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Double Bass Recording with a David Gage Realist

mrgoodbass

mrgoodbass

Supporting Member
May 9, 2006
694
307
California
#1
Looking for suggestions as to recording my carved/warm sounding with a David Gage Realist pickup.

Is direct to board OK?

Would a direct box such as Radial JDI be a good thing?

Are there mic's that work well with the Realist?
 
#7
Yes.

PS... at some point, the engineer will most likely suggest taking a direct out "just to be safe". :confused:

You have the collective permission of everyone here to punch his lights out at that point.

Pickups are for live sound reinforcement, if you choose to use them in that situation. They have no bidness in the studio.

IMHO.

PS... one good way to avoid all of this is to remove the pup when you do a session. No arguments at that point.
 
#8
it's true, direct is awful. last time i was in the studio, the engineer tries to plug in direct, and instantly i told him that micing the bass would be more than enough. however he insisted saying that he would only add a little into the mix. when i went to pick up the recording, i put it in my car, and was instantly thrown into a fit of rage. it sounded so muddy and undefined. if anything, i'd suggest (if your recording live off the floor) to mic your bass (atleast once if not twice) and then run through your amp for a monitor for yourself and your bandmates. if you feel the sound from your amp is natural as well, try micing the amp along with the bass itself. i have done it with my phil jones super flightcase, and it sounded great
 
#9
j.stemmler said:
if anything, i'd suggest (if your recording live off the floor) to mic your bass (atleast once if not twice) and then run through your amp for a monitor for yourself and your bandmates. if you feel the sound from your amp is natural as well, try micing the amp along with the bass itself. i have done it with my phil jones super flightcase, and it sounded great
Click to expand...

NNNNNOOOOOOOOO!!!

Leave your amp at home. A mic on the amp is just as bad as direct.

Look. There is no 'right' way. But if your goal is to capture the sound of your bass rather than the amp or pickup then put a mic on your bass and play. Simple as that.

The engineer doesn't create your sound. You do. When they are blending a bunch of different signals the control is in their hands not yours. I'm an engineer so I know what it is like. You want fail safes.

I did my last record with all of us live in the studio. In one room. No cans. No iso booths. No amp. sax, piano, DB, drums. RE20 on the bass. That's it.
 
#12
mrgoodbass said:
Looking for suggestions as to recording my carved/warm sounding with a David Gage Realist pickup.

Is direct to board OK?

Would a direct box such as Radial JDI be a good thing?

Are there mic's that work well with the Realist?
Click to expand...

Asking the questions no one else has...are you actually going to be in a real studio or someone's basement with your buddy who just bought a Protools rig as "engineer"? And are you going to have access to good microphones or not? The Gage has a better than even chance of actually sounding better than a cheap mic under less than pro conditions.

mark
 
#17
Marcus Johnson said:
Sounds like heaven. Why mess with that?

Maybe we were born too late. Too many options.

Good post Marc.
Click to expand...

The nice thing is it seems more folks are going that way for jazz. Most of the more avant stuff here is done that way. There are even a few people that I know that do the 'set up in a circle around one mic' thing and get it happenin.

As we all know though the key is with the players. Everyone, including the bass, need to balance acoustically with the group.
 
#18
j.stemmler said:
sound from your amp is natural as well, try micing the amp along with the bass itself. i have done it with my phil jones super flightcase, and it sounded great
Click to expand...

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!
That is NOT your sound. If you like it, cool.

Not IMO, there is NO natural sounding amp. At least with a PU. Period. This is a fact. They do not exist.
 
#19
I disagree. I usually use a stereo pair of mics in front of the bridge. And take a a direct from either a Barbera or Full Circle. I use just a little of the direct with highs and mids rolled off. It gives just a bit more fundamental and a bit more legato sound. The multiple Grammy winning engineer Jim Anderson introduced me to this. It's called cheating. My bass sounds darker this way. More like an Italian bass. The bass I recorded on all of the Patricia Barber stuff is a 50's hybrid Sherl and Roth. Somebody regraduated the top too thin. So the bass is too fragile but sounds great. I've had some amazing basses in the past, but this one records and amplifies better. If you listen to the recordings it sounds like a huge Italian bass. There isn't a hint of direct sound, but it's there. you just don't hear the obnoxious highs or mids. I played a concert opposite John Pattitucci and he had heard some of the recordings and wanted to see my bass. He said, "I wanted to see the bass you recorded on" and couldn't believe that it was this piece of crap bass. My new Golia bass requires less direct in the mix because it is really huge and dark sounding. But I still use just a little. I've had a standing offer from the Naim audiophile recording label to do a recording but have passed because they use only two mics to record the whole group. I've never liked the bass sounds on these recordings. All of the best bass sounds from the best bassists that I have in my head are all close miked. As far as using a Gage pickup direct---I wouldn't---it sounds like crap direct.
 
#20
mrgoodbass said:
So use mic(s) and forget about the gage?
Click to expand...

Ok, you can all trash me, but I think it is a good idea to have a direct track along with the mic(s). It just gives you more flexibility and extra tonal choices to make the bass work in a mix. It can also help to even out an uneven sounding bass. It may not be necessary to use it at all, but then again, with certain styles of music, certain basses and the individual sound a producer is looking for, a pickup comes in handy.

I used a Realist at one recording session and it was ok sounding (don't know if the engineer used it in the final mix), but I never liked it on live gigs except for arco.
 

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