vocal and bass not up to par with rest

[distortedrumble]

I'm using a behringer ub802 mixer and running a fender squire bass directly into it it (no di box or anything) and i use an audio technica cardiod mic for vocals....neither seem to be up to par with the sound that i get from my guitar (fender squire strat) going through a Boss GT-6 and fruity loops for drums. by up to par i mean the clarity should i use some sort of bass preamp? and on vocals I'm thinking some kind of vocal preamp and effects instead of the effects used in sonar 2.0 xl....which i think are pretty good anyway. give me some ideas please

 

[Cyrokk]

I had the same problems once: the bass had no clarity when I went straight to the board, and the vocals on my Audio Tech mic sounded whiny.

For bass, you will want to get a DI box, preamp, or an amp modeller. I've been most happy using a Zoom 506II bass pedal into an ART tube preamp straight into the recorder.

Vocals often require a condensor mic, which will need phantom power from a mic preamp. A condensor will give you a much clearer vocal sound.

Cy

 

[distortedrumble]

good call

ok i was wondering about the DI box for that but for vocals i dont really need any of the processors or that stuff? just a condensor mic? also the mixer i have does have phantom power on it so I'm ok there

 

[Cyrokk]

Yep, just a condensor mic. An inexpensive but good quality condensor is the Marshall 603s. Works wonders for acoustic guitar and vocals.

You should strive to get the vocal sound you want with no processing whatsoever. Experiment with mic placement and room acoustics if necessary (and if you haven't yet, I strongly encourage you to read the massive microphone thread from Harvey Gerst in the microphone forum. It will give you a good indication of how a condensor picks up sound and how to make best use of it). If you are recording through your mixer, keep the eqs at zero. Save the processing for after you have recorded the track, otherwise you may have a perfect take that you discover later has too much eq, compression, or reverb.

Cy

 

[vox]

When you plug a passive bass or guitar straight into a mixer's line inputs you can end up with an impedence mismatch which results in a lot of high frequencies getting rolled off, try plugging into a DI or even the guitar processor set to bypass.