Bass Recording tricks & secrets

[Pöl]

I don't know if this has been done before (I did check te search option), and I do know that most of us feel sensitive towards giving up their recording secrets, but I think this thread could turn out real interesting for al involved.

So...

POST YOUR BASS RECORDING TRICKS/SECRETS

I'll start off:

Run your bass through a VOX AC-30 guitar amp at low gain as few eq as possible, maybe some treble cut. Sounds deep en tube-like very cool.

[Whafrodamus]

Don't mess up?

[JimK]

Messing up is "OK". Can one recover is the question.
Some of my mistakes have turned out 'cooler' than what I was supposed to play...

[IvanMike]

Originally Posted by JimK

Messing up is "OK". Can one recover is the question.
Some of my mistakes have turned out 'cooler' than what I was supposed to play...

amen bro.............

I really only have one secret weapon..........
last year i broke my leg right before a recording session at my guitar players house..........we really didnt know how serious it was, so despite the unbeliveable pain they helped me in and we cut the track. One take, bam, perfect.......i absolutely nailed it..........some of my best work

so there you have it

[stretchcat]

Originally Posted by IvanMike

amen bro.............

I really only have one secret weapon..........
last year i broke my leg right before a recording session at my guitar players house..........we really didnt know how serious it was, so despite the unbeliveable pain they helped me in and we cut the track. One take, bam, perfect.......i absolutely nailed it..........some of my best work

so there you have it

Yikes! Sounds like that old saying "break a leg" really works.

[supermonkey]

I always get best the best tone just going direct. Run thru a reasonable mic/instrument pre and whammo.

I try to remember that the source of tone is the fingers. If I don't like the sound I'm getting, I can always try a different playing approach before I begin twiddling knobs.

[keb]

Rolling off frequencies under 60 or 75Hz can work wonders in some musical situations.

[Josh Ryan]

Boosting volume to compensate for a lack of articulation only serves to piss off the rest of the band.

[jive1]

[keb]

Originally Posted by jive1

(SABDDI pic)

Indeed. And that pic just happens to show the setting I find most useful to my ears (everything at 12 o'clock.)

[Freaky Fender]

To get a vintage sound like off of a vinyl record, run your bass through a phase shifter, but set the controls so the phase never opens up. (The lead guitar on my song "smoothie" was run to the board Direct in this manner)

[Droog]

To me "tricks" present themselves on a session by session basis. Seems like every cool trick I learn only works that one time I never rely on a trick, I have a solid starting point then I go from there. DI through a good mic pre and mic the cab, again through a good pre. The mic changes too. Sometimes a D112 and sometimes an M88 does the "tricK".

I do believe in compressing to tape. Not a bunch but usually 2-3 db at a 3:1 or so.

Boosting volume to compensate for a lack of articulation only serves to piss off the rest of the band.

Hell yes. Serves to ruin mixes too. If every musician realizes this it will be a good day indeed.

Not really any secrets. Maybe in a few years I'll have some secrets to share. Right now I rely on good performance, solid equipment (and know how to use it) and mood. Oh, thats its it, thats the secret, musician being the the perfect mood to record, does that ever happen?

[josh_m]

Don't get frustrated, I was in a studio once and they made me record the same track over and over again because of an incompetant engineer, I told him to give me a little while, laid down on the couch for 10 minutes, got back up and did it.

[Matt Till]

I suck at bass recording, so... I like this thread!