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P bass sounds terrible

alex1fly

alex1fly

Feb 5, 2008
789
1,209
#1
Been playing bass for around 15 years, mostly live, mostly with a trusty Fender P. Love it live. In recordings however, my P sounds terrible. Fat, bloated, mushy, takes up way too much sonic space, dynamics are inconsistent. Just really displeasing sound, very unlike the live sound which is beautiful. I end up rolling the bass volume down and plucking very softly, which works but loses the flavor I love so much about the P. Any tips for cleaning up the P to sound good in recordings?

I go direct, or use a sans amp, or use a Fractal modeler. Flatwound strings (La Bella/TI), standard tuning, Fender Original 60s pickup, music style is funk/jazz/rnb, fingerstyle and palm muting.


My J bass is much friendlier plug-and-play with recordings. But it’d be great to use the P as well.
 
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#4
Use the J.

Check your input gains on the interfaces for the P bass. You may be overloading your inputs. Check your gain staging as well.

Open the tone knob so that you get the full sonic range on the P.

EQ and compression can likely solve part of the issue in post, but you can also do this at the input stage.

But I mean....use the J. If it records better, it records better. Save the headache. (Or try a different P.)
 
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#8
juggahnaught said:
Use the J.

Check your input gains on the interfaces for the P bass. You may be overloading your inputs. Check your gain staging as well.

Open the tone knob so that you get the full sonic range on the P.

EQ and compression can likely solve part of the issue in post, but you can also do this at the input stage.

But I mean....use the J. If it records better, it records better. Save the headache. (Or try a different P.)
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Got it. I hadn't thought about running the tone at 10 and doing pre EQ to bring down the highs. And I do have to run the volume at 8 when playing live otherwise it distorts so maybe I should lower the pickup.

micguy said:
No - it's just that the reputation of P's is that they're the epitome of recordable basses.
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Thanks, I'm just trying to solve my specific problem of having my favorite bass sound like crap in recordings.

Jay Corwin said:
Where is your tone knob?
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I generally roll it down to about 6, to where there's just a hint of the high end.

RattleSnack said:
Who is producing these recordings, is it a pro? Is it the same person always?
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Semi-pro. Often me, sometimes a bandmate or other jam buddy. I know what I'm doing with recordings generally, but this bass has me stumped enough to come here and ask for help.
 
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#9
I generally have my tone rolled down a good bit for my live rig, but I've found this isn't always great for recording. That's especially true for DI recording. It can sound great by itself, but gets mushy in the mix. You might want to try just adding more of that punch back in to see where it gets you. You might not dig the tone soloed this way, but it's really how it mixes that you are concerned with.


Coincidently, when I can't hear my self well on gigs, I reach for my tone knob before I reach for the volume on my amp. That however took me about 20 years to figure out!

Also - foam mute.
 
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#11
alex1fly said:
Got it. I hadn't thought about running the tone at 10 and doing pre EQ to bring down the highs. And I do have to run the volume at 8 when playing live otherwise it distorts so maybe I should lower the pickup.



Thanks, I'm just trying to solve my specific problem of having my favorite bass sound like crap in recordings.


I generally roll it down to about 6, to where there's just a hint of the high end.



Semi-pro. Often me, sometimes a bandmate or other jam buddy. I know what I'm doing with recordings generally, but this bass has me stumped enough to come here and ask for help.
Click to expand...

You probably don't need to do anything with the pickup. What is more likely is that at some point, your signal going to your DAW is too hot. This might be at the USB interface, or it could even be the output settings on the Fractal. -12db is a good place to be for recording purposes, but presets can be much hotter than that for live use. The lack of headroom is likely what you're hearing in your recordings (and the reason you're having to turn down the volume at the guitar to compensate).

Check your gain staging for this bass. With the tone knob completely open (no attenuation) you should get a clear signal that sounds like strings being plucked on a guitar (not muddy or distorted frequencies), and you should get this even when you play accents and pluck hard. That's the clear signal that you want.

(If you use the Fractal as a USB interface, check that your presets are outputting in at around -12db. You want the headroom.)
 
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#19
Richie Se7en said:
Yeah, plus the fact that about half of the studio guys record with a P ;)
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“Facts” like this are posted all the time, with no actual backing. I’m sure in the 50’s and 60’, When Fenders were the only real game in town, that they had a huge share of the market in the USA (There are many counter examples elsewhere, including Mr McCartney) but nowadays? I wouldn’t argue if you said that most studio guys have a P in their collections, but as to the percentage of use…until someone does real research, it’s all hearsay to me.
 
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#20
Thanks all. Answers below.

Gravedigger Dav said:
I would guess it isn't the bass, but the audio engineer.
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Definitely. The bass sounds great in venues/rehearsals. Nothing better. The engineer (me) needs to get his act together.

39-Bassist said:
What amp are you using?
If you really love the tones live, does your amp have a post direct out?
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Fender Rumble 500 head, or my Fractal FM3 into a power amp. Both have the option to go direct out.

Killing Floor said:
Or mic it? Then if it sounds good live and still sounds bad on tape it might be your interface or your your board settings. P basses don't make a lot of trouble.
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I'd consider this, is there much learning curve with micing a bass? I have some basic SM57/SM58s but not much else.

lermgalieu said:
What exactly do you mean by this? What interface are you using and what preamp does it have in it? IMO, this could be part of the issue - you need the best signal possible going into the box.
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My interface is either a Behringer UMC404HD with a built-in Midas preamp (at home), the Fractal FM3 which can record either via USB or by sending audio to the interface, or the Sansamp DI with and without speaker emulation. I've also recently recorded into a bandmate's Behringer X32. All versions sound a little farty in the mix and it's been challenging to dial that out. We always end up switching bass guitars which works for the song but it'd be nice to know how to work this P into a good recorded sound.
 
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