Recording Bass

[oneflightup]

Hey everyone,

I recently had the opportunity to interview one of Australia's top Bass players, Michael Vidale, and his studio partner, Dave Dempsey. I asked them about recording their ultimate bass sound, and I've just put the interview online. Thought people here might like to check it out:

[url="http://www.oneflightup.com.au/recording-bass"]Recording Bass[/url]

What do you think? Is that how you record your Bass?

Any other tips / tricks you want to share? Let me know!

Cheers,

Nick

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[url="http://www.oneflightup.com.au"]www.oneflightup.com.au[/url]

[AinsleyWalker]

Good interview, I don't know much about recording at all so some of the ideas like recording behind the headstock and in front of the strings were interesting to read

[Skol303]

Thans for sharing the link! All good, dependable tips

I personally record DI from my bass amp (just a small combo, but it gives some character to the sound that I like). I then add compression and sometimes apply software amp sims to flavour the sound, depending on what suits the song.

Occasionally I also use a condenser mic in front of the speaker and record that in parallel with the DI, so I can 'blend' the two tracks.

All that said, on the (admittedly few) studio projects I've worked on, the mix stems have always tended to include just one DI track for bass. So I think some studios just record DI and don't bother mic'ing up. But again, my experience isn't broad enough to be anywhere near representative of the 'norm'.

[krispn]

I've heard of the third mic technique to capture the finger noises but on the few occasions where I've been recording its just been Di and speaker cab captured.

I'd like to muck about with these techniques but that's gonna be on my own time not studio time

[jensenmann]

There´s a lot of useful information in that interview. Thanks for sharing!
I do disagree a bit on that LDC subject, though. I find that the most important difference between good and mediocre LDCs is how precise they capture the lowend. Many LDCs tend to have wooly, cloudy, less defined lows, while the better ones capture very solid lows. I´d always go for a good Neumann for that pupose, like a U87, U89 or U47fet, or a Beyerdynamic MC840. The picture of the Rode next to LDC comment especially doesn´t translate to me well since Rodes were some of my first LDCs and they really suffered in the lowend.
Having said that I have to admit that I prefer dynamic mics on basscabs. My goto mics are Beyerdynamic Opus 99, M88, or EV RE20. And I always blend mic and DI to one track and compress on the way into the computer, either with 1176, LA3A or LA2A (occasionally SPL Dynamaxx).

Edited December 14, 2015 by jensenmann

[oneflightup]

Thanks for the responses guys.

I think the recording technique will always depend on the sound you're after and the style of music you're playing. A DI is generally fine for recording, and can always be re-amped later.

Good points about LDC's, Jensenmann. And thanks for the dynamic mic suggestions.

All the best with your recordings guys!

Nick

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[url="http://www.oneflightup.com.au"]One Flight Up | Music Studios Sydney[/url]