JM on 4th wall

[The Trooper]

Maybe I am a geek, but for the amount of times I have watched it. JM just before the orchestral section in Illumination Theory, on the holding of the note stands there pointing his bass. Just standing still. It is bad ass. I missed it when I was there that night, truly a yeah.............we just brought it to ya.

[wolfking]

Maybe I am a geek, but for the amount of times I have watched it. JM just before the orchestral section in Illumination Theory, on the holding of the note stands there pointing his bass. Just standing still. It is bad ass. I missed it when I was there that night, truly a yeah.............we just brought it to ya.

JM is simply the definition of bad ass.

[sylvinception]

Once again in a DT live release, the bass mixing/production is only average. 

Old habbits die hard... 

[goo-goo]

He should of cranked up the Chapman stick for this gig.

[CrimsonSunrise]

So funny, been listening to Physical Graffiti a lot this week.  It's simply AMAZING how up in front JPJ's is.  Why can't JM be mixed better??    It would be so epic, he's so fucking good and I feel we're being cheated by him being always buried in the mix.

[The Holy Tune]

JMX has a very pleasing and exciting playing, if only you can hear him! I've tried things to make him more audible(and they partially worked), I was amazed by all the things I hadn't heard by then. He really needs to has his volume turned up, not only a tiny bit, a lot!

[erwinrafael]

I think his mixing in the last two studio albums have been fine (ADTOE, DT12) in terms of audibility. I can hear him. My issue is more about the quality of the sound, but I don't think he is buried in the mix at all. In DT12, the bass is actually loud in some places.

In BTFW, he is also audible. The mix is sometimes muddled, so you can not hear some of the individual notes, but I can hear him just fine.

[sylvinception]

Why can't JM be mixed better?? 

Because JP is still the producer ??

[MirzekDT]

I think his mixing in the last two studio albums have been fine (ADTOE, DT12) in terms of audibility. I can hear him. My issue is more about the quality of the sound, but I don't think he is buried in the mix at all. In DT12, the bass is actually loud in some places.

In BTFW, he is also audible. The mix is sometimes muddled, so you can not hear some of the individual notes, but I can hear him just fine.

DT12 has my favorite and most memorable bass playing from JM.

Along For The Ride during keyboard solo and basically whole Surrender To Reason especially under JP solo and druing chorus are my favorite moments but there's even more like The Looking Glass JP solo section, Illumination Theroy section after orchestral section and Enigma Machine is nice as well.

And there are even more very good bass sections on DT12, it's easily my favorite album in terms of bass playing

[mikeyd23]

Why can't JM be mixed better?? 

Because JP is still the producer ??

The producer doesn't mix the album... In the case of DT12, Richard Chycki Engineered and Mixed the album.

DT12 has my favorite and most memorable bass playing from JM.

Along For The Ride during keyboard solo and basically whole Surrender To Reason especially under JP solo and druing chorus are my favorite moments but there's even more like The Looking Glass JP solo section, Illumination Theroy section after orchestral section and Enigma Machine is nice as well.

And there are even more very good bass sections on DT12, it's easily my favorite album in terms of bass playing

I'm not sure I'd say its my favorite JMX album, but it certainly does contain some of his most memorable parts in recent albums, several of which you mentioned above.  I actually like what Rich did with JMX's bass tone on DT12, I thought it allowed the bass to separate from the guitar a little more and therefore, made the bass lines stand out.

[TAC]

Why can't JM be mixed better?? 

Because JP is still the producer ??

The producer doesn't mix the album... In the case of DT12, Richard Chycki Engineered and Mixed the album.

But as the Producer, doesn't JP have final say on all things, like this doesn't get released unless it sounds EXACTLY how he wants it to sound.

[mikeyd23]

Why can't JM be mixed better?? 

Because JP is still the producer ??

The producer doesn't mix the album... In the case of DT12, Richard Chycki Engineered and Mixed the album.

But as the Producer, doesn't JP have final say on all things, like this doesn't get released unless it sounds EXACTLY how he wants it to sound.

Probably true, yes.  In my opinion though they made good steps in the right direction on DT12 with making the bass standout more and from everything I read and saw, it seemed like that was Rich's influence.  So I guess my point was that while the producer has the final say, the engineer and mixer of the album really influence the sound as well.

I don't know, maybe its both the mixed and producer! 

[smegolas]

its bizarre for a band that lists Rush and Yes as major influences that they dont let the bass stand out more like Geddy / Chris Squire.

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

I think DT12 was particularly good at that. Bass sounds loud & clear in that album.

[adamack]

Someone mentioned Physical Graffiti, which I agree does definitely have an awesome bass presence. Thing is, mixing procedures were different i the 70's. Guitars were a lot thinner, and probably double tracked most, if at all. Any organ/key sections in those Zeppelin songs were also a lot more minimal than the stacked patches that JR uses. In other words, there was a LOT more room for the bass.

Also, rock music from the 70's was all about the groove, and the fundamentals. The bass and drums were a lot more critical in filling out a mix.

Whenever you have a band like DT who relies on such a huge sound, it can be difficult to accentuate the bass. Bass hogs up a mix in a way that no other instrument does, so if you want to make the audible EQ range of the bass more up-front, you'll have to sacrifice that of the guitar, strings, piano, vocals, and all other sounds which contain information in that EQ range.

All of that said, it is definitely possible to lend more sonic space to JM. DT has done so in the past. But it is not as simple as turning him up, as every other instrument would need to be notched out to do so.

[lithium112]

Whenever you have a band like DT who relies on such a huge sound, it can be difficult to accentuate the bass. Bass hogs up a mix in a way that no other instrument does, so if you want to make the audible EQ range of the bass more up-front, you'll have to sacrifice that of the guitar, strings, piano, vocals, and all other sounds which contain information in that EQ range.

It's more difficult, but bands like BTBAM have managed to get a great bass mix in all of their recent albums while contending with two guitars and a keyboard.

[Lucien]

its bizarre for a band that lists Rush and Yes as major influences that they dont let the bass stand out more like Geddy / Chris Squire.

I completely agree with this/

[RedKlouD72]

Someone mentioned Physical Graffiti, which I agree does definitely have an awesome bass presence. Thing is, mixing procedures were different i the 70's. Guitars were a lot thinner, and probably double tracked most, if at all. Any organ/key sections in those Zeppelin songs were also a lot more minimal than the stacked patches that JR uses. In other words, there was a LOT more room for the bass.

Also, rock music from the 70's was all about the groove, and the fundamentals. The bass and drums were a lot more critical in filling out a mix.

Whenever you have a band like DT who relies on such a huge sound, it can be difficult to accentuate the bass. Bass hogs up a mix in a way that no other instrument does, so if you want to make the audible EQ range of the bass more up-front, you'll have to sacrifice that of the guitar, strings, piano, vocals, and all other sounds which contain information in that EQ range.

All of that said, it is definitely possible to lend more sonic space to JM. DT has done so in the past. But it is not as simple as turning him up, as every other instrument would need to be notched out to do so.

pretty well said

[erwinrafael]

its bizarre for a band that lists Rush and Yes as major influences that they dont let the bass stand out more like Geddy / Chris Squire.

but the bass is audible in almost all albums. I can only think of a couple of albums where the bass is buried, but JM is audible especially in the last two albums.

I really don;t understand where these "JM's bass is not standing out" comments are coming from.