Overpowering Bass

[knobby]

I'm trying to learn this at the moment:

The chords are played as a "drone" (i.e. no root note) but when I try this the bass is so overpowering it all but drowns out the treble notes. If I try playing a bit softer everything gets a bit quieter but in proportion, so I still can hardly make out the treble notes.
Is there anything I can do to quieten the bass side?

 

[Zevy]

I'm trying to learn this at the moment:

The chords are played as a "drone" (i.e. no root note) but when I try this the bass is so overpowering it all but drowns out the treble notes. If I try playing a bit softer everything gets a bit quieter but in proportion, so I still can hardly make out the treble notes.
Is there anything I can do to quieten the bass side?

I have two quick solutions:
1. Find a quieter setting for your bass side or find a more powerful setting for the right side.
2. Play a rhythmic pattern with the left hand. "Soft Rock" or "Ballad" come to mind.
It's a pretty tune. Good luck!

 

[debra]

Finding the right balance between treble and bass side is mostly a matter of register selection, and differs between brands and models of accordions. Generally for instance Bugari accordions have rather loud bass and Pigini accordions have rather soft bass, when using the same registers.

 

[mgavrilov]

One difficult thing you could try is to press the bass buttons just a little bit, so you open the pallets just enough to produce a sound. This is a hard thing to do and you might get an unstable and bending pitch, so it's a bit unpractical, but you might try

 

[Ventura]

find a bagpiper to play your drone notes and
have a good jam session !

 

[Dingo40]

I'm trying to learn this at the moment:

The chords are played as a "drone" (i.e. no root note) but when I try this the bass is so overpowering it all but drowns out the treble notes. If I try playing a bit softer everything gets a bit quieter but in proportion, so I still can hardly make out the treble notes.
Is there anything I can do to quieten the bass side?

Knobby,
•Try playing only the root note in the bass.
•It's in 4/4 time, so play fundamental bass, chord, chord, chord (staccato uses less air).
•Use the tenor base setting .
•All the above together.

 

[Pipemajor]

find a bagpiper to play your drone notes and
have a good jam session !

You rang?

 

[dunlustin]

Well, I might as well have a go. I’m guessing you don’t have LH registers.

Solution 1:
Perhaps an excuse to explore your FR1. I believe there’s a control to change the LH/RH balance which could help.
How about using the ‘Orchestral’ LH options tho’ I guess they aren’t huge on the FR1?
Solution 2:
Is it really a ‘drone’ – i.e. continuously sounding chords?
If so replace this with briefly ‘dabbing’ the chord on beats 1 and 3 of each bar.
This should make all those chord reeds a bit less overwhelming.
This is more tuned percussion than harmony.

Try the same but using beats 2 and 4 to see if you like the effect.
Also play Amin instead of the A and Dmin (or nothing/Amin) instead of the D and Emin to replace the C

Solution 3:
Ignore the LH and play the RH tune with some extras.
Again on beats 1 and 3 add: ‘b’ below the ‘e’ where Emin is suggested
‘e’ below the ‘a’ where A and Amin
‘d’ below the ‘g’ where C
Experiment:
Second time through instead of bar1 = dah di di dah dah (or anywhere else)
play daaah di dah dah

(Well, at least now I’m a few minutes closer to ‘unlock!’ )

 

[oldchemist]

My teacher (60years ago) advised me to put a few layers of newspaper inside the bass board.

 

[Zevy]

My teacher (60years ago) advised me to put a few layers of newspaper inside the bass board.

I have an accordion in which Aldo Mencaccini put felt on the bass sound ports in order to dampen the bass.

 

[donn]

I recently came around to liking my LM treble setting for quieter bass, as opposed to louder treble.

 

[debra]

I have an accordion in which Aldo Mencaccini put felt on the bass sound ports in order to dampen the bass.

I have "covered" sound "ports" (holes) in accordions to change the treble/bass balance when I found the bass too loud. It works well indeed.

 

[knobby]

Thanks for your input folks. Lots of great ideas to try.

•It's in 4/4 time, so play fundamental bass, chord, chord, chord (staccato uses less air).

I'll give that a go but worried it may change the whole sound of the tune.

Perhaps an excuse to explore your FR1. I believe there’s a control to change the LH/RH balance which could help.

Yes there is, and it does help. I will also try hooking up the bass and treble to different inputs on an amplifier then I can turn down the bass volume.

I have an accordion in which Aldo Mencaccini put felt on the bass sound ports in order to dampen the bass.

I have some felt at the ready, but need to sort out my grill cloth issue first.

 

[debra]

Thanks for your input folks. Lots of great ideas to try.


I'll give that a go but worried it may change the whole sound of the tune.

Yes there is, and it does help. I will also try hooking up the bass and treble to different inputs on an amplifier then I can turn down the bass volume.

I have some felt at the ready, but need to sort out my grill cloth issue first.

You do need to be careful with felt: make sure that it does not touch the bass mechanism. In some accordions there is little clearance between the mechanism and the base plate (with the sound "ports").

 

[knobby]

Perhaps an excuse to explore your FR1. I believe there’s a control to change the LH/RH balance which could help.

Well this seems to give the best result, even without having to do anything about altering the balance between bass & treble. Now I have to get used to playing the chord without a preceding root note, which I'm finding really difficult. Good job it's a really slow piece!

 

[Zevy]

Well this seems to give the best result, even without having to do anything about altering the balance between bass & treble. Now I have to get used to playing the chord without a preceding root note, which I'm finding really difficult. Good job it's a really slow piece!

I think that was excellent. You did a great job.
One point: I am a firm believer in working hard with regards to technique and practice. But, on the other hand, one should not work harder than necessary. That said, you are using different fingers for the various chords, and then you use different fingering when playing with the bass notes. IMHO Even when playing the single chords, you should position your fingers as though you are playing the bass notes without actually playing them. It may be a bit more difficult to have that legato effect, but you won't have to use that odd fingering when just playing the chords.
Keep up the good work!

 

[knobby]

I think that was excellent. You did a great job.

Thanks Zevy, but thats not me! That’s Basil Bunelik from Southwest Accordions. I just posted that to show the tune and the speed of it.
How I wish I could actually play anywhere near that standard!
Sorry for the confusion.