I've been playing, gigging and recording in a groove metal/modern metal band for over a year now. Some of my musician friends, strangers at gigs and even the mixing engineer we work with (sound production student at NOROFF in Oslo) have been complimenting my tone. I don't think I do anything special, other than EQ my rig around the other guitarists, but I guess you could say I have found a 'signature' tone over the last year.

We are going back into the 'studio' to track more songs we have already written and I wanted to here opinions. What do we all think about sticking to a 'signature tone' versus changing things up and keeping tones fresh?

Also, I would appreciate comments/opinions/suggestions on my current tone, and whether I should stick with it or not.

Sound samples:




My current gear and setup:
Schecter Stargazer 5 in drop C > TC Hypergravity Comp in multiband mode > assortment of dirt pedals with parallel dry signal > Two Notes CAB 18" IR > Reverb/delay > MXR 10 band EQ

My dirt pedals:
- Empress Multidrive a) Overdrive b)Fuzz/Distortion in low pass/high pass setting
- B3K clone pedal
- DOD Boneshaker (for the really heavy stuff)

We record in a few places, tracking guitars/bass at home, vocals at a film studio, and drums where we can (the drummer also does some sample replacement).

What about you? Have you found your signature tone or do you like to have something new?

Truth bro, I cant hear the bass. In my car, with a good system. The quality on those recordings isnt very good. The songs aren't bad. But you cant really pick you out at all.
 
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I can hear that the bass is buried in the mix behind all of the rhythm parts. I call this the “modern” or “default metal” mix
Modern mix is just turn down the bass, default metal is a mix that doesn’t separate the guitars from the bass. You are somewhere in between.
 
Thanks delta7fred.
Maybe I am self conscious about dominating the mix, especially when we have a lot happening in some of the songs.

A louder bass would make it a lot better in my opinion, specially the low end. Also, i think the song would benefit from a bassier and louder kick drum.
Something like this song:



In the above song the bass is relatively loud but doesn't interfere with the rest. In the way the guitars are equalized in your song, i think a louder bass would work just fine.

Also, the bass dominating a mix isn't necessarily a bad thing





 
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On "Slaves to the Ecosphere", i think your problem with it is not necessarily that the bass is too loud, but that there are frequencies that are too low going on. I liked it, but maybe you should try a high pass filter.
 
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Glad to hear so many comments, even if the general trend is more bass.
Maybe I hyperfocus on my parts when listening back, which is why I ask to be a bit lower in the mix. But more volume seems to be part of what I need.

Slaves to the Ecosphere was done on a limited time schedule, and it was our first time working with the mix engineer. A lot was learned in the process, and I think that is reflected in the next singles and the EP.

@ihaveaquestion Since my last pedal is a MXR 10 band EQ, I can experiment with pushing my already boosted frequencies in the low end up a little more. Gotta say, the 10 band is a secret weapon nearly every bassist should have.
 
I can't hear the bass in the first track listed. I have very clear speakers and a 15" sub.

Can't comment on the tone of an almost inaudible bass track. TURN IT UP
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that A Sky Full of Splinters probably has the weirdest bass sound.

I am using an Empress multidrive in Fuzz/Distortion parallel mode. I low pass filter the fuzz and high pass the Distortion on the Lead setting. It sounds like a buzz saw and not at all like a bass. I just really wanted an aggressive and extreme sound but it blends right i to the guitars.
 
I know you've already had a lot of replies but i thought i would throw my 2 cents in as well. From my perspective I don't think it's the question to ask, the real question (which you've already answered) is whether you dial in your tone within the context of your band and more specifically the songs you've written.

Music like most things is all about context, you listen to the guitarists and you're thinking about the recording and mixing process and your making creative choices to help achieve a killer track and that right there is all you have to be worried about. Sure you might change your sound up depending on the song or even the record but as long as it's driven by the context of the song you're on the right path in my lowly opinion.
 
I've been playing, gigging and recording in a groove metal/modern metal band for over a year now. Some of my musician friends, strangers at gigs and even the mixing engineer we work with (sound production student at NOROFF in Oslo) have been complimenting my tone. I don't think I do anything special, other than EQ my rig around the other guitarists, but I guess you could say I have found a 'signature' tone over the last year.

We are going back into the 'studio' to track more songs we have already written and I wanted to here opinions. What do we all think about sticking to a 'signature tone' versus changing things up and keeping tones fresh?

Also, I would appreciate comments/opinions/suggestions on my current tone, and whether I should stick with it or not.

Sound samples:




My current gear and setup:
Schecter Stargazer 5 in drop C > TC Hypergravity Comp in multiband mode > assortment of dirt pedals with parallel dry signal > Two Notes CAB 18" IR > Reverb/delay > MXR 10 band EQ

My dirt pedals:
- Empress Multidrive a) Overdrive b)Fuzz/Distortion in low pass/high pass setting
- B3K clone pedal
- DOD Boneshaker (for the really heavy stuff)

We record in a few places, tracking guitars/bass at home, vocals at a film studio, and drums where we can (the drummer also does some sample replacement).

