Quote:
Originally Posted by BlindtheCarrier 
I've started using half rounds due to my distaste for the "poppy-ness" of roundwounds. However, I've noticed that in general roundwound strings sound much warmer in recordings than live. Which strings would you use to record.
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Aside from how the overall sound may seem warmer, a lot of poppyness or fingernoise from strings gets sunk into the general mix of the instruments, so the inadvertent pop that you heard live, because you're A) standing next to it and B) the one playing and feeling the frets, you may barely hear in a recording and when you do it may not bother you at all. The other thing to consider is does it bother the engineer or producer, or whoever is making sonic decisions. Sometimes a solution like not using roundwounds because of finger noise ends up with throwing the baby out with the bath water, as my dad used to say, if the track isn't lively enough.
Can't really say which kind of string is best for recording. Depends on what the music is and how the engineer approaches it. I've used a Roadstar with dead strings that the engineer made sound amazing and tuff, and new strings on a Fender Jazz that we couldn't get a great sound out of.
What's important is how it fits. Don't sweat the small stuff if the big picture is falling into place nicely. You want your low end to work with the drums' low end. Sometimes, depending on the music and engineer, notching a little out of the bass keeps it from blurring with the kick, and sometimes it's the other way around. If you feel the engineer knows what he's doing keep an open mind. Don't worry if it's not what you had in mind when he solos the track but see how it sounds when everything is in. That holds for everyone's track. These days almost everything is recorded pretty flat because there are so many options when mixing that are available even in a small studio, whereas 30 years ago if the only eq was on the board you'd get lots of eq on the way in and lots on the way out. So generally if you get a sound that's 80% there and it makes you play like you can, that's enough to get to tracking. You can tell when the heart of what you're trying to get it to sound like is there. The rest of it can be arrived at when the engineer has finished dealing with the basic tracking and can concentrate on the mix.
One thing he can't do is change the attitude of the sound. I stopped recording with certain basses because I just didn't like how un-agressive they sounded, no matter how aggressively I played or how much good bass sound was dialed in, even if they didn't sound so tame live. Bring both basses and see how they go. The Ibanez might be sounding bad into the practice amp because it's too hot a signal. Might sound good at the studio.
Have fun!
