERRUPTION IN THIS THREAD any and all correspondence in this matter should be directed to chrisharris...
 
wow!

i didnt expect so many posts in a day!

i usually only get like 2 or 3 the first day...

i will try to answer everybody but ive been a little busy cause the interplanetary module broke and it looks like we're gonna be stuck here for awhile but thats ok cause we're beginning to like it here.

3M? not enough snap? huh!!! thats what my snare actually sounds like and im going for a natural sound to the drums. i got my new sampler and i sampled em. i think it turned out ok.

i know you like the buzzy guitar so i made it buzzy.

chris theres nothing with the bass its just a 15" bass combo with a large condenser. i dont know why its so muddy but im going to try backing up the mic next time. well not next time thats already done but its not so muddy.

scott you are right about the hihat. i dont know why i did it that way. i usually dont.

i got a new sampler and its the first time i used it. very frustrating. the dang thing has a "phrase" sequencer but you cant string the phrases together. you have to play them in real time. i got it worked out now but on this one its an 8 measure loop. the cymbals are all real.

i will be back!

thanks for all the great comments!

:)
 
so far it seems to be:

too much bass - 2
not too much bass - 5

but its muddy! :eek:

muzeman thanks about the bassline. its scalar rather than chordal. i didnt know if stepwise motion would work but it did! its like a really simple melody line.

mixmkr - i got the santana video sacred fire a while back and i see that ive copped a lot from him. he "plays outside the lines" like otis redding used sing outside the lines. plus those quick hammer-ons i admit are pretty direct cops. i have a cool trick i do with tremelo picking and wah that sounds like extremely fast and complicated picking that i got from his live album moonflower and im waiting for a chance to use it!

boydrj wins a prize!!! i have been waiting for someone to mention lou reed cause my thing about the whales is a shameless cop of his melody from a velvet underground tune. nobody could ever prove it though cause i changed it way around and added to it.

actually i was thinking of bob dylan's "when dogs run free" when i did the rap but i always did do a good lou reed imitation... i used to sing "heroin" at beach parties in san diego and it was in demand.

llarion the song was built around the rhythm guitar part! all i did was try (somewhat unsuccessfully i admit) to flesh it out into a tune.

you know how when you play the a-shape barre chord with 2 fingers and you accidentally play the 6th tone on the high e string? it sounds so awful! well i made a simple 1-4-5 progression out of the extended major 7th e shape barre chord (pinky stretcher) and the two 6th chords and fell in love. add a little vibrola whammy on an sg junior and youre there! i had to keep that take cause my pinky was cramping and i was lucky to make it through...

my drum heads are loose? somebody said that before too. hmm. im not a real drummer and i realize they are in a lowish range but they are certainly far from flapping. ive got my bass and toms "concert" style with coated pinstripes and i love the sound. i also have very resonant shells. i should compare tunings with my drum machine...

the bass is a 15" combo with a large condenser but i think the mic is too close so thats what ill try next. ive already put it about 3 ft. away from the cab.

i really try for the highest fidelity possible and i think my recordings sound very close to what the instruments sound like. i use mostly large condensers and im very careful about trying to minimize overdriving any of my solid-state or digital equipment. i try to do my distorting at the source!

no EQ allowed!

:p

thanks again for all the great comments! samicide is right about this being the best place on the whole internet!
 
no

i think the bass could be fixed with a little more treble. i am now convinced that you are jim morrison reincarnated!!!!:D i alway's look forward to your tune's man!!!

peace

rick
 
ok i will try to answer some more!!!

fed yes the bass is subsonic. it seems to move around under everything like its invisible. theres no question of it interfering with the kick on this one cause the kick cant get that low.

the toms sound just the way i want them to they are not muffled at all. i am improving the snare sound. really i have the heads tensioned for easy double-stroke rolls and they cant be too loose for that...

jamal thats my vibrato!!! sometimes when i sing in the car i hit bumps and thats how i learned vibrato!

i will tell you all my guitar secrets if you promise not to tell anybody else!

and thanks for listening powderfinger ive always liked that powderfinger tune of neil young's!

and fenderlikingood i hope i can be as good a singer as he was some day. he had a unique style. my next tune is heavy and will have some special deep voice!


:)
 
Hey Jeap, .......you big dingleberry rollin' peanut butter addict you:D

........yeah man, ive given "addicted to you" alot of listens, really liked that one. This one also. Yea, there is a problem w/ the bass. Did you try recording it direct? I think you'll get a better result than you got w/ the mic and amp on this song. If you want a quick fix, I think that a little compression will tighten that up a bit for you. A by-product of compressing the bass is a loss of a little low end. So it should help 2 fold...... tightening the low end and increasing the punch. I too like the guits..... very sultry. Nice work man :)



g
 
ha ha ha!!!

the bass itself has been compressed no fewer than 3 times already. and limited once. and then the whole thing was limited and compressed again.

i like to go in stages but i make sure im getting gain reduction each time.

i like miking speakers over going direct but i may have to take your advice and try something new...

hey you play bass and youre an expert! i know you have a lot of technique too. i liked that thing you helped on.

im not really a bassist i just go for straight ahead solid bottom.

hey you know the rolling stones have put out a lot of music with muddy bass! ive never minded muddy bass! i like other sounds too though.

thanks for the input!

:)
 
I RECANT!!

Okay, I was wrong about there being too much bass...last night, for grins, I downloaded and converted it to a wav file and made about a 5db cut at 315, Q= 2.

It sounds fine to me now...I didn't read all the comments...sorry if I'm repeating somebody else's views...but you need to change my vote :D

Thanks,
Chris
 
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