Recording bass direct.

[B2D]

I'm probably going to be recording bass parts for a demo of my new project early next year and I'd like to know what some good devices are for recording bass direct. I'm a little less knowledgeable about the bass stuff available than I am to it's guitar-related cousins.

I'd like a few effects available, but they are not necessary in the long run. This is going to be used for a hard rock project.

SansAmp? Line 6? The preamp out of an actual bass amp + pedals? What's a good place to start?

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Recording bass direct.

I've actually had pretty good results recording just direct...nothing between the bass and the board except a cord! I've also done quite well with a plain old guitar POD 2.0 and the bass POD is nice and cheep as well...

There are loads of other options out there but those 3 are the easiest and cheepest...

 

[Vetteboy]

Re: Recording bass direct.

A little compressor will go a long way on a bass track as well...helps to even out the attack vs. the sustain and make the track more even overall.

The EQ is going to be the biggest thing. Just make sure it doesn't step all over the bass drum and you'll probably be OK.

 

[B2D]

Re: Recording bass direct.

I've actually had pretty good results recording just direct...nothing between the bass and the board except a cord! I've also done quite well with a plain old guitar POD 2.0 and the bass POD is nice and cheep as well...

There are loads of other options out there but those 3 are the easiest and cheepest...

I've practiced with a bass through my POD 2.0 before... didn't sound half bad. I used to have this ancient TEAC 4-track tape recorder that a friend of mine gave me and I borrowed someone's bass guitar and plugged that into the POD and then into the tape deck, sounded OK except for a little loose "boing-boing" going on in the sound.

A little compressor will go a long way on a bass track as well...helps to even out the attack vs. the sustain and make the track more even overall.

The EQ is going to be the biggest thing. Just make sure it doesn't step all over the bass drum and you'll probably be OK.

Ah yes thanks for reminding me of that. I'm all about proper EQ, so I'll make sure I can do some decent tone shaping with whatever I end up using, which will probably be Russ' P-Bass.

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: Recording bass direct.

The POD X3 includes bass models as well, works for me. I bet a compressor and directly in would work for clean tones quite well.

 

[ginormous]

Re: Recording bass direct.

The cleanest I've found to be bass --> active DI box, with the hi-z out going to a decent amp for monitoring. The XLR out goes to the console, of course. By all means, get a "soft knee" compression to even out the peaks.

Isolating the cab in the studio can be tricky if you're recording a live band; if it's tracking, usually the drums & bass will go first, to lay down a foundation for everyone else. If you're doing a home studio situation with MIDI keyboards, it works for me to have a scratch piano/vocal with a tempo click (hi-hat, snare and kick; nothing complicated).

I don't like to mess with EQ until other instruments and voice are on board. That way, I have a better idea what to scoop and what to boost.

 

[jerryjg]

Re: Recording bass direct.

you'll lose tone.

 

[That90'sGuy]

Re: Recording bass direct.

I do it almost exactly like ginormous. In my case my signal chain goes bass -> Ampeg SVTDI (tube DI box) -> api 3124+ pre (or the stock Apogee pres work well sometimes too based on the tone I'm going for) -> Apogee Ensemble (for conversion). Compression makes the difference with bass for sure. If I want a warmer tone, I generally go for a VCA style compressor or FET, if I'm going more stock/raw it's opto. I've recently fell in love with low pass and high pass EQs (it's allowed me to really create a space for the bass energy to channel though). Afterwards, if I don't like the results, I try to EQ in a small boost to give it a slightly different voicing (or if I want it to stand out in the mix a bit more).

 

[Virtual Kevorkian]

Re: Recording bass direct.

Recorded straight into the interface with a DI, process after-the-fact.

With heavier stuff, I reeeeeally love to track a sansamp with the DI, but if I could only have one, the DI will do just fine. You can always apply grit after the fact, but never remove what's already there!

 

[Kosh Naranek]

Re: Recording bass direct.

I've gotten OK results tracking bass through my Sansamp rack unit.
Surprisingly, I think the Sansamp rack sounds better direct than my Sansamp Bass Driver DI.

But what totally blew the Sansamp gear out of the water is this: When we recorded the bass on my band's new demo, we ran the bass in direct through the hi -Z input of my JoeMeek VC1q channel strip. I used a little of the JoeMeek compressor on it. If you don't have an outboard channel strip like the VC1q, a channel of the most decent sounding mixer you can get your hands on will do. Then in the computer I processed the direct sound with Ampeg SVX bass amp simulator software.

