Need help recording with my Warwick Fretless

[Papersen]

Hi everyone.
A couple of weeks ago I recorded some tracks for our band upcoming album. One of them is a ballad that I always imagined recorded with a good fretless. So, earlier this year I bought a Warwick Corvette Std. Fretless mainly based after reading lots of reviews.

We`ve got a simple home studio gear, and I recorded the bass this way:

Bass ---> Console (Behringer 8 tracks) ----> Waveterminal Pc sound card.

The final sound is just Ok. I find it a bit dull, and without good presence. IMHO it needs more warmth and presence.

I gave it another try at home, with this setup:

Bass ---> Aguilar DB 924 -----> Pc Sound Card
Sounds better, but not much.

My bass teacher came yesterday and suggested I`d obtain better results this way:

Bass ---> Ampeg B-100R -----> Shure SM 57 (micing the amp) ---> Aguilar DB 924 (have no other pre or console at home) ----> PC sound card.

I know there are better options, but don`t have access to any other hardware at the moment.

Do you think I`ll obtain better results this way ??

Thanks in advance.

 

[JimmyM]

You might, you might not. Only one way to find out.

 

[Big Benner]

Can you record two seperate channels at a time, perhaps one direct and one mic'ed?

Another thought - I can't mic up anything in my apartment so I have a couple of options.

1 - put the stereo headphone jack(dual mono or same signal out of both Left & Right) from my BOSS ME-50B into the stereo Line In jack on my sound card. I then record 2 seperate tracks at the same time. I then leave one dry and compress the other, EQ one and not the other, add some Chorus to one and not the other, etc. Try it and mess around with it.

2 - I plug the bass into my SWR SM900 head and take the FX send into the Right channel of my sound card. I then take the unaffected (dry) signal from the Tuner Out on the SM900 and put it to my ME-50B and take a line out to the Left channel of my sound card. Mess around with the EQ, Compression, FX, etc., and record both tracks onto seperate channels at the same time. Mix and blend the 2 channels during mix down to get many different sounds.

I think the 2 channel compression trick is great, one channel slightly compressed (2:1) and the other channel heavily compressed (5:1). If fully panned was 100% then pan both channels 25%, just slightly off centre and put the levels at -1db when both parts are at their loudest.