bENDER
Haaai almal, hoe gaan dit? ?
I need some advice with the bass sound in a Death Metal set-up...Let me just give you an idea of the equipment I have:
5 String Carson Bass [Tuned BEAF#D], P & J Combo. One pick-up volume pot is scrachy...strings are frikin old. ? [Budget]
80W Laney Amp
Boss ODB-3
Behringer BD121 DI Driver
Ok, now the problem I have is that the guitar just pulvarizes all the sound that the bass makes...I can bearly hear myself play. All I can hear is a low bass sound that sounds sloppy en verskoon my Afrikaans...KAK!
I am looking more for a tight solid bass sound to drive and fill...I am also batteling with the overdrive. As soon as I try and add more drive it sounds like the pedal just drives the higher note, so it ends up sounding like a chainsaw...which some people might like, but not the sound I was looking for. I am looking more for low growling type O/D.
The Behringer actually has a very cool "clean" sound...I don't know, there are so many settings and variations that I've try'd, maby someone gan give me some tips.
Thanks
Jack-Flash-Jr
Live or recorded mix?
What are your EQ settings?
Active pups?
Your problem is probably juice... live (or metal practice ? ) you'll need 300w +
Even if you line out to the PA, for aggressive music you need your amp pushing a lot of air...
Jack-Flash-Jr
Quick fix is boosting low-mids though. Don't smiley EQ imo.
Manfred-Klose
try and cut some frequencies in other instruments, to make space.
compress the bass, and try and get the level of the bass constant.
monitor your recording somewhere else as well.
old strings also have a big effect on the sound.
there is alot involved, maby upload a sample of the recording, so we can give better advice.
edit: also cut some low frequencies in guitar if you dont need them. check that the kick and the bass aint competing for frequencies.
bENDER
Hey, thanks for the advice so-far.
At the moment it's just for live practice & performance [no recordings yet ?]...the pups are passive.
I had the EQ on more of a sad "smily", with boosting the mids, but they other guys think that it sounds to much like a "rock" bass...
Would you guys say it is better to use an EQ pedal? What would be your opinion on setting up the sound e.g. set the amp EQ first, then the OD EQ and then the EQ pedal, ARGGGHHHH, so many EQ's!
I am running the bass through that 80W Laney + a 100W Marshall head that is plugged into a bass "cab". [The 15" speaker cab/bin is actually for a PA system, would this make a big difference in the sound?]
Dankie.
Jack-Flash-Jr
Hmmm.... some more thoughts: +1 on strings, new steel will help. I read your first post again, are you using overdrive all the time? Cause if the the guitars are distorted and the bass is distorted you will just end up with a blended muddy growl. Try play bass clean except for the parts where it's bass on it's own. Get the bass to growl just from the tone/pup and EQ settings. But that's not very death metal ?
Given the genre there's not much you can do with everyone playing in the same frequency range bass normally mostly has to itself.
AlanRatcliffe
Good advice already, especially clearing the bass frequencies from the other instruments to make space for the bass and fitting new strings.
Also DI the bass signal directly from the bass (not the amp) as well as miking the amp up. Try using mostly DI signal and EQing that to sit in the mix. You can also duplicate your DI signal as a second track and compress and/or distort the one track , but leave the other one clean and dynamic.
bENDER
Thanks alot for all the advice guys, put new strings on and played around with the mids a little bit, seem so be getting there.
It's not 100% but I can at least hear myself playing.
I am playing with a slight amount of overdrive at the moment, has a lekker growly sound.
