How Do I Fix a Crappy DI Sound?

[Jaketor]

Hey all,

Recording noob here. I want to start recording bass DI since the amp bugs the rest of the household, but I can't seem to dial in a good DI sound. The raw DI signal sounds like a tin can. No definition, no low end, just a clicky mess. I've tried a few free VSTs like the TSE BOD, and while they improve it a bit, it still doesn't sound that great...

I have a Warwick Corvette Proline going straight into a Scarlett Solo and into Reaper. Tone knobs on the bass are neutral. Here's a demo of what I'm talking about.



I know my bass isn't the problem, so what do I need to dial in a decent DI tone? Is my interface the problem? I wanted to buy a Sansamp BDDI, but I'm worried I'll have spent the money only for it to barely improve the sound like the TSE BOD. All recommendations and advice appreciated.

 

[AceOfBassFace]

This sounds like pretty typical DI bass sound to my ears. Yeah it's a bit clicky on the highs. Maybe start by rolling off the tone knob a bit. You'll need to EQ, compress, add a bit of dirt, maybe an amp sim in your DAW to make it sound like a mic'ed up amp.

I use this free amp sim quite a bit - it's pretty sweet:
IGNITE AMPS - Engineering for the moshpit

 

[pfschim]

I've been down the same path when I revived my old home recording rig back at the start of the pandemic. My pure DI tone was not making me very sonically happy.
What I ended up doing is:
avoid input monitoring on your interface, seems like that's as raw a tone as possible. try to get your DAW monitoring latency down to reasonable levels (like 4-8ms) and then
try some VST's in your DAW ... even just some EQ and a bit of light compression - or if you have an amp with a decent DI and a post EQ mode, you can use that to even out the tone using the amps EQ section.
Try a cab sim. in my case the EQ and compression helped a lot, but the cab IR/cab sim really improved the tone. I used the NUX Mini Studio but there are many others.

good luck, good tone is there, you just have to work at it a bit. From your included clip, I feel like you are not far off of a decent tracking tone at all. On the flip side though, be careful about jacking up the bass coloration too much because typically for tracking, you are going to want a pretty clean tone to start with, and then mess with it (EQ, comp, dirt, etc etc) during mixing.

 

[DirkP]

I couldn't hear your clip, but did you use the right settings on the Solo? Using the Hi-Z instrument input and the instrument setting? With some active instruments that have a high level you could also try the line-in of the Solo (using the TRS-in and not pressing instrument).
I love a good DI sound and my Fenders just sound good through a good DI. Never use amp sims, but I often use a mic preamp and one or two hardware compressors before an interface.

 

[Ender_rpm]

Just as a contrast, I finally have a DI sound I REALLY like, but went the hardware route

Bass> Duncan compressor > Barber Linden EQ > Khan DI> focusrite 18i20. I then usually run an additional line out of the Khans "through" output and run all my effects on that into some kind of amp sim pedal (Tech21 Leeds usually) so I get big thick lows and cleanly effected highs as needed.

 

[Mushroo]

Sounds pretty good to me! Have you ever gone on YouTube and listened to isolated bass tracks of the pros? You're definitely in the ballpark.

If this is your first time recording, it's exposing details in your playing that you never noticed before. Recording is kind of like putting your technique under the microscope.

I bet that once you add the other instruments to the mix, this will sound better than you think.

If I could make one constructive comment, it's that you seem to be plucking much more aggressively, with more physical force, than I would recommend. Try easing up on the intensity.

 

[Wasnex]

I am with @Mushroo , I think that sounds great . But I totally get that it's not the sound you want .

My guess is you prefer the sound of a traditional bass speaker (like an Ampeg 810) to the full range flat response you are getting from going straight into your interface...So you need to process the signal in a way that emulates the type of speaker you are used to hearing.

If you can get the latency down to an acceptable level, as @pfschim suggested, you may be able to do some processing in your DAW and then send the processed signal back to your headphones or monitors...but processing in the digital domain tends to takes time, I.E. introduce latency.

You could do the processing before you send the signal to the audio interface. Some DIs have a LPF (low pass filter). These are usually set to a predetermined frequency like 3khz.

There are also HPF/LPF pedals that have variable filters. The idea here is you will still have essentially a flat response, but you will roll off the highs more like a speaker does, so the top end is not so zingy.
https://www.broughtonaudio.com/product-page/low-high-pass-filter

A more advanced solution would be some sort of speaker SIM. I will suggest two popular cab SIMs. The OMNICABSIM is analog and the Two Notes C.A.B. M+ uses impulse responses which is a form of digital modeling.

Here are the manufacturer websites:
https://www.dsmnoisemaker.com/omnicabsim-deluxe/yh0m9
Two notes Audio Engineering - Torpedo C.A.B. M+

You may also consider running some sort of a preamp or EQ in front of the cab SIM. Like a Tech 21 Q/Strip.

Actually the Q/Strip has a selectable, but fixed 45hz HPF and 3khz LPF...so the Q/Strip alone may do everything you need.
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There are plenty of threads, reviews, and videos on all of these products. I suggest digging in an doing some research to see which of these product would best suit your needs.

Also are lot's of very high quality competing products to consider. I just suggested the ones that immediately came to mind.

 

[patrickj]

Sounds fine enough.

 

[patrickj]

Totally workable DI sound. If I wanted it to sound like me here you go

I'm not a big fan of H/LPF live (the sound guy should handle it imo), but this is where they come in handy during recording.