That is so key!A lot of that tone is also how the bass is played. It sounds like fingers pretty far away from the bridge.
--Ethan
What's the deal with everyone favoring DI bass in home recording? Even with an awesome bass, a super clean signal chain, and a great pre, DI bass to me (and lot of bass players I've worked with) just sounds like junk in comparison to a nicely mic'ed bass cab in a properly treated room. It's just plain lazy to me. We spend so much time getting a perfectly mic'ed drum set, a nicely mic'ed guitar cab, a nicely mic'ed acoustic guitar, nicely mic'ed vocals, so why does bass guitar get the short end of the stick? I'm not a bassist, but I almost find the lack of care that goes into recording bass a little insulting. Maybe it's just a taste thing, but some of the best bass tracks I've ever heard, were the ones recorded before they even had DI's!
Good luck!
What's the deal with everyone favoring DI bass in home recording? Even with an awesome bass, a super clean signal chain, and a great pre, DI bass to me (and lot of bass players I've worked with) just sounds like junk in comparison to a nicely mic'ed bass cab in a properly treated room. It's just plain lazy to me. We spend so much time getting a perfectly mic'ed drum set, a nicely mic'ed guitar cab, a nicely mic'ed acoustic guitar, nicely mic'ed vocals, so why does bass guitar get the short end of the stick? I'm not a bassist, but I almost find the lack of care that goes into recording bass a little insulting. Maybe it's just a taste thing, but some of the best bass tracks I've ever heard, were the ones recorded before they even had DI's!
I bet those bands are lazy! It's like me saying I know a lot of big bands that do drum replacement on all their close mic tracks. Lazy. Fix it later. Just throw up the mic (or in this case the DI) and go. Not into it.I know a number of pretty big bands that have the option to mic and still DI the bass. I really like a DIed bass through a distorting Neve style pre.
Maybe it's just a taste thing, but some of the best bass tracks I've ever heard, were the ones recorded before they even had DI's!
When exactly are you talking about? DI bass has been around for a long time. Almost all of the Mowtown bass tracks (Jamerson in particular) were recorded that way, for example.
I'm not a big DI proponent or anything, but I just think maybe you have your facts a little skewed.
Mo-town has been around for almost as long as the Beatles. But that's not even relevant anyway. If someone prefers a certain sound, it doesn't matter how they get it or how long anyone else has been doing it.Maybe they are skewed! Who knows (they probably are) haha! Foo Fighters use mic'ed cabs for a lot of bass tracks/albums. Beatles and Sabbath to name a few oldies. There are a lot of Beatles tracks recorded before DI's. I believe Sgt. Peppers was when EMI had first built a DI unit for them. Anyhow. Just my opinion I guess.
Nobody's aying that bass SHOULDN'T be mic-ed. We're not talking about convincing a bass player who mics his bass to stop micing it. You're the one that's saying a bass should always be mic-ed. That's just as irresponsible as saying a bass should always be DI'd. Spending hours to try and get a sound through DI that can be easily had by micing it isn't lazy, it's just stupid. But you made a blanket statment saying that DI'd bass always sounds like crap. That doesn't make any sense because it's simply not true.And it IS lazy to just go that route each time without at least trying to mic it (unless it's just for you and you know you want DI for a tune), especially if the bassist really loves his certain sound. What if that bassist has a really special, rare mismatched rig that imparts his own really unique signature sonic character.
Actually, you did imply that very strongly, even if you didn't say it exactly like that. That's my only beef with your statements.I'm not saying DI doesn't work or is wrong,
Exactly that.Lots of bands use miced bass, lots use DI. What are you trying to say?
What's the deal with everyone favoring DI bass in home recording? Even with an awesome bass, a super clean signal chain, and a great pre, DI bass to me (and lot of bass players I've worked with) just sounds like junk in comparison to a nicely mic'ed bass cab in a properly treated room. It's just plain lazy to me. We spend so much time getting a perfectly mic'ed drum set, a nicely mic'ed guitar cab, a nicely mic'ed acoustic guitar, nicely mic'ed vocals, so why does bass guitar get the short end of the stick? I'm not a bassist, but I almost find the lack of care that goes into recording bass a little insulting. Maybe it's just a taste thing, but some of the best bass tracks I've ever heard, were the ones recorded before they even had DI's!
9/10 When I mic a bass cab with 1-2 different mics (AKG D112 and SM57) and DI as well, of the three, I usually end up using the AKG D112 cab track. Sounds more real, sits better, needs less eq'ing/compression, bigger low end, not as fake, dead, dry and clicky as a DI, richer, smoother, sounds more like that bassist's authentic tone going in, etc. Then there's this theory of "mic the cab and also take a DI and blend the two". Again, what's the point? So I'm going to blend a beautiful sounding cab track with a boring and lifeless sounding DI? For what? Some people will say for the clarity a DI brings, but if you learn how to treat a room for it, how to mic it properly and how to use EQ and compression properly on a bass for the sound you are going for, there's no need to have a DI to blend (other than a safety net). There's no way that if you put a mic'ed cab track and a dry DI bass track in front of a bassist, that he'd choose the untreated DI with his eyes closed. Why not use the sound that's closer to the final product?
It'd be like always doing straight up DI guitar recording. We all know it sounds like shit in comparison to the real thing. C'mon now.
Just saying...
So to answer the question and end my rant that probably no one is reading, I'd recommend a 12" tube combo bass amp with a retro vibe and your P bass is perfect. It's one of the world's most used passive bass guitars for recording for a long time now. Mic it with your mic of choice, whether it be a dynamic or a condenser, ribbon, etc, however you can't go wrong with a simple AKG D112. It works every time, sort of like an SM57 on a snare. Take a DI just in case. Of course, like others have said, fingers, and play further away from bridge to get a warmer, rounded, less clicky tone, eq and compression to sit in the tune the way you want it, maybe a little saturation plugin to bring out the harmonics, etc.
Good luck!