What about you? Have you found your signature tone or do you like to have something new?


A few years ago, my band went into a studio to record a demo. We had a complicated sound, with unusual instrumentation and we always had a pretty good mix when we played live.

Once the songs were in the can, we left the mix largely to the guy who recorded it and it was REALLY fascinating to hear the result. My tone wound up very different from what I usually chase, but it was very effective and I enjoyed hearing how he interpreted our sound from the raw tracks.
 
EDIT: some artifact of the server migration has made it hard for me to keep up with new posts as they are added. Pretty much everything I say below--at great length!--was said more elegantly and succinctly in post #30, above. Sorry.

What you said: "I don't think I do anything special, other than EQ my rig around the other guitarists, but I guess you could say I have found a 'signature' tone over the last year."

In the best possible way, I think you answered your question right there. It sounds like you have your ears turned on and are considerate of the common goal: a good-sounding mix. If you are able to hold down your part of the mix without sonically stepping on your bandmates, and you are satisfied with how your bass sounds, well...what better qualifications could there be for an appropriate tone than that?

As an (admittedly extreme) example, if you left this outfit today and started playing with a group consisting of Rhodes electric piano, flute, mountain dulcimer and your bass, the tone you were using in the posted samples would probably not be well suited to the mix. The whole point of a signature tone gets questionable (if you are indeed the kind of player with broad enough tastes and enough versatility to make a transition like that in the first place). In that case, assuming you made the switch and found it creatively rewarding, I think you'd ideally leave it up to the listener to pick out ways in which your bass-playing personality and approach held similarities to the group you were in before. Your role, assuming you found your new situation to be creatively rewarding, would be to complement the ensemble as best you can. Leave "signature concerns" to the critics and listeners to puzzle out.

All of that is sort of academic, in my own experience, I will admit. Every time I've started playing with different people, I've had to change gear right away and have found that my playing approach has changed too, when I look back on it. The "my old amp and guitar combination sucks in this new setting" realization generally hits me right away and it's a very conscious decision...but the way my actual playing and use of whatever the new gear is shifts...that happens more gradually and I don't really have perspective on it until later.

I switched from guitar to bass, mostly, several years back and am still playing with the first band I've been in as a bass player. The sounds and playing approaches of the other guys in the band seem to dictate what I need to do to hold down the low end, and I've got a tone and approach that I'm generally happy with, aside from my wish to play better. But I'm pretty sure that if I suddenly started playing with a guitarist who didn't use distortion most of the time, my tone would have to change pretty radically for me to complement that guitarist, and for me to be happy with my role in the group.

So, in short, my advice is let your aesthetic taste and the context you play in determine the tone you use, and don't spend too much time or energy thinking about consistency of a signature tone. If the band you're with has some sort of overall shift in sound from one recording project to the next, let that dictate what your sound is, and don't worry about the word "signature" being attached to that or not.
 
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Great tone, really makes for a huge sounding mix

I've been slowly recording a full-length with my band over the past year, and I've had a similar dilemma of whether to keep a consistent tone across the album, or change it up as it suits the song.
The two guitarists are using pretty much the same tone, and the drummer the same kit, for all the songs, so I went with the latter. I think it brings out the stylistic differences in songs, and its been fun getting new and interesting tones out of my basses. I don't think changing your tone really matters too much, as long as you like how you sound at the time of playing.

I usually use a T40 with humbuckers with my band, but I just got a Sire V7 and the jazz tone sounds so good with the group, this is now my gigging bass for this band with no regrets. All the bass was already tracked, and sounds sick, but the new bass/tone will not be represented on our recorded music, at least not in a significant way.
I'm not a fan of the "the TONE is in your FINGERS MAN" viewpoint, as obviously electric instruments are heavily dependent on conscious decisions about gear and equalizing. That being said I do think each person has aspects of performance style that speak through regardless of the instrument they use, I guess to a greater or lesser extent with different people.
 
@Silthis89 @mexicanyella
You both make good points about fitting the context. I suppose that is what I have been considering as 'signature.' At least for my clean sound. My other sounds are really built around what I think each song needs. Those are the sounds that I have set on my pedals now.
Maybe I should really be looking at the upcoming recordings as a more experimental space, both as a bassist and guitarist.
As far as context goes, our one guitarist is kind of the foundation. He has is clean and dirty sound and nothing in between. That helps our recording process as he is usually the first one to track.
My one concern is falling back into the tone chasing game and not actually using my time to write and record.
Anyone else have that problem? Tone chasing?
 
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