Recording Bass?

Bloodsoaked

Bloodsoaked

Death Metal Freak
Allot of people record Bass tracks DI (Direct In).

Can I plug a bass directly into my mixer and then into my computer from the mixer? Will that work?

I record in my apartment and micing a bass amp is almost impossiable.


Thank you...
 
EddieRay said:
That's what I do.
Click to expand...

So you plug your bass directly into your mixer and from the mixer to your computer? How is the result? What kind of music do you play record?


Peter
 
When I plugged my bass directly into my mixer, I dealt with alot of popping noise from sometimes hitting the pickups. Not the worlds greatest bassist here. lol. But, I then plugged my bass through my Zoom guitar effects pedal, set up a bass affect with some compression and what not. Worked out better for me. The music I was recording was heavy, not Bloodsoaked heavy, but, it worked for me.

Don't know if that helps or not..
 
B-man_88 said:
When I plugged my bass directly into my mixer, I dealt with alot of popping noise from sometimes hitting the pickups. Not the worlds greatest bassist here. lol. But, I then plugged my bass through my Zoom guitar effects pedal, set up a bass affect with some compression and what not. Worked out better for me. The music I was recording was heavy, not Bloodsoaked heavy, but, it worked for me.

Don't know if that helps or not..
Click to expand...

"not Bloodsoaked heavy"...I will take that as a compliment...Thank you...

That sounds interseting. So I could go from my bass to a compression pedal to a noige gate pedal, to the mixer and then into my computer? It that what you do? Hmmmmmmm...very interesting. Do you have any music recorded I can listen to?

Thank you...
 
I think you should first try to go direct into your mixer and see if you like thst. I go straight in and compress later, though it's up to you if you want to compress during tracking.
 
You can do that, and it will work, but probably not that well. Note this- "Instrument level" and "line level" are not the same thing. Also, a bass with active pickups is not the same as one with passive pickups. Instrument output is looking for a different impedence input than a standard line in. It is closer to a high impedence mic input than anything else. Except for a few specialty mics, such as a Shure Green Bullet, high-z mics are not used much anymore. Some mixers actually have one or two high impedence inputs, mostly for guitar and bass, which will be labeled "high-z" or "instrument". If your mixer doesn't have those, you really need a DI box (direct insertion). This changes the instrument level of the bass to mic level, so it can be plugged right into a mic input. There are passive DI's and active DI's, which run off of the phantom power provided by the mic input (won't work if the mixer does not have phantom power), or they may have their own internal or external power supply.

Dirt cheap-
http://www.zzounds.com/a--2676837/item--WHRIMP2
(if your mixer has a high-z input, it's probably about the same as this)

better-
http://www.zzounds.com/a--2676837/item--TCHPSDR

to die for-
http://www.zzounds.com/a--2676837/item--AVAU5

Hope that helps-Richie
 
I have a Behringer Eurorack UB802 Mixer. I think it will work. Let me know if anyone knows. Thank you for the links as well. Very usefull!!!


Peter
 
Just another question. Coul I plug a bass into my guitar amp and use the line out on the guitar amp going into the mixer ad then into the computer? Whole this do anything to hurt the guitar amp? I would not mic the amp, just use the line out. Anyone know?
 
Bloodsoaked said:
Can I plug a bass directly into my mixer and then into my computer from the mixer? Will that work?
Click to expand...


well, you can do that..however, i strongly suggest you DI it first. The important thing in capturing a "full" sound is impedance matching. i don't know whether you understand how impedence works, and if you don't it doesn't really bare much concequence, but it's still important to "obey" the impedence rules.

A bass's output has a high impedance, and the line input on your mixer will probably have a lower impedance, which means the bass could lose some of its "fullness" and "life". A line-level output from an amp would be ok, or from a DI box.

the whole impedance thing is a bit complexe, but if you think of the analogy of water in a pipe its a bit simpler: the bass's output has a small pipe full of water, whereas the input of your mixer as a very fat pipe. the same amount of water is still there, its just not as full.

