wintoid Posted May 22 Share Posted May 22 I'm getting deeper into recording my own music. Nothing I'd want to share yet, but I've really really been enjoying it. I was wondering if there are other Basschatters who dabble with recording and production who have some tips on controlling the sound of the bass. I'm recording my bass, usually a Precision with Thomastik flats, through a DI box into a decent sound card. What I'm finding is that with the tone wide-open, it's a bit clanky. As I roll the tone back, it becomes a bit too muffled and my amateurish attempts to process this sound end up overly bassy, which sounds fine on my big speakers, but can sound farty on phones and laptops. I'm back to thinking I should record with the tone wide open, including the clank, and then work out how to trim the clank in my DAW, with some sort of EQ to knock down the treble/upper mids. I don't want to lose the personality of the bass. I would say I'm looking for a tone somewhere between modern and vintage. The closest tone I can think of is something like the bass on Summer Lovin' from Grease. I'd be really interested to hear from anyone else with more experience in this stuff. In particular, do you generally record with the tone open, and sort it out after, or are you trying to get the tone right as you play, and not fiddle with it in the DAW. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Edwards69 Posted May 22 Share Posted May 22 (edited) I'm no expert in recording, but a couple of thoughts come to mind to think about. Are you listening to the clanky bass isolated or in the context of a full mix? You would be surprised how many iconic bass lines and tones are actually clankier than you realise. That high end content can help the instrument cut through. Some people would say get it right at source and I'd largely agree, but recording methods have changed a lot over the years, and it may be preferable to record with the tone wide open and then surgically fix it. You can't put back what isn't there. The rule of thumb with eq is cut to fix and boost to shape - this should hopefully avoid it getting overly bassy. Use a parametric eq to hone in on the clank. Boost the gain and sweep the frequency selector until the clank is at its most annoying, then reduce the gain until the clank is tamed. Try using a narrow bandwidth (q) avoid cutting too much either side. Alternatively, try a multiband compressor. You can set this up similarly to a parametric eq, so that it only triggers and clamps down on the clank when crosses a volume threshold. Lastly, think about how you would approach and fix this in a live environment. I'm assuming you would use an amp and cab? A DI signal is synonymous with an unprocessed raw image from a camera, whereas the sound coming out of your amp and cab is coloured and more like a processed jpeg. There's a plethora of great amp sims out there, many of which are free that you could try. Edited May 22 by Greg Edwards69 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulThePlug Posted May 22 Share Posted May 22 Is this what happens without an amp/cab sim? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wintoid Posted May 22 Author Share Posted May 22 29 minutes ago, Greg Edwards69 said: Are you listening to the clanky bass isolated or in the context of a full mix? You would be surprised how many iconic bass lines and tones are actually clankier than you realise. That high end content can help the instrument cut through. Yeah it's true that in the mix it sounds much better, but sometimes I have sections where the other instruments are absent/quieter, and that's when I notice the clank. I think you're right about cutting and not boosting, I'm definitely going to give that a go. I play for my own pleasure, and am not a live performer at all, so I don't really have much experience with amps/cabs, although I do have a bass amp or two at home. 24 minutes ago, PaulThePlug said: Is this what happens without an amp/cab sim? Could be. Maybe I should try one. I am not currently using anything of the sort. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted May 22 Share Posted May 22 What DAW are you using? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wintoid Posted May 22 Author Share Posted May 22 1 hour ago, BigRedX said: What DAW are you using? Bitwig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowdown Posted May 22 Share Posted May 22 Through years of experience in studios and home recording/studios, along with pit and show work where DI only was king, getting rid of 'clank' was best solved by raising the action to whatever degree I felt comfortable with. Some people like their Bass sounding 'clanky', but depending on music style, it can get in the way like the OP is finding. Just raising the action a tad and being weary of how you fret the note, along with the pup height can make all the difference and do wonders for your sound before any EQ'ing is needed/required. It can make your sound more consistent regarding live or recorded, regardless if you are using a Mic, DI, or a combination of both Of course, the end result does depend if you are a player with a light touch or you like to work your Bass and dig in. Just my opinion, of course. BI think it's something to bear in mind or maybe experiment with. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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