Recording bass with equipment limitations.

[NathanPonzar]

Hello everyone.

I am just wanting to get some opinions from you all as regards a little recording project I am doing. As the title suggests, I am looking for the best bass recording technique with limited gear.

I will be recording a standard Fender Jazz bass for my music which is probably best described as "folkish-indyish-rock." Those of you familiar with the music of Elliott Smith and Mark Kozelek (of Sun Kil Moon, and Red House Painters) will benefit from knowing that my music is influenced largely by those artists and my recording technique is influenced largely by that of Smith (doubled vocals, tracking all instruments as I do most of them myself).

Anyways, the amp I am using is a Fender Solid State head (M-80 I believe) run through a Peavey 15" Speaker Cabinet (sounds like ass a lot of times, crackles a lot... and not in the warm vintage crackly speaker way, more in the "built 5 years ago and sounds like ass, likely due to misuse or neglect by previous owner..."

Anyways, am I best going straight from head to interface (no micing)? I have a presonus bluetube stereo pre and an alesis 3630 stereo compressor. Last time I recorded bass I went straight from bass--->bluetube--->3630 because I had no other equipment or funds at the time. It turned out "okay" but definitely lacked "grunt." I have heard that recording both by miked cab and line in is often best.

Should I try to find a cabinet to borrow (I really don't want to use the 15", too muddy, deep, and undefined for my style of music)? A 1/2 12"/10" cab? Also, I don't have a "bass mic" like a kick drum mic. I have an audix i5 (much like the sm57), a behringer b-2 pro (large diaphragm condenser) and 2 behr c-2s). Could I get a decent miked sound with any of these?

Also, if I use the Fender M-80, should I go straight from Head to interface, or will I benefit from going through the bluetube pre and 3630 compressor?

Thanks,

Nathan

 

[rayc]

For the best result you should split a signal & send one line to a DI then into your recorder (the Behri BDI21 is really good despite all the put downs) and the other to your amp then cab which you mic & send that mic'd signal to a preamp & into your recorder.
You will then have two tracks to blend for tone, definition, grunt etc etc.
You do need a decent cab that doesn't give you grief - borrow, rent, buy!
Mic placement will be the biggest issue for the cab run. You should do some research around here on that aspect.
For my purposes I run a split into a BDI21 then into my comp & the other bass into marsall superbass through a cubetube attenuator & into a massive etone speaker which I mic with whichever I prefer that day then into my bluetube pre & into the comp.
I then blend to best suit the mix.
IF I have a busy mix with cellos etc I'll just do the BDI as I'll need all the definition I can get.

 

[Jim Lad]

The Nady RSM5 or RSM4 is an affordable Ribbon Microphone and either will do a nice job of recording coupled with Ray C's suggestion.

 

[vijsolo]

Do you have your room treated?

If no, i don't think you will get good results recording bass speaker with a mic, nomatter how good the mic is. Direct recording will provide a better result. IMHO of course.

Cheerz!

 

[Armistice]

Depending upon how important the bass sound is to the overall project (and I rarely listen to Elliot Smith and think "Man, that's a sweet sounding bass!" if you get my drift...) you may find you get perfectly good results from just DI-ing the bass.

I've never tried to mic a bass, because (a) I don't have a bass amp and (b) bass isn't intrinsic to what I do.

The suggestion to split and mic/DI is good though.. you might find a touch of your "sounds like ass" amp added to the DI channel gives it a more "real" tone.

Good luck.. the world needs a new Elliot. Maybe that will be you? Stay away from the cutlery drawer though...

 

[xxl]

plug that sucker bass into a fast track pro, hit "R" and you're done!

 

[darrin_h2000]

Should I try to find a cabinet to borrow (I really don't want to use the 15", too muddy, deep, and undefined for my style of music)? A 1/2 12"/10" cab? Also, I don't have a "bass mic" like a kick drum mic. I have an audix i5 (much like the sm57), a behringer b-2 pro (large diaphragm condenser) and 2 behr c-2s). Could I get a decent miked sound with any of these?

Also, if I use the Fender M-80, should I go straight from Head to interface, or will I benefit from going through the bluetube pre and 3630 compressor?

Thanks,

Nathan

Allmost all the time Bass is done direct in...Tech21 has great stuff...but if you cannot afford that Behringer has copies for around $20 ea.

 

[kcearl]

yup a good DI unit would get my vote..Im no bassist but i use one Korg toneworks and I like the tone, most of the time..its a few years old but that makes it a little cheaper

ive used the Behringer copy..a V tone I think its called...great for 20 odd bucks

 

[darrin_h2000]

I have the KORG toneworks AX1B and its got some decent tones.

 

[kcearl]

yup, same one...its pretty adjustable too

 

[darrin_h2000]

It actually fun to use with all sorts of instruments...there is a liquid setting that I love to use with my electric dulcimer.

 

[kcearl]

funny you say that...i was lovin the tone EZ was getting from a bass through a guitar pod..I think folks get a little too restricted sometimes, at the end of the day if it sounds good..it generally is good

 

[cavedog101]

A nifty little 'instant bass ' box is the Hartke Bass Attack pedal. Runs on batteries,wall wort or phantom power. Use it as an DI or use the EQ settings. Either way its a clean clear way to get some life and depth into a morbid bass track. Usually found for under $70 at most online retailers. I have several options for bass and use this one as much as any of the more expensive ones.

 

[grimtraveller]

I have several options for bass and use this one as much as any of the more expensive ones.

For future reference Nathan, I think this is the key here. I know it can be a pain in the patootie to experiment with different options and having a variety of bass sounds can be a slog when it comes to mixdown, but I think the result justifies the means. As KCearl points out, ez underscore gets a frighteningly good tone using a guitar pod. There's plenty ways to skin that particular cat. Sometimes I'll DI, sometimes mic, sometimes line out, sometimes a combo of all three. I've used a guitar amp, used 2 amps simultaneously, used a guitar wah-wah/flanger/chorus with the bass, to name but a few. With mixed results, yeah, but it helps keep things fresh, especially if you're playing a more folksy rock sound, where some of the bass tones can really be heard.........

 

[TexRoadkill]

Unless you want something really different, 90% of the time you will get your best bass sound through a direct signal. I would plug directly into the Blue Tube and try that. If you are convinced you need to mic the cab then record the direct signal and the cab mic.

Just remember to mute the amp mic during mixdown.

 

[Whale Bone]

I agree that you can make the DI work quite well. For some reason I've been under the impression that Elliott Smith's bass was DI a lot - however he did it, I like it alot. Probably a combination of his note choice and sound is what I love about it ultimately.

I've had good luck with a dbx 386 with a medium amount of drive. I've also used a bluetube pre in a particular live setting with a bit of drive that warmed up my sound for a shrill house mix.

Regarding the Jazz bass, I really like the neck pickup soloed for a bit more of a mid-range thickness that my old Ampeg's always gave. That with the tone rolled off a bit, gave me a little edge that's still thick enough to sound like solid, focused, fundamental bass. Both pickups scoops the mid, making it sound a little thin and sterile, I think.

 

[BIGSHAQDADDY]

You can go directly into a track and mike up one of your monitors, and record the monitor onto another track (to move some air and get some room sound) when you record direct. Theres usually latency issues but if you are using a DAW then just zoom in and match the waveforms from the miked up monitor with waveforms from the DI track.

 

[ObiAudio.com]

Personally I would record the bass direct and then use some freeware amp sims and free impulses to see if I can find I tone I would like. I use Ampeg SVX which is really sweet and I wrote a review for it on my website Obiaudio.com. I always record my bass direct and use that plug in. Its great!