Recording bass with Garage Band

[mikekim]

I've been playing with Garage Band lately with my bass connected directly to line in with a 1/4" to 1/8" cable in an Intel iMac. I can't get rid of the distorted sound I get unless I lower the input volume a lot... but it's useless since it's too low and when I raise it, I keep getting distortion (fart-like bass sounds). I get the same results when I plug the bass into my amp, and my amp to the computer. The distortion gets uglier with my active bass than with the passive one.

Ok I'm a total noob in the recording area, can someone help? Oh by the way, I'm trying not to spend any money since I'm doing this for fun. I just want a clean bass sound. Maybe I have to get one of those line 6 bass pods, or some kind of preamp or DI box?

EDIT: I'm sorry if this has been posted a lot. I have been searching the forums and I didn't find the specific answers. Thanks for understanding.

[DougP]

built in soundcards arent designed for professional audio, the Line 6 would give you the same results.

if you are serious about this you could look into an M-Audio box or one of the many other brands of audio interfaces.

if you do a search in the Recording Gear section for M-Audio, Presonus, and Edirol you'll be on your way. The Presonus stuff is plug'n'play on a Mac. no drivers.

have fun!

[salzie]

I record bass into GarageBand all the time, but I plug my bass into a Mackie mixer and then take the output from the mixer into the PowerBook. This gives an added benefit of having a preamp with which to fine tune the levels to get a good sound out of the mixer, and clean into the Mac.

You don't need a great mixer for this technique, a cheap alesis or behringer would do the trick.

Good luck.

Sal

[C-5KO]

Originally Posted by mikekim

I've been playing with Garage Band lately with my bass connected directly to line in with a 1/4" to 1/8" cable in an Intel iMac. I can't get rid of the distorted sound I get unless I lower the input volume a lot... but it's useless since it's too low and when I raise it, I keep getting distortion (fart-like bass sounds). I get the same results when I plug the bass into my amp, and my amp to the computer. The distortion gets uglier with my active bass than with the passive one.

Ok I'm a total noob in the recording area, can someone help? Oh by the way, I'm trying not to spend any money since I'm doing this for fun. I just want a clean bass sound. Maybe I have to get one of those line 6 bass pods, or some kind of preamp or DI box?

EDIT: I'm sorry if this has been posted a lot. I have been searching the forums and I didn't find the specific answers. Thanks for understanding.

Possibly a line level vs mic level problem? I always get confused with the two, but I believe if you plug a line level into a mic level, it will be way too hot. a pre with a pad on it, or a mixer (as salzie suggests), or even something like the SansAMP BDDI pedal, should do the trick (as you've already figured out).

[mikekim]

Okay I've been playing with the software and I think I can manage it... thanks for the help guys!

[WillPlay4Food]

Did you find the software amps? I found these boosted my bass levels without distorting my sound when going bass -> 1/8 - 1/4 adapter -> Mac.

[Clay_Bass]

DI box? a bass straight to your computer wont sound good no matter what youre doing in my experience.

[blipndub]

lower your input level on the mac