Recording bass

[DaddySaysSooooo]

Hey all
I am looking to record a bass player and am trying to understand the best way. I will give you what I think are my options.
Direct xlr out on the head into a Yamaha MLA7E pre amp. From there the pre amp goes into one of my interfaces into the computer.
Or option 2. Direct xlr out on the head into a mixer we use for the pa and sub it out to the interface and dont put it in the main mix.

Is going into a pre amp directly to much pre amp? Isnt it going into the board via xlr's the same thing?
Thanks in advance for the advice

[DaddySaysSooooo]

Anyone wanna chime in?

[mjau]

Can you record two tracks simultaneously - the direct track and the bass cab with a mic on it? It's always helpful for me to have the two and blend them as I need to.

[AGCurry]

I don't understand how your two options are that much different.

I propose option 3: Use a DI box. Keep it simple!

[scrubs]

Originally Posted by DaddySaysSooooo

Hey all
I am looking to record a bass player and am trying to understand the best way. I will give you what I think are my options.
Direct xlr out on the head into a Yamaha MLA7E pre amp. From there the pre amp goes into one of my interfaces into the computer.
Or option 2. Direct xlr out on the head into a mixer we use for the pa and sub it out to the interface and dont put it in the main mix.

Is going into a pre amp directly to much pre amp? Isnt it going into the board via xlr's the same thing?
Thanks in advance for the advice

It sounds like you're using the head as a preamp, in which case, you don't need another preamp in the chain. Just go directly into the line in on your soundcard/interface, or use a line in on your mixer for routing. Experiment with different preamps to find out which one sounds the best for recording direct. Also, you might want to experiment with miking the amp as well, as mentioned above.

[lpdeluxe]

I agree with the DI. One of the difficulties in recording bass is that most project studio rooms have a lot of mud down in the bass region, and when you record a bass amp, you inevitably pick up the mud along with the tone. If your bass player has a problem with DI, use a direct box as follows: plug the bass into the box, run an XLR cable to the mixer, and another cord to the bass amp, and let the bass player hear himself through the amp while you get the signal through the direct in.

[crazyjman]

I've read here (but haven't tried yet) that if you're recording direct that some people will also put a mic to the bass strings and record that to a separate track. This way you can mix it in later to add some clean attack. Sounds cool, I'm definitely going to try it myself .

[bongolation]

Originally Posted by crazyjman

I've read here (but haven't tried yet) that if you're recording direct that some people will also put a mic to the bass strings and record that to a separate track. This way you can mix it in later to add some clean attack.

That works, but only if the microphone isn't picking up room amplification of the bass. If you're going to do this, have the bass player on high-isolation headphones only.

The important word for recording electric bass is "DIRECT."

Bass is a nightmare to properly record from microphone unless you have a really well-designed pro studio, pro engineering and pro gear -- and then it's merely very hard.. This is axiomatic. You may think your mic'ed bass cab sounds OK, but you take it in for pro mixdown and mastering and the engineer's probably going to say, "Uh...can we re-do those bass tracks?"

[Adam P]

What's the bass amp that you're using?

If the direct out on the head is a preamp output, just run that directly into your interface. If it just parallels the input signal, you'll need to run it to a preamp first. Chances are that its a preamp output though, so you shouldn't need an external preamp.