@czarivey My bad. It should be "powered by" 😂
Why I don't hear bass drums on Jazz LPs?
I don't hear the bass drums during playback of a number of jazz LPs (Webster, Hawkins, Ellington, etc). I have Thiel 3.6 speakers powdered by Mark Levinson 23.5 amp. I can isolate the sound of bass drums on rock/pop LPs but not on jazz LPs unless drummer play solo in the middle parts.
I read somewhere this has to do with size of the bass drums used in 40s, 50s and another explanation was the way drummer play bass drums. I can clearly isolate the double bass, snare drums, and cymbals on jazz LPs, but hardly the bass drum. Let me know your experience with this issue.
Showing 3 responses by pwerahera
@bdp24 Thank you very much for your very informative response. I thought may be the mics did not capture the bass drums. Now I know it has to do with the way they played the bass drum. It is always good to hear from those who know the subject. Again thank you for sharing your expertise. |
@dogearedaudio I was listening to Ben Webster's Blue Light LP yesterday. Really wonderful album. Double bass in the front-middle of the soundstage and the cymbols/snare drums on the left side back of the stage. Webster played the horn on right side with the piano also placed on the right side, but behind Webster. I can clearly hear the cymbols and snare drums, but no sound of the bass drums. There were tracks from two sessions on this album, one with Kenny Drew - piano, Niles Pederson -bass and Ales Riel - drums. Three more tacks were recorded with Arnved Meyer band, a Danish jazz band from 1959 to 1973. At first I thought I was hearing the bass drums, but bit later realized that was more of my imagination than am actually hearing the thing (LOL). So that initiated my post and thanks for the reply. I have also noted missing bass drums in Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, and many other albums. As you have correctly noted bass drums wasn't heavily featured in these small-group settings like Hawkins and Webster.
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