Question on doing home recording / session work

[micguy]

During lockdown, I did "virtual church services" - for 4 different churches. My rig was my bass(es), my pedalboard straight into the aux in on my Mac Mini (no interface other than what's in the computer), and I recorded my tracks with Quicktime - audio and video. I spent $75 on gear for those recordings, and that was spent on a camera and a couple of cables. 6 months, 26 weekends, I did about 30 sets of music or 100 ish tracks (I got called for multiple churches on a bunch of weekends) that way.

So, find out what the person you're sending tracks to needs. In my case, I didn't need a DAW or an interface. Quicktime was capable of everything the situation needed.

 

[Mannyinnewyork]

Cakewalk by Bandlab is free. Full version too. Great DAW.
Limited tracks, but very powerful is Cubase LE free from Steinberg. I have the AI version, and it's great. Many studios use Nuendo, and it's very similar.

Yes. I’ve been a cakewalk user for almost 20 years. Good solid daw. Limited only by the person using it. In my case, pretty limited but I’ve heard tracks that were absolutely killer. My version has unlimited tracks.

 

[ThudThudThud]

Yes. I’ve been a cakewalk user for almost 20 years. Good solid daw. Limited only by the person using it. In my case, pretty limited but I’ve heard tracks that were absolutely killer. My version has unlimited tracks.

It's a little 'clunky' for me as I've been using Steinberg for so long, so I'm not as familiar with where they put certain things, but from the time I have spent on the free/full version it seems solid as a rock.

 

[N. Kentucky Bass]

Good advice above. One point not made is about the input signal. Unless it's a creative situation where you're giving someone else an idea of how the bass should sound, your product should be the 100% pure tone of the bass without "rolling off" any of the signal or boosting frequencies in any way. This neutral starting point gives the mixing engineer maximum flexibility to sculpt the bass tone in post as needed by the song. It's harder to do that when you provide a "baked in" version of the bassline.

Another tip: usually they'll provide you a backing track to play against, which usually starts with a measure or so of clicks to queue your entry. After your recorded bassline is ready (and while the backing track and bassline are lined up in your DAW), copy the count-in and paste it onto the beginning of your bassline. When you provide the recorded WAV file to the mixing engineer, the clicks in your track will make it breeze for him/her to line it up in their DAW. For example: (backing track above, bassline below)

 

[DirtDog]

Hi TB Folks,

I'm playing at home most of the time these days...

My end goal is to get to a point where someone could send me a track to play bass on.

At a minimum - I know I need this, right?

• Bass
• Audio Interface
• DAW / Recording Software

I know you can mic an amp, I think I'll just go direct for now until I really know what I'm doing.

Do I need ProTools or some crazy software to be able to record tracks for people? Or just open the track in whatever DAW I'm using, then record the bass, and then send the solo bass track back to the producer? I've been playing for a long time but this side of things is new to me.

The brand of DAW is irrelevant. Choose one that suits your workflow. But if you’re on a Mac, you really can’t beat Logic.

You will be sharing WAV files. Just ensure that you’re using consistent sampling/bit rate when sharing (eg. 48/24 bit). Any modern interface will support that. Older interfaces may top out at 44.1/16, so just be aware of that.

when sending you bass tracks back, you’ll want to bounce down an effected track (amp sim, eq, compression etc baked in) AND an uneffected track. This allows the mix engineer to tailor the sound as needed. It’s unlikely that the destination DAW has all the same plugins as your DAW and/or would be difficult to recreate. Your effected track might work fine but it might not. Mix engineer will likely be applying signal processing to your bass track anyways. Give them an option to use either.

 

[vvvmmm]

Note to self (and for me, no disrespect to anyone): stop reading informational threads after, say 20 posts, as they just start repeating (ex., post 13) ...

 

[lowerclef]

Another option not yet mentioned is a digital multitrack recorder. I've used Reaper for years for remote session work, but recently picked up a Tascam DP-24SD used for a great price. I used it with great success on a recent remote project for a client, and plan on using it extensively in the future. It's dead easy to use and sounds great.

A potential drawback is that it won't record above a 48k sample rate. I know there are artists out there who record at 96k. In that case, you'd need a DAW setup. But I've never come across that with any of the artists I've worked with. It's always 44.1k or 48k, which the recorder handles beautifully.