Bass recording and producing concepts and techniques...

[bassophile]

Hi Janek,

My name is Dejan Antovic and I'm professional bass player here in Belgrade, Serbia. This is my first question for you here and I must say that I learned a lot by reading other people's threads and I'm also amazed by your great response and also time that you put into it. Thanks for that...

I do a lot of studio sessions here in various studios of various level and for various artist (mostly pop, funk...etc). My rig consists of '77 jazz bass, Fender am. dlx. jazz bass V with Basslines Quarter pound pickups and Cort 6 string fretless. I also use EBS amp and cabinets, and AVALON U5 DI which I bring everywhere with me.

Usually I'm not very satisfied with sound of my bass when I hear it mixed in songs on CD, TV or radio, despite the fact that it has good sound during recording session while there is a very few instruments in mix. It lacks dimension, position, dynamics and airiness which other world class mixes have. I must say that most engineers and producers here tend to be narrowminded about bass recording techniques and recording with microphones is generally taboo...Despite that they work in a half million euros studios. I mostly record only through U5 DI which is at some point good but... In order to be professional and to maintain good atmosphere I mostly don't want to involve myself in their work...

I'm sure that you are or were faced to this problem, and so could you share some general tips on recording and producing which helps for bass to maintain it's character and detail during mixing process?

Thank you,

Dejan

[janekbass]

well these days I have the luxury of being the producer on most of the record dates I'm playing on so i can control everything about the sound that I want.

When I am just a sideman, I'll just make sure they get my sound. It's pretty simple for me, I don't like to make it complicated at all. It depends on the session of course, but there's a basic level of communication you need to get what you need from your engineer or producer so you'll be satisfied when you hear back the mix.

It's tough to let go of sometimes, and it really is out of your control once you leave the studio.

I know most of the studios I work in, and most of the engineers by now too. So I can get a pretty good idea of what to expect before the session. I love the Neve pre's in most of the studios I work in, but for some rock stuff i like an SVT miced in the booth with a tiny bit of direct signal blend. It's really just about getting your sound and then trying to stick to it when you go to the studio.

Don't get too hung up on what it sounds like once it's mixed on the tv or the radio, those mixes generally suck cos they're not about music. They're about selling something. It's a total lottery as to who ends up mixing those things you do for tv or radio, so don't worry about it too much.

Easy,

Janek