oh my god.

soundguy tonight when i asked if he would mic my cab (i hate DI'd bass with such an intense passion) said 'i'd rather not - i don't like using microphones. they're not my thing'.

what the fu[SIZE=2]c[/SIZE]k is he doing as a sound engineer if he doesn't like microphones.

its a damn shame because its the biggest venue (excluding the arena) in the city for our style of music, and everytime we play there, he effs up our sound so so so badly. how is it even posible to get such a bad onstage mix?

and why do other peoples' cabs suck so badly?

Really? I'm usually really happy to have my bass DI'd out of my head. I don't mind if they want to use a mic on the cab too but I trust my head's DI more than some clowns Behringer stage mics.

If he doesn't like microphones he's going to have a hard time doing the drum kits right. Good luck plugging a DI into a ride cymbal.

And my cab doesn't suck :p.

I know what you mean though, I hate playing gigs and seeing bands where the bassist has like some cheap GK head going into just a 4x10 or whatever and they don't even dial their sound up remotely well.

Me gigging today with Behringer. HELLS YEAH!

dude everyone uses a DI, what's the problem?



In case you guys were wondering what the best babymaking song was it's this:
[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glhdcJ7K3XM[/url]



edit: why is linking such a b*tch now wtf took me like 4 tries to find the right tags

he was insistent on using his Behringer DI box, and not my amp's DI. either way, I hate DI. distortion sounds SO SO bad through it. that's why guitarists don't DI. i just don't see the point in like buying a nice amp head, and getting a nice cab, and having the tone dialled up so that it sounds nice through your head and cab, only to have that utterly destroyed by bypassing all of it and using a sucky DI signal, and all of your EQ removed, and loads of low end mud and boom added.

My head's DI is switchable pre/post-EQ which is a big plus for it.

I always get this satisfied warm feeling when I see the sound guy walk up with a Behringer DI in his hand and realise he won't be using it on my things.

a lot of soundguys i have come across will only use their DI box, and not the DI from a head, even when it has one. I actually have my own active DI box, which they will also flatly refuse to use as well.

almost all heads with a DI will be pre/post EQ. But even coming out of a head post EQ isn't the same as coming from a speaker. there's no speaker emulation, and some speakers have different frequency response. the one i used had NO low end, for example, so i had to compensate by turning my bass control up. however, if that was going through my head's DI post-EQ, i would be sending too much bass to the desk.

basically the only guideline we have for how we sound is the soud coming straight at us from our own cab. so how are we supposed to give the soundguy an appropriate signal when we can't hear what he's even getting?

seriously DI is like the lamest thing ever.

after crap soundguys.

but the two usually go hand in hand.

So good sound guys never DI anything? I dunno man.

No. But good soundguys would listen to the requests of a band and work with them, and be comfortable using microphones.

When we have good sound, we absolutely destroy. It makes everything easier to hear, you don't have to be watching your bandmates to know what is going on, you don't have to look at your hands, because you can actually hear what you're playing, you don't feel you need to constantly be aware of the fact that your carefully setup effects which would sound good mic'd through your own cab now sound gash through the DI and PA out front.

When we have bad sound, it makes it a crap show. We can't get into it, we can't play as well. Crowd go away less than impressed.

Shouldn't be that way, but it is.

That's a better point.

But hell if he'll only spring for Behringer DI's I'd hate to see his microphones.

it makes no difference whether its a Behringer or something else. Unless they're spending BIG money on DI boxes, the difference between one passive DI and another is minimal for live use - they still do the exact same job. Its only when you get into active DIs that things change IMO.

Like I said, its the biggest club for this type of music in the city. And its a big city. Their equipment shouldn't be bad. I KNOW they have the mics for it. Hell, I'd be happy with a 57, y'know?

Same soundguy also asked at another gig we played at the venue, if I could not use my octave pedal, as it made everything in the room shake.

Uhm, yeah.

If it had been going through my head and cab, it would have tamed those frequencies, and sounded well, y'know, like it is supposed to. My rig isn't designed to run pedalboard to PA like that.

