51m0n

Rimskidog isnt lying, but you kids are on a budget so:- Cheapest way (and yes this can sound great) [list] [*]Great technique (really - nothing can be done with rubbish playing) [*]Properly maintained and well set up bass with decent pickups (well duh!) [*]New strings (you can always get rid of zing and harmonic content, you cant add it, and it sounds better to turn the treble down on good strings than turn it up on old knackered ones) [*]Good lead (OBBM's are fantastic and great value for money) [*]Instrument in on your soundcard (if it doesnt have one, get one that does). [*]Decent software (Digital Audio Workstation) - I massively recommend Reaper, the license is very good value for money. [/list] Now you need to understand three things gain staging, eq, and compression. [b]Gain staging[/b] is the science of setting levels. The lower your level the worse the signal to noise ratio, the higher your level the more likely you are to go 'over' or 'clip' the input stage or any other are of the signal path. Setting your gain stage is getting the loudest signal that wont clip. Its one of the area that newbies get wrong consistently. It is absolutely at the heart of serious recording aqt any level. Dont allow any clipping, and give yourself a good 3dB to 6dB of headroom above the strongest peaks in a test run, in case you dig in a bit more during tracking. [b]EQ[/b] is how you balance the timbre of the signal. Bass goes way down to 30 odd Hz on a 5 string, but bass guitars dont have much of that fundamental tone to their signal with the lowest notes, they have a lot more second order harmonics to them (an octave up from there). Try and think of your bass having 4 areas to its sound:- Bass - Between 40 and 120Hz. 'Woomph', 'thickness', 'weight', 'lack of clarity' Lo mid - Between 120 and 500Hz, 'Punch', 'Thump', 'Mud' Hi mid - Between 500Hz and 2KHz, 'Definition', 'growl', 'clack' Top - Above 2Khz, 'Zing', 'Air', 'Hiss', 'metallic' These are rough guides only, and the descriptions should give you an idea what you can wexpect from each region, both good and bad. To set up a semi-parametric eq, whilst the track plays back put +9dB of boost on and sweep until you find the frequency you want to boost (or take away), then drop the boost to 0dB and re-add or remove until everything sounds nice. For reasons of noise and gain staging it is often better to cut crap ratehr than boost good. Double check the gain after playing with eq! Personally I tend to track without eq, as if you throw something away you cant get it back, and eq is powerful enough to only need to be used at mix down IME. The exception is when I have access to an excellent hardware eq (and I mean excellent) [b]Compression[/b], crikey there are books on just this and very very good artcles on set up (check out ovnilabs). I would say forget pedal comps they dont offer fine enough control, or decent enough metering to allow proper set up in a recording environment. Its that simple. You need a proper compressor with full control of threshold, ratio, attack, release and make up gain, with metering of input, output and gain reduction. I'm not going to go in to another detailed description of compressor set up though, it takes too long!

Time for a bit of shopping I think....

Now thats a cool little piece of kit, bet you've got more than, or have wanted to get another at some point! Can that help fine tune room mics on a kit as well?

To the OP, if you find the right 5'er then its a perfect tool for the job of playing bass. Until you find that bass, whatever it may be, then a 5 will not 'do it' for you. I love mine, and my old bass just never gets played now.... ......poor thing

Thank you thank you, I'm full of it, sorry them

[quote name='Dirty Soul' post='800785' date='Apr 9 2010, 12:57 PM']Hi everyone (hope this is in the right place - 1st 'New Topic') I’ve been recording for a number of years now (not for this whole time of course!) When it comes to bass, I like to record the DI from the back of my SVT-3 & use a large diaphragm condenser mic around 9” (oo-er) away from the cone of a Ampeg SVT-410 HLF cab. Both sent to separate tracks in Pro-Tools. I’ve never been able to achieve the specific results I wanted although it’s never sounded too bad………….now I know why! Apparently the signals are slightly out of time with each other! The mic signal is delayed slightly because of the time taken for the sound to travel from the speaker to the mic (around 1 millisecond per foot travelled). When the 2 signals are mixed it results in undesirable comb-filtering! See this article in Sound on Sound: [url="http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jul01/articles/micdi.asp"]Phase Matching DI & Mic Signals[/url] Having learnt about this, I went back to Pro-Tools on the tracks our band are currently working on and put a delay on the DI signal of 0.9 milliseconds – and lo and behold………. A BEASTLY full, deep, consistent sound. I’ll try and upload some audio if I can. Just though I would share this tip with everyone and wondered if anyone else has experienced this??[/quote] Since you are in pro-tools, cant you just move the entire set of objects on the mic track forwards to get them in time and as on the beat as the DI??? By moving the DI back you are getting a lazier take (although at 0.9 ms its not going to be noticeable, but if your mic were further away it would become more and more noticeable). I always try and get a device to pump a tone into the jack that plugs into the bass, run everything up to get channel levels, and a good basic position for the mic, then get eyeline on a meter and move the mic until you get max output on the meter. Job done!

[quote name='Sarah5string' post='798598' date='Apr 7 2010, 12:36 PM']I just did this one on the RNID site and it says my hearing is within normal range, but it doesn't check tinnitus, just overall hearing. [url="http://www.rnid.org.uk/howwehelp/hearing_check/take_online_hearing_check/?from=/check/"]http://www.rnid.org.uk/howwehelp/hearing_c...k/?from=/check/[/url][/quote] Just did that too, damn thats harsh, you have to concentrate on that one, I got 'within normal range' too, so I'm probably not deaf then P.S, love that hat Sarah, suits you!

