ECM 8000's on upright bass?

[notCardio]

Has anyone tried this? Just curious.

 

[TexRoadkill]

ECM's are pretty boomy on the low end. Not sure if that will help or hurt you. You will probably get a pretty decent tone with a little bass cut.

 

[Lame Thrower]

I tried this recently and thought it sounded decent. The fact that the ECM's body has a small diameter makes it fit almost perfectly into the bridge of my Kay. Just a little masking tape to hold it in place. I thought it gave a pretty good mix of tone and finger on string noise, although I did have to cut the lows a little.

 

[notCardio]

Tex,
Boomy? Shows you how much I know. I thought that since they were omni's and didn't have proximity effect, they would be LESS boomy.

Lame,

Any possibility of you posting a pic of that setup? I can't quite visualize it.

Thanks, guys.

 

[Lame Thrower]

I don't have a digital camera, so I'll just try to describe it better...

I noticed that the diameter of the ECM mic body is about the same as the circular opening in the bridge of my bass. Your milage may vary here.

It doesn't quite fit perfectly, so I wrapped about 2-3 layers of masking tape around the big part of the mic right before it begins to taper down. This made it fit very securely in the bridge.

Then, I just stuck it in the bridge, on the E string side, with the "live" end pointed upwards. Then all you have to worry about is restraining the mic cable somehow to keep it from banging against the bass.

I never tried it, but I suppose you could put 'em on both sides and get some stereo action going.

I'm far from a pro (as if you couldn't tell), but this produced better results than I could get with my SM57.

Even though these mics don't have any proximity effect, they're intended to be flat throughout the range of human hearing, so the bass response is a lot more than you'd expect from such a dinky little mic.

I hope this is helpful in some way.

 

[notCardio]

Thanks, Lame. I think I get the picture. Do you play classical or jazz? BTW, do you have an adjustable bridge? I've been meaning to get one for my Englefart.

 

[Lame Thrower]

I'm a rock musician trying to play jazz on a bass designed for classical.

I've wanted to get an adjustable bridge for a long time, as the action on this Kay is pretty brutal, but I've never gotten around to it.

 

[Chris F]

I think the ECM sounds really nice for Double Bass. I'm a professional jazz player but a newbie homereccer, and I ordered a V67 and an ECM at the same time to try to get THE SOUND. The V67 gets closer to it in an open, transparent kind of way, but some of the coloration that comes from the ECM is also nice for certain applications. I'm going to be recording with both on seperate channels and mixing the signals in the near future. If anybody's interested, I'll report back the results.

BTW, I've been getting the best results with both mics when they are placed 9-18" in front of the bridge. The angle (up or down) of the mic helps control the amount of string noise you get this way.

 

[notCardio]

Chris,

Yeah, I'd love to hear the results. I've wanted to get a v67 for vocals, but my environment (basement) is sooooo noisy that I thought I'd wait until I can tame that first. Unless I can learn to musically incorporate the furnace/air cond. kicking on, the TV from upstairs, low-flying planes (I live near a small airport), and the occaisional sump pump noise.

I hope you don't mind if I e-mail you with a couple of bass-related questions

Thanks.

FYI, Victor Wooten is going to be in town (solo!) on the 12th. I'm pumped!

 

[TexRoadkill]

Cardio,
Dont worry about proximity effect. The ECM is equally boomy wherever you place it

On a regular acoustic it can be pretty bad but with some bass cut the sound is very nice and realistic. I would guess that a large condensor would help give you a smoother, warmer low end if you mixed it with the ECM. That's what seems to work best for me on guitar.

The ECM is nice for delicate sounds like a pizzicato but I would think strong bows would just boom too much. I'm curious to hear your guys' bass recordings. Good luck.

 

[Chris F]

Chris,

Yeah, I'd love to hear the results. I've wanted to get a v67 for vocals, but my environment (basement) is sooooo noisy that I thought I'd wait until I can tame that first. Unless I can learn to musically incorporate the furnace/air cond. kicking on, the TV from upstairs, low-flying planes (I live near a small airport), and the occaisional sump pump noise.

I'm too low tech computer-wise to post sound clips, but I'll try to post a description of the results anyway. I expect that they'll be positive. For jazz, about the only real mixing I need to do bass wise is to increase the "fatness" of the sound on solos in the upper register and decrease it in the bottom end when needed. Based on the few little experiments I've done so far, the V67 gets a great all-around "fundamental" sound which is pretty even across the range of the instrument (for pizz, anyway). When I need more "body" (i.e. - ECM coloration), I can simply raise the ECM fader a bit and leave the V67 track alone. But that's only a preliminary plan...

I hope you don't mind if I e-mail you with a couple of bass-related questions

Feel free.



FYI, Victor Wooten is going to be in town (solo!) on the 12th. I'm pumped!

So I heard. I'll have to miss Victor, but I'll be coming up to catch Dave Holland next month as long as it's not sold out already. Have fun at the show!