So again, if he'd just TRIED mic'ing it like I ask everytime we play for him, it might have not made him seem like such an idiot to me.

Buh.

How come this guy has a regular job as a sound guy if he's this crap at it?

i find myself asking myself that.

I've certainly had far more bad sound guys than good.

I've never met a good sound guy.

I remember back when I was in a ska band I played a show at one of the more renowned venues in the area with 3 other bands. The sound guy being such a huge pussyfart to all the bassists because we all had the same amp (ampeg ba115 lol) and "the bass isn't even important anyways"

lmao bassists never like the sound guy because quite frankly most live engineers have way more important things to deal with than caring about all the nuances of the self-important bass player's "super special ultra mega awesome tone"

im a singer

i dont hate any live engineers i know

I've hated sound guys at shows I've played because they've kept the vocals too low and made them inaudible.

[QUOTE=Raayl;17284044]lmao bassists never like the sound guy because quite frankly most live engineers have way more important things to deal with than caring about all the nuances of the self-important bass player's "super special ultra mega awesome tone"

im a singer

i dont hate any live engineers i know[/QUOTE]

Nah I'm not much of a tone freak but when I'm turned down to the point where nobody can hear me even if they try it kind of defeats the purpose of me being there

well i wont disagree that probably 90% of "live engineers" are inept and not capable but still i certainly wouldn't give a **** about the bassists tone

you're going DI, cry about it on stage while playing your pansy indie college dance rock dont waste my time

[QUOTE=honeydutchautopsy;17284068]Nah I'm not much of a tone freak but when I'm turned down to the point where nobody can hear me even if they try it kind of defeats the purpose of me being there[/QUOTE]

well this wasnt about volume this was about tone

[QUOTE=Raayl;17284074]well this wasnt about volume this was about tone[/QUOTE]

I thought this was about shitty sound guys

Funnily enough 99% of the time when I have a problem with a sound guy it's nothing to do with bass. My rig and sound are a breeze to set up.

The only huge gripe I've had with sound guys is when they put effects on things through the PA channel when they haven't been asked to or when they don't bother doing what they're asked to with the wedges.

And holy crap, a topic where raayl doesn't hate something :lol:.

there is plenty of hate here its just directed toward idiot self important musicians who care more about their own little element and instrument than the song and band as a whole

this is why i hire people now. i dont let anybody touch my songwriting or process i just pay them to shut the **** up and play the stupid bass guitar

Not making an effort to get the best sound out of your instrument on stage isn't going to help the overall sound of the band, is it?

oh my god just shut up already this nonsense is going to make my head explode its a bass guitar [I]seriously[/I] guys get over it

Another productive discussion brought to you by the bass forum casual thread.

gaslight you are like my favorite old poster though there is some positivity for you

Haha, I think I'm the only old poster. Is Wintermute never coming back? I can't remember heaps of people except for like Mr Coffeekiller. I'm sure there were others. When was your old account dated and when/why did the change happen?

[QUOTE=Raayl;17284044]lmao bassists never like the sound guy because quite frankly most live engineers have way more important things to deal with than caring about all the nuances of the self-important bass player's "super special ultra mega awesome tone"

im a singer

i dont hate any live engineers i know[/QUOTE]

I'm inclined to agree - pros know to always trust the sound guy. Not saying you won't get a bad one here and there, but generally they know what they're doing. Typically people's issues with the sound guy are to do with sacrificing volume or tone, but you have to remember out on the floor it's a totally different story. And yes, the sound guy has more important things to worry about than your ultra-specific, honed boutique preamp tone. The majority of bass players I see at shows don't take the time to EQ for the room anyway - maybe because they don't know how, or out of laziness.

I'm willing to wager "pros" have slightly better sound guys taking care of them than I've ever had, but anyway.

