Recording a good bass sound

[Reckless Abandon]

First off little to no money will be spent.
When I record with the group of guys I play with (we use cake walk) I can never seem to record the bass well. It is either to hard to hear or lacks "power." My bass player has an Ampeg amp with a 5 selection switch that alters the tone. He has a g&l bass. How do you all record good bass sounds?

 

[GuitarStv]

Re: Recording a good bass sound

Close mic the cab and take a DI at the same time. You can try blending these sounds to get a good bass sound. Definitely go light on the reverb unless you want a really muddy sounding bass . . .

 

[Reckless Abandon]

Re: Recording a good bass sound

Any Eq advise? Compression?
thanks

 

[muttonchopsrule]

Re: Recording a good bass sound

make sure the bass has fresh strings. and a fresh battery if it's active.

i've found that when it comes to recording bass, you have to have a bass that sounds good to begin with in order to get the best results. if the bass sounds like crap, there really isn't anything you can do to it after it's been recorded to make it come out great.

 

[Reckless Abandon]

Re: Recording a good bass sound

Well it is a G&L, nice bass.

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: Recording a good bass sound

DI is usually all you need IMO. GuitarStv's idea to blend DI and close-mic'd cab is good as well - just make sure your mic can handle the whole frequency range and isn't too sensitive.

For effects, I usually just do moderate compression and some mild EQing. Tweak away on those and you'll find a sweet tone somewhere. If your bass player records a good take and you get good levels from it, that's probably all you'll want to do. With few exceptions, reverb on bass sounds like butt. Unless you're going for something wacky, keep the effects on the bass to an absolute minimum.

 

[innerdreamrecords.co]

Re: Recording a good bass sound

Compress, eg with a low cut below 50hz, and if you like a little chorus or delay but no reverb for the most part unlees you're doing electronica where there are no rules. Well there are no rules but stay away from reverb.

 

[ginormous]

Re: Recording a good bass sound

...if the bass sounds like crap, there really isn't anything you can do to it after it's been recorded to make it come out great.

+1, bro.

Get a good direct box, also. The cheap ones skimp on capacitance in the power section, which really takes the presence and transient response off the sound.

I wouldn't mess with reverb on the bass at all. Get it down as clean as you can. Compress slightly while tracking, to diminish distortion, but not so tight it chokes everything up. Please don't use a battery powered compression pedal -- way too noisy.

You might need to adjust the time difference between the miked cabinet and the direct, because there is a very slight delay on the mike sound, and it comes out as a phase cancellation. I've heard it -- bumping the direct back about half-a-millisecond can tighten up the overall sound, and actually give you more bottom end. If you've got enough tracks, try that out in the mix and see for yourself.

 

[ginormous]

Re: Recording a good bass sound

If it's an Ampeg SA-series (solid state), with headphone and direct outs, give it a little love on the low side and scoop the mid. Good slap tone.

 

[kevlar3000]

Re: Recording a good bass sound

I use a POD ( guitar version) drive the gain and compress with the POD compression. Get great sounds, with the perfect amount of old school sleaze. Really happy with how well it works with the bass.

 

[kmcguitars]

Re: Recording a good bass sound

I have a G&L L-1000. The PuP in that bass is super ballsy and very dynamic. Compression and Limiting is vital to getting good Bass recorded. I use a Alesis nano comp. Sometimes direct or into my guitar port. Here is a sample of my G&L >Nano Comp> Guitarport.http://www.soundclick.com/util/getplayer.m3u?id=4162599&q=hi

 

[Reckless Abandon]

Re: Recording a good bass sound

Thanks for everyone's help. I will try a few of these things. My only good mic is an sm57 so I may not be able to to the micing thing.
His amp is a BA 112. We usually use the line out from it.

 

[CGord]

Re: Recording a good bass sound

Using the GuitarPort, I have 3 tones that I typically use. One is clear with lots of highs, going for the piano sound, one is gritty (& based on Line6's "Tom Sawyer" setting) & one is for huge lava bass w/no articulation. With the first two, I find myself cutting the lows & boosting the mids a lot in post-eq, & the bowel movement one, I just turn the level down so it doesn't drown out everything else.

I suppose this doesn't really help you, though...sorry...

 

[ex-250]

Re: Recording a good bass sound

I use a POD ( guitar version) drive the gain and compress with the POD compression. Get great sounds, with the perfect amount of old school sleaze. Really happy with how well it works with the bass.

is it an XT? i downloaded the bass model pack, and i just cant find anything that really works for me

 

[Virtual Kevorkian]

Re: Recording a good bass sound

Try the bass overdrive with the ampeg head and 8x10, condenser on axis.


I usually just go DI and apply Ampeg SVX plugin afterwards.

 

[muttonchopsrule]

Re: Recording a good bass sound

Thanks for everyone's help. I will try a few of these things. My only good mic is an sm57 so I may not be able to to the micing thing.
His amp is a BA 112. We usually use the line out from it.

throw the 57 on there anyways if you have enough inputs. sometimes on bass, if you place an SM57 right near the center of the speaker to catch all that nasty icky high frequency stuff that we generally tend to hate, and blend that in ever so slightly with the signal from another main mic or DI, it can add alot of string slaps/pops and other high frequency stuff that you normally can'y get with just EQ.

 

[Rowan]

Re: Recording a good bass sound

buy GK 8X10 cab + one 15" and a very big head

 

[Imp]

Re: Recording a good bass sound

i have a g+l L2000 - plugged it straight in with both pickups on, single coil operation and active (no treb boost).. sounded freakin' sweet as it was!

i used flatwound strings though.. G+Ls kick ass at recording straight in! just get the levels right and try different amounts of compression - check out preset EQ's for bass guitar as well.. i don't pay much attention because i like what i hear!

 

[CGord]

Re: Recording a good bass sound

is it an XT? i downloaded the bass model pack, and i just cant find anything that really works for me

The Tom Sawyer model is a cool starting point, so is the Adam & Eve.

 

[ginormous]

Re: Recording a good bass sound

The Ampeg BA-112 has built-in compression, so if you crank the volume knob on the bass, it squashes things somewhat. If you need a punchier midrange sound, go for position #4 on the varitone/selection knob, and back off the bass volume to about 7 or so.

It's a good amp for tracking or practice, but you'll need to go in the monitor headphones for everyone to hear you. Trust my experience: I've had one for a while.