New here, mic'ing question for Bass..

  • Thread starter Thread starter k5koy
  • Start date Start date
K

k5koy

New member
Hi! Just put together a studio type Blues Band, and we will be writing and recording only..For now. We have a host of mics, cables & stands, a MG16/FX mixer, a Tascam DP01 recorder, and all we have for editing right now is Audacity, which seems to do the job we need. We are very incompetent on all this home recording business, but we are having a blast trying to learn. I might mention also that we range in age from 47-60. I have bought a good book, "Home recording for dummies" and it seems to be pretty good. We laid down a 1 take mix of an original last week when we first got the mixer, which was really pretty good considering we had no clue what we were doing. Now a week later, I have aquired a little more knowelege of the equipment, and we will try again today.
I have a couple of questions. First is related to micing my bass. I play a Warwick Corvette passive through a Eden WT500 with a 4x10 and a 1X18. I get a really thunderous crisp tone with this setup which is kind of my signature tone. Question is, do I mic my cabs or go direct into the mixer? If micing, I could use a SM57, or a large diaphram dynamic mic. But do I need to mic both cabs and mix them?
Next question is about multi track recording. We have figured out the live recording bit, but to get that mistake free ability with the MTR, and punch features, I am a bit confused how to approach it. What do you lay down first? I would assume drums, but my drummer has to be able to key off of other members for timing & stops. How do you guys approach order in multi Track recording?...Thanks!
Below is my first MTR with a Buddy of mine, "You're Gonna Miss Me" It didnt pose the drummer issue, because it was done with a drum machine! Easy-Peazey!

Koy Carson
West Texas


**Fender FSR Silver Sparkle Bass
**Warwick Corvette 4 Standard Hybrid
**Fender Geddy Lee Jazz Bass
**Tradition Fretless Bass
**Takamine Hollow body Bass
**Carvin AC175 Thinline Acoustic
**Ibanez EW20ZW Electric/Acoustic
**Arbor AJ145CR Jazz
**Eden WT-500-Peavey Tour410 & 2 Tour 115's
**Ampeg B2R-Ampeg 410 & Peavey 1x18

Texas Bassist Club #66
Fender Jazz Bass Club #328

"You're Gonna Miss Me" By Carson-Blevins Blues Project
http://soundclick.com/share?songid=7216182

http://www.myspace.com/k5koy
 
Hi Koy welcome to a new world. With only 2 inputs & 8 trax to work with you'll need to plan out each song: 1 or 2 for vox, 1 or 2 for gtr, 1 or 2 for bass and 2 for drums; as you can see you'll soon run out of tracks and will need to bounce. When I was working with a DP01fx my usual modus operandi was: Recording with a drum trak or click track is a good way to start, I used band in a box to work out arrangements, tempos and feels laid that to 1 trak usually trak 8. Then recorded the rhythm gtr and bass direct ** just to keep things simple. Then the drums, I use 4 mics mixed to 2 and recorded stereo. Once you have those bed tracks we'd mix/bounce those down to 2 tracks usually trax 7 & 8, leaving 4 to use for guitar or vocal overdubs. I used 5/6 and 7/8 to bounce tracks, the great thing about digital recording is no noise build up or frequency loss with bounces if done properly.
**Recording bass "direct" is the easiest way to go. There are lots of choices for recording bass direct and you'll need to find what works for you and your desired sound. It can be as simple as a DI, one of the many modellers, multi effects or a mic or bass preamp. Unless you have a great room, mics and several trax to play with recording a bass amp can be less than satisfying and very frustrating and even then the end result is usually primarily a "direct" recording with the mics added for ambience.
The key is to keep it fun and learn each time you record, the 1st few might not turn out exactly as you hoped but keep at it.
 
Thanks! But I think you missed the part about the Mixer. 8 trax & 2 inputs are adequate with the Yamaha MG16. At least for now. Its all a bit confusing right now, being as how we are just now getting into the whole home recording thing, and none of us have a very good idea as to what we are doing yet. We got together yesterday and recorded a little just to get our feet wet. It is a live recording, everything is mic'ed, and we are all in the same tiny room. Came out pretty good for a first try with the mixer. Long range goal is to get in a baffled room, and lay down all parts separately and mix em all together for a more "studio-esque" sound. Any tips appreciated!
Heres a sample:
"Dirtville Blues" by DirtVille

Thanks,
Koy Carson
West Texas


**Fender FSR Silver Sparkle Bass
**Warwick Corvette 4 Standard Hybrid
**Fender Geddy Lee Jazz Bass
**Tradition Fretless Bass
**Takamine Hollow body Bass
**Carvin AC175 Thinline Acoustic
**Ibanez EW20ZW Electric/Acoustic
**Arbor AJ145CR Jazz
**Eden WT-500-Peavey Tour410 & 2 Tour 115's
**Ampeg B2R-Ampeg 410 & Peavey 1x18

Texas Bassist Club #66
Fender Jazz Bass Club #328
 
For a live recording that does sound pretty good and I don't know if I would do anything different especially the bass as it sits really well in the overall mix.
 
A good thing about recording a "all at once" recording is that you can go back and add extra tracks if something is weak (extra vocals for example) then mix the extra tracks in with the original. I've done this quite a few times and usually have pretty good results. A couple of things to remember for all at once recordings are... Be sure everyone has their parts really down before you hit the record button. Have everyone use the same tuner, tuners vary slightly and those little differences will be noticeable on the recording.
 
I always mic the bass cab, usually with something like an RE-20 or, as goofy as it sounds, a Shure 55. It's important to remember that recording is a different monster than it sounds to your ear live. I've always gotten better sounds with a single speaker than multiple ones (no weird phasing issues for the microphone). I'd start by either trying to mic the 18 by its self or one of the 10s. If you're missing the hit/bottom end, then I would put each cab in a different room and close mic each one separate, run em through through the mixer onto one track. The advantage of micing the cab is that the speaker is a natural compressor. Good luck!

scott!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top