• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

what to do?

E

elplatanazo87

Oct 21, 2008
73
0
#1
I searched and i really couldn't find anything, So I'll post my setup.

I'm using an Ampeg SVT CL head, through an Avatar b410 cab.
My instrument is an Epiphone thunderbird. I plan on recording via Mic and Direct. Now the question.

I recorded before with out the D/I Box, so my preamp was non existant. But throught the mic I ended up getting nothing but pure tone. Nothing muddy, nothing too clattery. Pure tone, to the point where it was louder then everything. My guess is to use less bass when recording, and focus more on gain/volume control. Am I right in doing this? Or show I just set up the EQ of my amp differently?

I play rock.

EDIT: I just purchased my D/I box and will be using it soon, It didn't come with any instructions so give me some details on how to use the thing haha.

I bought that livewire passive D/I box
 
#3
I'm not sure I fully understand what you're asking here but with a passive DI you will plug your instrument cable into the input and then run a mic cable from the xlr output on the DI to the input on the mixing board. You should also be able to use the 1/4" output to go to your amp if you also want to mic that while your recording.

Now for the mic volume, you should adjust the gain on the mic input on the board to set the proper recording level and if it's too loud in the mix than you can use the fader on the board to adjust that level.

Hope that helps.
 
#7
I'm sorry my descriptions are always out of wack. No I dont think my D/I is a preamp. What I was saying was that I initially recorded with out one, and my signal sounded really weak. Now I use one, and its much better.


My question was what settings should I use for my amp, simply because all I got was "Pure Tone" and I needed to drastically reduce a lot of the bass, to the point where it was still too much.
My settings on my amp

Gain: 2 o clock
Bass: 3 o clock
Mid: 2 o clock
Freq: is on the 4th option
Treble : 1 o clock
and master is set at around 9-10 o clock

I'm using a kick pedal mic to record with it. and the d/i box.

The tone on my bass is set on flat, with both pickups all up.

I guess if i got nothing but pure basstone i was doing something right, but when I was EQing I had a lot of trouble because it simply overpowered everything. The low end, was that crazy.

I'm really a newbie who's been blessed with an amazing studio, but my father doesn't know anything about rock music(he does hisanic music). So what do I do guys? how do I go about this?
 
#8
I would record both signals, set your amp to how you like it to sound when you play live or practice with, before you start recording when you are setting levels to tape (or whatever DAW you are using) listen to what your bass sounds like from the mic you are using, if you like great use it, if you dont like play around with different mic positions until you are satisfied, if it still doesnt help then adjust the amp slightly. Once you get a workable sound from the mic on your cab and you blend the DI signal you should get a really great sound on tape. When it comes to mix down you will want to blend them so that you dont only get the lowend tone from the mic but you will also want to use the DI signal to help you cut through in the mix...
 
#9
Setting an amps knobs for the best miced recording usualy requires very diferent settings than what you might prefer when simply playing.

This is one reason pro recording studios usualy have a separate (sound-proofed) mixing/monitoring control room from the cabs location. Sometimes they'll have the amp head sitting right in the control room (with a long speaker cable to the miced cab in another room) so they can actualy hear and adjust what their recording and not hear any of the actual cab sound.

This isn't usualy practical for home recording so your usualy down to making a series of test recordings and then playing them back to see how it sounds with diferent settings. I'm guessing that you'll need to make some drastic cuts to your amps bass knob and possibly boost the mids more than you'd normally prefer for just playing.

Your kick mic (and its location to the speakers) is most likely boosting the low frequencies your recorder is capturing.
Many dedicated kick drum mics are designed to really boost certain frequencies some people desire with kick drums. I've never realy liked using these for micing bass cabs for this reason. If you have access to most any other decent quality mics, I'd experiment with those too.

Most dynamic mics (non-condenser type) have whats called the "Proximity effect". (more info here: http://www.google.com/search?source...US_enUS221US222&q=microphone+proximity+effect)
This causes them to really boost the low frequencies anytime there used very close to the sound source. So experimenting with diferent mic locations is a really good Idea too.

You can always EQ/cut bass when your mixing down but I've always found its much better to capture the actual sound your going for as you record instead of using EQ to try and corect major problems later.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back