Playing Bass & Guitar, and cutting through the mix (both, live)

Morbid

Morbid

Inspired
Fractalites!
I've got a couple of questions here that can kind of be grouped together, and I just wanted to pick the various experienced and opinionated brains of the intelligent people of this wonderful forum.
I should probably first point out, that I recognize the fact that a lot of these situations/answers will be subjective, and well vary greatly depending on the situation...I'm just really looking for a starting point is all.

So, every week I play with a band at a small bar using the Axe-FX II. The band consists of a female singer, male singer who plays an acoustic 12 string, and their normal electric guitar player, all running through the board, and a drummer who does NOT run through the board.
Normally I play bass, but occasionally I'll grab the electric guitar to join the other guitarist for songs like Hotel California. Naturally I have different patches for both, BUT, I always end up having to CRANK Output 1 on the Axe-FX (I run out to the board with an XLR cable), just to find myself barely audible over the other guitarist. Normally we'll hit a couple of chords separately to try and level out our volumes, but when we get going, I can almost never hear myself. Even if he's playing rhythm and I'm playing lead, I seem to just disappear. Tonight we even did an experiment in the interest of seeing if it was a frequency problem rather than a volume issue, where we improvised over La Grange a little. Even when he was doing the rhythm section, and I was on the higher registers of lead, I was barely audible. The general consensus from the audience is that I'm just not loud enough, yet I have to turn Output 1 down by more than half when I plug the bass back in, otherwise I'll be deafening. So I feel a little lost there...

In an effort to have the patches set to where minimal adjustments would be required when switching from guitar and bass (because sometimes I have to switch every couple of songs), I had run the Axe-FX through Studio One to look at the levels (because I was too lazy to use the levels on the Axe-FX, lol)and the bass comes in at a lower db reading than the guitar, yet when I'm at the gigs, bass is clearly the louder patch, or so it seems.

So I guess my questions, summed up are;
1: How would you guys suggest setting up the bass and guitar patches in a way that shouldn't require much adjustment (my guess is I'll need to lower the bass patch volume significantly, since if I up the amp of the guitar patch any more I'll start clipping).
2: Do you think it's possible that my guitar patch just truly ISN'T loud enough? Or do you still think it's some kind of frequency occupation problem?
3: I know I can benefit from using a filter to add some volume to my lead scene...how many db would you suggest as a safe zone?

Mind you my abilities to experiment, at the place of the gigs, and with the equipment used at the gigs, are pretty minimal. I'm lucky to have 20 minutes of free time with the stuff before we start, and normally I don't even get that much time.

Sorry if this seemed a little scattered, but I'm wiped out and actually JUST got home from the gig, Anyway, as always, much appreciation for your time and knowledge folks. :)
 
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Hi!

I'm no expert but first, I would try to compare volume with the VU meters of the Axe Fx. You go in the Utility meny, switch pages until you find the horizontal VU meter. Then you compare your level with the Bass and with the guitar.
Otherwise, it may also depend on your sound system. what kind of cab/poweramp/wedge... do you have? And the 2nd guitar?

Ps : the wiki page is very well documented http://wiki.fractalaudio.com/axefx2/index.php?title=Preset_level
 
I'm running straight into the board with BOSE speakers. Couldn't tell ya the kind of board I'm afraid.
The guitar is an Ernie Ball JP6, and the bass is an LTD b205sm

When I wake up tomorrow I'll give that page a better look. :)
 
Fletcher-Munson by the sound of it. Boost mids and cut the extreme lows and highs on guitar - and again some (more boost, or at least harder cuts) for solos!
 
Ok! When you'll have time, describe the config (do you have any personal wedge? Any speaker just for you? what kind of FOH? Any specific speaker for the bass?).

I'm doing small stages with my group (2 guitars, bass, 3 voices, drum with mics) and we are using a FOH with 2 speakers, a sub when it's possible and personal wedges when it's possible. When not possible, we try to put the FOH closed to the guitars and PAN the guitar (Left/right) so that each guitar can hear its sound. Personally, I have a personal in-ear in my rack with the Axe Fx that I use when it's not possible to hear myself. And beside that, we are recording the first songs to adjust the mix and level of the FOH so that the audience can hear something rather good. We have a numeric board and we set-up EQ to "give some space" to everyone (guitars are cut below 100hz and above 10k, bass and drum kick filter to feed the sub, etc.). But we still often miss a "sound guy" that could adjust the mix real-time.

