Not enough credit to the bass...
 

does anyone else think the bass should be cranked up a bit? and maybe the shrill felling of the guitar down? in my opinion theres too many guitarists and not enough bassists in the world. im not trying to put anyone down or bother them i just find that this is a good topic.

in a vague sense, i almost agree with part of what you said.

i do like the bass to have a noticeable presence alot of the time.
i also feel that there are less good bass players than good guitarists. that's kind of a proxy thing though, because everybody and their brother plays guitar. when i used to have a band i played rythim guitar for the first 2 sets, and bass for the last 2. that's because by that time the bass player was drunk enough to start screwin up, and the other guitarist was better than me. i wasn't much of a bassist but i could stay in key and keep time.

I'm sure Mr Dave will pop in here at some point to note I've said exactly what he was expecting me to say, but here it is anyway:

A musician should ALWAYS be mixed, respected, and judged based on their personal skill, style, and talents within the group or situation. I wouldn't listen to Steve Vai to hear the bass sound, and I wouldn't listen to Billy Sheehan to hear the keyboard parts.

Bassists tend to get less respect, because in my experience, there are very few good bass players, and a lot of mediocre ones that like being pushed to the back where their mistakes aren't so noticable.

On the other hand, there are just as many bad guitar players, proportionally, except the good ones can be found more easily due to sheer numbers, so of course they're more up front in most situations.

Well a recording engineer's goal is to mix with the goal of achieving a cohesive sonorous balance between all the instruments. Since the Bass is really an integral part of the rhythm section it should be mixed to sound cohesive with the drums in a recording. There are obviously exceptions to that rule, but by and large most professional recording and mastering engineers know what they're doing.

are we really this predictable? :p:


as for the OP and their desire for more low-end attention.... how many bass specific threads do we already have on this site? this is like the 5th active 'bass' thread going. 3rd in this subforum alone, while the other 2 are still quite active.

not enough credit? or just listening to too much poorly produced garbage?

the best comment i've heard about playing bass is that it's one of those things you should feel more than you should hear (especially in pop / rock music). it's always there, hidden in the mix, kicking your butt and making it move. THAT is what a good bass player does, they move people.

yet how can you kick butt if you cant hear it

Get better speakers.

I agree. *goes back to listening to his Mordaunt Short Mezzo 2s*

----------------
Now playing on Winamp: Yngwie J. Malmsteen's Rising Force - Faster Than The Speed Of Light
via FoxyTunes

The bass definitely deserves more credit but I'll tell you why it doesn't receive it. There are a lot of amazing bassists out there who really utilize the instrument, BUT there are A LOT of bassists out there who stick with just very simple, 'background' bass lines that just fall back behind all the other instruments.

Guitars are louder because they are typically playing the melody, and get a wider range of sounds.