YOUR QUESTION

12/28/2020 Alex Ducote

Hey man, I just wanna say I love your playing for Mr. Bungle, your work for that band is super underrated and you're one of my bass idols. I wanna ask how you guys managed to make the sax in Mr. Bungle hearable, because I want to start a weird funk/jazz/death metal band, and I'm thinking of looking for a vocalist who can play the tenor sax, because I really like how it sounds in metal. Problem is I'm worried the guitars and drums will drown out the sound, so I'm curious what you guys did to make it sound loud, especially in live situations. Thanks for your time, you're the best!

MY ANSWER

First off, you don’t need to start a weird funk/jazz/metal band. That’s a bad idea. Saxophone has a timbre that is not dissimilar to distorted guitar so it has to be treated appropriately in the mix. Orchestration is key to individual parts being heard. It really depends on where you put it, how you can make it blend so that it doesn’t sound unnatural and EQ. There’s probably a Tape Op article about it. I’m no sound engineer and I usually leave that job up to the professionals. With large orchestrations there is always a bit of a battle and that is part of the game. The more you try things out the more apt you are to find solutions.