I tried most of the variations you mentioned here, as far as my equipment let me. I started to get better sounds. But... I think GB (maybe all DAW software simulating the amp tones) is not being faithful to carry the characteristics of the natural tones of the bass. (I am leaving out options like Bass Pod's and etc here) I tried my various jazz basses (all equipped with different passive pups: Stock American, Stock Geddy Lee, SD Antiquities, Custom Shop 60's) The problem is all of these instruments sounds so different when played through the same amp. But they sound so similar in GarageBand... I guess that's the downside of modeling sounds on software. Or maybe it's just me. Anyway, enough ideas and tips to keep me recording on GB for now. Thanks for all the replies.
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How do you record bass in Garageband?
- Thread starter BoyaFromNagoya
- Start date
I just go direct into an interface and then to GB and I have no problems getting a great tone... Hmmm...
scottfeldstein
Roots and fifths and a little extra.
I think that's what my son's fixin' to do, get a cheap USB audio interface as a go-between.
I have been using a Lexicon Alpha USB interface (about $50-60, or less used) w/ GB with fairly good results. It seems to give a fairly uncolored sound of my basses. I am able to tell the difference between basses at least, so it doesn't seem to make everything sound the same as you seem to be experiencing. I also use a Dunlop MXR M80 DI for EQ, but it's not necessary to get a decent sound out of the Lexicon/GB combo...
Theres lots of inexpensive one trick pony interfaces out there for not much $scottfeldstein said:
For full band applications I use a tascam us 1641 and work very nicely. I think it went for about 400$
For Ipad I go direct in thru my Tascam iXZ guitar interface, use one of the amp models, the brown face, and the compressor pedal. I turn the gain down to 2, master and "output" to ten. Eq as needed.
I mic the cab and DI into separate real instrument tracks then just mess with them. I tend to favor the mic'ed cab track and some times have just mic'ed the cab only. In my sig the bass is my American Standard Jazz into and SVT 7 pro and 410HLF. Mostly mic'ed cab but there is some of the amp's DIed signal.
I spent a lot of time trying to get great bass tones in GB. Different equipment, pedals, presets, etc. I was going crazy.
The best results I get are without any presets or pedals.
Start with a plain GB instrument track. To make sure it's not "dry" in tone, I use is a Tube DI box (Ampeg SVT DI with a Telefunken 12AU7 tube).
Bass > Tube DI > MBox interface > GB.
The cleanest, "non-dry tone" in, gets me the best results, then I can use the GB AUGraphicEQ later if necessary.
The best results I get are without any presets or pedals.
Start with a plain GB instrument track. To make sure it's not "dry" in tone, I use is a Tube DI box (Ampeg SVT DI with a Telefunken 12AU7 tube).
Bass > Tube DI > MBox interface > GB.
The cleanest, "non-dry tone" in, gets me the best results, then I can use the GB AUGraphicEQ later if necessary.
I tried the direct route through the mic input on my iMac and it stunk up the place up. Next went direct with the Digitech BP355 USB through GB (set everything in iMac preferences and it was ok). Finally, I broke down, spent countless hours on the internet reading about "in the box" recording and purchased a digital interface.
I got the Focusrite Saffire Pro 24 DSP: why?
1) great internet deal and met my requirements
2) Firewire
3) comes with a bundle of SW and DAW (Ableton Live)
4) incredible mixing opportunities
5) easy to configure and route the input/output signals
5) clean/distortion free
6, 7, 8, 9, & 10) FIREWIRE.
I got the Focusrite Saffire Pro 24 DSP: why?
1) great internet deal and met my requirements
2) Firewire
3) comes with a bundle of SW and DAW (Ableton Live)
4) incredible mixing opportunities
5) easy to configure and route the input/output signals
5) clean/distortion free
6, 7, 8, 9, & 10) FIREWIRE.
You can select the Sound Recorder (this might not be the name, sorry) setting from 'instruments'. It's the one that looks like just a microphone. You'll have to tweak the settings to get it to recognize the interface as your input instead of the microphone.
