Recording bass with direct inputs on a good preamp?

[LazerBeakShiek]

If that was a factor

I set the rack units to +4 line .

 

[ecc83]

I set the rack units to +4 line .

?? Rob's comment was that devices that normally expect 'instrument level (whatever TF that IS!) MIGHT not react the same as for _4dBu. If of course the device can be set to +4, not a problem. There is still the point that the output of a passive guitar or bass is not Ohmic whereas an AI line out will be. Not, IMHO that it will really make much difference.

Dave.

 

[LazerBeakShiek]

Yeah +4 has the higher db ceiling. The hardware that cannot handle +4 db , get switched to the -10 level. That is kind of like a mute switch or pad feature.. I want the big ceiling and feed it some gain ...

Going to a tube guitar amp off a line mixer, it would be proper to step down, back to -10.

The 3 common input levels are Mic, Instrument, and line.. Microphone is less than instrument. Instrument is less than line.

 

[cfg]

If I go straight in the interface, from a DI off the preamp, it sounds like this.. CAE 3+ straight off the output. GK MBE straight from the DI.


No EQing. No mixing really..Thumpy bass, no good bottom. ...bad..

Cool mic. Can you tell the story behind it?

 

[LazerBeakShiek]

Its the picture from the EZDrummer Expansion I was using. However, the drum track to that jam I did is defeated. So it's just a picture..

The old style phone receiver can be wired to an XLR. It has an interesting response curve. They have them on eBay search telephone microphone.

 

[ecc83]

Note, an old telephone microphone is a Carbon Granual device and needs a LV bias supply. They are very sensitive but have high noise and distortion. That picture I am sure has the XLR wired to the EAR piece which, IIRC has an impedance of 600 Ohms and should deliver a healthy signal albeit not much bass.

The other 'alternative microphone' is of course any gash speaker chassis you might have around.

Dave.

 

[LazerBeakShiek]

Those that use a HPF LPF filter set to narrow the source, sound fake. Using a real telephone receiver, you get the authentic effect.

 

[rob aylestone]

The telephone effect is now simply memory. They've not sounded like the memory we have for a very long time. If you use a real telephone now, it has an electret microphone and a wideband earpiece driver. EQ is the only simulation that we have now. You'd need to find an old phone from the 80s/90s or earlier to get that old fashioned sound, and of course you only have the replay eq characteristic, not the old send 'sound'.

 

[Farview]

Thanks for all the replies. So, if I'm interpreting the bulk of answers correctly, there's generally some processing going on after the track is recorded.

The reason there are so many answers is that there is no single "perfect base sound". A passive P bass plugged into an interface sounds nothing like an active Spector plugged into the same interface.

James Jamerson and Lemmy both have iconic bass sounds, but they aren't interchangeable.

The only rule is to do whatever you need to in order to get the sound that serves the song. There is no right or wrong way to do it, you just have to use the tools available to you to get the result you want.

 

[LazerBeakShiek]

Note, an old telephone microphone is a Carbon Granual device and needs a LV bias supply

Phone supply was what 5 volts. Isn't the USB supply 5 volts. Come up with your own version of phantom power for it and Wahla...

 

[Farview]

Phone supply is 48 volts in the US. It's different in other places.

 

[LazerBeakShiek]

Wouldn't you want the Off hook voltage? Cause you pick it up it drops to 4-6 volts. That would be operating current..the off hook range.

Conveniently, phantom power is 48V
Conveniently, USB is 5V

Something should be workable in that problem set.

 

[ecc83]

Wouldn't you want the Off hook voltage? Cause you pick it up it drops to 4-6 volts. That would be operating current..the off hook range.

View attachment 113537


Conveniently, phantom power is 48V
Conveniently, USB is 5V

Something should be workable in that problem set.

Phantom power won't deliver anything like 20mA . You could use a bootstrap converter to get~ 10V at sufficient current but a lot easier to use a PP3! After that it is just a load resistor, a DC isolating cap and a 1:1 transformer, both cheap as chips.

Dave.