Looking for a cheap solution to mic upright bass for recording, not for amplification

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jt7747

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Hi. I like to record my jazz trio using a zoom 8 track recorder. I take stereo out from my Roland piano, I mic drums with a small zoom H2 (stereo - works better than you might think) and I normally DI the upright bass from the amp. However the pickup doesn't sound that nice, and people have told me I'll get better results using some kind of condenser mic pointed at the f-hole.

So, with that in mind, please tell me what kind of cheap mic would work well, slapped on a mini mic stand. I have one phantom power channel on my 8 track. Or I could get a little valve preamp for a nice warm sound.

It's just for recording, not amplification, so a bit of bleed does no harm. We play in lively dinner settings and I'm not afraid to capture some extraneous sound. I just want a solution that works better than the nasty, tinny DI. I could even stick a mic in front of the bass amp, I haven't tried that yet.

Any ideas would be gratefully received.

Thanks!
 
A pro engineer friend of mine borrowed my little Audio Technica Pro37R from me last week to record a jazz quartet.
He had read that the legendary Steve Albini likes them for upright bass.

He wrapped it in a bit of foam and tucked it in the bridge pointing upwards. He played me the result later and we were very pleased with the result.... you won't need a mic stand if you get a good fit with the foam and tape the mic cable to the spike etc.

I'm presuming the zoom has phantom.
 
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Ugh the 37rRs are sold out!


What you can do to record a stand up bass that will provide sterling results can be accomplished with an omni microphone about 2 to 3 feet in front of the bass pointing straight up and about 2 to 3 feet from the floor. Just play around with the microphone placement. Have gotten many great tracks this way

The cheapest omni that you can purchase is a Behringer ECM 8000 ... look around $29.99 new, is not that uncommon and believe me you won't be disappointed.
If you have more money than $20. look around for any used omni microphone from a company that you are familiar with and like their products.
 
You could do a lot worse than trying out the little Behringer C2 condenser.

I was stuck trying to get a decent bass sound recorded. DI was horrible, and other mikes I had weren't doing it for me.

Tried the C2 out of despreation . . . it worked a treat. Here is a short sample from a live recording to give you an idea:

something in five demo
 
+1 for the Behringer ECM8000.

For a cheap little reference mic it's actually quite useable. It's not going to flatter most sources. Pretty neutral overall. The thing is, it's flat down to 20 Hz. Most mics are not. Being an omni it sounds very natural and won't produce bass from proximity effect, but it captures a lot of it relative to other mics. Definitely something I'd try on an upright if you're not worried about bleed.
 
Thank you folks. I will look into that.

I wonder what would happen if I just stick a cheap dynamic mic in front of the bass amp. I will try that as well and finding one of these omni mics of which you speak.
 
Don,t hesitate to try a cheap lavalier mic on the sound hole as well!
 
We had good results putting a foam pop screen (simply to prevent scratching the top of the bass) on an SM58 and stringing it between two strings, below the bridge/above the tailpiece. Tracked that to it's own track, for extra bass if needed in a AT4047 pair live-setup recording of a bluegrass band.

Sure, there are better methods, but you did say "cheap..."
 
+1 for the Behri ECM 8000. There are some good dynamic mics, but they are way more expensive. I did hear something good once about the Audix I5 ($100) in this situation, as a poor man's Shure sm7 ($350), but I can't verify it.
 
brownplus said:
Don,t hesitate to try a cheap lavalier mic on the sound hole as well!
Click to expand...

In my experience, aiming the mic only at the f-hole can result in a boomy-sounding track that requires excessive eq-ing to tame--I have had better results by placing the capsule between the f-hole and the bridge. Of course experimenting with mic placement is always a good idea IMHO.
 
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