advice please, recording bass

  • Thread starter Thread starter banjoal
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banjoal

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Hi, I have a roland 1680 vs (no internal efx yet), and a mackie 1202 vlz pro mixer.I have been recording my bass through the mixer and directly into a special guitar input in my 1680.I am not a bass player but am familiar with stringed instuments so I can find my way around but I can`t seem to get rid of the hum and string noise when I`m fretting the bass,is this a hard learned playing thing or something equipment can help with?
 
If you are not using any reverb or other effects, then there should be no noise at all when the strings aren't vibrating.. Sounds like either you have a wiring problem in the bass, or there is noise in the recording chain.. a typical approach to recording bass is to use a DI box and go straight into the mixer (or better yet, a good tube pre amp after the DI box) straight into the recorder. Try putting a different instrument in the chain and see if the noise is still there..

String noise can be caused by a number of things. Are you recording with a lot of high end? That will make noise more prevalent. If that's not the problem, look at your strings when you press on them.. are they buzzing against other frets? This means that you will need to adjust the bridge.. or quite possibly have the frets readjusted.. Finally, buzz can be caused by improper technique.. If you have played guitar but are new to the bass, it will take a little getting used to the larger fret distances.. and the proper placement behind the frets is just as important..

Hope this helps..

Cy
 
It could be single coil hum, try turning in a circle slowly while listening to the bass, if the volume of the hum changes as you turn then it's the pickups, the good news is that you can usually find some orientation which minimizes it.
 
A balanced DI box would be ideal if you have balanced inputs and it sounds with your equipment you should have balanced inputs.

Other than that string muting technique may help. Try muting all the strings with either hand while your levels are set for your recording.

Scott
 
DI box

Thanks for the replies,Could someone tell me what a DI box is.As you can see I`m real new to bass playing and recording. thanks again Al
 
DI stands for direct injection and is meant to bypass using an amp,as well as to transform the resistance level and balance the signal.Passive unbalanced guitar signal (or bass) suffers from the tendency to be an antenna for stray radio frequencies,flourescent lights emissions,all kinds of induced noise.
The DI box will balance the signal for hum rejection and put it into the XLR format where you take advantage of the 60 dB boost your mic pres will automatically add to xlr signals.
In short, cleaner.Many brands to choose from and they all do the same basic job.

Tom
 
Also, if you have a little cash you can get a bass amp simulator which will meet your DI needs plus give you some effects processing.

Cy
 
Injection/Input

Same difference.

Actually I see "Injection" used more often from our British friends and "Input" more often from the American perspective but they are used interchangably as far as I can tell.

I am assuming you all were not being facetious.

:D
 
Aw Facetious Christ!:p No I was being serious. But yeah I Guess Injection/Input same thing different spelling.;)

T.J.Hooker:cool:
 
Look at your hands first <

If you are hearing a lot of fret noise, before you look at gear, look at technique. Do you get a lot of fret noise when playing bass normally? Bass is one of the hardest intsruments to develope a good mute-ing technique. There is a really good write up in Bass Player Mag this month on technique. Check it out.

If the problem persists... Check out each item individually... Does the bass seem to have buzz even when it isn't pluged in? could mean you just need a good tech to set it up properly... Check all the cables in the chain. Don't look at the problem as a whole, try to isolate it down to a specific area. Good luck!
 
Also,

I doubut you necessarily "need" a DI box. If memory serves me correctly, the dedicated guitar input on the 1680 already has DI circuitry built in. Otherwise, it would be useless to have the "dedicated" guitar input.

Your hum and noise may be a product of your pickups. I don't know if anyone mentioned this, but check to see if the noise persists if you turn the volume off. If so, you probably have a problem with the 1680.

Also, as mentioned, try a different axe through the dedicated input to determine if there is a problem with your bass, or if the problem exists in the 1680.

Matt
 
That's a good point BBB.

I thought most of the newer Roland digital line had special giutar (and bass) in's and also had built in amp modeling options.

On re-reading the original post Bajoal was also running througha Mackie board. Are you usign any gain from the bulit in mic preamp? There could be way too much gain if they are on and going into a dedicated guitar DI or if they are set at the same level as for say a dynamic mic.

What say you Bajoal?

We have not heard if any of our ideas have been tried or if we found the problem. :confused:
 
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