With our configuration, I would check the level of the sub versus the level of the guitar in the FOH (to check what the audience hears), I would check the level of your wedge (remove the other instruments in your wedge or increase the volume of your wedge)... or I would simply check the volume of the other guitar. Because leveling the patches is hard, but the Axe makes it easier. And your friend could have different patches with different levels and he would then just ruin any effort you could do to make it right ;)
 
The configuration is pretty basic. I'll be honest, 3 out of the 5 of us are guest players, who only play Tuesday nights, and it's really only for fun.
Normally it's a father daughter acoustic duo, he sings and plays the 12 string, and she sings. That being said, their setup is pretty simple...2 FOH speakers, 2 on stage monitors that everyone shares. Ta-daaaaa, lol.
In truth, given what they normally do, their setup is more than adequate. And honestly, when I'm playing bass, everything is quite fine. It's just when I pick up the guitar to play with them, that it's not. I used the Warped Vinyl patch earlier for "Wish You Were Here" and it seemed to come through just fine, but I wasn't trying to trade off solos either like I was before.

I've downloaded a db meter to my phone (don't think I can get a hold of a real one this week)to try and measure out my patches, and I'll also take a closer look at the levels on the Axe-FX to see if there's something I'm missing.

The other guitar player is also not using an Axe-FX...like me, his tones are completely programmed by hand, and he uses some kind of digitech board. So unfortunately, we can't even trade/exchange sounds in that regard.

Random thought, would it be inappropriate to adjust the "output" level on the Axe-FX (not the knob, but the one on the grid)and just raise/lower the patches as necessary?
 
What you're experiencing is the age old problem of the drummer playing way too fucking loud combined with terrible room acoustics and bad EQing.
"What? Dynamics? But I'm already playing as hard as I can!"

Does the following sound familiar? You barely hear yourself while playing a song, but as soon as you play alone, you are at almost deafening levels.

The problem is that low and high frequencies build up in your room, especially when playing loud, masking everything by a horrible wash of reverb. The cymbals and kick/toms will utterly destroy everything in the low and high frequencies and there's not much you can do about this.
Turning up the volume for the guitar won't solve this problem. As soon as you are louder than the drums, everything else will get masked up by the guitar and you have the same issue again.

All you can do is applying band-aid.

Here's what you can do:
- Get broadband acoustic absorbers and spread them across the walls around your drummer to filter out the first reflections of high frequencies. This will remove some of the cymbal wash (and no, egg cartons will not do it, as cardboard is an acoustic reflector, not an absorber... they will apply some dispersion, though, so it's still a bit better than dry wall)
- Get professional bass traps and place them in the corners of your room. Don't build your own; selfmade ones mostly don't work (Why Your Bass Traps Don’t Work | Home Recording Blog).
... once you did that (be prepared, though... this is expensive!) you will instantly notice a huge improvement of clarity

Here is some general advice for live and rehearsal situations to improve clarity:
- apply a GEQ to your guitar; cut everything below 125Hz and above 6khz. Roll back 125Hz by 3dB and 250Hz by 2dB. Make room for the bass guitar. Add +1dB to 1khz.
- apply a GEQ to the 12-string: cut everything below 250Hz and reduce the midrange (250-1000Hz) to make room for the electric guitar; the tonal focus of the acoustic 12-string sound is in the high frequencies (2khz-6khz)
- cut the bass guitar below 70hz and beyond 1khz. Yes, I know; bass is about low frequencies, but you don't want to compete with the bass-drum here. In your setup, bass should fill the 125-400Hz range.
- get rid of all reverb stomps/blocks. You don't need them in most live situations. Reverbs are for recording or for creating deep soundscapes. You want clarity, not depth. Every additional reverb will just take some of that clarity away. Unless you are playing outdoor or stages with line-arrays, here's the golden rule of live sound: "Delay, not reverb".
And nope, not even your singer needs reverb.

This should get you in the ballpark. Combined with some acoustic treatment, you will find yourself in tonal heaven when applying all of these rules. Don't worry that your guitar will sound like crap when isolated after applying the EQ I suggested. That's normal and you would be surprised how bad isolated guitar sounds sound even on professional recordings... it's the mix that matters.

I recommend analyzing a Foo Fighters live concert (for example, "Rock am Ring 2015") if you want to learn more about live-EQing. The foos play with 3+1 guitars on stage and it sounds MASSIVE, yet everything is crystal-clear. This is because every guitar has rigorous EQ applied to it. One of the lead guitars even sounds like it has a low-cut as high as 1000Hz applied.
 
