how do you guys record bass

jimistone

jimistone

long standing member
Im having trouble getting bass guitar to sound good on my recordings. Can anyone give me some tips on getting a good tight bass guitar sound?

do you eq the bass when tracking?
it seems like when I compress it i get an out of phase sound
thanks
 
well....

with a good enough pre-amp and a good bass i normally don't mic it but go in direct. You can also try doing a combo of direct/mic. Sometimes i will use a d112 in the port of a cab and then direct too. It works sometimes and others not, but it doesn't hurt to have the extra track(unless you have limeted tracks...) So, are u doing direct, or miking it??
 
i'll direct in it to my rnp...then when its in the daw i'll roll off the high's to get rid of the twang and add waves ren bass to give it some omph!
 
Don't mic the cabinet - 9 times out of ten, the signal will have phase issues that you'll have to correct in a DAW.

Any more, I never mic a bass amp - I take the electric bass direct into an ART Tube MP (around $79) and use it as a direct box. It'll give you an excellent, fat, round bass tone that sits in the mix very well, but can also be heard very well. You'll also get a bit of comression without losing the high frequencies that you're experiencing with a "standard" compressor. Try it, and you'll know what I mean. ;)
 
kid klash said:
Don't mic the cabinet - 9 times out of ten, the signal will have phase issues that you'll have to correct in a DAW.
Click to expand...

yeah, cuz it's just so damn hard to hit the phase switch in a DAW.

wtf?

9 times out of 10 in the pro realm, a bass is DI'ed and Miked.
 
it may be the bass im using, its a peavey (with the precision bass style pickups)

i have a korg D1600 and a joe meek pre. I have tried it thru the Meek with the optical compresser , without the optical compresser, direct into the recorder and micing a cabinet. It sounds like shit no matter what i do.
just alot of mushiness on the bass sound. some notes are louder than others and if I compress it....it REALLY sounds like shit.

I have an old 27 band mono EQ....im gonna try plugging the bass guitar into it and see if i can get a decent sound going in.
 
Don't forget to use fresh strings unless you're really going for 'that' sound.

The best bass sound I got recorded so far is (yes jimistone, really) DI'ing through a Meek (VC6Q) using fresh strings. Not that I have much other options in my rack to compare it with but people tend to like the bass sound when I use some green flavour.

Some notes louder than the other? Practise!
 
fenix said:
yeah, cuz it's just so damn hard to hit the phase switch in a DAW.

wtf?

9 times out of 10 in the pro realm, a bass is DI'ed and Miked.
Click to expand...

Yes, but 9 times out of 10, the pro recording studio has taken the time to "phase-align" the two signals first.

If you've got Sound Forge or any other similar wav editing software, look at the waveform of a mic'ed bass. You'll notice that the phase of a mic'ed bass amp is different (delayed) compared to the same electric bass going through a DI; that's because of the delay caused by the distance between the mic and the speaker, and because of the time it takes the amp to make the speaker move, and because of the time it takes the mic diaphragm to react once the sound hits it. Another thing to consider is that MANY bass amps and/or bass speaker cabs (especially older ones) have the phase inverted 180 degrees, either by mistake or by design.

When mic'ing and DI'ing a bass at the same time, you'll wind up with audible phase problems unless you "grab" the mic'ed wave form and align it with the direct signal. If you don't do this, you hear a different phase problem on each note because it's all time/frequency-dependent. ;)
 
kid klash said:
Yes, but 9 times out of 10, the pro recording studio has taken the time to "phase-align" the two signals first.
Click to expand...

Like I said sarcastically before, it takes a lot of time to hit that little invert phase button on your preamp or DAW.

what are u talking about duder?
 
I usually plug into my amp and tweak the settings to what i awnt then plug the amp's line out into my portastudio's line in. No mic involved, but good bass sounds. I always EQ the bottom end at bit more too.
 
I do the unfashionable way and stick a mic in front of an amp.


AND I don't even use a proper bass amp! :eek:
 
The best sound I get is mic/DI combo, no phase issues.Maybe I 'm just getting lucky.It's worth a try. If you have to realign tracks to make it work, so what.As long as it sounds good.
 
Mic the amp.
Mic the amp.
Mic the amp.
Mic the amp.
Kill Kid Klash.
Mic the amp.
Mic the amp.
Mic the amp.
Mic the amp.

j/k KK, but c'mon now. You should know better than that.

MP
(Mic the amP)
 
Signal chain

Bass-- amp head 1000 watt peavey-- 4 10" peavey cabinet-- large diaphram condenosr mic-- preamp--compressor-- 1680.

I know its long, but thats the fattest most natural sounding bass I can get. And I have tried every other situation.
 
"The best bass sound I got recorded so far is (yes jimistone, really) DI'ing through a Meek (VC6Q"

i believe you...cause thats what I have is the vc6q and I got a great bass sound on a blues song I did a while back, going thru the vc6q. I have tried and tried to get that sound back but I didn't write all my settings down and I can't seem to get it back.

I know alot of it is touch on the bass and im not a bass player (im a guitar player). Technique is alot of my problem.

I hear songs with that solid tight bass sound (alot of bottom but not boomy) and I want to get that but can't seem to nail it.

I really apreciate all the input guys.
 
If you think technique is an issue, find a bass player friend to come test out your setup. Have him/her record wiith your bass, as well as one of their own and see if you're still having trouble. Eliminate the possible variables and eventually you'll find the route of the problem.
 
here is what i do and it sounds f@@king amazing.

5 string alembic utopia->great river mp2nv->some comp->tape.
no mic.

sometimes i will use a di box between the bass and the mp2nv.
but that phaze switch really is easy to hit if you need to.
 
fenix said:
Like I said sarcastically before, it takes a lot of time to hit that little invert phase button on your preamp or DAW.

what are u talking about duder?
Click to expand...

Hey fenix - Take a look at a sine wave as an example; a complete cycle looks like a hill followed by a valley. When you flip the phase button on your preamp, it's literally reversing the complete cycle from the BEGINNING, so it looks like a valley followed by a hill.

When you look at a DI signal, it generally looks like the above, because there is no time delay. Now take the mic'ed signal which has several small time delays because of what I mentioned before. This means that the mic'ed signal starts later in time (which means the phase is not the same, because the "hill" of the mic'ed signal begins somewhere after the "hill" of the direct signal). When you combine these signals (which are out of phase with one another), you will get cancelations and peaks, depending on the note (frequency) being played, and the amount of time offset (difference) between the two signals. These are audible, which is why many people struggle with mic'ed/D.I. combined bass tracks sounding "mushy" and "unfocused".

But hey - if you're happy with the sound of your combined signal bass tracks, then keep doing it. If you want a tighter, more focused bass track and you still want to go the mic'ed/D.I. bass track route, try aligning the two signals. Mix to taste. Serve hot. Enjoy.
 
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Bass is tough, no doubt about it.

I usually go direct. Lately I've been digging the MXR M-80. Lots of options in that little box.

And by the way.... kid klash is correct. This same kind of phase issues he is talking about often come up when people double mic a sound source, and the mic's are poorly placed (too close together, usually).

All "just flipping the phase button on a DAW" does is invert the phase of a signal 180 degrees. It does not solve the problem of two signals being out of phase with one another, unless the happen to be 180 degrees out of phase - for example micing the top and bottom of a snare or the front and back of a speaker.


got mojo?
www.voodoovibe.com
 
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