Recording bass guitar via DI

  • Thread starter Thread starter Irriducibili
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Irriducibili

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Hello all :eatpopcorn:

I have registered on this forum for the sole purpose of seeking help with this issue. Long story short, I'm very unhappy with the results of recording bass guitar via DI and I need some help. :wtf:

I had recorded bass (with a mic and amp etc) for years in the past and got very satisfactory results, but for the immediate and foreseeable future, I will be recording and mixing in a smaller set up, so all guitar and basses are being recorded via DI. Guitars/basses run through my pedals, into my Radial Pro DI, into the mic input of my MBOX Mini (:facepalm:) into Pro Tools 9. I then use IK Multimedia's Amplitube 3 on all my guitars and basses. While I am getting great sounds for guitars, the basses sound horrible. They are extremely treble heavy and have an obnoxiously loud sub frequency level. As my not-too-articulate friend perfectly said, "it should sound like 'bombombombom', but it sounds like 'klonkklonkklonkklonk'." :D It is most noticeable (naturally) when the bass plays something finger-picked and within a medium-to-fast tempo, but I reiterate that the bass sounds unreasonably bad. I'll also state that I'm not (completely) stupid, and there's nothing inherently, or obviously wrong, like over-compression or EQ, or bad cables, happening in the recording chain.

A friend far more knowledgeable than myself has told me that the combination of the basses active pickups and the DI will exacerbate these undesirable sound qualities of the bass, but I don't know enough to either confirm or deny this. Either way, as mentioned, I won't be able to record with a mic at a studio for a while anyhow.

Any help, insight or advice would be sincerely appreciated :)

Regards,

Irriducibili
 
Maybe you need a different/better DI. What you have is a decent product but not all DIs are created equal. See if you can get your hands on a quality active DI (Radial, Countryman, BSS etc.) to try out.
 
How does it sound when you plug the bass straight in, without the DI box?

EDIT: I just realized I may have mis-understood. You might not even be using a DI box. I took "DI" to mean "DI box". :o
 
Yeaaaahhh I've met the same problem... Amplitube 3 sucks with bass, at least for me. The bass sounded muddy, it had no characteristics whatsoever and it was just plain sound... Then I got IK's Ampeg SVX software and it sounds great! Check that out if you have ~100$ to spend :P And yeah, double that above, how's the dry signal?
 
A bass player I work with was very happy with Countryman Type 85 -> Ampeg SVX.
 
I was gona ask RAMIs question, but I don't get why he edited.

Have you tried taking your pedal output straight into the mbox DI?
 
Steenamaroo said:
I was gona ask RAMIs question, but I don't get why he edited.
Click to expand...
I added the edit because I wasn't sure (and am still not sure) whether "DI" means he's using a direct box, or if it just means "Direct In" in this case.
 
I'll second the Ampeg SVX plug. Well worth the money if you ask me.
 
Chili said:
I'll second the Ampeg SVX plug. Well worth the money if you ask me.
Click to expand...

That's what you used for a plug in your video that featured your whole family - right, Chili?

If so ... that was a great bass track. :thumbs up:
 
No, actually, I just got the Ampeg plug a month ago. The bass in the video was straight into the interface with a UAD 1176 plug and a little EQ.

Cool, glad you liked it!!! :)
 
Chili said:
No, actually, I just got the Ampeg plug a month ago. The bass in the video was straight into the interface with a UAD 1176 plug and a little EQ.

Cool, glad you liked it!!! :)
Click to expand...



Yeah the whole song/video was cool.

UAD 1176 plug - now there's the trick.
 
It must be somewhere in the MP3 clinic, before there was a video forum ... can't find it there.
 
Thanks all for the responses so far.

To clear up some confusion: yes, I am recording through a DI box into my Mbox Mini. I'm using a Radial Passive DI Box.

What happens when I record without the DI Box? Unfortunately, the bassist I work with uses three different basses all with bloody active pickups. The results are that even with the input gain set to zero on my Mbox, all input signal will clip. I need the DI box to attenuate this.
 
moresound said:
It must be somewhere in the MP3 clinic, before there was a video forum ... can't find it there.
Click to expand...
It's in my signature.. Some Videos. Walk With Me.

Thanks so much for even remembering it. Funny because today my daughter was asking me to show her the video. (She also wanted to see Michael Jackson's Thriller :facepalm: )
 
Irriducibili said:
Thanks all for the responses so far.

To clear up some confusion: yes, I am recording through a DI box into my Mbox Mini. I'm using a Radial Passive DI Box.

What happens when I record without the DI Box? Unfortunately, the bassist I work with uses three different basses all with bloody active pickups. The results are that even with the input gain set to zero on my Mbox, all input signal will clip. I need the DI box to attenuate this.
Click to expand...

Never played a guitar/bass with active pickups before. Wouldn't know what to do with it. :)

Sorry for hijacking your thread.
 
Chili said:
today my daughter was asking me to show her the video. (She also wanted to see Michael Jackson's Thriller :facepalm: )
Click to expand...
I remember when the "Thriller" video had it's premier on British Tv back in '83. It was a real event. I thought it was crap but my mate Patsy and I stayed up to watch it in a stoned haze. I still crack up at the bit where he says "I'm not like other guys" {I'm laughing now}. That was a hoot.

Irriducibili said:
I'm very unhappy with the results of recording bass guitar via DI and I need some help.
Click to expand...
If you've got a few dollars or pounds or whatever, you could try the Behringer Bass BDI 21. It's actually quite good. I use all kinds of methods, whether DI, miked amp, guitar amp, a combination of both or all, line outs on the amp etc. The BDI 21 has been a welcome addition. I can't see myself ever getting rid of it.
 
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