Glad to be here! You have no idea how glad I am to be here!!

  • Thread starter Thread starter tomdbass
  • Start date Start date
Not sure what interfaces they're using. They vary (Presonus, Apogee..etc) I plan on using Cubase simply because I've had some experience with it and with ProTools as well (via MBox) and liked the Cubase better. It just seemed easier for me to get done what I needed to get done. Right now I have an old computer at home that I don't use anymore that has a DMX6 Firewire interface installed on it and I downloaded Audacity for free on it just to mess around with and it worked for what I would need. Now granted, I would NEVER use either of those on a professional project where the client is paying me to add a bass track to their music. But it did do what I needed it to do. I will be adding more equiptment as I become more involved in doing stuff from my home but right now I just want to get things off the ground. I have a few pairs of decent headphones that I can work with while tracking.
 
Hello Tom.
4 inputs are good. I have an older card based interface with 8 inputs which gives me lots of flexibility though all 8 are very rarely used.
Bass - yep you'll need a Pre &/or DI for a direct line, probably a splitter so you can send your electric bass signal to amp & DI simultaneously to blend later.
What sort of room are you using? Do you intend treating it?
If micing an acoustic bass, the room will be pretty important.
What about your monitoring set up? will you just track with h/phones or do you intend to do your own FX, EQ & such?
Stick with XP if you can - at least for a while as it's quite stable & you'll also need to optimise the computer (whatever OS you use) for audio recording.
A quick search based on optimize XP audio should get you the necessary checklist of tweaks etc.
I assume you're aware that a great sounding bass track doesn't always sound great in the mix.
Now, what was that again:
DIs
Preamps
Three mic stands (at least one boom, one short and one with a goose neck)
Splitter
Mics - well, which ones is a major Q & much debate will ensue I'm sure.
bug pickup/s
Optimized comp.
(isolated computer if it's noisy - fans can be a prob & get noisier as the vents get dustier)
Room teatment or good room
Good cables & leads for everything
Isolated power source if you can manage it.
Behringer BDI21 (only 1/2 joking).
Monitoring set up
But you can start with almost what you already have - add the program & interface & you're away.
The results you can & will get with such modest gear can & will amaze you.
 
rayc said:
Hello Tom.
4 inputs are good. I have an older card based interface with 8 inputs which gives me lots of flexibility though all 8 are very rarely used.
Bass - yep you'll need a Pre &/or DI for a direct line, probably a splitter so you can send your electric bass signal to amp & DI simultaneously to blend later.
What sort of room are you using? Do you intend treating it?
If micing an acoustic bass, the room will be pretty important.
What about your monitoring set up? will you just track with h/phones or do you intend to do your own FX, EQ & such?
Stick with XP if you can - at least for a while as it's quite stable & you'll also need to optimise the computer (whatever OS you use) for audio recording.
A quick search based on optimize XP audio should get you the necessary checklist of tweaks etc.
I assume you're aware that a great sounding bass track doesn't always sound great in the mix.
Now, what was that again:
DIs
Preamps
Three mic stands (at least one boom, one short and one with a goose neck)
Splitter
Mics - well, which ones is a major Q & much debate will ensue I'm sure.
bug pickup/s
Optimized comp.
(isolated computer if it's noisy - fans can be a prob & get noisier as the vents get dustier)
Room teatment or good room
Good cables & leads for everything
Isolated power source if you can manage it.
Behringer BDI21 (only 1/2 joking).
Monitoring set up
But you can start with almost what you already have - add the program & interface & you're away.
The results you can & will get with such modest gear can & will amaze you.
Click to expand...
Thanks so much rayc for the help. I really appreciate it. My computer is pretty new and up to date but I'll definately check out the link that you posted and do some searches on optimizing my system for recording. The room itself is pretty good as far as treatment. It's isolated from the rest of the house and pretty quiet. However, I did plan on adding a baffle for when I track acoustic bass. Every studio that I've worked at has done this and they all recommend that I do the same for my home setup. I do need to invest in a set of good mics for recording upright and have started checking into that. It's a bit easier than finding a decent interface believe it or not, due to whatever good mics are commonly use for upright tracking here in Nashville, I'll try to use here at home. Some of them obviously I can't afford right now, but at least I know what is available and will work within my projected price range. As far as a preamp/DI, I use an Avalon U5 whenever I go to do a session in an outside studio. Pretty much every studio here in town loves them for bass so I purchased one a few years back for that purpose. In re to the Avalon, I've played through it and have heard the end result, BUT, I've never hooked one up to an interface for recording (the assistant engineer usally does that-he just hooks an XLR cable to it and away we go!) How do I hook one up for recording at home? I esp want to use it for tracking upright as well as electric. I thing I'm gonna go with the Tascam 800 interface. It seems to be the best one for my needs that I've found and alot of folks here at the forum have recommended it for my purposes.
Again thanks so much for taking alot of the "fear" out of doing home recording. I really appreciate it.
All the best to you.
Tom
 
Forgot to mention that I will be using headphones as a monitor. I'm used to it and I'd much rather do the tracking that way. Obviously with tracking upright there is no other option for monitoring which is fine for me. I do have a good pair of studio headphones that were given to me by an engineer buddy as a "gift" and they work just fine for what I need. In fact I've used the exact pair of headphones that he gave me when I worked for him on a few sessions and I always commented on how well the bass and kick sounded through them.(not sure if it was just the phones, but I'm sure they had alot to do with it) I know I need quite a bit more equiptment to get this thing to where I'm happy with it (not to mention quite a bit more money!) but for now I just need a good starting point that I can add to later on.
 
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