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G'day morbid,
I agree - just lower the level of your bass patch so they are even.
Also - if you post your typical bass patch and guitar patch here, I'll compare them with a bass and guitar to see if I get the same results here. If I do, I'll do what I can to even them up and send back to you.

Pauly
 
Morbid said:
The configuration is pretty basic. I'll be honest, 3 out of the 5 of us are guest players, who only play Tuesday nights, and it's really only for fun.
Normally it's a father daughter acoustic duo, he sings and plays the 12 string, and she sings. That being said, their setup is pretty simple...2 FOH speakers, 2 on stage monitors that everyone shares. Ta-daaaaa, lol.
In truth, given what they normally do, their setup is more than adequate. And honestly, when I'm playing bass, everything is quite fine. It's just when I pick up the guitar to play with them, that it's not. I used the Warped Vinyl patch earlier for "Wish You Were Here" and it seemed to come through just fine, but I wasn't trying to trade off solos either like I was before.

I've downloaded a db meter to my phone (don't think I can get a hold of a real one this week)to try and measure out my patches, and I'll also take a closer look at the levels on the Axe-FX to see if there's something I'm missing.

The other guitar player is also not using an Axe-FX...like me, his tones are completely programmed by hand, and he uses some kind of digitech board. So unfortunately, we can't even trade/exchange sounds in that regard.

Random thought, would it be inappropriate to adjust the "output" level on the Axe-FX (not the knob, but the one on the grid)and just raise/lower the patches as necessary?
Click to expand...

As Zwiebelchen said, EQ is key.

I would not bother with an iPhone dbmeter. The VU meter of the Axe fx are working very well. Try level your patch with that and fine-tune with your ears.

My opinion is that you should NOT change your output level during your performance: the level must be adjusted to avoid any clipping on your board. So if you increase if, you might clip your board. Levels must be adjusted on the patches and there is NO reason you have differences in your levels.

Ps : with 2 stage monitors, you can also try to PAN the guitars, some left, some right so that your stage monitors are more efficient.
 
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Try this: set your Axe main output at 12 o'clock, away from your gig set your optimum output from your guitar patch using the horizontal meter in the Utilities menu (playing in the styles and intensity of string attack that you would want to do live), then when at the show adjust your level with the band using the mixing board.

Then do a warm-up song with the band and you on bass, while you turn down the output level of your bass patch so it sounds good in the mix. Don't forget to save the patch before switching back to guitar! If you have the mfc-101 you can program it for the volume increment/decrement functions to do it on the fly without breaking the rhythm while you play.
 
Zwiebelchen said:
What you're experiencing is the age old problem of the drummer playing way too fucking loud combined with terrible room acoustics and bad EQing.
"What? Dynamics? But I'm already playing as hard as I can!"

Does the following sound familiar? You barely hear yourself while playing a song, but as soon as you play alone, you are at almost deafening levels.

The problem is that low and high frequencies build up in your room, especially when playing loud, masking everything by a horrible wash of reverb. The cymbals and kick/toms will utterly destroy everything in the low and high frequencies and there's not much you can do about this.
Turning up the volume for the guitar won't solve this problem. As soon as you are louder than the drums, everything else will get masked up by the guitar and you have the same issue again.

All you can do is applying band-aid.

Here's what you can do:
- Get broadband acoustic absorbers and spread them across the walls around your drummer to filter out the first reflections of high frequencies. This will remove some of the cymbal wash (and no, egg cartons will not do it, as cardboard is an acoustic reflector, not an absorber... they will apply some dispersion, though, so it's still a bit better than dry wall)
- Get professional bass traps and place them in the corners of your room. Don't build your own; selfmade ones mostly don't work (Why Your Bass Traps Don’t Work | Home Recording Blog).
... once you did that (be prepared, though... this is expensive!) you will instantly notice a huge improvement of clarity

Here is some general advice for live and rehearsal situations to improve clarity:
- apply a GEQ to your guitar; cut everything below 125Hz and above 6khz. Roll back 125Hz by 3dB and 250Hz by 2dB. Make room for the bass guitar. Add +1dB to 1khz.
- apply a GEQ to the 12-string: cut everything below 250Hz and reduce the midrange (250-1000Hz) to make room for the electric guitar; the tonal focus of the acoustic 12-string sound is in the high frequencies (2khz-6khz)
- cut the bass guitar below 70hz and beyond 1khz. Yes, I know; bass is about low frequencies, but you don't want to compete with the bass-drum here. In your setup, bass should fill the 125-400Hz range.
- get rid of all reverb stomps/blocks. You don't need them in most live situations. Reverbs are for recording or for creating deep soundscapes. You want clarity, not depth. Every additional reverb will just take some of that clarity away. Unless you are playing outdoor or stages with line-arrays, here's the golden rule of live sound: "Delay, not reverb".
And nope, not even your singer needs reverb.

