Do basslines play loud enough?

[karl E. Hungus]

the bass drum is a complicated instrument to play individually, its also probably THE most complicated to play as the bass ensemble is concerned, due to the fact that no one player has a full part and the actual bass part is written as a split ensemble. so there you have it, an ensemble working as an integral part of a larger ensemble(drumline) working as a part of an even large ensemble(full corps)

theres also a miriad of ways to tune and play them, theres a lot of successful different ways do do so, theres also alot of asshat ways to do it and there are a few corps that have really terrible sounding basslines. considering they are a much lower frequency AND they dont behave at all like normal drums, they actually behave more like tympani if you do everything right.

they also have two distinct parts of the sound unlike any other drum on the field, the contact sound, and the actual pitch/timbre of the head. you can change the pitch of both, you can change the length of both, you can change the pretty much anything based on what mallets, how you approach holding the mallet, striking the head, tuning the head, foaming the drums, what heads you use, and how new/old/pitted they are. so basically if you think you hear quiet drums one year and loud the next its probably just the line attempting to find a method that fits the medium.

another thing is the question of "what is clean in a bassline?" alot of lines ram notes and play out as you would on a snare or tenors, but when you ram notes interpt kinda starts to stick out between players, and flow can get a little rickety, other lines go for less notes but with a more uniform approach, and a more strict attention to detail in the space between notes, i think these lines get clearer fuller sound, especially with unisons. personnally i like the latter. but any way can be good, i guess its up to the techs/writers/listeners to decide.

as far as basslines go, i think phantom and cavs rule the kingdom in sound quality, and approach to the drum.

often enough BK basslines are really sweet too, lots of notes with really full sound quality.

scv lines always had a different kind of sound quality but it was also pretty glorious, they foamed the drums wierd with a horseshoe of foam twards the center of the head i think. not lots of notes though, really tasty stuff.

bd i think trumps everyone on notes, sweet splits everywhere for no reason other than sweet splits everywhere, personnally i dont dig the sound quality, it hurts my eardrums up close.

cadets i really dont get, up close the basses sound strange as hell, and almost like trashcans, and a really papery sound from the technique, but for some reason it comes out sounding much softer from the seats. i dont get it. i heard once that they had some oldschool guy that tuned them, i dont know really.

those are just the main sounds, other lines vary from year to year as people come up with new ways to foam, and hit the drum more differently.

think about the construction of the instruments...snares have attachable sound projectors so the sound comes forward, tenors are (now) cut in wedge shapes so the sound comes forward, basses have a small hole in the shell that point in the direction of the player which is towards the endzone in a good amount of shows. I love a good bassline, but until someone can think of a way to project the sound forward (Acoustically!!!), it's going to be hard when playing in the full ensemble

dude, the sound IS projected forward towards the stands from the face of the head, if the line makes a vertical file and points their drums towards the backfield you wouldnt hear anything at all. thats why tenors are cut at an angle and snares have projectors, because the main direction of soundwaves is away from the heads perpendicularly.

ps snare projectors or more for directing the sound of the bottom head and actual snares

Edited May 10, 2007 by karl E. Hungus

[Gbassman5]

i totally agree with you except on the Cavaliers. i don't think they have great sound quality, and i think it's because of their technique.

i put SCV and Phantom basslines on top because of tuning, technique, sound quality, muffling, cleanliness, unisons, sweet splits, and musicianship.

oh, and to answer the original question, no they don't play too soft. what may make some/many sound too soft is that not every bassline can play clean unisons. also, on bass, if you just try to play as loud as you can and grip really hard, the sound doesn't cary very far at all.

Edited May 10, 2007 by Gbassman5

[karl E. Hungus]

what may make some/many sound too soft is that not every bassline can play clean unisons. also, on bass, if you just try to play as loud as you can and grip really hard, the sound doesn't cary very far at all.

... blingin'

[bass5]

My old high school drum instructor (Dave Herrick, Scouts) would have us all in stitches as he stood in front of the WHOLE band before a show with drum stick in hand, a flip flop for a drum, and this look of "in the groove" while lecturing for all to hear...."Listen man, the Bass Drum is the Heartbeat of the band", show some love for the Bass and feel the heartbeat.

Priceless and really stuck out to us all, it gave all the "non-drummers"

a whole new respect for the Bass, and got us all jacked up EVERYTIME we marched.

1976-Dave (Sundance) was a rookie in the Scouts and I was in my age out year.

He played bass #2 and I played #3 - great guy and great drummer and I'm happy to hear he kept that respect for the bass.

He even carried my bass for back to the parking lot for me this summer when he came to see the Scouts Alumni Corps

at an exibition in July when it was in the 90's and I was about to passout.

[drumcat]

I'll throw you a different one... the lack of 30 & 32 inch basses, brought on by the "bass voice" being moved to poorly tuned concert basses in the pit, has lowered bass volumes over the last 10 years.

Seriously... how much time is spent on tuning concert basses in the pit? There are so many ringy, crappy sounding basses that it's embarrassing. The "bass voice", if used in the sense of a concert bass, is being done well by the Bluecoats. If you say you need a "bottom" on the field, something I prefer, it's being done well by Spirit these days.

It may be an outgrowth of demand being placed on bass 5 in general, but I consider the generally higher tuning of the 26+" basses to be the biggest culprit in lack of ensemble volume. In short, DCI bass lines are starting to resemble WGI lines too closely, IMO.

[bass5]

I agree about the lack of 30 & 32" bass in almost all corps.

The fornt line is usually in their own world 30 to 50 yds. away from the drum line and their big bass always sounds a

little "off" from the marching bass drums.

[liebot]

I like loud drums.

[Medeabrass]

Isn't this like saying you can't hear the contras? You don't hear the contras, you feel them.

[Stick Stack]

Well, to answer the original question, I've never seen a show where they're too LOUD!!!

Not a drummer though.

[CroWnSoPrAnO]

I don't think i'd like it if the bass line played any louder. I suppose they could player louder, or maybe crank the drums up in pitch, that would aid in projection, but that defeats the purpose of the bass line. haha! Although, listen to Phantom Regiments show, and when you get to about 2:18, listen for the bass line! Its subtle, but awesome! It wouldnt have the same effect if it was right in your face.