DaveJ on focus using the FACEBAS

"I love the sound … I like the bottom end,

the rhythm, the driving force of the music"

 
DaveJ is one of incredible artists who uses the facebass for performing. We talked to DaveJ to tell us how he is working with the FACEBASS and what makes the FACEBASS in combination with a didgeribone so incredible:
 
I have been using the facebass for about a year now, I'm still discovering new tricks and sounds it can create.
 
One of the biggest advantages is that is gives me so much freedom on stage - because it is in my mouth, I can change didjeridoos easily and quickly if I want to, I can dance around, play fast slide didj - unlike a normal didj microphone which keeps you fixed to one playing position.

It is great for looping, which I do a lot of! I have tried using microphones but because they pickup background noise and any existing loops playing through my amp/foldback/front of house, it's near impossible to get a clean loop recorded on stage. With the facebass, because it's 'listening' inside my mouth, my mouth forms a natural 'cone of silence' to keep all other noise out, which results in very clean loops.
 
It's also great for using effects. I use distortion in a lot of my tracks, and my experiements with microphones and live distortion weren't very successful due to feedback. With the facebass my mouth shields the sensor from outside noise and effectively eliminates feedback.

The facebass is sturdy. I have dropped mine and trodden on it (accidentally of course) and I reshaped it without any problems. I'm sure you couldn't do that with a normal microphone!
I have also found it great for singing, humming and all sorts of vocal sound effects that you can't do with a normal microphone.

One challenge I found with the facebass is that it takes quite a while to get to used to using it, and playing with it. It does involve a change in breathing, and possibly where you place the mouthpiece of the didj on your mouth. So it's quite a change from playing normal didjeridoo … however, the advantages of using it far outweigh the practice you have to do with it!.
 
Read the whole story of DaveJ from the Weekend Bulletin (download here 304KB)