This should get you in the ballpark. Combined with some acoustic treatment, you will find yourself in tonal heaven when applying all of these rules. Don't worry that your guitar will sound like crap when isolated after applying the EQ I suggested. That's normal and you would be surprised how bad isolated guitar sounds sound even on professional recordings... it's the mix that matters.

I recommend analyzing a Foo Fighters live concert (for example, "Rock am Ring 2015") if you want to learn more about live-EQing. The foos play with 3+1 guitars on stage and it sounds MASSIVE, yet everything is crystal-clear. This is because every guitar has rigorous EQ applied to it. One of the lead guitars even sounds like it has a low-cut as high as 1000Hz applied.
Click to expand...

I'll give this some looking into. What you mentioned sounds a little familiar, but only for me. Everyone else cuts through perfectly. Like I said, the drums aren't mic'd in any way shape or form, and while I know that's not the only way that this problem could occur, I think it would probably be more prominent if he WAS mic'd. Even still though, with everyone else cutting through and being perfectly audible, I can only assume it's a problem more on my end.
Bare in mind that as far as the overall mix, I'm only in a position to control my own sound. How everything else is mixed, is not up to me. I'm more of a guest player than anything. I play because I enjoy it, not because I get paid or am entitled. That being said though, I enjoy it most when I sound good (don't we all?).

Pllm said:
As Zwiebelchen said, EQ is key.

I would not bother with an iPhone dbmeter. The VU meter of the Axe fx are working very well. Try level your patch with that and fine-tune with your ears.

My opinion is that you should NOT change your output level during your performance: the level must be adjusted to avoid any clipping on your board. So if you increase if, you might clip your board. Levels must be adjusted on the patches and there is NO reason you have differences in your levels.

Ps : with 2 stage monitors, you can also try to PAN the guitars, some left, some right so that your stage monitors are more efficient.
Click to expand...
Because it's not up to me how we're mixed, I don't think panning will really be much of an option. Even if it were, the guitar player and I are on the same side of the stage, so I don't think it'd help us.
As far as adjusting the levels during performance, I agree. Which is why I'm going to try and get this more sorted now, at home, and try to fine tune it before we actually start next week. It'll either work or it won't I suppose.

6stringscott said:
Try this: set your Axe main output at 12 o'clock, away from your gig set your optimum output from your guitar patch using the horizontal meter in the Utilities menu (playing in the styles and intensity of string attack that you would want to do live), then when at the show adjust your level with the band using the mixing board.

Then do a warm-up song with the band and you on bass, while you turn down the output level of your bass patch so it sounds good in the mix. Don't forget to save the patch before switching back to guitar! If you have the mfc-101 you can program it for the volume increment/decrement functions to do it on the fly without breaking the rhythm while you play.
Click to expand...

I figured I would likely end up taking that approach, regardless of the outcome of this thread. It's my intention to take everything mentioned into account, and to do plenty of experimenting, but even after experiments, I figure the only way for me to really nail it down is to do that.


As far as the patches, I use this bass patch on the axe-change: Axe-Change - Download Preset - John Myung Constant motion TMA - by Jangri
I liked the sound of it right out of the box, so I didn't change anything except for the order of the scenes.

For my guitar patch, I quickly programmed this: http://www.thehybrid.net/Blue.syx

I was trying to go for more of a bluesy tone, without leaving out the possibility of getting something a little grungier when I wanted it. Honestly though, I'm not incredibly happy with the tone, and in the midst of all of this experimenting, I may start from scratch anyway.
For anyone wondering, the FX loop is only in there so I can play through my power amp and cab at home without using the Cab IR.
 
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It's absolutely logical that all the other instruments cut through well:

- Acoustic Drums always cut through ... because they are fucking loud to begin with. Also, most of the drums happen in the low and high frequencies, which our ears are very sensitive for
- 12-string acoustics are extremely bright and have way stronger attack than any electric guitar sound
- Vocals mostly cover the midrange, which perfectly fits into the hole between bass (<400Hz) and 12-string (>1000Hz) primary content.

