I run a part-time recording business. Nothing fancy, I go out to record bands, choirs, orchestras etc... every month. It's great experience, makes a bit of money & gets me a decent tax break on my gear lust. I have some reasonable gear for a project studio - couple of Neumanns, AKG, Sennheiser, & shure mics. Joemeek & Dbx preamps & compressors + wackie VLZ 'pro' mixer all going into an Akai DPS 16 & 'mastering' through a Dbx Quantum.
Having got my brief job/gear description out of the way i'll get to the point: I've always had problems with the bottom end of the mix. My attempts have generally been flabby, boomy & undefined. That's an exaggeration, of course, but not too far removed from the truth. Despite following the usual advice of EQ ing the bass & bass drum at different frequencies & despite becoming more proficient at using compressors to hold the flab in, some of my mixes remain 'muddy' & lacking in definition at the bottom end.
I always thought the solution to this problem was to buy more expensive gear, but I put the brakes on any more purchases a year ago & became determined to work with what I had. In the last two weeks I've had a breakthrough experience - I recorded a bass guitar using a microphone & preamp instead of going through the usual D.I. socket. Why? Because last Saturday one guy didn't actually have a D.I. output on his bass amp & yesterday the bass player (of a different band) had a D.I. socket that was dead. I ALWAYS D.I. the bass!!! Why? Because it's easy & I have to work fast & it sounds great - usually. I also read somewhere that it's the method of choice for many engineers. Why bother to mic up a bass amp when there's a socket that does it all for you? I never considered an alternative way of doing things.
On both occasions I was 'forced' to set up the bass amps with an AKG D112 going into a Joemeek VCQ1cs with some compression. Instead of using the D112 on the bass drum I had to use an MD 421. This was no big deal, but when I pulled up the faders I couldn't get over how well the two sounds worked together. In my opinion I prefer the D112 on bass drum, it goes deeper than a 421, but in the context of a mix i'm starting to change my mind.
Oh dear, this is becoming a long post but just thought I'd share my experiences with the rest of you. What sounds well on it's own - like a D.I.'d bass - doesn't necessarily sound great in the mix. I've always found it easier to mix real mic'd up guitars than Pods/V-amps, maybe this is why??
Anybody else care to share a eureka moment that involved working differently with the equipment they already had?
Having got my brief job/gear description out of the way i'll get to the point: I've always had problems with the bottom end of the mix. My attempts have generally been flabby, boomy & undefined. That's an exaggeration, of course, but not too far removed from the truth. Despite following the usual advice of EQ ing the bass & bass drum at different frequencies & despite becoming more proficient at using compressors to hold the flab in, some of my mixes remain 'muddy' & lacking in definition at the bottom end.
I always thought the solution to this problem was to buy more expensive gear, but I put the brakes on any more purchases a year ago & became determined to work with what I had. In the last two weeks I've had a breakthrough experience - I recorded a bass guitar using a microphone & preamp instead of going through the usual D.I. socket. Why? Because last Saturday one guy didn't actually have a D.I. output on his bass amp & yesterday the bass player (of a different band) had a D.I. socket that was dead. I ALWAYS D.I. the bass!!! Why? Because it's easy & I have to work fast & it sounds great - usually. I also read somewhere that it's the method of choice for many engineers. Why bother to mic up a bass amp when there's a socket that does it all for you? I never considered an alternative way of doing things.
On both occasions I was 'forced' to set up the bass amps with an AKG D112 going into a Joemeek VCQ1cs with some compression. Instead of using the D112 on the bass drum I had to use an MD 421. This was no big deal, but when I pulled up the faders I couldn't get over how well the two sounds worked together. In my opinion I prefer the D112 on bass drum, it goes deeper than a 421, but in the context of a mix i'm starting to change my mind.
Oh dear, this is becoming a long post but just thought I'd share my experiences with the rest of you. What sounds well on it's own - like a D.I.'d bass - doesn't necessarily sound great in the mix. I've always found it easier to mix real mic'd up guitars than Pods/V-amps, maybe this is why??
Anybody else care to share a eureka moment that involved working differently with the equipment they already had?