project_c

Thanks for the replies, couple of questions... [quote name='thisnameistaken' timestamp='1354900870' post='1891884'] I usually record direct too, but a good valve pre can really give a track character, even a bass track. [/quote] Can you name a few examples? I'm interested in both the make of the valve pre, and the effect it has has on the signal. When you say 'character', are you talking about breakup / grit, or full on distortion? Or just a bit of a boost to the signal? Thanks. [quote name='51m0n' timestamp='1354901626' post='1891895'] If I'm in the studio rather than at home I like the sound of opto compression a lot and often use a Joe Meek TwinQ as the bass pre-amp and use its eq a bit and plenty of compression to get a really great sound before hitting disk. [/quote] Thanks for the extensive reply! I'm really interested in what the Joe Meek does to your signal. I know what it does in terms of functionality, but I'm more interested in how you would describe the result of sending your signal through it. Do you get a tighter / more focussed / more balanced clean signal than if you were to record without it? Or does it bring out a bit of grit and grind when pushed? Is it always on the same setting, or do you use the EQ section to sculpt the signal into the track you are working on? (sorry, a million questions..)

I'm by no means new to bass, or to home recording and production - but there's a lot of conflicting viewpoints on this subject, and I'd like to get a bit of clarity on how people actually record bass in their home studios. Ever since I've started playing, I've always just gone straight into my Mac via an audio interface (currently it's a MOTU Microbook). No DI's, no amps, no external preamps, just a signal straight from bass to Mac. It sounds fine 99% of the time, both with passive and active basses. However, as far as I can see, there are a number of things that people like to add to their signal chain when recording: - DI's: Using your amp's DI, or a dedicated (and expensive) DI box. Is there any point to doing this at all? As far as I can tell, an amp's DI signal will mostly just colour your tone by altering EQ - in my experience, with a good amp the signal sounds almost identical - bar a bit of EQ - to when the amp DI is not being used. I've had no real experience with things like the REDDI and other DI boxes, but - whilst I appreciate the usefulness of these things in a live setting - I'm yet to be convinced that they do anything apart from very mild EQ and compression in a studio setting, and I'm wondering if there is a case of 'emperor's new clothes' going on with a lot of this stuff. - Preamp pedals / preamp boxes: Something like the Tri-Logic Bass Pre in pedal form (I'm having GAS for this thing right now, although I'm not entirely sure why.. I'm not even sure if it makes sense to use it with a bass that already has a built in preamp), or a 'proper' preamp box, like the Demeter HBP-1, priced around £950. That is potentially an awful lot of money for a piece of equipment that is not an essential part of your recording setup. It is also something that is impossible to try before buying - as far as I know, no shops have this kind of stuff on display. Given that it's so easy these days to capture a high quality clean signal using a decent audio interface, do these boxes still have a place in the home studio? Do they actually have a significant impact on your signal? Or do they just 'sweeten' things a bit, but essentially do not much other than 'tart up' your signal in a very subtle way? - Plugins within a DAW: I have both Ampeg SVX, and MarkStudio - but these, (and other similar plugins) don't really improve the signal as such, they merely change it. I like the way both sound, and use them a lot, but for making music that actually means something to me, they both seem kind of artificial against the pure signal straight from the bass. So I'd like to know what your opinion is on these things. Is there anything fundamentally wrong with using a raw dry signal? Isn't that what most professional studios do? Do you have a piece of kit in your recording signal chain that you could not do without? Does it really even make sense to use a preamp on a bass with a built in preamp? Will GAS for little boxes that do very little ever stop hounding us? No disrespect for anyone using any of these things, I have GAS for this stuff all the time, and love it all, but I'd like to know if there's actually any real point to any of it..

i love black and maple, i love dots, i love blocks, couldn't care less either way as long as it sounds good..... get your sick bags ready, here's a pic of my jazz bass

Cool, thanks for your help. Takes me far too long to figure these things out sometimes, and I don't always trust myself to get it right.

I'm having trouble figuring out what these chords are, can anyone give me a hand? It's four chords in the intro of Rio by the Doobie Brothers. Here's the YouTube link, the four chords are at 0.25. Should hopefully be straightforward. (But not to me.) The combination of keys and guitar is confusing me. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oQlwOdG8yc[/media] I've made a loop of the section I'm trying to figure out, you can download the audio file at the link below: [url="http://www.sendspace.com/file/nzn626"]http://www.sendspace.com/file/nzn626[/url] Would really appreciate your help! cheers *edit - after listening to it for a while, I think it might be Cm9, Gm9, Bbm9, Fm9.

wow it took me almost 6 hours to get that, bit slow today.. probably the effects of long term zoot abuse.. anyway i guess i'm the only one loving these basses these days... ah well

My main basses these days are a Sadowsky Metro PJ and an 83 USA Fender Precision, which keep me very happy and GAS-free. But before I had those basses, I used to study and play on this Zoot, which I got on Ebay for a really low price. It's a Japanese made Performer, probably the closest Mike Walsh ever got to making a mass production instrument. I picked it up again today and was really amazed by the tone and playability, it's light, and has a tone somewhere between a Jazz and a Stingray, very growly and satisfying for fingerstyle. I haven't been able to put it down for the past few hours, it really is a great bass, so I just thought I'd show some love for it here. It's by far the cheapest bass I own, but the tone and playability always surprises me whenever I pick it up, it really is a pleasure to play. [sharedmedia=core:attachments:41569] [sharedmedia=core:attachments:41570] [sharedmedia=core:attachments:41568]