/ Register

  1. Search results will be severely limited for the remainder of Thursday. A corruption forced us to rebuild the search index. Reindexing is in progress but will take several hours. Thank you for your patience!

Recording distorted bass... correct forum?

Discussion in 'Effects [BG]' started by HamInChains, Jul 2, 2003.

  1. Jul 2, 2003 #1
    HamInChains

    HamInChains

    Oct 9, 2002
    San Diego, CA
    I apologize in advance if I've posted this in teh wrong forum. I'm sure the moderators will correct me. Anyway...

    I plan on recording in a few months and I use a lot of distortion in a few of my bands songs.
    What is the best way to go about doing this? I searched the forums and couldn't find the answer I was looking for.

    This is my gear and situation:
    I use a Stingray and my amplification is an SWR intellar Overdrive pre-amp and powered by an Ampeg SVT Classic. I run all that through an Ampeg 810E.
    I WANT to retain the beefy distorted tone that I get out this set-up. Past attempts at recording have sounded like watered down, high pitched annoying fuzz. Another problem is my use of chords w/distortion. Is there any way to record distorted bass chords without having them come out like poo?

    Can anyone recommend any kick ass distored bass songs/tracks I could check out for reference?

    Thanks for your help!
     
  2. Jul 2, 2003 #2
    fclefgeoff

    fclefgeoff Supporting Member

    Jan 3, 2002
    Illinois
    Try recording a track direct "clean" and a second track micing your cabinet with the distortion. Then mix the 2 tracks to get the desired effect. This works for me pretty well.

    EDIT: this should probably go in "Recording Gear"? or possibly "Effects". I'm glad I'm not a moderator because I wouldn't know where to put it!
    :meh:
     
  3. Jul 2, 2003 #3
    ConU

    ConU

    Mar 5, 2003
    La Belle Province
    Record your tracks clean,using a direct box and add distortion after.Depending on what the studio has,recording your clean tracks back through tube amps can sound killer.If not record it back through your amp.Trick is to keep an open mind,recording distorted bass,that works in the mix is tricky,you might not get the sound your used to hearing live,but you might get something better!
    (I'm not that familiar with the Interstellar,but I'm betting it may be too noisy to use in the studio,and the engineer is gonna hate it.;)the reason it sounded thin before probably,you have to gate the crap out of it to get rid of the noise )
    For chords,do an overdub an octave higher,clean with a pick then balance the 2 in the mix.It usually sounds great.
    It really is the open mind thing,recording this type of bass,it's rarely gonna sound exactly like you want right away.It takes alot of tweaking and experimentation.