DI Bass Mixing.

Clarkus Miller · #1 10-13-2008, 09:49 PM

I record my bass directly and I have trouble making it sound present and in your face. It's all bass centric funk stuff that i'm going for so i need a sound that's high in fidelity and sounds like its right there. Any suggestions for the mix, EQ, everything is welcome. Thanks in advance.

msquared · #2 10-13-2008, 10:48 PM

You are probably dealing with equalization issues. If it's bass centric funk stuff, I'm guessing it's got a lot of bass and high end no mids, which is fine by itself but gets totally lost in a full band mix.

If you haven't already recorded it mostly flat, I'd suggest having a monitor mix that you can EQ to your liking while recording flat out of a DI, then messing around with boosting at around 80Hz, 700Hz, and 2kHz.

Delta T · #3 10-14-2008, 03:03 PM

Assuming you like the tone of the bass, you could also try some compression. You would have to play with the parameters - maybe start around 4:1 or so and work with it. Adjust the threshold so that you are compressing on most notes, then turn up the output gain. This should increase the apparent loudness. Of course make sure it's tasteful. If you are using a DAW a lot of the plugins will have presets that are good places to start with.

Another trick you could try - which is usually used on higher-frequency sources - run it into a stereo delay and delay the left side by ~ 5ms and the right side by ~6 or 7 ms. You do not want any feedback (repeats). Make sure the dry signal is present - then boost the left and right delay signals a bit. This spreads the signal a bit.

Then there is re-amping...or process the track thru a guitar/bass amp simulation software like Guitar Rig, etc. But, as msquared mentioned, tweaking the EQ may be better. You may have to sculpt it to work with the other instruments on the recording.

msquared · #4 10-14-2008, 03:20 PM

Note: it's also helpful to post a link to your song as well as some songs with tones you're trying to emulate. We can't really help much if we can't hear it.

hockey_head · #5 10-14-2008, 04:03 PM

if you can live with the sound of your bass straight to the board during recording, run the straight signal out to a bass preamp and back to a new track. after you get the eq where you like it, add compression or use digital plugins to finish your track.
IMHO, I prefer this analog type of bass recording over modeling devices.
I have been using an ashly bp 401 preamp for years. It's getting hard to find a good bass preamp nowdays but i think the bbe is a good one.