For impedence matching, remember the following:

"High-to-low won't go"
"Low-to-high will fly"


it would be much better to have your bass plugged into the guitar amp and take the "line out" as long as you make sure to turn the speaker off!! i don't know the specs of your guitar amp, whether it has a low-cut or something on it, but try it out.

and also try out, for the fun of it, plugging your bass straight into your mixer. who knows what it could be like! see if you can hear the quality loss due to bad impedence matching..

hope this helps and makes sense!

:)

MD

MD
 
"Bloodsoaked heavy" was meant as a complete compliment. I have some heavy stuff, just not that heavy. :D

Bass+Zoom+Tascam+Sound Card. That is how I record my bass tracks. I add a little compression, and some limiting via the Zoom pedal. This was just my cheap way of doing it. Sounds good to me . Bass isn't a key instrument to what I write, but,it is damn sure important.
 
Originally Posted by Bloodsoaked
Can I plug a bass directly into my mixer and then into my computer from the mixer? Will that work?

It might very well. Impedence matching isn't an issue, as the amp has an instrument in and a line out, which should match up with whatever line in you have. The only problem is that the speaker(s) must be disabled. The amp should work fairly well, at least on the clean channel. However, guitar speakers will not handle bass, and if you crank it at all, you may blow the cone out of some perfectly good guitar speakers. You're really better off just using a DI box or an amp modeler with a line out.-Richie
 
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I'll cast my vote for using the SansAmp Bass Driver DI for recording bass with a DI. You'll have a lot more tonal options than just plugging your bass into a passive DI or hi-z mixer input, and its also very useful in a live setting as well.

The new Markertek catalot has them for $159...I'm guessing they cut the price when they brought out that new programmable one. You can probably find one on eBay for even less.
 
Bloodsoaked said:
So you plug your bass directly into your mixer and from the mixer to your computer? How is the result? What kind of music do you play record?


Peter
Click to expand...

Exactly. The result is useable. I have not concentrated on getting a really good bass guitar sound. I tried close mic'ing a 50 watt bass amp but could not get the hum out. So for now I'm going direct into the board.

My stuff would be considered light if compared to heavy.
http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/album.php?aid=3924&alid=-1
 
i have tried going straight into my board with the bass and while the sound was acceptable i found i was picking up too much noise from strings on fretboard and strings and pick on p/ups(poor technique). now i either go from line out on my guitar amps clean channel or thru my vamp to a boss compressor then into the board. both methods reduce the problems with string noise but the actual quality of the sound is only marginally better and i'm still not sure which way i think is better(my opinion on it changes from day to day). Advise? try all the options you have available and then decide.
Cheers
Davo
 
B-man_88 said:
"Bloodsoaked heavy" was meant as a complete compliment. I have some heavy stuff, just not that heavy. :D

Bass+Zoom+Tascam+Sound Card. That is how I record my bass tracks. I add a little compression, and some limiting via the Zoom pedal. This was just my cheap way of doing it. Sounds good to me . Bass isn't a key instrument to what I write, but,it is damn sure important.
Click to expand...

I hope to be recording soon with a similar set up. I will let you knwo how it goes. Thanks...
 
Davo364 said:
i have tried going straight into my board with the bass and while the sound was acceptable i found i was picking up too much noise from strings on fretboard and strings and pick on p/ups(poor technique). now i either go from line out on my guitar amps clean channel or thru my vamp to a boss compressor then into the board. both methods reduce the problems with string noise but the actual quality of the sound is only marginally better and i'm still not sure which way i think is better(my opinion on it changes from day to day). Advise? try all the options you have available and then decide.
Click to expand...

Cool...At least I know I have the option of going form my guitar amps line out to my mixer and into my computer. Thank you very much!!!
 
I record bass direct into my DMP3 and get a pretty useable sound. However, I wish there was some bass amp sim software like there is for guitar(Amplitube, Simulanalog etc). I can never seem to find any. I'm not unhappy with the way my bass tracks sound but a sim plugin would be awesome and could potentially really add to them. :)
 
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