Tips for recording Bass Guitar

[utsman]

I use A Us122 and record my bass straight in. I set the level so that it is just before the ol light comes on. I find that my over all project volume is too low because the bass hits the red in cubase LE to easily. I have heaps of room to tur up my samples, guitars, vocals etc before they distort but have to keep them lower so they bass can be heard. Also the master output has to be kept around half way but if I mute the bass I can turn it up quite a bit.

Any comments or thoughts.
UTSMAN

[ssscientist]

Most modern basses have WAY too much low frequency content thru any kind of DI --- the mic preamps on the US-122 included.

You need to put some kind of high pass filter @ 60hz to 100hz (depending on the bass you are using) either as a hardware pedal before the US-122 or software inside Cubase in the input path before the bass gets tracked.

The sub freqencies are what's taking up all the room in your mix, and you won't miss it in the bass sound if you balance it correctly. It will actually clear a bunch of mud out of the bottom end of your mix!

[utsman]

Thanks sscientest,

That sounds like what I need to do.

[guttapercha]

I've just started tracking bass with my US-122. I'm using a 1983 Yamaha BB400 with a P pickup and the same thing is happening while plugging straight in Could you post another message if you are successful and I'll do same?

JD

[utsman]

JD,

I ended up just fixing it after tracking. In the eq for your bass channel use the lowest eq control as a high pass filter (Cubase)Set it at obout 100hz to start. May need to go up or down a bit depending on your bass. It seemed (for me anyway) that it was frequencies below about 90 hz that were causing the problem. Or else you could use a plugin highpass filter if you are not using cubase.

UTSMAN