Recording With Pickup?

[danengland]

Hi
I usually use a DPA minature mic for recording and maybe a condenser too. I have never got a good recorded sound from my realist. Does anyone use a pickup as well to add to the sound?? What pickups have been successful?

[MingusAmongUs]

To my way of thinking, a pickup is a necessary evil in loud situations. Why anybody would want to record with one, especially to "add to the sound", is beyond me. Not to be a jerk or anything, to each his own and all, but I hate the sound of pickups. Some are better than others, some even come close to actually sounding like a bass, but none get there. I would go with a good condenser mic personally. But I know some folks like to have the pickup sound in there.... just don't know why

[Bob Branstetter]

Originally Posted by danengland

Hi
I usually use a DPA minature mic for recording and maybe a condenser too. I have never got a good recorded sound from my realist. Does anyone use a pickup as well to add to the sound?? What pickups have been successful?

The sound recorded directly from a piezo pickup seldom sounds good by itself, but in moderation can add color to your bass sound. It really depends on your particular bass. There is no such thing as one pickup that sounds good on every bass. When I'm in the recording studio, I will sometimes add a little of the sound from the piezo pickup to augment the studio mic (usually a Neumann U67). I have one bass with a Realist pickup that sounds great in the mix, but I have another bass where the Realist is not good at all. On that bass I have a Fishman Full Circle pickup. The relative amount of pickup in the bass mix depends on the type of music I am recording. However, I've never had any piezo pickup (and I've had lots of them) that I would want to record by itself.

[gnergaard]

Originally Posted by MingusAmongUs

To my way of thinking, a pickup is a necessary evil in loud situations. Why anybody would want to record with one, especially to "add to the sound", is beyond me. Not to be a jerk or anything, to each his own and all, but I hate the sound of pickups. Some are better than others, some even come close to actually sounding like a bass, but none get there. I would go with a good condenser mic personally. But I know some folks like to have the pickup sound in there.... just don't know why

I disagree, but respectfully. About 2/3rds of the tracks that I've recorded this year have some realist or Full Circle mixed in with the mic. I for one have always had trouble finding the "sweet Spot" for mic'ing my bass in the studio. I find that I can get a sound that has lots of air and dimension but no depth, or a sound that is fat and punchy but not 'acoustic'.
adding a pick up (and convincing the engineer that acoustic bass isn't supposed to have much sub bass) helps give that Airy, dimensional mic sound some solid fundamental and punch.
The engineer most of the time ended up leaving the mic EQ Flat but then doing a lot of tone shaping of the pickup and blending it in al little.
Also, for a live recording in a large venue I used ONLY a Full Circle through a Demeter Preamp because using a large diaghpragm mic was out of the question in terms of bleed from other instruments. The Full Circle worked amazingly well with many thanks going to the recording engineer who did a fantastic job.
I will say that for my bass the Full Circle is a huge improvement over the realist. Much more useful in the studio and a little more natural sounding with less need for EQ.
I'd love to get some feedback from others on this site. I've done a lot of recording in the past 12 months and I'd love to get some objective, constructive criticism.

[Dave Martin]

In the original poster's other thread, I mentioned that I seldom record the direct sound from a pickup on an acoustic bass, and on the occasions where the client (or the bassist) asked that a DI track be recorded, I have never used it in the final mix.

I'll usually record acoustic bass with two microphones - one (the high mic) will be somewhere near the fingerboard while the other (the low mic) will be somewhere in the general vicinity of the bridge, usually pointing to spot between the bridge and the G string's f hole. The high mic has always been a small diaphragm condense - a Neumann KM 84, M582 or a Calrec small diaphragm mic.

The low mic can be (depending on the instrument and the desired result) can either be a ribbon or a large diaphragm condenser. If I use a ribbon, it's usually either an RCA 74b, a 77b, an AEA R84, a Crowley and Tripps Naked Eye, or (last on the list) a Royer. If I use a condenser, it's usually a U47 - either a Neumann or Telefunken (though depending on what's available at a given session, I might end up with a Lawson, a Neumann UM57 or one of Telefunke's new M16's or AK47's).

The only reason I could see of wanting to use a DI's sound in the studio are those situations, where the sound of an acoustic bass doesn't really fit the sound that the bassist (or the producer) is going for. At that point, all bets are off, since I'm trying to find the sound that the producer wants (and I've had producers bring me tracks of the sound that they want - though they didn't realize that the track was a fretless electric bass...).

[damonsmith]

I won't even bring a pick up to a studio with my double bass. I have had good results with a DI from the amp with my EUB, but that is the nature of that instrument.