... in that setup, your guitar is an intruder that has no frequency range to sit in, unless you apply EQ to bass and the 12-string.
If your sound covers the entire spectrum equally, you will be masked by the other instruments unless you push yourself so loud that you mask everything else. You have to create a sound space for the guitar... And that space is in the mid-range.
So give yourself a solid midrange boost and cut bass and presence. It's the only frequency band in which a guitar can be placed in your mix without competing with the other instruments. You are still contested by vocals, so it depends a bit on the vocal range of your singers and your song material how well it will work.
 
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Zwiebelchen said:
It's absolutely logical that all the other instruments cut through well:

- Acoustic Drums always cut through ... because they are fucking loud to begin with. Also, most of the drums happen in the low and high frequencies, which our ears are very sensitive for
- 12-string acoustics are extremely bright and have way stronger attack than any electric guitar sound
- Vocals mostly cover the midrange, which perfectly fits into the hole between bass (<400Hz) and 12-string (>1000Hz) primary content.

... in that setup, your guitar is an intruder that has no frequency range to sit in, unless you apply EQ to bass and the 12-string.
If your sound covers the entire spectrum equally, you will be masked by the other instruments unless you push yourself so loud that you mask everything else. You have to create a sound space for the guitar... And that space is in the mid-range.
So give yourself a solid midrange boost and cut bass and presence. It's the only frequency band in which a guitar can be placed in your mix without competing with the other instruments. You are still contested by vocals, so it depends a bit on the vocal range of your singers and your song material how well it will work.
Click to expand...

I'll give that a go, thanks. I'm supposed to get together with the father and daughter tonight at one of their shows to try a couple of things. It won't be quite the same without the drummer and second guitarist, but it'll at least give me some opportunity to experiment with EQing and boosting (I've since added a boost to my lead patch, I think 2.7db).
Their guitarist is out of town this week, so it won't be until the 11th of August that I get to find out if everything worked the way it should. I'll let everyone know how tonight goes if I make it though.

Thanks again gentlemen.
 
Morbid said:
I'll give that a go, thanks. I'm supposed to get together with the father and daughter tonight at one of their shows to try a couple of things. It won't be quite the same without the drummer and second guitarist, but it'll at least give me some opportunity to experiment with EQing and boosting (I've since added a boost to my lead patch, I think 2.7db).
Their guitarist is out of town this week, so it won't be until the 11th of August that I get to find out if everything worked the way it should. I'll let everyone know how tonight goes if I make it though.

Thanks again gentlemen.
Click to expand...
So, did the midboost thing help?
 
Zwiebelchen said:
What you're experiencing is the age old problem of the drummer playing way too fucking loud combined with terrible room acoustics and bad EQing.
"What? Dynamics? But I'm already playing as hard as I can!"

Does the following sound familiar? You barely hear yourself while playing a song, but as soon as you play alone, you are at almost deafening levels.

The problem is that low and high frequencies build up in your room, especially when playing loud, masking everything by a horrible wash of reverb. The cymbals and kick/toms will utterly destroy everything in the low and high frequencies and there's not much you can do about this.
Turning up the volume for the guitar won't solve this problem. As soon as you are louder than the drums, everything else will get masked up by the guitar and you have the same issue again.

All you can do is applying band-aid.

Here's what you can do:
- Get broadband acoustic absorbers and spread them across the walls around your drummer to filter out the first reflections of high frequencies. This will remove some of the cymbal wash (and no, egg cartons will not do it, as cardboard is an acoustic reflector, not an absorber... they will apply some dispersion, though, so it's still a bit better than dry wall)
- Get professional bass traps and place them in the corners of your room. Don't build your own; selfmade ones mostly don't work (Why Your Bass Traps Don’t Work | Home Recording Blog).
... once you did that (be prepared, though... this is expensive!) you will instantly notice a huge improvement of clarity

Here is some general advice for live and rehearsal situations to improve clarity:
- apply a GEQ to your guitar; cut everything below 125Hz and above 6khz. Roll back 125Hz by 3dB and 250Hz by 2dB. Make room for the bass guitar. Add +1dB to 1khz.
- apply a GEQ to the 12-string: cut everything below 250Hz and reduce the midrange (250-1000Hz) to make room for the electric guitar; the tonal focus of the acoustic 12-string sound is in the high frequencies (2khz-6khz)
- cut the bass guitar below 70hz and beyond 1khz. Yes, I know; bass is about low frequencies, but you don't want to compete with the bass-drum here. In your setup, bass should fill the 125-400Hz range.
- get rid of all reverb stomps/blocks. You don't need them in most live situations. Reverbs are for recording or for creating deep soundscapes. You want clarity, not depth. Every additional reverb will just take some of that clarity away. Unless you are playing outdoor or stages with line-arrays, here's the golden rule of live sound: "Delay, not reverb".
And nope, not even your singer needs reverb.

