ericmeyer4
New member
I found this in an old magazine I had. I thought a few people would be interested in it. 
Bass Gear: March 9, 2004
For every bass performance of Rush's latest Atlantic CD, Vapor Trails, Geddy recorded three audio tracks: One direct through an Avalon U5 preamp/DI, one from the U5 through a Palmer speaker simulator for low-end distortion ("It's more controllable than actually miking a speaker cabinent"), and one from the U5 through a Tech 21 SansAmp RBI, the rackmount version of the SansAmp Bass Driver. Before being recorded, each track goes through a vintage Neve preamp/EQ and a Urei 1176 compressor. "When I mix I have those three variables to play around with. It gives me ultimate flexibility to reshape my bass sound if I want to. Also, [mixing engineer] David Leonard always runs my bass signals back through another compression stage that affects only the very low end, with the compressed low end coming up on a sperate rail [mixingchannel]- so if he wants to add a bit of extra bottom to the mix, he can. That's a good technique, because sometimes a track sounds great but isn't tickling your bottom enough."
Geddy also used a similar three-channel direct system for Rush's most recent 50-date tour. "I had some cabinets onstage just for fills, but really there were no amps to speak of."
Bass Gear: March 9, 2004
For every bass performance of Rush's latest Atlantic CD, Vapor Trails, Geddy recorded three audio tracks: One direct through an Avalon U5 preamp/DI, one from the U5 through a Palmer speaker simulator for low-end distortion ("It's more controllable than actually miking a speaker cabinent"), and one from the U5 through a Tech 21 SansAmp RBI, the rackmount version of the SansAmp Bass Driver. Before being recorded, each track goes through a vintage Neve preamp/EQ and a Urei 1176 compressor. "When I mix I have those three variables to play around with. It gives me ultimate flexibility to reshape my bass sound if I want to. Also, [mixing engineer] David Leonard always runs my bass signals back through another compression stage that affects only the very low end, with the compressed low end coming up on a sperate rail [mixingchannel]- so if he wants to add a bit of extra bottom to the mix, he can. That's a good technique, because sometimes a track sounds great but isn't tickling your bottom enough."
Geddy also used a similar three-channel direct system for Rush's most recent 50-date tour. "I had some cabinets onstage just for fills, but really there were no amps to speak of."