Well I cant stress what a croc this is enough. There is no way at all of determining the output at the start point at the transducer (ie headphone), or how the headphones in question cope with the extremes of the frequencies. Nevertheless as a bit of fun at least my hearing isnt too suspect (unless my cans ramp up above 2KHz to 20KHz I've done better than I thought), I do know that my cans struggle below 45Hz, and I would bet that everyone elses here do to, I also would not be surprised if they struggled about 14KHz too, but I can only 'sense' the 16KHz signal, rather than hear it through these. I can hear 16KHz through my hifi though....

Get Reaper instead. I'm a lover of all ree and Open Source Software, but Audacity sucks as a multitracking tool IMO - its not even very good as a wave editor really. Pay the minimal license for a copy of Reaper for home use and use a real quality bit of kit for the job instead.

Yup. 2 kids (15 and 5). day job, packed it all in at 30 something started again a few yeas later, 40 in May, knackered every day and cant get into a band properly for love nor money, the singer from blues band that got me going again has just told the drummer that he cant do my birthday bash (we were going to do a half huor set for the crack) wont fess up to me though (what a ***t!). Sometimes I wonder why I bother at all to be honest.

[quote name='derrenleepoole' post='797402' date='Apr 6 2010, 12:13 PM']Hasn't Les Claypool been doing stuff like this since forever? [/quote] This guy has been around a lot longer than Les I'm afraid....

Not sure that is accurate re Berg AE series. The ae410 has a definite slight peak around 1-2KHz, but the crossover and tweeter balance the highs just perfectly. There is plenty there but it is never edgy or unmusical. If you want really hyped highs then EBS should be on your list IMO

[quote name='Merton' post='793244' date='Apr 1 2010, 01:07 PM']Time for a Mert update I guess: [attachment=46170:27032010390.JPG] [attachment=46171:27032010389.JPG] Eden Nemesis NA650 into BFB Vintage. Lovely [/quote] Oooof trouser flappage sir? Suit you sir!

I'd try and avoid putting any effects on to what is going to tape. Its far too far away from the controlled environment you need to be in to work out of you are putting the right amount on for a start. Secondly once the afterglow of the gig has worn off you may discover you need to do a couple of overdubs to sort out some howlers. All made way harder if tere are effects all over the shop....

I got back into playing when a very good mate asked me to dep for his blues band. I can honestly say I loathe 'the blues' as delivered by almoist every pub blues band I've ever seen. But I really enjoyed the gigs with that band, and am really glad that I did it, and really thankful that they asked.

Its just a cold, I could give up, really (sniiiiffff) My partner cant complain, she's addicted to Farmville, 'nuff said!

Dont get me wrong, way back when I had 2 4x10s on top of 2 1x15s all biamped and stereo. Monstrous rig to look at, MONSTROUS to move, better than my current rig? No.....

[quote name='Conan' post='790707' date='Mar 30 2010, 03:38 PM']OK. I was with you up till about the third sentence there.... [/quote] Err the IP stack is shinier, and made of majick faerie powered pixie powder.... Better?

[quote name='Conan' post='790692' date='Mar 30 2010, 03:26 PM']Now this is where I get confused. Most of the "speaker experts" on here and elsewhere tell us that its speaker area that gives volume.... so how can two twelves shift as much air as [b]sixteen[/b][i][/i] tens?! I realise that the Berg speakers are probably extremely high efficiency, but surely MB speakers aren't that bad?! Why is it that as soon as I think I see "the light at the end of the tunnel" with amplification, someone throws me another curve ball?! [/quote] You arent wrong, all things being equal cone area/volume and excursion mean a tick in the W column. But they arent equal, at all. The Berg stack clocks in at a 1000w rig. Then there is the tailor made DSP processing built into the amp in the IP112ER, designed to absolutely guarantee the best possible use of every one of those watts, which automatically recalibrates when you plug in the second cab! This is to bass gear what the latest Nissan Skyline is to super cars. It will win by using as much brains as it does brawn. You may have 16 cones but you are pushing 500w inefficiently into them. Added to that the nightmare comb filtering and phase issues of multiple columns of speakers close to each other and you wont stand a chance I'm afraid.....

[quote name='alexharvay' post='790689' date='Mar 30 2010, 03:24 PM']Buy it. If you find you're not using one of them you could convert it into a canoe. Then paddle down to Brighton, steal 51m0ns Berg IP cabs and then paddle back home.[/quote] LOL! I dont have an IP stack I'm afraid. But I have had a bash on one, and god above do they do the business. I've already stated that my money no object ultimate very wet fantasy rig would be a pair of IP stacks running in stereo off a selection of mouthwatering channel strips (Neve, Summit, even a Joe Meek) and some excessively nice effects. And, for the record, if he comes for the ae410 he will have to take it from my cold dead hands....

Nah, down size to a Berg IP stack, its in almost certainly louder than entire rig would be (LM250 is a piddler after all), fits in the boot of your car easily and will sound a hundred times better...... Then you can spot other bass nerds a mile away as when they check your rig they will be literally green with envy, whilst those who arent in the know will dismiss it until you destroy their Ampeg with your 2 12 rig

To do this 'properly' you need a desk with a monitor section and direct outs (a la Mackie 32:8) and a multitrack recording device (a la HD24) You set your levels to the HD24 completely seperately to the FOH mix, or the monitor mix (which you can run off auxes anyway) and mic everything up. Trying anything else is a recipe for an epic fail for all the reasons sited above.