What has changed...if anything???

[mynan]

I started playing bass in the mid-late 80s in highschool and it seems like all I can remember hearing was "turn it down...it's too boomy". Granted, my gear and skill wasn't at the level it's at today but it seems like, in general, bass was kept pretty far back in the mix in those days and if I wanted to be heard, I had to use a big-a$$ rig and say "F the sound guy, I'll run it at about 75% during the sound check and crank it during the show. Even now it seems like the older the sound guy, the thinner the mix unless you get someone who's adjusted to the times.

Every so often this thought crosses my mind and I wonder if I'm just over-analizing or if things have really changed over the years and why?

 

[1Echo]

Hmmm, everything has changed since the mid-80's? Perhaps it was the rise of rap which led to the proliferation of subwoofers in homes and cars and eventually more interest and acceptance of a more prominent bass line. That's my theory.

 

[thunder]

grunge and alternative also.

 

[jaylegroove]

If I look back on my studio session works since the very early 80's, I can notice that there were several phases, but there was also a very different way of doing the bass (and drum) sound depending on the music.

From 80 to circa 83, the bass tone was as you said, pretty round sounding and yes, generally put far away behind the mix. Then synthesizers really started to replace many real basses in mainstream music due to the rise of MIDI technology, and then basses played somehow another part (tonewise) in the music, while getting louder in the mix.

Then more natural and, overall, more "live sounding" music styles appeared (including grunge as stated above), and then the levels of instruments got more "balanced". I also think it is due to more and more "dance-like" music, i.e. modern so-called RnB.

But about styles, you may notice that anytime in the last 25 or 30 years when music was dance-oriented (including funk, disco, etc.), the bass would be more present in the mix. And today's music, at least here in Europe, is globally quite dance-oriented.

That were just my two cents on this.

Cheers.