Is the room important for recording bass?

[crguti]

If you use the close mic technique with a directional mic, the room has very little impact on the sound captured by the mic. So, as long as there's little refrection from the back and there isn't a 'node' in the mic position, micing a bass cab could be done in any room with some absortion material around.
What have you done? share your experience. Thanks.

 

[Michael B]

Or go direct. In studios where they could have mic'd bass we always went direct.

All of the videos for recording bass I have seen, the engineer will say "the bass player had a nice rig we mic'ed up. But we also go direct and apply a nice compression. This gives us more options later (wink, wink).

 

[two fingers]

I have recorded two tracks often (mic and line in). A couple of times we made a makeshift chamber by putting the mic a few feet away from the cab and draping a blanket between the amp and a chair just behind the mic. It dries up things nicely.

 

[Bodeanly]

"You don't need to bring your rig. We have an Ampeg blah blah blah and a vintage Fender Bassmuh blah blah."

I show up and am like: "Which amp am I using?"

"We're just gonna run you direct."

In short, I have never had to worry about the room, but I can't wait for the day that I do.

 

[Nev375]

I prefer going direct actually. After going through the hassle one day of getting my amp set up and mic'd and getting some cuts that were fine. I tried a SansAmp the next day and got even better results faster and I got to sit in the control room and record while listening through monitors instead of headphones.

YMMV of course.

 

[ofajen]

The room is the enemy when recording bass. Hence the usual practice of recording direct.

That said, I have managed to get usable bass tracks solely with a miked cab, and I don't mike close. Last time I did that, I think I used a Beyerdynamic M130 bi-directional ribbon.

Otto

 

[FrenchBassQC]

I have recorded only one time with an amp and a cab, every other times it was direct and most of the time I was sitting in the control room. Kind a like this actually

 

[buldog5151bass]

Most times I've seen bass recorded direct. Unless the studio has a B-15 or something...

 

[silky smoove]

The room is the enemy when recording bass. Hence the usual practice of recording direct.

That said, I have managed to get usable bass tracks solely with a miked cab, and I don't mike close.

I find myself agreeing with all of your studio posts.

The room is a major problem for anything with low frequencies. A well treated room is your friend, an untreated room is not. Plenty of great tracks have come from terrible rooms, but if you have the budget, time and ability, do yourself a favor and treat your room.

I also don't like to close mic bass. I'm always a minimum of 12" out from the grill, sometimes more depending on the sound I'm going for. Even with a mic like an RE-20, the proximity effect is too pronounced when close mic'ing bass cabs for my taste. Get it out in the room (a good room) a bit and things tend to sound much more natural to my ears.

 

[Timi]

Unless there's major issues in the room you should be fine that close. Sofa cushions around the amp can help with mid/high reflections if needed, and if you've got weird stuff in the low end move the amp in the room until you're happy. If you want to mic from further back you might run into problems, you can only try it and see.

Have made many records with mic only on bass. Many people prefer a DI and that's fine, but it's a different sound.

 

[Frenchy-Lefty]

Ideally you track the amp and go direct at the same time so that you can choose later or mix (checking on phase issues obviously). You indeed can get some amazing results with a Sansamp BDDI if you know how to adjust it.