With the Sansamp gear, I often had to do stuff in the mix to keep the bass from sounding too loose on the bottom. The clean signal through the Ampeg SVX plugin sounded tight and full. We also recorded a mic'ed track, but if I had to just go direct, then a clean signal through a direct box or a high Z input on a decent channel strip, and then Ampeg SVX on it is the way I'd go.

 

[these_go211]

Re: Recording bass direct.

i've had great results using a sansamp bddi and a countryman 85 di. i had a hardcore love affair going with the sansamp for awhile. but then i realized the mid scoop it has turned me off (the EQ on the unit is just bass and treble). the countryman is nice and simple: no controls, just plug and play. but the sansamp gets a ton of love. check talkbass.com. it's great if you want to get gritty with the bass sounds. on the flipside, what i love about the countryman is that it is simply the pure unadulterated tone coming straight from your bass. i love the sound of my p-bass so the countryman works great for me.

and as others have mentioned a compressor is nice too. i use a keely 4 knob.

 

[Laughing Kookaburra]

Re: Recording bass direct.

Direct, or a Sansamp worked well for me. However, I have limited experience recording bass.

 

[LesStrat]

Re: Recording bass direct.

Whatever you do, make sure the bass is HUGE.

 

[Johtosotku]

Re: Recording bass direct.

I've actually had pretty good results recording just direct...nothing between the bass and the board except a cord! I've also done quite well with a plain old guitar POD

+1

That said, I'd love to try a Sansamp. I've been looking for a cheap PSA-1 for ages now. Every time one's come up I was short on cash but when I had some they were nowehere to be found.

 

[saladin]

Re: Recording bass direct.

I've gotten great results using a Johnson J-Station, the SVT setting is killer!

 

[J Moose]

Re: Recording bass direct.

For a heavy rock thing I'll take a couple of signals. There's always a "clean" DI right off the bass, printed with compression. I'll also put a mic up on the bass rig, like a 421 or condenser of some sort... generally, whatever mic I use on the kick drum is NOT the one I use on the bass rig. That'll get hit with compression as well. Usually less then the DI, but not always.

The more you compress, the thinner the tone gets. If the release is too fast it can distort and make things even thinner.

With a "rock" thing it's good to get some distortion on the bass... sometimes the bass amp ends up being a Marshall or Boogie head. My old Sound City 120 was KILLER for that stuff. A SansAmp or POD could do the same thing... the important thing is to not go overboard with it.

I try not to reach for EQ while tracking... I'll EQ the amp first, move the mic... that sort of thing until the bass & kick drum fit with each other. I'll also check the phase at every stage. Ideally either sound, the DI or amp will work alone, but get bigger when combined.

If I do end up going for EQ, magic frequencies seem to be cut around 120-300; 800-1k3 can make a bass "speak" and there's generally not much above 4kHz that's worth anything.

Get the best bass you can find & make sure the intonation is dead on. That's the one instrument where if it's off, it'll be more noticeable then any others.

As for effects... they generally get added later rather then printed especially if it's a chorus. If the player has a huge pedal board I might end up taking a few DI's pre & post. Things like octaves & envelope filters are usually printed...

 

[Bezmotivnik]

Re: Recording bass direct.

I've recorded bass direct (and yes, that's the simplest way to do it, bass frequencies being notoriously hard to tame in the studio) numbers of ways, particularly through modelers such as the J-Station (mentioned above), Yamaha Bass Magicstomp, Linn/M-Audio Black Box, etc. For the most part, I have not cared for the line-out option from the amp.

My goal has to been to just get a clean signal in and play with it later in the mix.

This same question recently came up on another forum dedicated to recording, with the added proviso of "cheap," and a user of pretty broad experience in these matters said to get one of these, that it was the best solution for limited budget and a pretty good solution under any circumstances. Out of curiosity more than anything else, I gave it a try.

I've been extremely impressed. It's very similar in function and principle to the SansAmp, but is NOT a copy. I would love it if it were phantom-powered, but you can't have everything for thirty bucks. Sound is great, noise (on mine at least) is very low.

Even bassists who reflexively hate and flame that company's products are impressed with the sound of it.