Dealing with dead spots on bass?

[Electro-Voice 664]

Anyone have any tips for dealing with dead-spots on a bass? I?m having trouble with the 1st position F# on the E string. Everything sounds full and nice then this wimpy note barely pokes out. The bass player can play another F# or another bass, but I was just curious how you folks deal with this type of issue?

[lee]

i endorse this question.

[firesine]

Try moving the cab around the room.

If you hear the problem in a DI, maybe try another bass.

[dynomike]

Some basses just suck. Its not easy to find one that has a balanced volume and tone all the way up and down the neck... just like with monitors, find the best bass you can afford, and then practice with it until you know its quirks.

I second the DI (plus headphones!) for evaluating the bass. Room nodes and resonant frequencies in the bass cab can have a lot to do with this too.

[Electro-Voice 664]

Thanks for the replies.. For this recording we were going direct. We ended up just using another bass, but the tone was different. We started with a '69 EB3 and ended up with a '72 P-bass. The EB3 had a really mellow tone that was very fitting for the song, so we rolled the tone off the P-bass and it work great too. But how have you folks dealt with dead notes after the fact. Like if you miss the volume drop while recording; does anyone have any fun tips for beefing up a weak note?

[vatoben]

That's a nightmare I've gone through a bunch. I've never found anything to help it once it's been recorded. The two most common fixes I end up at are playing in different positions on the neck (first) or using a different bass (second and usually the fix). Fortunately I've been playing Laklands for a while and never played one with a dead spot. I've never tried it, but if you're feeling adventurous you could ride the fader of the track before hitting a compressor and try filling out the F by hand. It might make some low frequency stuff jump too much but if the tone is killin it might be worth a try. That's my 0 cents.

[@?,*???&?]

The solution lies with this unit:

http://www.ultimateguitartone.com/fretl ... ots-2.html

They make them for both guitar and bass.

But if you don't believe in beveling the edges of your CDRs for balance and to control sympathetic resonance, then this is probably all hooey as well.

[mjau]

Before the fact: use a different bass, move the cab around, and/or just play around the bad fret.
After the fact: automation and/or compression.

[darjama]

The solution lies with this unit:

http://www.ultimateguitartone.com/fretl ... ots-2.html

They make them for both guitar and bass.

But if you don't believe in beveling the edges of your CDRs for balance and to control sympathetic resonance, then this is probably all hooey as well.

The fatfinger can move a deadspot closer to your headstock, in this case it might do the trick.

But a dead spot at F# on the E string seems a little unusual. I'd wonder if it was a fret problem.

[Weasel9992]

But a dead spot at F# on the E string seems a little unusual. I'd wonder if it was a fret problem.

It seems strange to me too...I'd guess fret problem or warped neck. In any case, I don't know of an easy way to deal with it in mixing other than automation on the notes in question.

Frank

[GooberNumber9]

When I have problem notes or hits or passages that are way too quiet when they were recorded, I usually don't to automation. This is because volume automation (at least in PTLE) affects the level after all of the inserts and even after any pre-fader sends. Instead, I chop up the regions into normal volume and bad volume sections, and I use the Gain AudioSuite plug-in to amp-up the quiet parts so that I create a fake perfomance that has more consistent volume.

That way the audio is hitting the compressor, EQ, etc. more consistently and it becomes easier to mix.

If you are DI-ing and then reamping or heavily processing a bass or electric guitar track, then you can play around with it a lot and all the processing/re-amping will cover up a lot of edits.

[newfuturevintage]

If I can catch this kind of problem before tracking, I'll listen to the bass unplugged, while playing it myself. When you get a dead note like this, if it's the fault of the bass, you'll feel it in the instrument, and hear it in the acoustic tone. If it's the instrument, the best thing to do is swap for a different instrument.

If I can't swap instruments for aesthetic or practical reasons, I'll adjust playing style, or rearrange the part if possible.

If it gets to the recording, I'll typically automate volume changes to compensate, pre-compression.

[vatoben]

This is because volume automation (at least in PTLE) affects the level after all of the inserts and even after any pre-fader sends.

That's a pain in the ass. DP lets you place inserts post fader. Maybe sends too but that I don't know. Is there any way to change that in PTLE?

[JWL]

Another quick-fix is to use a very narrow EQ boost (ie, a Q of 12 or so) at the precise frequency for the F# in question, ie, 2nd fret E string is F#1, or 46.25Hz. If the boost is narrow enough you should be able to apply it to the entire bass track without affecting other notes too much.

[GooberNumber9]

This is because volume automation (at least in PTLE) affects the level after all of the inserts and even after any pre-fader sends.

That's a pain in the ass. DP lets you place inserts post fader. Maybe sends too but that I don't know. Is there any way to change that in PTLE?

I actually like gaining and muting regions better than using volume or mute automation because then I can still mix on the fly. There is a little more time spent on the inter-region cross-fades, but those don't take too long.

Don't get me wrong, if I'm trying to make a part that has natural dynamics in it sit better I may automate the fader, and of course I automate pan and plug-in bypass and parameters from time to time.

If I put an insert post-fader then that also ruins my fader response. Then I'd have to mix with the compressor or EQ output level control.

I just like to be able to grab a fader and move it at almost any time. Just my style, but there is a difference between changing the level before all your plugs and changing it afterwards. If you're trying to fix a performance, then changing the level before the plugs may get you closer to what you want to hear. There's several ways to do that in probably any software package, I just prefer to process the bad regions.