Smoothing out bass guitar

[jndietz]

I was going to say if all else fails, smash it with compression. I sometimes use an old limiter that was used for an AM radio station, if the VU moves it's already being smashed. It has saved some bass tracks in the past.

Cheers

Alan.

Before I settled on the dynamics processor, I was running a multiband compressor INTO a hardlimiter Talk about smashed

 

[NYMorningstar]

Aren't those two names for the same thing?

G.

Sorry I missed this.

No, they're not quite the same thing. Volume envelopes can be drawn manually or written with automation.

A distinction without a difference? maybe

 

[NYMorningstar]

I recorded a set a few weeks ago with the bass there sometimes, sometimes not. I could picture him in a boat he was fishing so much. The place was too small for much isolation and there was bass bleed in the other instrument mics also so I couldn't just retrack the bass later on. It was a mess so I had to scrap the project.

The other thing I noticed was how it effects the other musicians when the bass player isn't doing his job. In my book, he/she is the only instrumentalist that can't be playing not knowing his stuff without throwing everyone off.

Practice, practice, practice, that's the answer, not more electronics to hide it.

 

[Bguzaldo]

Yeah I've never been crazy about inconsistant players obviously, especially one with a good tone, because the easiest fix involves some what thick compression which could cloud the tone a bit. Sometimes I'll slap some compression onto the track and try to pull out some hi's to attempt to give it character. You can't always "fix it in post" and you shouldn't if time allows you to fix it at the time. But yeah, maybe put on some compression, with a ration around 6:1 and go with a medium release and a modestly fast attack.
I still haven't found an outstanding bass method but that usually helps with the problem bassists.

Hope that helps
-Barrett

 

[357mag]

I just tracked my first bass line in one of my songs. I'm not a bassist either. First thing I noticed upon playback was some notes are louder than others. Some notes will pop out at you. Others don't.

Seems the bass is a very dynamic instrument. Guess I'll have to use a compressor to even things out.

 

[mixsit]

Consider the two extreme ends of playing style, hard/agressive vs soft picking. Playing in the more agressive end tends to more overtones to find the bass within the mix, and also lends to quite a bit of natural compression to boot.
Light playing is fine too (and may be the needed fit for the song) but might be the more problematic of the two in general.
Song fitting style aside, in general you could say much better to have a few hot spots (or a string of them) on a piece played with some amount of athority than one that has what comes off as the double whammy.. both timid/vague and lumpy..
Any day of the week..

 

[mixsit]

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