Recording Your Bass? Direct or Mic up an Amp?

fretless bass · #1 10-01-2006, 03:53 PM

Just wondering what do most people on here use when they record their bass. Do u mostly just go direct with a good preamp or do u mic up your cab? Just curious

Dave Martin · #2 10-01-2006, 03:58 PM

90% of the time, I record direct with an Eclair Engineering Evil Twin. 5% of the time, it's another DI (an A Designs REDDI or the DI input of a Great River NV), and 5% of the time, it's an EV RE-20 stuck in front of an old Ampeg B15.

BR Audio · #3 10-01-2006, 04:06 PM

I do a lot of recording and I mostly end up recording direct. I prefer a mic'ed up amp. But only if its a good sounding amp and the room is not destroying the sound.
I enjoy the Radial Engineering DIs a lot as well as the Retrospec and Avalon and many others.
As far as the mic. I really like a good omni mic, like an Earthworks, or DPA a few feet from the amp in a good room. Can't beat the sound of that.
my 2cents
Gil

keb · #4 10-01-2006, 05:18 PM

In recent years I've been going direct using a SansAmp or POD.

these_go211 · #5 10-01-2006, 06:47 PM

sansamp!

anderbass · #6 10-01-2006, 06:48 PM

Both:
Sansamp BDDI into G/T brick-(as a line amp), to recorder.
Senheiser MD-441 mic into another G/T brick-(mic pre) to recorder.

barthanatos · #7 10-01-2006, 06:50 PM

I think that, especially if you've never done it before, that you should, if it is no special burden to you, take both a direct feed from your amp and a mic from your cabinet. Listen to both. Blend to taste.

seamonkey · #8 10-01-2006, 09:51 PM

Direct. Record clean.
Then take it back through plug-ins - or play it through an amp and re-record it. You'll be happy to concentrate on the notes during recording, and later the sound and tweaking it while listening to the mix.

adam on bass · #9 10-01-2006, 11:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fretless bass

Just wondering what do most people on here use when they record their bass. Do u mostly just go direct with a good preamp or do u mic up your cab? Just curious

I use my Radial J48 and a mic'd signal from my D210XLT with the mic about 8 degress off of the cone toward the tweeter side with the tweeter on about 1 with the grill off, just enough with my trusty D112. Then mix the signal about 90 direct/10 mic'd.

badstonebass · #10 10-02-2006, 11:23 PM

Sounds dumb but I get the best bass sound recordings using this "rig"

Sansamp Bass DI into
Line 6 Spider 30 guitar amp set on clean going direct into
Yamaha aw16G...the bass really thumps

Relic · #11 10-03-2006, 02:10 AM

I've always disliked going direct only as I've never been able to get a tone that I liked that way. It's always sounded lifeless and "rubbery" to me. I've usually mic'ed my amp and recorded at a slightly louder volume to get a more colored tone. It's all personal preference of course, but I seem to get more harmonics, more "boom" and more edge to the sound that way. Ultimately though, recording both ways and blending would be the way to go - best of both worlds and all that.

markjazzbassist · #12 10-03-2006, 10:16 AM

Direct to the board or with a DI box.

fretless bass · #13 10-03-2006, 02:09 PM

Thanks guys for all your input i think i will go and take a direct feed from my amp and also mic the cab and blend them both.

jeffery.addison · #14 10-04-2006, 08:42 PM

Right into the MBOX preamp. I use the Ampeg SVX plug-in. Get great tones.

Correlli · #15 10-05-2006, 12:42 AM

SABDDI -> Joe Meek OneQ -> M-Audio 2496

samurai_24 · #16 10-05-2006, 12:06 PM

I used to go direct to the board, but after A/Bing it with a direct box I'll never go back to going straight into the board. The DI converts the instrument signal into a low impedance balanced signal for the mixer. The sound difference is quite amazing. Everyone here probably knows that already, but it was a new discovery to me!

Yvon · #17 10-05-2006, 12:26 PM

I record direct using the DI of my GK combo. Then I use guitar rig as a plug in.

Mr-Wunderful · #18 10-05-2006, 12:44 PM

DO both if you can. Pick the best of two and/or blend them.

Biggsy · #19 10-06-2006, 10:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fretless bass

Thanks guys for all your input i think i will go and take a direct feed from my amp and also mic the cab and blend them both.

+1 from me

The guy that does the recording and mastering for my band uses that method. (you can see the recording gear he uses on his website: http://www.jigsawstudio.co.uk).. He's also a bassist, so knows his bass-specific stuff..

In my understanding, the DI perfectly records the articulation of your playing (something that mic'-ing alone might lack), but simply can't replicate the tone achieved by how your cab moves air.. I suppose it could be emulated by a Basspod type tone shaping jobbie, which I'm sure works great, but in my (rather uninformed) opinion it's just an emulation, and I'd rather have our recordings reflect as perfectly as possible my live sound.

I've tried this myself (recording then blending both signals using Logic on windows laptop) by plugging the DI from my amp and the cab mic' into a Motu 828, and was much happier with the results than when compared to DI alone.

Keep us posted with how you get on!

RevGroove · #20 10-19-2006, 12:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Biggsy

In my understanding, the DI perfectly records the articulation of your playing (something that mic'-ing alone might lack), but simply can't replicate the tone achieved by how your cab moves air.. I suppose it could be emulated by a Basspod type tone shaping jobbie, which I'm sure works great, but in my (rather uninformed) opinion it's just an emulation,

And another plus one...