Newbie needs equipment advice

[whatlolawants]

I have an Ibanez 5 string bass, my MacBook Air, a usb interface to connect bass to MacBook (looking to replace maybe?), Studio One 4 for recording. I Mohave someone helping me a little bit, but their help is very sporadic.

I have things set up as above when I record my bass line to Studio one, however, I am interested in using analog pedals as opposed to changing my sound digitally (as the person helping me prefers). I would prefer to record my tone the way I like it, not recording clean to have this person digitally create my tone. I am not sure how to set this all up, though. I currently have a Randall pedal (I believe it was the precursor to Helix) but again, want to record my tone in my tone, not clean to make a fake digital tone.

Looking for advice on how to do this as well as asking if the way the other person that is helping me is the way I should go as he suggests.

Any and all comments welcomed.

 

[filmtex]

Here's how I would handle it at my studio. Take the output from your bass into a DI box. Run the Low-z output, the 3-pin one, into one channel of a USB audio interface. Then take the 1/4" hi-z output, the thru output, into your analog effects chain. Take the output of your effects into the other channel of your USB interface. Record both inputs. That way if you decide, sometime in the future, that you really aren't fond of the effected channel, you still have a dry track to work with. This is, IMHO, a professional way to do it. YMMV

 

[DirtDog]

You can send the output of your pedals directly into your interface. Bass -> pedals -> interface.

Doing so “prints” your pedals’ effects to the recorded track; that *may*constrain things down the road (when mixing, for instance). Be gentle if you use an EQ or compressor pedal.

Use @filmtex ’s method if you want to record a “dry” signal along side your effected (“wet”) signal…to two separate tracks.

 

[Basslice]

Here's how I would handle it at my studio. Take the output from your bass into a DI box. Run the Low-z output, the 3-pin one, into one channel of a USB audio interface. Then take the 1/4" hi-z output, the thru output, into your analog effects chain. Take the output of your effects into the other channel of your USB interface. Record both inputs. That way if you decide, sometime in the future, that you really aren't fond of the effected channel, you still have a dry track to work with. This is, IMHO, a professional way to do it. YMMV

+1: This.... No need for me to elaborate.

 

[seamonkey]

Yes, always get a clean DI track too.
You can always re-amp it later. Play it back through your effects pedals and record the output from those.
You'll get a chance to ride the controls during the re-recording. It's like the effects are breathing during parts of the track. Just - Like the pros do.

 

[whatlolawants]

Thank you so much for all your input. I will begin working with this info and will post questions as they come up

 

[mike buzzetti]

The DIGITAL that you talk about IS the sound you hear all over the place in recordings , it is very different from 10 yrs ago, the plugins are WAYYYY better , most FX used on bass are compression and EQ all can be dome IN THE BOX ( digitally ) very well , for analog FX print them on a separate track like said above , you are new to this so keep your EARS open , is it SOUNDS GOOD it is GOOD ! forget all the other crap.

BTW you will need a DI box like Radial or Countryman

 

[J-Mags]

You can send the output of your pedals directly into your interface. Bass -> pedals -> interface.

Doing so “prints” your pedals’ effects to the recorded track; that *may*constrain things down the road (when mixing, for instance). Be gentle if you use an EQ or compressor pedal.

Use @filmtex ’s method if you want to record a “dry” signal along side your effected (“wet”) signal…to two separate tracks.

That's what I do. I actually use the direct out from my amp, and if I'm using pedals, I run them into my amp, but if I don't have my amp handy, I'll just use pedals into my interface. I think it's helpful to commit to the sound you like early. Last time I recorded I had to try out palm-mute, foam-mute and open versions of some of my parts. Then I made a decision and deleted all but one palm-mute pass and one open pass.

If you don't like the way you sound, record another take that sounds better. It's probably quicker than messing with the signal chain.

If you're going direct from your fx to your interface, you can also try using any stereo FX pedal to split the signal into a wet and dry signal to send to separate inputs on the interface. Just make sure that your two signals are in phase when you mix.

I generally limit my in-the-box FX to EQ and compression, although I'll occasionally make a very high-passed copy of the part and put fx on it.

.