Bass weak in the high notes

[BeniRose]

I have a problem with this bass I tracked. I have two channels, one's direct in and one's room mic'd, but both of them seem to be lacking any real volume on the higher notes. When the bassist hits the lower notes, it pounds through my sub (even when I turn my sub off, it's audible through just my 5" monitors) but when he hits the higher stuff, it practically disappears. I'm trying to tweek the EQ to bring out the higher notes, but I'm not sure what frequencies I should be aiming for, or if that's even the proper solution. Any and all ideas would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[fuzzrhythm]

I have the same problem with my bass. I figure if re-recording is not an option, some compression could help you even out the difference between the lower notes and higher ones.

if you can re-track, try messing with the pickup height to kind of even things out a bit? or have the bass player be more conscious of this and try play a little more evenly

 

[pikingrin]

Or you could possibly try some cutting in the lower frequencies of the EQ. There have been threads on here that have been (loosely) related to this, in which there were some mentions of a low cut around 60hz. Try pulling out the lower frequencies to bring out the highs some. There should be a way to do it to where it doesn't interfere with the mids from the guitar/vocals/drums. It should only take a little experimenting with the EQ to make everything audible (but still sit well in the mix).

Edit: I'm pretty sure if you did a search in the Recording Techniques section you would probably find a load of information relating to your issue.

 

[Steve Henningsgard]

I'm not sure if this might help or be related, but even string/note loudness is a quality many upper-scale basses have, and most lower-scale ones don't! It's hard to make all of the strings sound even when their mass/tension is so different.

 

[Whale Bone]

Three things come to mind:
1- What EQ'ing is being done to the bass, if any. In particular, is there an active EQ on the bass itself? I've heard many players (I used to be one), and tried much gear that scoops the mid-range severely because it sounds good alone. This doesn't, however work in a mix. I found that the bass often has to sound a little harsh or brash with the mids to sound right in the mix. Make sure everything's flat. Maybe even boos the mids as an experiment. I've also had a couple basses whose preamps just didn't cut no matter what I did.

2- When I play with a pick, I sometimes notice the G string sounds thinner than with my fingers. Solution: see No. 3

3- Is it the higher strings whose high notes are disappearing? Try either changing fingerings to play the same figures higher up the neck on lower strings (may or may not yield a good sound for the application), or checking the angle of the pickup(s). Though pickups are supposed to be set level, I've angled many of mine to favor the high strings, i.e. raise the highstring side of the pickup, to get a good balance.

Good luck.

 

[rayc]

Everything said so far is pretty food. The bassists tendency to EQ scoop is a common thing these days.
All I can offer in addition to the above is a fair sized EQ pinch at 3khz.