I’ve become rather curious about this lately, but can’t find anything in internet searches that answers my question.
The reason I ask is because when I’m trying to achieve optimal levels for recording (volume, gain, etc.), I tend to get some feedback, especially if I switch on overdrive or engage the Tube Screamer.
In the photo, I’m standing in my usual spot which is about 4.5 feet away from the face of the cab (Rumble 115). It’s a Rumble 500 watt amp head, so I tend to keep the volume rather low when practicing.
You’ll notice the cab is aimed directly at me.
Now, I’m wondering if I should turn the cab so it’s facing the same direction as me (outward from the practice space). Would that help. Do you think it’s something I should do?
I can add zero here but would love to know myself. My amp sounds completely different every place I sit/stand in my practice room.
FWIW - For recording, its all lines in from here and there but doesn’t matter, but when practicing or trying to decide what tone to use to record something I end up in an endless do loop of ‘what should I adjust’.
Add in the versitility of the Fender Rumble 40 Studio amp I just bought with all the amp and cab sims and my brain is melting away.
I was just listening to Tom Morello on Howard Stern’s show yesterday and he said he uses 1 amp and 1 guitar and has set the knobs ‘where he liked them’ years ago and decided to figure out how to sound good (and himself) in those constraints vs. worrying about all the variables. There is nice simplicity to this.
There is a ton that goes into this. Purposes? Just playing to hear yourself? Recording? Playing with others?
Then there are other factors. Different rooms have different acoustics, construction of walls, hallways etc…that can all affect the sound.
Size of amp, settings on amp play a role.
It’s possible some basic soundproofing on the walls can help, as many people do that in their music rooms to “trap” the sound. Some people put heavy blankets around the amp on some sort of structure.
Oh, attic insulation and structure of the ceiling Can affect it too. My practice space was at an office and it had those ceiling tiles with empty space above it, which disperses the sound differently than in a home with more solid/insulated ceilings.
So same settings on my amp at the office actually had a different tone than the same exact settings at home.
Oh, recording, I missed that part! So are you recording DI into a DAI and software and using the cab as a monitor, or are you mic’ing up the cab, or a combination of both?
I’ll figure it out on my own, I guess. I was just curious as to the best place for the bassist to stand in relationship to the amp. I thought maybe some of the folks on here that have played live might know the answer.
I wasn’t asking for advice on how to adjust or setup my DAI, or how to remodel my house to make it more acoustically perfect.
After nearly 30 years in the print media, and thousand of articles written and/or edited, I seem to have lost my touch.
I think you should just keep your current setup as it is and adjust your recording in your daw if needed. The only “perfect” solution for getting optimal levels is playing in a recording studio.
For playing live other rules apply. I’m more into recording then gigs so I’m sure other members can shed some light on that question
I wasn’t trying to be difficult. Where you stand can affect what you are hearing, but there are a lot of factors for that. I prefer not to give solutions without fully understanding what the problem is. If it doesn’t sound how you want it to, there are a number of things you can do. If you are using the amp as a monitor to hear what you are playing when you are recording, there can be a number of factors involved in hearing it how you want it to sound.
Playing live musicians tend to have either in ear monitors, or they have a floor monitor they stand in front of that is pointed at them, so generally being in front of the amp with it pointed at you is where you want it.
Soundproofing isn’t as difficult as that. We bought some foam pads and stuck em to the walls in places, takes about 20 minutes- an hour depending on how much of the wall you cover with it.
Your recordings have always sounded mighty fine to me @PamPurrs in fact a quality I would certainly try and copy.
I sit may be a metre away from my amp and acoustically speaking it’s probably a disaster as I basically play in an open fronted veranda with a tin roof.
It’s not necessarily a disaster, I was more talking just the space you play in will affect the sound, so there are a few things you can do. Adjust the settings, adjust the room, or adjust the space around the amp itself. It might not be possible to adjust the room, so in that case you would have to look at the other options, and this applies strictly to if you are using the amp as a monitor. I have draped a heavy blanket over the amp making kind of a tent with mic stands or chairs to funnel the sound a certain way, and it changes what you hear.
