Is this mic good at recording bass?

domportera · #1 10-18-2011, 05:24 PM

I'm looking into buying a mic for demo recordings for my band, one with prettty good sound that can record bass well as well. I found this Blue Yeti USB (I need to use a USB mic, regardless of peoples superstitions towards them) and it's gotten generally favorable reviews, minus a few issues people have gotten from faulty shippings.

Blue Yeti USB Microphone: Shop Pro Audio & Other Musical Instruments | Musician's Friend

that's the mic. The hz range is 20hz-20,000hz
will this serve me well or should I not waste my time?

ps: I play a 6 string bass with a fender rumble 350 bass amp

DuraMorte · #2 10-18-2011, 06:38 PM

Do yourself a favor and go direct. It's much faster, more predictable, and easier. And will probably sound better as well.

Sonicfrog · #3 10-18-2011, 06:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DuraMorte

Do yourself a favor and go direct. It's much faster, more predictable, and easier. And will probably sound better as well.

That's assuming he has a good DAW with the proper amp emulation tools to get the sound / tone he wants. Even if he does, it might tatke a good deal of time dialing in the various options to get close to the sound. If he already has a sound dialed in on his amp, mic'ing the amp would be a better solution.

That said, I'm not familiar with that mic. I know a lot of guys will use a Shure SM57 or SM58 to mic the average amp. but then you would still need a USB interface.

I might be selling my Lexicon Lamda USB interface.... Maybe.

domportera · #4 10-18-2011, 09:20 PM

I was strongly considering going direct, but my guitarist needs a recording mic too, so I figure kill two birds with one stone.

Yeah I ended up ordering the mic, if all else fails I can return it within 30 days. Hopefully itll work well.

Oreomeister365 · #5 10-18-2011, 09:40 PM

Don't let people tell you that a DI sounds better or is easier.

Sound is up to your ears, not theirs.

And if taking 30 seconds to put a mic on a cab is a big time investment then I don't know what to tell you.

Sonicfrog · #6 10-19-2011, 12:23 AM

Actually, i think you'll have fun with this. Do some research on mic placement when recording. There are a lot of different ways to do it that give interesting results.

lowfreq33 · #7 10-19-2011, 01:23 AM

Blue makes a good product. I have a few of their high end mics and would never part with them. I haven't tried the Yeti, but based on the design and specs I think it will work for bass just fine. Guitar- I dunno. I've never been crazy about condensers on electric guitar. But you never know.

domportera · #8 10-25-2011, 10:04 PM

So I got the mic, and it's very difficult to record well without a sort of overdrive sound, and it's also necessary to turn the mic's gain all the way down to get rid of clipping. How do I get a cleaner tone instead of this obnoxious overdrive-like tone on the lower notes?

JimmyM · #9 10-25-2011, 11:36 PM

Looks like it would be a great mic to record bass. Not really sure why you're getting distortion, but I've always found it necessary to use a separate preamp with any mic I've used to record for that exact reason.

And this business about going direct...yeah, it's a good way to go sometimes, like if you're recording at 1 am and everyone's asleep, but if you can use a mic, I heartily recommend it.

Scrappersa · #10 10-25-2011, 11:43 PM

Your input signal is too loud for that specific mic. You need a pad to knock the signal down since your gain can't go any lower. I'm not familiar with the mic you're using since it's USB powered, but there might be a -10db option somewhere that you can click.

domportera · #11 10-26-2011, 12:21 PM

I have a -6dB option on my amp, I'll try it out during band recording today

Scrappersa · #12 10-26-2011, 01:31 PM

It doesn't really matter that it's on the amp. A pad (-10db, -16db, etc...) is just to knock the volume down by a certain amount. When it's on the amplifier, it's essentially the same as just turning the volume down. When most people record instruments, they run a microphone into a preamp. At some point, when you're playing really loud, the mic and/or preamp cannot handle it anymore so it starts to clip. Most preamps have some form of a pad option or a knob that you can turn down (an attenuator pad). This way, you can play really really loud in a room without overloading the input of the mic or preamp.

With your mic, the preamp is technically built into it. Since it's USB, you don't have the ability to hook an inline pad in between the mic and the computer. Some USB mics have an interface that you can download from their website. They let you set the volume and even sometimes have a checkbox for a pad.

If there is no pad, then as far as I know, you only have a few options. You can either play at a low enough volume so that you don't clip to mic (it could be really really low for all I know), or you can return the mic and instead buy a cheap recording interface and a real microphone to go with it. You might also be able to find a USB microphone with a pad built into their software, but I don't know of any off the top of my head. I don't know what your budget is, but there are some extremely inexpensive interfaces and mics that you can buy.

domportera · #13 10-26-2011, 11:06 PM

So I managed to record without clipping, without using the -6db button because as the previous poster said, it just lowers the volume, which I have knobs for. The tone was crap though, so that will take some experimenting. It recorded drums and guitar extremely well though, for the record.

Ubersheist · #14 10-27-2011, 07:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oreomeister365

Sound is up to your ears, not theirs.

And if taking 30 seconds to put a mic on a cab is a big time investment then I don't know what to tell you.

Ditto.

I typically record two tracks at once - one direct track and another one that's miking a cab. Then, I pick and choose.

Going direct is a tad bit easier, but it's only a tad bit easier, and doesn't always sound better. Typically, it only sounds better with a good, well made preamp. I recently recorded direct into one of those Tascam 8-channel preamp interfaces. It sounded terrible, and miking my cab with an AKG Perception 420 sounded worlds better.

I typically don't like using SM57s or SM58s, but that usually has more to do with the style of music and the tone I'm trying to get. Both of those mikes have a great high end response with a slight bass roll-off. If I was recording something that needed higher end response, like metal, punk or maybe even funk, then I'd probably be more inclined to use them. However, the recent stuff required an old-school R+B type sound, and the one before that was white-boy reggae rock. The R+B sounded better with the AKG, the reggae rock sounded best with a Millennia TD-1 preamp, which then went straight into the DAW. That Millennia preamp sounded FAT, but it also cost $1,800....

seamonkey · #15 10-27-2011, 11:34 AM

Don't know about the mic - seems good.

But for not much more you can get a Zoom H2n
Zoom H2n Handy Recorder: Shop Pro Audio & Other Musical Instruments | Musician's Friend

Which records to memory card, Or through USB to your PC.
Surround mode so if you put it in the middle of the band you can play around with the surround balance while mixing down to 2 channels.
Sound quality is excellent. Carrying an all in one recorder for any or all rehearsals is excellent.

mellowinman · #16 10-27-2011, 11:58 AM

Try taking out some bottom end. You can possibly EQ it back in on the mix.

The other option is to mic the room. Get that mic far from the amp, and watch out for extraneous noises!

Johnpjm · #17 11-01-2011, 11:15 AM

Direct. Depending on how good a player you are, and how good your bass is, this can either sound way better than a microphone, or worse.