Anyone doing this? What kind of results are you getting? Any special methodology or technique you are using? Thanks!
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Bass through guitar amp sims?
- Thread starter jdwhitak
- Start date
Assuming you want overdriven guitar amp like tone.
The amp models are very accurate, some like amplitube down to component level, which means that a cranked tube amp model will have limited bandwidth just like the real thing. Bass frequencies as well as highs are squashed. Not a big deal to work with in your DAW. Split the signal to two tracks and eq one for bass response, and the other for the guitar amp sim.
The amp models are very accurate, some like amplitube down to component level, which means that a cranked tube amp model will have limited bandwidth just like the real thing. Bass frequencies as well as highs are squashed. Not a big deal to work with in your DAW. Split the signal to two tracks and eq one for bass response, and the other for the guitar amp sim.
my current bass sound is as follows:
record clean DI into my presonus. edit as necessary. reamp through BDDI with clean settings, all knobs at noon, no drive. reamp clean DI again through BDDI with slightly driven sound. send a copy of the BDDI clean to revalver, a slightly driven 6505. sum all 3 signals to a single buss, gate, compress, apply redwirez cab impulses, EQ, limit, etc.
and ive got to say, it sounds massive and detailed.
previously, i had simultaneously tracked a bass amp with a split going to a guitar amp. same awesome results. i prefer the way guitar speakers distort.
record clean DI into my presonus. edit as necessary. reamp through BDDI with clean settings, all knobs at noon, no drive. reamp clean DI again through BDDI with slightly driven sound. send a copy of the BDDI clean to revalver, a slightly driven 6505. sum all 3 signals to a single buss, gate, compress, apply redwirez cab impulses, EQ, limit, etc.
and ive got to say, it sounds massive and detailed.
previously, i had simultaneously tracked a bass amp with a split going to a guitar amp. same awesome results. i prefer the way guitar speakers distort.
A lot of the time I'll record a take and then copy it. One clean and then send the copied track through a guitar amp sim. I'll EQ the Clean track for my 'low end' and then the dirty track gets the 'top end'. So the clank and the bite of the note being struck. Sometimes I'll even put one track ahead of the other very very slightly, to make it sound a little bigger. Then I bus them together and EQ them together for the mix. Here's a track I did this with on the old garageband. (mind you, it's not mastered, and it was 3 months ago, I've gotten better since then 
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I play around with them periodically and they've gotten very good, but I still prefer the tactile feel of outboard gear. I like having knobs to tweak and switches to move. Digital skeuomorphs make for an abominable user interface and I'd rather focus on music than dicking around with the approximation of rotating physical controls using a pointer device that was never intended to make that gesture feel natural. It changes the dynamics of recording in a subtle, unconscious way for the worse.
I dig studio time as much as the next cat, but if you're constantly reamping your tracks after you record them without knowing what you want, it's a waste. The law of diminishing returns. I like to play it, print it, and leave it alone like a photograph. A musical moment in time.
Having an infinite amount of revisions makes it easy to be distracted from the creation of music. It takes a certain fortitude of character and courage to say "This is my work. Period. Done." and resist the urge to keep tinkering and ignore those nagging doubts.
Mistakes are interesting. Perfection is boring. That's why I can't stand Melodyne and its ilk. The more of the human aspects of the performance you strip away, the less unique it becomes. And the more easy it is to discard from a listening perspective.
Elementary school orchestra concerts are such a bargain. So many mistakes for free.
Even funnier is when some of the classical kids also play jazz and start trying to swing straight notes.
