reamping this weekend- what do I need to know?

[runmikeyrun]

Our guitarist recorded a couple of songs live the other night for a video and we all went direct to the console. I'll be reamping my bass through a tube head and 4x12 cab. The guitarist is well established as an engineer so I know he knows what he's doing, but I was wondering what to expect on my end, if anything.

[Ukiah Bass]

If you're reamping, you don't have to play a single note. They're just sending the previously recorded signal through the new rig and re-recording the new sound. Sit back and watch the engineer change everything. It's what they do.

[runmikeyrun]

Right, I have just never done it, so didn't know what to expect out of it. Does it sound the same or do I have to tweak things on my amp?

[DBCrocky]

The whole reason for doing reamping is so that you can tweek your amp settings/mic placement in order to get just the right sound on the recording.

This is great for guitarists especially, they can try out different amps and settings, because their amp rig is so much a part of their sound.

Unlike guitar, some folks like the sound of bass recorded straight to console. Other folks like to mix the direct in sound with an amped or reamped track.

Also, in reamping, your raw bass sound leaves the recorder, goes through your amp/effects, then out your speakers, into the microphone, through a preamp/channel strip and back to the recorder. Depending on equipment, the recorded reamped track will be recorded some number of milleseconds later than the original. If this latency is more than about 20-25ms, your will be able to hear it and the reamped track will need to be adjusted in time. This is easy to do on a computer software mixing system, not always so easy on multitrack digital recorder or tape recorder.