mic for upright bass?
 

Every time I record my upright I end up adding EQ? Those of you who have recorded much string bass, what are you using?

Re: mic for upright bass?
 

3 mics that I find work well are:

1. SM7
2. RE-20
3. KM-84

Try positioning by an "f" hole.
Good luck.

Re: mic for upright bass?
 

I've used a Sennheiser 421 with good results. I've also combined it with a Large Diaphram Condenser mic as well, like a 414 or my 460 Tube mic with good reslts too.

Re: mic for upright bass?
 

I hear that the high end Earthworks are the way to go for upright bass....

Try the LD TLM-103, and SD oktava 012 combo if you can.... Get that pencil mic close to the bridge pointing right at the wood a few inches away an point the 103 at the opening to get the sound.

- Doc

Re: mic for upright bass?
 

FYI...having mic'd the bass both near the f-hole and in front of the bridge, putting the mic by the f-hole gives you a ton of unuseable low end sludge, and no attack.

And, I should have said, thanks for the replies!

Re: mic for upright bass?
 

Just trying to help... Maybe Chris Cavell could add to this seeing he does a lot of Jazz stuff...

- Doc

Re: mic for upright bass?
 

I know this probably dosen't help much but TLM 193s are just lovely on bass.

Re: mic for upright bass?
 

Any good condenser mic could work, just put it right infront of the bass by the "bridge" (a little higher) and play with the distance untill all the strings sound even. You need a really quiet room because you are gonna gave to crank up the signal alittle bit.

JOz

Re: mic for upright bass?
 

Hey guys... They only music I've ever recorded is bluegrass, and always an upright bass... Here's what I do, and everybody that hears it loves the sound... The bass player for our band has always been very pleased with it...

I put one Rode NT5 about 8 inches ABOVE the treble F hole and away from the bass about 12 inches...
You can, I usually do, add a second mic behind the bass at the location where the sound post meets the back. If you do this, you'll have to invert the phase on that mic.

I have tried to use no EQ, but have never found a way to do it, so here's what I do with the EQ...
I cut the bass a little in the 250Hz range, and pretty hard in the 400Hz range. I add a little to it in the 1500Hz range to give it some attack...

I'll try to post sound samples somewhere later today or tomorrow for you to hear, but try this setup and see if it works for you.

Re: mic for upright bass?
 

I have also recorded a number of bluegrass albums, and believe it or not, I have gotten great results using what the bass players often use on stage, and SM-58 (because of the bigger windscreen) placed inside the bridge by surrounding it with foam rubber.

Don't knock it until you try it, you get the pluck of the fingers, not to much bass (because you are away from the f-holes), and a nice clear tone because you are at the end of the string (where you get higher harmonic frequencies) instead of in the middle where you have maximum low freq vibration.

But the original poster also said "string bass" which makes me wonder what kind of music it is. For a bowed string bass, I like an RE-20.