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TEN TIPS FOR GETTING THE BEST STAGE SOUND POSSIBLE FOR YOUR BASS by IGOR SAAVEDRA
TEN TIPS FOR GETTING THE BEST STAGE SOUND POSSIBLE FOR YOUR BASS by IGOR SAAVEDRA
Hi Folks:
This month’s article will be short but precise and straight to the point…
I will start this article by writing this quote:
“In my opinion, the last thing we have to do on stage if we want to modify the sound of our bass is moving the eq knobs… which, let’s be honest, is the first thing people usually do”.
This list is based on a precise, proposed order… so in this case “The Order of the Factors might alter the Product”.
1) Know your sound
I said this once long time ago on an article named “The Chain of Sound.” Knowing your sound at a mental, abstract and conceptual level is crucial… knowing what you want and knowing which the sound you are looking after is. If you haven’t solved that… the following tips might have no purpose for you….
2) Know where you’ll be playing
This means getting the most possible information about the place you are going to perform… If possible, be there at least one day before the show, get on the stage and scream, whistle and clap your hands and listen to what happens. Look at the walls and the ceiling, the angles they have, the materials of the room, consider the “audience effect” which will “dry” the room adding more bass sound to it. The place where you are playing affects enormously the outcome of your sound.
3) Choose the right amp configuration
Once you know where you’ll be playing, consider the right speaker configuration and the proper Bass Head Handling Power and their entire characteristics so to know what to bring there. As an example, usually a 2×10 cabinet has less low frequency response compared to a 1×15 cabinet. Tube amps are warmer and with less transient, etc.,
4) Earplugs
This advice is really simple… before turning your amp on for the sound check (if you are playing in a large venue with high stage volumes) PLUG IN YOUR EARPLUGS! After a few years of not doing so you’ll regret it. Also, do the whole sound check and modifications to the sound with your earplugs plugged in, because this will be “the real sound in your brain at the concert”, not the one without the earplugs.
5) Height and Angling of your amp
Once you have your amp on stage, “where to place it” and “how to place it” is a crucial action. As the higher you put the cabinet, the less bass content you will hear and quite the opposite if it’s resting on the floor… so take this into account. If there’s no way to place the amp over some rack, case or something like that, consider getting some “object” and angling/tilting the cabinet like a monitor if you want to hear more “Presence” from it. If for some reason the producer needs your amp over some box so to be seen for let’s say “esthetical reasons”, and you don’t like what you hear because you hear more highs than you need or you hear it too loud, the solution is quite simple… “Just move the amp (or you) a little bit to a side so you won’t be standing in front of it”… always remember that higher frequencies tend to be “Unidirectional” and lower frequencies tend to behave “Omnidirectional”… the difference is outstanding…
6) Gain Volume vs Master Volume
You already turned your amp ON… ALWAYS set the Gain control first right before the clipping led lights, and then go to the Master volume to set the final volume you need.
7) Distance from your amp
Consider that you’ll be able to feel and to hear the lowest frequencies of your amp by increasing your distance from the speakers… if you stand too close to the speakers the length of the low frequency wave won’t complete itself in relation to you and it won’t be felt by your ears… Lower frequencies are quite longer than higher frequencies, so they need more distance to “Express themselves in your ears”.
8) Sound of your Bass varies depending on the volume
It’s very important that you do all your sound checking at almost the exact volume you’ll be performing. The higher the volumes the more bass frequency content on your sound… always consider that!
9) Eq knobs of your amp
If NONE of this advices were enough… well… only then attempt to SLIGHTLY adjust the eq knobs of your amp to add or rest what you need.
10) Stage Monitors
Once you finished the whole process of getting the best sound you could from your Bass amp, only then see if you are going to need any Bass sound in your stage monitor. Avoid this as much as possible… consider that stage monitors are generic and not dedicated, they were designed to “do the best they can” with all the different textures of the sound that is passing through them. that means they have to deal with the Human voice, Drums, Sax, Trumpet, Bass, Keyboard, etc., but were not built specifically for getting the best bass sound possible. Also beware of the Stage monitor’s tweeter, many times they are terribly “un-warm” and can really harm the core of your Bass sound.
See you on the next month my friends!