When I complain about sound guys, it's never about my volume or tone. If a sound guy says to me, turn it down a bit - which doesn't happen much 'cause I'm not a volume junkie - I do it because if you are giving a sound guy too much level from your bass, he's got no room to mix it properly. You're going to ruin the mix for your entire band if you've got your cab volume up too high, because then he can't turn you down effectively, and everything else has to come up in the FOH, making it impossible for a good all-round sound to come out of it. Tone-wise, you have to accept the sound guy can make tweaks to it because his EQ serves a different purpose to the one on your head. My head is shaping the tone for my cab to pump out, whereas the desk EQ is for getting a room-appropriate sound.

I just want to make it clear that I'm not in the self-obsessed princess camp on this issue, I just want to see the whole band mixed well for a good sound. I take a lot of pride in getting my gear on stage, set-up and dialled in very quickly.

If after all that, the sound guy had me too quiet on the desk, there's nothing I could have done about it really. I've played through enough poorly done stage mixes to know that once you're on you've just got to front up with the playing whether or not you think anyone in the crowd or the band is getting a decent mix. Everything outside of playing the bass isn't in your control and isn't your problem when it comes down to it.

[QUOTE=gaslight;17284204]I'm willing to wager "pros" have slightly better sound guys taking care of them than I've ever had, but anyway.[/QUOTE]

Pro meaning being professional/experienced, not famous.


[QUOTE=gaslight;17284204]
I've played through enough poorly done stage mixes [/QUOTE]

Again, how can you judge the mix if you're on stage?

When I say "stage mixes" I mean "on-stage mixes" sorry, that's probably confusing. I mean when they've not bothered to do the wedges, so the drummer's got no guitar coming to him and the singer can't hear themselves, that kind of situation.

I agree with you about trusting the sound guy, but only because there's nothing you can do that will make a bad sound guy do any better, not because the sound is going to be any better simply by virtue of you not worrying about it.

[QUOTE=gaslight;17284228]When I say "stage mixes" I mean "on-stage mixes" sorry, that's probably confusing. I mean when they've not bothered to do the wedges, so the drummer's got no guitar coming to him and the singer can't hear themselves, that kind of situation.
[/QUOTE]

Sorry, my bad for speed-reading. I do find monitor mixes usually pretty unsatisfactory, but the sound tech won't know what you want unless you tell them.

[QUOTE=gaslight;17284228]
I agree with you about trusting the sound guy, but only because there's nothing you can do that will make a bad sound guy do any better, not because the sound is going to be any better simply by virtue of you not worrying about it.[/QUOTE]

Like I said - you'll get a good one more often than not.

Yeah, when I say they've done bad I mean that you'll tell them what you want and they won't do it. I worry about it more for other people in the band, I tend to get by regardless.

The worst thing I've ever had with regards to stage monitors is that we'd just our line check and I went over to ask the sound guy for keyboards in my monitor, and he says "sorry man they're not real, they're just for show". I thought to myself, you smart-arse son of a bitch... but sure enough I had a closer look and they weren't plugged into anything. Good times :lol:.

[QUOTE=gaslight;17284167]Haha, I think I'm the only old poster. Is Wintermute never coming back? I can't remember heaps of people except for like Mr Coffeekiller. I'm sure there were others. When was your old account dated and when/why did the change happen?[/QUOTE]

umm cause i got banned hahaha

wintermute hated me

and idk coffeekiller was really good

He came back a little while ago to post a few things but then he was off again I think.

JoeDaddio was pretty old school too.

That's almost all the really old posters. Only other ones I remember are that Zero guy who wasn't a bassist I don't think and NachoChez who were both mods.

Oh, there was that guy Tiger was pretty popular, JohnnySixGuns who had a lot of alcohol blackouts, and Zakath who was ill-tempered. And who could forget Jarvis, possibly the only person to ever quit MX at their wife's insistence.

FUNKNBASS made me want a schecter bass

naut is old school and we're bffs now

radio was there too

BV

buncha people

jcs is fun too hes like the best part about the bass forum right now

or maybe joel idk everybody is just so cute and fun too bad the forum sucks and = dead

Oh yeah I remember naut and radio. Not the rest of their names though.

Supernaut? Radio... radio something.

Oh yeah I remember BV.

Who was the guy with about nine 6+ string basses and a bunch of karate belts or something? Went to Berklee later or wanted to or didn't want to, blah.