mic'ing bass - dynamic or condenser

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damianhk

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i think i may start mic'ing bass. It seems that i get a decent sound more consistently than compressing and using eq. I just like how it sits. Anyway, what's your experience with mic'ing bass; do you use a dynamic or condenser? I have a shure pg57 dynamic, and a studio projects b1 condenser. I know there aren't any concrete rules, but just let me know what you think. ;)
 
I'm not sure, but last Friday I used an old Shure Prologue Dynamic mic AND went direct in. I mixed the two together and got a pretty killer sound doing that.
 
Try using a small diaphragm condensor if you can. Nifty little trick that I learned a while ago from a big name producer.
 
I frequently use an SM57 or U87 mixed with a DI signal (sometimes no DI) and get great results.

Approach it the same way you would a guitar cab
 
Same here, I used to mic the bass cab with a 52 or D112 mixed with the DI until I saw a great recording engineer use an SM57 mixed with the DI. 2 weeks ago I recorded bass tracks and used 3 signals:
SM 57 about 10 cm from the cone at a 30-40 degree angle pointed towards the center.
KSM 32 on the other side of the room and facing the wall.
DI.

The first signal was my main one, the KSM was my "reverb" and the DI my "oomph" and it worked for me.
 
My personal experience is that LDCs are best suited for me...

AT4050, U87, Blue Bottle...


I have successfully used a D12 and a D112 before, by far the LDCs worked best.
 
The blend is the best. BUT try to live outside the obvious & work with something other than a 57.
I get, to my ears, a good noise from a Sony ECM19B blended with DI.
Try blending the mic's you already have with a DI signal & see if you can impress yourself.
 
my new bass-amp has a line-out. Do you guys think it's just as good as a DI -Box? Have to try it out tonight...
 
joeym said:
my new bass-amp has a line-out. Do you guys think it's just as good as a DI -Box? Have to try it out tonight...
Click to expand...

no. line outs on bass amps are like line outs on guitar amps (well, MOST amps--- some have integrated DI/cabinet emulation). line outs straight into the board generally sound harsh, flat, and uninspiring, IMO.
a
 
Line outs on bass amps are not much like line outs on guitar amps at all, at least not on any decent bass head. That being said they are not usually all that close in sound to a straight DI. DI gives you the sound of the bass through whatever the rest of your chain is, where line outs on bass heads involve some of the sound of the head itself.
 
xstatic said:
Line outs on bass amps are not much like line outs on guitar amps at all, at least not on any decent bass head. That being said they are not usually all that close in sound to a straight DI. DI gives you the sound of the bass through whatever the rest of your chain is, where line outs on bass heads involve some of the sound of the head itself.
Click to expand...

how do you figure?

UNLESS it has cabinet emulation or some kind of amp modeling, the line out is just that--- it is the signal that is created by the preamp (including eq and effects)--- it is the *same* signal that is fed to the power amp.

a
 
I guess maybe I should clarify. Typically, the line outs on a guitar amp sound pretty awful. There are certainly exceptions, but the way a guitar amp processes the sound before the power stage usually does not translate to something very desirable on a line output. However, on a bass amp, the way the sound is processed and then kicked out on the line output is typically much closer to the sound the end user probably wants.

When I said, "Line outs on bass amps are not much like line outs on guitar amps at all" I did not mean for that to be viewed from a technical standpoint, but more from and end user and desired signal standpoint.
 
I'm getting into the habit of sending the effects loop in, and micing with a 57 and an I5, sometimes an ATM25 instead, plus a distance microphone for guitar and bass cabs and it's pretty fucking sweet having all of that to mix together/throw away, even though the signal from the effects loop is gross it seems to help with something.
 
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