Bass Videos
Interview With Bassist Erick “Jesus” Coomes
Bassist Erick “Jesus” Coomes…
It is always great to meet a super busy bassist who simply exudes a love for music and his instrument. Erick “Jesus” Coomes fits this description exactly. Hailing from Southern California, “Jesus” co-founded and plays bass for Lettuce and has found his groove playing with numerous other musicians.
Join us as we hear of his musical journey, how he gets his sound, his ongoing projects, and his plans for the future.
Photo, Bob Forte
Featured Videos
Visit Online
www.lettucefunk.com
IG @jesuscsuperstar
FB@jesuscoomes
FB @lettucefunk
Bass Videos
Working-Class Zeros: Episode #2 – Financial Elements of Working Musicians
Working-Class Zeros: Episode #2 – Financial Elements of Working Musicians
“These stories from the front are with real-life, day-to-day musicians who deal with work life and gigging and how they make it work out. Each month, topics may include… the kind of gigs you get, the money, dealing with less-than-ideal rooms, as well as the gear you need to get the job done… and the list goes on from there.” – Steve the Bass Guy and Shawn Cav
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This Week’s Top 10 Basses on Instagram
Check out our top 10 favorite basses on Instagram this week…
Click to follow Bass Musician on Instagram @bassmusicianmag
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Bass CDs
New Album: Jake Leckie, Planter of Seeds
Bassist Jake Leckie and The Guide Trio Unveil New Album Planter of Seeds,
to be released on June 7, 2024
Planter of Seeds is bassist/composer Jake Leckie’s third release as a bandleader and explores what beauty can come tomorrow from the seeds we plant today.
What are we putting in the ground? What are we building? What is the village we want to bring our children up in? At the core of the ensemble is The Guide Trio, his working band with guitarist Nadav Peled and drummer Beth Goodfellow, who played on Leckie’s second album, The Guide, a rootsy funky acoustic analog folk-jazz recording released on Ropeadope records in 2022. For Planter of Seeds, the ensemble is augmented by Cathlene Pineda (piano), Randal Fisher (tenor saxophone), and Darius Christian (trombone), who infuse freedom and soul into the already tightly established ensemble.
Eight original compositions were pristinely recorded live off the floor of Studio 3 at East West Studios in Hollywood CA, and mastered by A.T. Michael MacDonald. The cover art is by internationally acclaimed visual artist Wayne White. Whereas his previous work has been compared to Charles Mingus, and Keith Jarrett’s American Quartet with Charlie Haden, Leckie’s new collection sits comfortably between the funky odd time signatures of the Dave Holland Quintet and the modern folk-jazz of the Brian Blade Fellowship Band with a respectful nod towards the late 1950s classic recordings of Ahmad Jamal and Miles Davis.
The title track, “Planter of Seeds,” is dedicated to a close family friend, who was originally from Trinidad, and whenever she visited family or friends at their homes, without anyone knowing, she would plant seeds she kept in her pocket in their gardens, so the next season beautiful flowers would pop up. It was a small altruistic anonymous act of kindness that brought just a little more beauty into the world. The rhythm is a tribute to Ahmad Jamal, who we also lost around the same time, and whose theme song Poinciana is about a tree from the Caribbean.
“Big Sur Jade” was written on a trip Leckie took with his wife to Big Sur, CA, and is a celebration of his family and community. This swinging 5/4 blues opens with an unaccompanied bass solo, and gives an opportunity for each of the musicians to share their improvisational voices. “Clear Skies” is a cathartic up-tempo release of collective creative energies in fiery improvisational freedom. “The Aquatic Uncle” features Randal Fisher’s saxophone and is named after an Italo Calvino short story which contemplates if one can embrace the new ways while being in tune with tradition. In ancient times, before a rudder, the Starboard side of the ship was where it was steered from with a steering oar. In this meditative quartet performance, the bass is like the steering oar of the ensemble: it can control the direction of the music, and when things begin to unravel or become unhinged, a simple pedal note keeps everything grounded.
