Bass guitar comp / strings hitting frets
 

Hope someone can help. I've had a heavy metal band in recording a track. They play in drop B. The track has some fast bass playing in but when he plays you can hear the sound of strings hitting the frets. What's the best way to cure this I've tried a bit of eq but it's still there.

Now compressors? I like that smooth sustained bass sound what do people recommend compressor wise. You can see my sig as to what plugs I have, any help would be much appreciated

Cheers

Re: Bass guitar comp / strings hitting frets
 

Maybe you could try a multiband compressor to turn down the highs above 1-2k then compress and gain up the lows to get a smoother sound? Not sure if it'll work..

I was mixing a song like this recently where the bassist was only in drop D but played with a pick and strummed it like a guitar... but a wide cut around 2k fixed the fret rattle in this case.

Recut the track... ;-)
Edit sections/notes
A deesser

Re: Bass guitar comp / strings hitting frets
 

You've got several potential problem areas there :

1. Dropping the tuning that low is going to make the E string rattle like a wire fence.

Try a B string from a 5 string set, or use a 5 string bass (and that's coming from someone who despises 5 string bases - they should be 4 string fretted [or 2 string slide if you're Mark Sandman R.I.P.]).

2. If the bassist has poor lefthand technique and is also attacking the strings too hard with his righthand, the drop tuning is going to exacerbate the fret buzz.

Check their technique in standard tuning.

3. In order to play fast, the bassist may have the action set very low on the instrument. The drop tuning will again make matters worse, as not only is the string under less tension, and more prone to rattling, but the neck is under less tension which lowers the action further.

Raise the action on the neck, and if needs be, prepare to spend a while balancing the action between the neck and the bridge to reduce the buzz and still leave the instrument comfortable for the bassist.

You can't really have a smooth sustained sound if the bassist is playing a million notes a second in a fast tempo song - you'd need a slower tempo and room for the notes to breathe.

You'll probably have to set a fast release, and go for almost a hard limiting sound to tame the bass.

Alternatively you could flatten the sound with a longer release that never lets the compressor fully recover - that would be more "smooth" but not very punchy.

The fret sound can help articulation, but I assume you're having a problem with it getting in the way of the actual sound of the notes, rather than trying to eliminate it completely, which isn't really how a fretted instrument ought to sound (in my mind at least).

Re: Bass guitar comp / strings hitting frets
 

Fast attack on a compressor will help as will eq. I would eq first then add the compressor at a fairly high ratio. Recutting the track probably won't help as the player will likely do exactly the same thing, there are plenty of successful tracks out there where the bass has a "clanky" sound.

Re-amping through something like eleven could also help. As far as a smooth sustained sound, as pointed out above, with a million notes an hour this isn't going to happen.

Try your SSL 4000 strip with the channel compressor set to fast attack, that really grabs the front end.

Re: Bass guitar comp / strings hitting frets
 

Cheers guys I'm gonna try these suggestions tomorrow when I'm back in the studio

Re: Bass guitar comp / strings hitting frets
 

Here is one that helped me: use a de esser on the bass. This comes from waves and using their de esser and listening to the buzz thru the de esser key you will have no issues dialing the fret buzz and removing it. Worked great on a dropped d tune I worked on



-SteveB.

Actually this is called frequency-dependent dynamics processing...

Cheers!

:-)