The last time I had a bass guitar, I tried to do some recording with it and experienced less than stellar results. Far less than steller, truth be had. Down right gawd awful. Many times I've read interviews in magazines and online where the bass was "straight into the board." When I try this, I either get a faint, muffled sound like fleas farting, or I get trash cans full of bowling balls being dropped on plate glass skylight clipping with seemingly no middle ground.
I've recorded for years with a tascam 424 and cassette for guitar, and have had moderate success with sansamp and line 6 P.O.D. I have some idea of how to control dynamics as to get tracks down without clipping. Going direct with bass is like driving while wearing blindfolds. There can be a lot more energy from bass strings than the acoustic sound indicates. If I play soft so I don't clip, I hear nothing on the track. If I put any accentuation (I'm a bass novice, maybe you're not supposed to, I don't know) I get the aft-mentioned demolition sonics.
I can just about hear the people winding up to tell me to lose the digi 002, PT LE and G4 tower, and who knows, maybe they're right. Thing is, it's what I have now, it's paid for, and I'm buying everything I can on the cheap. I want to be able to record demos with guitars and bass and I'd like to be able to actually hear the bass. It is probably a bit much to sound like Paul on 'Come Together' or Bill on "Can You Hear Me Knocking?" but it seems as though it should be possible to get reasonably close.
Simply put, I won't be buying any UA 1176L, LA-2A or their ilk in the near future. I'm trying to get pointed in the right direction using what I've got. Learn the hard way and maybe, just maybe someday if and when I can afford anything nicer, I'll do better.
I've recorded for years with a tascam 424 and cassette for guitar, and have had moderate success with sansamp and line 6 P.O.D. I have some idea of how to control dynamics as to get tracks down without clipping. Going direct with bass is like driving while wearing blindfolds. There can be a lot more energy from bass strings than the acoustic sound indicates. If I play soft so I don't clip, I hear nothing on the track. If I put any accentuation (I'm a bass novice, maybe you're not supposed to, I don't know) I get the aft-mentioned demolition sonics.
I can just about hear the people winding up to tell me to lose the digi 002, PT LE and G4 tower, and who knows, maybe they're right. Thing is, it's what I have now, it's paid for, and I'm buying everything I can on the cheap. I want to be able to record demos with guitars and bass and I'd like to be able to actually hear the bass. It is probably a bit much to sound like Paul on 'Come Together' or Bill on "Can You Hear Me Knocking?" but it seems as though it should be possible to get reasonably close.
Simply put, I won't be buying any UA 1176L, LA-2A or their ilk in the near future. I'm trying to get pointed in the right direction using what I've got. Learn the hard way and maybe, just maybe someday if and when I can afford anything nicer, I'll do better.
