Getting bass to standout

[BradLyons]

Personally I refuse to mike the cabinet-----it takes away the real sound of the bass. RECORD THE BASS GUITAR MAN, RECORD THE BASS GUITAR!

[Kris75]

Overtones.

Between 100Hz and 200Hz there are overtones. How you deal with them will change your sound dramatically.
The best way is to have the player play the proper bass, for the proper arrangement, with the proper song, with the proper technique.

For instance, if your bass player plays a Fender Jazz, there are certain positions that will exaggerate overtones more than others. If the player does not know this, inform them when they are tracking, don't try and fix it in the mix.

If there is nothing you can do, this plug in will change your life

http://www.brainworx-music.de/en/plu...x_dyneq_bundle

Seriously though, fix it while you are tracking. It is by far the best sounding method.

[jAZZbASS01]

As a bass player of many years/rigs/gigs/disciplines and more recently a studio engineer/masterer/newbie blah blah, before you get to the questions/theories of eq and compression, can I be cheeky (no offence meant) but just how solid is the bass playing. Is the player playing evenly, is the actual sound of his bass (pre eq) giving you either too much or not enough colour.... I have found that most of the best bas tracks I have ever recorded have come straight from my bass into the mbox, and I have added little or nothing to it, than a bit of rolloff and a minimal amount of eq tweaking. With the best intentions in the world, a crap bass, or a crap bassist is not going to be fixable without a lot of work and possibly melodyne editor with dns

[1ace1]

Just been listening to an old recording of a bass. I had mic'ed the cab and taken a DI. As usual the DI signal was much better to mix.

I ran it through an old Vitaliser! Great fun. Big greedy accross the band width but fattened it right up.

A:)

[daeron80]

Originally Posted by barters81

IThe proximity effect on certain notes was far more pronounced than on others giving me that sound you describe of some low notes booming out.

Room modes. Big problem in small rooms. But if you're aware of it while getting sounds up, you can move the cabinet around until you find a place where the room modes compliment the song. But like Brad said, DI is practically always better. Although there are times where the amp is part of bassist's sound, as with Chris Squire or some of Metallica's bassists. Then you just have to have a decent sized room that meets the Bonello criterion and/or fits in Bolt's chart or otherwise has a relatively smooth low end. Otherwise, it will be a mess.

[Doug Ring]

Originally Posted by BradLyons

Personally I refuse to mike the cabinet-----it takes away the real sound of the bass. RECORD THE BASS GUITAR MAN, RECORD THE BASS GUITAR!

Well... as a bass player myself I have to say that I regard the amp and cab as part of my sound. There's not much "real bass sound" trying to play live without them

When I record I usually just mike the cab, but last time out I tried the line out from my new Ampeg head. Well, when it came to mixing, pretty soon I was reaching for an amp/cab simulator... thanks to whoever gave the heads up on the Line 6 Pod free download!

A bass needs to move air and I've never found a DI sound that gives that feeling. I also think the thump from a cab sits better with a kick drum to give drive to a recording.

Your mileage may vary, of course...

[jAZZbASS01]

Obviously when I was taking about the bass sound I meant as an electronic item, not just as a piece of wood unplugged, although I would (wood) maintain that a really well made bass will sound "right" even unplugged .....to the trained ear. It's easy to eq a good bass properly so that its fat, tight, punchy or smooth, warm, silky, for fingerstyle, or pick/plectrum (ugh !!) or slap. "Moving air" in the final mix is attainable with or without a cab/ mike. I have plenty here I never use. If the bass and player are right the minimum will be required to get a great sound. Maybe "over-engineering is the probem sometimes, been guilty of that myself. Plugging a good bass in, if the electronics are up to standard will only enhance it's naturally good sound, more so if it's active. I agree that "live" your rig/head/cab whatever will make a profound difference and is where a great sound is heard, but if the bass or the bassist is sh*t then with the best gear in the world it is not going to sound any good. I have been fortunate to be endorsed by both David Eden and Markbass, and have had all sorts of gear through my hands, one bass that stands out in the recording is my trusty Trace Elliot limited edition 5 string T Bass, but "live" I use a TRB6P11 and/or a Schack custom built 6 string fretless. Of course all this is subjective, it's not so much about wrong or right but about what suits the individuals requirements/the job/the mix etc.... can anyone answer my question about disc burning which was incorrectly placed in the for sale and wanted page ?

[nst7]

From lots of articles I've read about artists' recording techniques, going direct only is very popular for most styles of music. It seems like the main style that still combines direct recording with amp micing is hard rock. That may be because the sound of an mic'd amp has a certain attitude and punch needed to cut through the massive wall of distortion guitars. They still usually record direct to a separate track and blend as desired during mixing. But for pop, country, etc. direct seems to rule.

Of course it helps to have a high quality direct box. The Avalon U5 is hugely popular but it's almost $600. Radials are also popular, and when the DI goes into the preamp it helps to have a high quality preamp.

[BradLyons]

Originally Posted by Doug Ring

Well... as a bass player myself I have to say that I regard the amp and cab as part of my sound. There's not much "real bass sound" trying to play live without them

When I record I usually just mike the cab, but last time out I tried the line out from my new Ampeg head. Well, when it came to mixing, pretty soon I was reaching for an amp/cab simulator... thanks to whoever gave the heads up on the Line 6 Pod free download!

A bass needs to move air and I've never found a DI sound that gives that feeling. I also think the thump from a cab sits better with a kick drum to give drive to a recording.

Your mileage may vary, of course...

For live, OF COURSE! BUT as an engineer I think that bass players should just play their axe and shut the heck up! Seriously though----from an engineer's point of view just the raw bass is all we want. I don't want chorus or delay or any of that stuff. I want a warm, rich tone---but not over-saturated. I want a tone that I can EQ into the mix how I need it, not so heavily compressed and over-EQ'd that it ruins it for me. BUT I see why a bass player wants more, but it's not necessarily ideal for a studio sound.

[Doug Ring]

Well maybe I should declare an interest as a live player first and a recording engineer second. So when I record my bands I have everybody in the room, track it then mix it. That means I never record without having my amp and cab working.

When I've miked the cab in the past I've never needed to do anything except light compression to get the bass to sit in the mix, because I get the sound I want there in the room with the other players. Now it's true I tend to keep it simple and never use compression or chorus on my amp, so I take Brad's point that an engineer faced with somebody who did would be better taking a DI feed of the guitar so that he could use better quality plug-ins on mixdown.

Still for me though there's a wiry, electronic quality to a DI sound that can't compete with the solid gutsiness of a miked cab. It makes the bass into the foundation of a track and it doesn't then compete with the guitars or draw undue attention to itself - it's just there doing its job. That may say more about my playing than anything else however...

I'm not really expressing myself as well as I want to, and of course the whole topic is 100% subjective... but I know what works for me and my style of music. I accept that other styles may work better with a DI but it's not for me!