Bass Recording

[avh48]

Hello everyone!
So the thing is that I´m using a Line 6 Lowdown 300 amp and a Ibanez GRS200 active bass for recording. I know it is not the best gear at all, but i´m a drummer and I have a little home studio.
I´m going to sell my Lowdown since I never use it, but I need something to record decent bass tracks. I want something small for direct recording. I was looking at the SansAmp RBI but it doesn't have a compressor. Any suggestions? Thanks!

 

[rayc]

EASY get the Behringer BDI21 - it's a clone of the sansamp & a very good one too. ULTRA cheap & works well.
PROBLEM - active bass is a pain in the backside for recording.
Can you de-activate it?
Can you swap it for something else.
Seriously - try the Behringer before you spend money on something expensive.

 

[stevieg11]

What are you recording in to? Any DAW should have built-in compressors so I wouldn't worry about that at the recording stage.

 

[RAMI]

Why don't you just go straight in with your active bass? Don't worry about compressing during recording, as mentioned above.

 

[avh48]

Thanks for all the responses guys! I´m using an Emu 1616m and yes, it has a compressor but I don´t know how good is it.
I also have a Presonus Studiolive 16.0.2, but I use it just for my drums and i´m using all the channels.
Why active basses are a pain to record? Should I get a passive bass? Thanks again!

 

[gecko zzed]

Why don't you just go straight in with your active bass? Don't worry about compressing during recording, as mentioned above.

^^ This.

I plug my Warwick active bass straight into the Firepod. Good clean rich sound with no problems.

 

[RAMI]

I plug my Warwick active bass straight into the Firepod. Good clean rich sound with no problems.

Yeah, my active Ibanez records fine, as far as I can tell.

RayC is a real bass player (not saying anyone here other than me isn't), so I'm curious to see why he says active basses can be problematic.

 

[avh48]

EASY get the Behringer BDI21 - it's a clone of the sansamp & a very good one too. ULTRA cheap & works well.
PROBLEM - active bass is a pain in the backside for recording.
Can you de-activate it?
Can you swap it for something else.
Seriously - try the Behringer before you spend money on something expensive.

Why is it a pain to record an active bass? I do want to get a better bass. There is a guy selling a Yamaha BB415 in like new condition with hard case at $390.

 

[rayc]

No great secret,
RAMI, if yours is active then you certainly have no problems because your bass always sound excellent. Gek, I can't remember your bass tone so will have to dig back & find a sample.
here are a couple of conversations regarding the initial probs. Most of these probs are relatively easily overcome but can cause particular ussies for a newer user. Mind you - time has marched on & far fewer people use PCI soundcards so the problem may have disappeared with those...
http://www.soundsrealgood.com/blog/recording-bass-guitar-at-home-tips-tricks-video/

Active Bass Recording Revalation. - TalkBass Forums

Recording an active bass in Garageband - TalkBass Forums

 

[gecko zzed]

I had a look at the links, but not the video.

From what I can gather, the two main problems are that:

* the signal of an active bass is very hot, and is difficult to manage in the 'instrument' input of an interface; and
* the tone of an active bass is very bright.

It's okay to use the volume knob to control the hotness. There's no consequent tone change like you get on some passive basses. (But if there was, it would deal with the second problem).

For the record, I plug the bass into one of the instrument inputs on the firepod, with the bass's volume level set to max (which is what I've always done despite my advice above) and the gain for that channel set to about -8 (i.e. nearly off). And I like bright bass tones.

 

[avh48]

Ok, so I sold my active Ibanez and bought a passive Yamaha BB415 and it is awesome. I´m also waiting for my SansAmp Programmable Bass Driver DI to arrive... I took all your advices into consideration, so thanks for all your help! Can´t wait to record some bass tracks now! =)