This should get you in the ballpark. Combined with some acoustic treatment, you will find yourself in tonal heaven when applying all of these rules. Don't worry that your guitar will sound like crap when isolated after applying the EQ I suggested. That's normal and you would be surprised how bad isolated guitar sounds sound even on professional recordings... it's the mix that matters.

I recommend analyzing a Foo Fighters live concert (for example, "Rock am Ring 2015") if you want to learn more about live-EQing. The foos play with 3+1 guitars on stage and it sounds MASSIVE, yet everything is crystal-clear. This is because every guitar has rigorous EQ applied to it. One of the lead guitars even sounds like it has a low-cut as high as 1000Hz applied.
Click to expand...

Man, that was well diagnosed. Funny, I also had the sneaky suspicion that the drums were too loud on stage, but wasn't certain they were the culprit.

Very good and informative post. Thanks!
 
DukeOfPrunes said:
Man, that was well diagnosed. Funny, I also had the sneaky suspicion that the drums were too loud on stage, but wasn't certain they were the culprit.

Very good and informative post. Thanks!
Click to expand...
Acoustic Drumkits are the cryptonite of good sound in rehearsal spaces and small club gigs. Unfortunately, E-drums just don't come close when it comes to tone and feel of a real drumkit. At least I have never heard or played any E-drums yet that I liked.
 
Zwiebelchen said:
Acoustic Drumkits are the cryptonite of good sound in rehearsal spaces and small club gigs. Unfortunately, E-drums just don't come close when it comes to tone and feel of a real drumkit. At least I have never heard or played any E-drums yet that I liked.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Very difficult to beat the sound of a well tuned acoustic kit, that's why fiberglass baffles are your best friends...
 
Zwiebelchen said:
So, did the midboost thing help?
Click to expand...

I sat in with the father and daughter last night, and still had some issues. I completely unscooped the graphic EQ of the amp, and boosted the mids, as well as lowered the bass, yet still difficulties. I finally got a little frustrated and took a look at the board myself and noticed my slider was almost entirely bottomed out, which makes me wonder once again...has this been a volume issue the entire time? I'm the only one who plugs into channel 8, so it's never touched unless I'm there, which means I've been at an obnoxiously low volume level this entire time. Not necessarily his fault, since he had done it to stop the bass from being too loud, and is not as familiar with the new technology as we are.
I asked him to adjust my slider for guitar, not for bass, and that I would adjust everything else on my end instead. By that time though, there were only 2 songs left. Things seemed a lot closer, but I didn't have any more opportunity to experiment.

Tuesday I'll be with them again, and the drummer. With their normal guitarist out of town, I still won't feel like I've got it figured out until he's back and we all get to play together again, but if I cut through on Tuesday I'll feel a lot better about it, and I'll let you guys know how that goes.
In the meantime, hopefully now i can focus on figuring out these songs on guitar, instead of screwing with settings. No pressure.
 
You bring up a great point. I have been playing music a loooong time and this is basically the story of my life. I am a guitarist who has been drowned out by rhythm sections my entire career. The obvious solution would be to turn up, but then people will complain that the guitar is too loud. The average person will never say the bass is too loud because half of them don't even know what a bass is. They might say the band is too loud but if anyone gets singled out, it is usually the guitar. Musicians should not blame the room acoustics because that will be lousy most of the time. You have to listen. The band sound is a team effort but you are on the same team so don't compete against each other. I use an amp stand to tilt my speaker up towards me. Bass players need do the same so they can hear themselves. Some might say that might take away some of bass frequencies from the floor but, believe me, that is a far lesser evil. Volume is relative. If your stage volume needs to be at an earth shakingly high level, simply have your sound man balance the sound out front while you indulge your teenage fantasy. However, if you don't have that luxury, you might consider using your ears! Countless times I have heard these "cooking" "burning" "killing" rhythm sections drowning out the soloist. What's the point? Your job is to make him/her sound good. It's not an ego thing, it's not a guitar player thing - it's a music thing. It's basic orchestration/balance thing. For the love of God, listen and turn down!
 
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