The two trio tunes on the album are proof that the establishment of his consistent working band The Guide Trio has been a fruitful collaboration. “Santa Teresa”, a bouncy samba-blues in ? time, embodies the winding streets and stairways of the bohemian neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro it is named for. The swampy drum feel on “String Song” pays homage to Levon Helm of The Band, a group where you can’t always tell who wrote the song or who the bandleader is, proving that the sum is greater than the individual parts. Early jazz reflected egalitarianism in collective improvisation, and this group dynamic is an expression of that kind of inclusivity and democracy.
“The Daughters of the Moon” rounds out the album, putting book ends on the naturalist themes. This composition is named after magical surrealist Italo Calvino’s short story about consumerism, in which a mythical modern society that values only buying shiny new things throws away the moon like it is a piece of garbage and the daughters of the moon save it and resurrect it. It’s an eco-feminist take on how women are going to save the world. Pineda’s piano outro is a hauntingly beautiful lunar voyage, blinding us with love. Leckie dedicates this song to his daughter: “My hope is that my daughter becomes a daughter of the moon, helping to make the world a more beautiful and verdant place to live.”
Bass CDs
Debut Album: Nate Sabat, Bass Fiddler
In a thrilling solo debut, bassist Nate Sabat combines instrumental virtuosity with a songwriter’s heart on Bass Fiddler…
The upright bass and the human voice. Two essential musical instruments, one with roots in 15th century Europe, the other as old as humanity itself.
On Bass Fiddler (Adhyâropa Records ÂR00057), the debut album from Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter and bass virtuoso Nate Sabat, the scope is narrowed down a bit. Drawing from the rich and thriving tradition of American folk music, Sabat delivers expertly crafted original songs and choice covers with the upright bass as his lone tool for accompaniment.
The concept was born a decade ago when Sabat began studying with the legendary old-time fiddler Bruce Molsky at Berklee College of Music. “One of Bruce’s specialties is singing and playing fiddle at the same time. The second I heard it I was hooked,” recalls Sabat. “I thought, how can I do this on the bass?” From there, he was off to the races, arranging original and traditional material with Molsky as his guide. “Fast forward to 2020, and I — like so many other musicians — was thinking of how to best spend my time. I sat down with the goal of writing some new songs and arranging some new covers, and an entire record came out.” When the time came to make the album, it was evident that Molsky would be the ideal producer. Sabat asked him if he’d be interested, and luckily he was. “What an inspiration to work with an artist like Nate,” says Molsky. “Right at the beginning, he came to this project with a strong, personal and unique vision. Plus he had the guts to try for a complete and compelling cycle of music with nothing but a bass and a voice. You’ll hear right away that it’s engaging, sometimes serious, sometimes fun, and beautifully thought out from top to bottom.”
While this record is, at its core, a folk music album, Sabat uses the term broadly. Some tracks lean more rock (‘In the Shade’), some more pop (‘White Marble’, ‘Rabid Thoughts’), some more jazz (‘Fade Away’), but the setting ties them all together. “There’s something inherently folksy about a musician singing songs with their instrument, no matter the influences behind the compositions themselves,” Sabat notes. To be sure, there are plenty of folk songs (‘Louise’ ‘Sometimes’, ‘Eli’) and fiddling (‘Year of the Ox’) to be had here — the folk music fan won’t go hungry. There’s a healthy dose of bluegrass too (‘Orphan Annie’, ‘Lonesome Night’), clean and simple, the way Mr. Bill Monroe intended.
All in all, this album shines a light on an instrument that often goes overlooked in the folk music world, enveloping the listener in its myriad sounds, textures, and colors. “There’s nothing I love more than playing the upright bass,” exclaims Sabat. “My hope is that listeners take the time to sit with this album front to back — I want them to take in the full scope of the work. I have a feeling they’ll hear something they haven’t heard before.”
Available online at natesabat.bandcamp.com/album/walking-away
Interview With Bassist Erick “Jesus” Coomes
Working-Class Zeros: Episode #2 – Financial Elements of Working Musicians
Tour Touch Base (Bass) with Ian Allison
New Gear: Spector Woodstock Custom Collection Volume II
New Gear: The Dingwall John Taylor Signature Model
This Week’s Top 10 Basses on Instagram
Working-Class Zeros: Episode #2 – Financial Elements of Working Musicians
New Gear: Esopus Guitars Launches New Acoustic/Electric Bass
Debut Album: Nate Sabat, Bass Fiddler
