My bass recordings suck!

[junplugged]

Good info here. I also have hard time w/ bass tracks.

I have an old combo amp, Laney PL100 Bass. Has a compressor on it, is that good enough? My bass is an old Fender Bullet bass, student grade, i guess. I'm not a bass player.

I also have an Alesis Bass module. But I never had a good way to play it well. Poor keyboards, poor sequencing software all that midi....

I got an old sampler, the cheapo sp-202 Boss and when I loaded it w/ some bass samples, it was amazing how clear, powerful and deep and pro it sounded. I can't come near those sounds.

I think i might as well just sell the Alesis, play the bass, try recording it w/ large dia condensor, mxl v67, I just rembered I also have Alesis nanocompressor, i should stick in the chain.

Sound like a good start?

 

[Matt303]

I'm no expert on this but I did have a simlilar problem and this is how I sorted it out:

When you record bass (either mic or DI) check though the EQ lower mid from around 80 to 150Hz. If the incomming signal is responsive through this range the chances are that you can fix the sound later.
What I found was that the source bass sound which was the one the band used live was un responsive through the 100-150Hz which seemed to e the region where you can hear the definition. So when I came to mix it I was stuck with what I had which sounded OK by itself but dissapeared into a muddy mess in the mix.
Tweak the bass guitar until you have some responsive EQ over the above range without worrying too much about the sound in isolation from the mix.
The other thing I noticed was post mix if I listened to the bass in isolation the sound was not what I expected, it was more 'toppy and clicky' not something I would have looked for when recording on its own.

 

[jdier]

A lot of great messages here. I picked up a few things I am going to try.

I have had some great bass luck and here are my thoughts based on what has been shared:

1. Look into building some panel low bass traps. Ethan Winer sells them but also describes exact instructions for making them. I made 6 of them early on for under $300 and they absolutely tighten up the bottom end of our room.

2. Add no eq (boost or cut) until the rest of the track is together. Sounds like you are doing this already but I really think it might help.

3. Try to take the DI in with no effects at all then compress the mic channel on the cab and compress the hell out of it. Make the DI your primary then bring the compressed speaker up behind it.

4. I have also done the opposite of above... Speaker is the main sound and is 100% unaltered, the DI gets all of the compression and EQ. The DI in this case sounds like CRAP alone.... It is meant to fill in the holes and round out the more natural speaker sound.

Hope this helps.

Jim