BASS
TONE TALK: FINDING YOUR PLACE IN THE MIX | Adam Nitti
One of the things that often gets overlooked but there are some basic elements you should volume instead of carving out offending
when discussing our role as bass players is be sensitive to when evaluating your tone. The frequencies, all of the playing articulation
the importance of our tone. Most of us would first one we will discuss in this column is the likewise gets brought down, and the net result
agree that our primary focus as a bassist should “size” of your sound. is our bass playing virtually disappears from the
be providing a solid foundation for the rhythm mix. For this reason, it is vitally important that
and the harmony of the music. However, it we try to manage the bandwidth of our tone
is impossible to overstate the importance of
...it is vitally from the source (our instrument and hands)
important that sound engineer’s problem to deal with. When
of the music. we try to manage terms of each instrument having its own sonic
When we refer to “tone,” we are talking about the bandwidth mix. Theoretically you want each instrument’s
making sure our bass tone is appropriate for
the gig or musical genre. If our tone suffers, it
adversely affects the overall sound and impact
the characteristics and quality of the sound
that we are getting out of our instrument. More
specifically, our tone is a direct result of how
our hands and our bass are working together,
and its quality can mean the difference between
getting called or not getting called for a gig. Tone
can make more of an impact than the notes
we play when it comes to others’ perception
of our performances. I’ve seen incredible,
virtuosic players’ reputations suffer as a result of
having weak tone, and likewise seen average-
skilled players in high demand because of their
reputation as tone-meisters!
There are many factors that influence bass
the best we can and not assume that it is the
forming your tonal approach, try to think in
of our tone from
the source (our
space incorporating a range of frequencies in a
sound to be present without crowding the other
instruments or singers.
One thing that I have seen happen a lot is
instrument and bassists using pedals or active electronics
hands) the best we onboard controls. Boosting the bass, midrange,
can and not assume
that it is the sound
mistakenly over-enhancing their tone with their
or treble significantly enhances your sound and
can certainly make things punchier, brighter, or
more hi-fi; but in the context of a band, those
over-boosted frequencies can often compete
engineer’s problem with other instruments and crowd the mix. The
to deal with. instead of boosting so you can carve out more
solution? Don’t be afraid to cut frequencies
of an individual space for yourself. You want your
tone… Here are a handful:
sound to be balanced.
• Placement of the pickups on our bass TONE TIP – LESS IS MORE Also work at developing the discipline of listening
• Quality and consistency of our hand Often bass players assume that having a huge to the entire ensemble as if you were a listener or
technique bass tone means having more presence in a mix. mixing engineer and not a bassist. By practicing
Playing dynamics (how hard or how soft we Unfortunately, this is usually not the case. The this more external listening perspective, you can
•
play) bigger or wider the sonic footprint that we have, better evaluate how your sound is working within
• Types of materials that our bass is made of the more potential it has to step on the toes of the music.
• Age or type of bass strings used the other instruments and invade their sonic • Playing action height space within the mix. For a non-bass-centric
sound engineer without a ton of experience,
There are many others, but these are some of his/her reaction to an over-present bass tone is
the most significant when evaluating where our usually bringing down the overall volume of the
overall sound comes from. bass. This is because the bass is perceived to
be too loud and muddying things up.
So, how do you know if your tone is “right”?
Truthfully, the answer can be purely subjective, Unfortunately, by bringing down the overall
142 August 2019
Until next time!
Adam Nitti
Nashville-based Adam Nitti balances his roles as a
solo artist, sideman, and educator. He has filled the
bass chair for Kenny Loggins, Carrie Underwood,
Dave Weckl Band, Michael McDonald, Susan
Tedeschi, Steven Curtis Chapman, Mike Stern, Brent
Mason, Wayne Krantz, and Christopher Cross, while
also releasing five solo CDs to date. As a Nashville
session bassist he has played on multiple Grammy-
winning and Grammy-nominated albums, and is
also the founder of...
AdamNittiMusicEducation.com
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