What % of main stream Metal/Rock recordings have the bass recorded direct?

  • Thread starter Thread starter amra
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amra

amra

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I am just kind of curious what the industry 'standard' is.
Do more big name metal or hard rock productions record bass direct, mic the bass cab, or a combination of the two?



Thanks,
amra
 
i have no idea, but your direct, and the big industries direct are probably two hugely different things.

you do whatever sounds best to you.
 
cello_pudding said:
i have no idea, but your direct, and the big industries direct are probably two hugely different things.
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I can't see why this would be true. There are fewer variables with DI than with miking an amp. It's not rocket science.
 
AGCurry said:
I can't see why this would be true. There are fewer variables with DI than with miking an amp. It's not rocket science.
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When it comes to Bass DI, there a lot of different options. That's the difference (that, and everything else in the signal chain).

It is a very common practice to just take the bass direct, but can't speak specifically for metal, and I would assume it depends on the style of music and the player, and the particular song.

Not all DIs are created equal.
 
Can't beat an SM57 dead center on a 15 inch JBL or Jensen.
 
To be more specific, I know which method I personally use - but I was really wondering what method we are hearing most often on maintream metal or rock albums. Mainstream stuff like Ozzy, Metallica, Pantera, or even modern rock stuff like Godsmack.

Just wondering if anyone has a feel for what method is most often used on this type of music.
 
amra said:
... I was really wondering what method we are hearing most often on maintream metal or rock albums. Mainstream stuff like Ozzy, Metallica, Pantera...
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Well, the bass is mixed so low on most of those records that it probably doesn't matter. I popped in "Vulgar Display..." the other day and can't believe how thin it sounds in the bottom end. ;)
 
For all of the mainstream commercial releases, I would say that probably 98% them have both DI's and mics. The real question that I wonder is how much of each makes it to mixdown;)
 
I don't think anyone can answer this question unless you are present for every single session. It would be like asking what % of mainstream recordings use a U87 on vocals. Sure you might be able to tell on home recordings when a DI is used, but in the mainstream production conscience community, you won't be able to guess what was used.
 
RAK said:
Here's what I was looking for before. This is what we use for Bass in the studio I frequent as an engineer.

http://www.avalondesign.com/instrudi.html

Just like Mics, DIs can come in many different varieties: active, passive, tube.
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exactly. plugging direct into an avalon is going to be veeeery different than plugging direct to a behringer mixer. not saying that's what you use, but there's a huuuuuge difference
 
I can only satisfy myself using both methods (DI and mic'ing). I like the D.I. for attack and the micing for the boomy low freq. For some hard rock or metal i would imagine you would need both if you want the bass track to come through strong.

In a band like Slayer and many others I can barely even tell there is a bass guitar in the mix.

So i believe the reason for the method you use for recording bass guitar could be compaired to choosing a strat over a LP. It's a preference. The band or artist will probably decide to DI or Mic or both. Or the band or artist may not be givin a choice in the matter from the recording engineer.
 
Ironically - because I am primarily a bass player and have been doing it for 35 years - I worry less about recording bass than any other instrument.

If the bass is FEATURED in a song, or if I'm recording jazz or something where you can actually enjoy the nuanced SOUND of the bass, then I might try all kinds of stuff. But for metal? Why bother?

I've taken it direct, miked amps in different ways, you name it. It really doesn't make that much difference in the final product. And no, I don't think it makes a huuuuuge difference what DI box you use, compared with the skill of the player, the strings, the instrument, and the tone settings. It might make a liiiiitle difference.
 
Its certainly true that without being there, we will never really know the answer. However... of all of the big name engineers and producers I have met, they ALL use BOTH. Come mixdown, each individual song decides whether or not the DI or mic tracks get used and how much if any of each get used. If the question was which method is used in a mix than I could not feel very good tossing any kind of number out there. However, the question was how was it recorded.... Since most mainstream releases are recorded in pretty decent studios, there are always a lot of options available to the players. Most enginners and producers tend to take advantage of those options to leave themself some room further along in the project.
 
i'd say it depends on the song/band/etc...

but i'd say that if you truly want a pumping, in-your-face bass sound(think rage against the machine), it'd be well worth your effort to mic a cab along with taking a DI track
 
That's the nice thing about a DI - you can get a world class one for a few hundred dollars and (in that one narrow area) be the equal to a world class studio!
 
I was really just trying to get a feel for what technique is used most often in pro studios, of course I was not looking for, or expecting an exact "%". I just used the % sign to save some space in the subject line.

Thanks to all who took the time to share some knowledge, and reply to my post...
 
I do notice on a lot of metal and/or hard rock albums that the bass, when heard, has a nice distorted tone. Now I'm no bass player but I'm guessing something like that would come from miking and overdriven amplifier. Or it could be something like a Sans Amp. I am guessing these would be used a lot as some others have mentioned, a good amount of metal albums seem to be weak in the low end department. So my guess would be a little bit of both.
 
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