Originally Posted By: Bass Thumper
Originally Posted By: dcuny
Don't forget the use of distortion on the bass.

That adds upper harmonics, which helps the bass be audible on speakers that don't have great low-end.

Distortion, yes. I've got way too much capability to create distortion, which gennerally I don't like. Clean and fat is what I strive for most often as in the Rain On Me track.

FWIW, I can't/won't mix my bass for speakers that have no low end; think a cell phone. Rather I start with my medium quality headphones and then confirm thru my JBL monitors. I'm guessing that anyone on this forum, or who visits SoundCloud enjoys music enough to invest in speakers with good low-end. Plus it's fun for me (and others) to listen to my recordings on our audio systems.

Hmm ... there's distortion and there's distortion.

The aggressive clipped kind gives the very dirty sound that some people seek.
There are much more subtle distortions like those from valve amps and speaker cabinets that don't really sound like distortion in the usual sense because the amount of distortion is modest and the character is often even-harmonic, rather than clipping, which is predominantly odd-harmonic.

It may be that your desire for a "clean" sound is a bit at odds with your desire for "full, fat and fabulous".

The character of sound of all instruments is formed in very large part by the harmonics and/or overtones produced.

Don't dismiss distortion too quickly; in a musical instrument it's actually quite important ... a pure sin-wave is a very boring sound. Even harmonics in particular are likely your friends.

Jazz relative beginner, starting at a much older age than was helpful.
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