Nice mic to record with?

[Beedster]

[quote name='geoffbassist' timestamp='1390426666' post='2345436']
This thread is awesome, thanks for the great info Simon.
[/quote]

It's going to be very useful I'm sure, not just for recording but for live sound also. I sold my old DB recently and was telling the new owner about a gig I did a few years ago. It was in a long and relatively narrow old '50s ballroom. The sound-guy didn't have a clue and all he was getting from the DB was feedback. The guitarist popped to the toilet and when he came back out I was playing away with the drums, 2nd guitarist and singer, and although the soundguy had cut the DB signal while he tried to work out what to do, the guitarist came back to the stage saying that the bass was actually cutting through loud and clear out front in a way that it certainly wasn't on stage. We did the gig with the DB unplugged and, whilst my hands were pretty f*****d by the end of it, and whilst I had to really concentrate, folks at the gig - a few musos included - appeared to really like the sound. It was the night I realised that DBs weren't designed to be heard close up, but to be heard a distance from the instrument. As Si has made clear above, it's getting the balance between that optimal distance from the instrument and the acoustics of the room that's the challenge for live and recording. And whilst it sounds very scientific, I've no doubt that it's an art in real terms.

[51m0n]

[quote name='owen' timestamp='1390427348' post='2345445']
The distance makes an awful lot of sense. I was pretty tight in on the mic for the recording which inspired this thread and it was just not a cool sound and certainly not what I am used to hearing when I have done work in "proper" studios. Having said that, the usual venue has a Neumann something or other (U87?) and monitor on 15" ATC monitors, so I am unlikely to achieve that level of lushness
[/quote]

U87, U47, U67 all superb mics.

You dont [i]need[/i] to have that kind of mic to get a great result though, it pretty simple really:-

Find a space where your bass sounds ace, find the place in the space where you bass sounds most ace. Put the mic there pointing at your bass.

To do this the difficult part is that you need to be in two places at once, playing the bass and wandering around listening to it, Hint get someone who can just bang out a decent enough stream of 8th notes on an A string, not so hard, and use that as a guide for mic placement.

A great mic in the wrong place or in a poor space will sound plop as much a a less exclusive mic.

Job done.....

[51m0n]

[quote name='lowlandtrees' timestamp='1390415244' post='2345246'] Hope that you don't mind me jumping in here. I have a Kania contrabass....small bodied acoustic upright. I use a realistic piezo pup but want to record both pizz and slap. Should I use a large or small diaphragm condenser. Have AKG 714BULS and a small AKG pencil (can't remember model...silver colour). Have a few others but these are my most used. Room is bright but I use traps (framed duvet covers). So far been disappointed with the sound of the bass..muddy...tried close and distant miking [/quote]

Impossible to answert without being there.

You need to follow what I said in the previous post, find a good space, find the best place fo rthe bass in the space, find the best place to hear the sound of your bass when its in that place in that space. Put both mics there. Record. listen back and see which mic floats your boat best [i]in the mix[/i], nothing else counts, the mix is where it really matters....

[Guest Jecklin]

I'm late to this party.

Just going to say that 51m0n offers brilliant advice here.

Also adding that the line audio cm3 mics are great as too are their OM1 mics.
I have recently got a pair to use for Jecklin disc recording (my favourite stereo technique, also my ensemble name, hence the username blah blah)

The place we practice in has STUNNING low end response. Probably not appropriate for anything but chamber and quiet jazz, but every time I hear a recording in the room even on my phone from 10 feet away, I can not believe how good the bass is (as in frequencies, not the instrument as there isn't one per se).

Depending on what music you do and the context of where you record, a Mic a good distance away can really help getting a very natural double bass sound when blended with something a bit closer.