DP-004 Tascam Bass OL

S

Shawn777

New member
Howdy,

If there's an expert here who can post a link to a thread, i'm sure this has been asked before. I'm not seeing it on searches.

Basically with the dp-004,

Guitar no prob, vocals no prob, live recording room with whole band going (internal speakers A+B on "mic Low") no prob

But tonight while trying to record just a bass guitar track by it's self we couldn't get a clean loud recording. Turning it down enough so the OL indicator doesn't come on leaves us with a bass track too soft to hear. Direct line in from both his amp and from processor (behringer vamp pro bass) same thing, too low to hear or it's loud and clipped/fuzzy (OL)

Which is weird since recording whole band jam doesn't bug it, you can hear the bass rumbling just like your supposed to.

So looking for tips / tricks or links to threads with advice on using DP-004 to record Bass Guitar. The other parts of the band so far have been trouble free.

Good forum and very helpful so far,
thx
 
I am not an expert by any means here, but I saw that nobody had answered since last night so I'll give you this. Hope it might help (I use a DP008 so it's not much different).


The sound of my bass plugged directly into the guitar input of my recorder is just HUGEly overpowering compared to the sound of anything I mic in the room, not because it's louder, but because it's fuller, as it isn't diffused in the air of a room it's just pure bass guitar, and the recorder is getting all of those extreme low frequencies too that wouldn't have stood out so much in the sound of a room. Consequently it is a big powerful full signal, and the bass frequencies will be very distinct next to a room sound in which have been diffused by air, the microphone, the room itself, stuff in corners, the sweater you're wearing, all that stuff. I notice also that thumping the low E causes OL light to blink on when the G is still very quiet comparatively. Although our ears don't pick it up, the low E is a much stronger vibration than the G because it is much bigger. We hear the G more distinctly because it is closer to our range our ears percieve best in, but the pickup doesn't hear like our ears, it 'hears' what we can't from that low string, so it can sound like twing - twANG - twONG - !TWOOOMP! plucking down from your G D A E as far as the recorder will percieve it.

Try micing the bass amp. If you can't, or it doesn't work for you, try some serious EQ tampering on your bass track to make it 'fit' better. When I have to record bass in headphones (I hate it when other people are home), I often end up with my low shelving EQ dropped almost all the way far left or else it is just as you described, boomy. This happens when I go through my little bass pedal amp simulator too. It just doesn't blend in it is very bottomy. To get a reasonably loud enough track level without the bottom end overloading the recorder, I turn down the bass EQ on the amp sim so I can record, then I add it back in on the track in the recorder using the low EQs there. Its a jury-rig solution but it lets you get a more 'balanced' bass sound.
 
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Thx :)

We are going to try playing loud through the room next time and using internals or maybe mics. At least we have enough equip to approach from a few different directions. Maybe try tone high and try to add the low ends later through mix to what it should sound like.

Atm I don't have a lot to tamper with after other than Cakewalk. The eq on that is touchy or just doesn't like my sound card.

The recording on 2 tracks is a good idea. That I will give a try also.

thx for tips :)
 
Alright, we got another session in last night. The best we have come up with so far is getting the bass amp mic'd and turned down low.. just low enough to pick up by mic and to get the sound he likes.

Used HIGH internal speaker on tascam and controlled volume level through the PA/mic until the OL wouldn't show. (His amp has white noise hisss so low + volume through PA got most of that out)

The end result was recording his bass with HIGH mic at a volume less than normal speaking voice. And it came out good. Not yet what I would call clear, but it's at least loud enough to put into the mix and listen to without OL on signal creating speaker distortion.

Still trying stuffs out but getting closer. We ended up using 2 recordings with diff settings over a total of 3 tracks to get it. That was a good idea using multiple tracks.
 
As a follow up, the main problem turned out to be the Bass player trying to get all the bass sounds from his instrument and was toned way too low. I have never really noticed this until I started trying to record it.
The more tone I got him to go up the more volume and the clearer the signal was to record. And actually gives more bass punch and presence than trying to go lower.
Over the months he keeps creeping lower and I keep eq mixing his recordings higher lol. We are on Stranger in a Strange Land now and I'm about to punch him in the nose, I can't get these last recordings high enough for that intro or the rest of the song. But at least I know why now.
 
same issue with my DP-008. i've tried mic'ing the amp, direct from amp to recorder, but the only way i can manage to get a bass track loud enough without constant garbage distortion is to by-pass the amp and plug my bass guitar straight into the recorder and set the input to External/Line Med...
which is kind of a letdown since I went out and bought the bass amp just for this purpose.

maybe i need a different recorder.

also, the I/F Error during a track recording is REALLY pissing me off. once you reboot, you have to go back in and reset your input settings. <frown>
 
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