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What's a good mic for recording bass?
- Thread starter shoe812
- Start date
I love using a RE320 on my amp. It always sounds super clear and always sounds nice and full
A Sure57 is mic you can record anything with. Arguably the best all purpose mic out there. Not too expensive either.
Sennheiser 421 seems to be common when mic'ing bass cabinets. Most studios have a bunch of them because they used to be the regular thing to use for toms. Never cared much for them myself except on the bass cabinet. There also seems to be consensus that the earlier models are better (of course). These are all various eras of 421's...
EV RE-635's are kind of great on many sources...
RE-20's are nice too..
On the more upscale but not necessarily better side of things I've had good results with AKG 414's, Neumann U67's/U87's, and Gefell CMV563's up on bass cabinets and upright bass.
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...and for just upright awesomeness is the little known altec lipstick mic with an omni cap...
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...and if you want massive low end, any of the currently made ribbon mic's with fig 8 patterns will get it for you, just be very careful about getting blasts of air in there, i.e. don't use on vocals without a pop filter and never put in front of a kick drum...
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EV RE-635's are kind of great on many sources...
RE-20's are nice too..
On the more upscale but not necessarily better side of things I've had good results with AKG 414's, Neumann U67's/U87's, and Gefell CMV563's up on bass cabinets and upright bass.
Link Removed
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
...and for just upright awesomeness is the little known altec lipstick mic with an omni cap...
Link Removed
...and if you want massive low end, any of the currently made ribbon mic's with fig 8 patterns will get it for you, just be very careful about getting blasts of air in there, i.e. don't use on vocals without a pop filter and never put in front of a kick drum...
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Stick_Player
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- Nov 13, 2009
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I go DI most of the time, then I tweek with it if it needs it. I just want to capture the sound I'm hearing from my amp on a wave file. I think my main problem is I'm super picky about my sound and I'm trying to get studio quality from the low budget recording gear in my man room.
Sennheiser 421 seems to be common when mic'ing bass cabinets. Most studios have a bunch of them because they used to be the regular thing to use for toms. Never cared much for them myself except on the bass cabinet. There also seems to be consensus that the earlier models are better (of course). These are all various eras of 421's...
EV RE-635's are kind of great on many sources...
RE-20's are nice too..
On the more upscale but not necessarily better side of things I've had good results with AKG 414's, Neumann U67's/U87's, and Gefell CMV563's up on bass cabinets and upright bass.
Link Removed
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
...and for just upright awesomeness is the little known altec lipstick mic with an omni cap...
Link Removed
...and if you want massive low end, any of the currently made ribbon mic's with fig 8 patterns will get it for you, just be very careful about getting blasts of air in there, i.e. don't use on vocals without a pop filter and never put in front of a kick drum...
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Thanks man! That's a lot of info.
In the last 2 months, I've used RE-20 on a 1970s era B-15 and and an RCA 74b (a vintage ribbon mic) on an SVT brought in by one of the clients to my room, and a Telefunken M80/AEA 44C on a Marshall Plexi half stack in another studio (yeah, it's a guitar amp, but the producer wanted me to play through it). All worked just fine.
Almost any microphone will work well enough, with a decent pre-amp, and properly "treated" (or tuned) room.
DI (Direct Injection or input) is best. If you don't record with DI, the most important ingredient is the recording space. The larger the space, the better the sound (bass waves are huge!). But room treatment is very important for good bass sound.
Recording bass with a mic is best outside, if you can!
The rest is opinion and/or taste...
My preference is a large diaphragm dynamic mic through a good pre with transformers (mine is a Focusrite ISA428).
The room and transformer make a bigger difference than the mic, IME/IMO.
That Marshall stack was originally intended to be a bass amp!
BTW, Macca recorded some of his best bass lines through a guitar amp, as did Carol Kaye! In that regard, I like the Fender Princeton or Deluxe amps... Sometimes through a proper bass cab, sometimes not.
DI (Direct Injection or input) is best. If you don't record with DI, the most important ingredient is the recording space. The larger the space, the better the sound (bass waves are huge!). But room treatment is very important for good bass sound.
Recording bass with a mic is best outside, if you can!
The rest is opinion and/or taste...
My preference is a large diaphragm dynamic mic through a good pre with transformers (mine is a Focusrite ISA428).
The room and transformer make a bigger difference than the mic, IME/IMO.
That Marshall stack was originally intended to be a bass amp!
BTW, Macca recorded some of his best bass lines through a guitar amp, as did Carol Kaye! In that regard, I like the Fender Princeton or Deluxe amps... Sometimes through a proper bass cab, sometimes not.
Actually, Macca used a Fender Bassman on Rubber Soul and Revolver, augmented with Vox AC-100 and 4120 bass amps. Studio docs show that by Pepper, he was using a mix of amp miking (with an AKG C-12) and DI.
I bought a Heil PR40 for recording but haven't really been able to test out recording with it yet. I have however used it on a handful of gigs, and for live situations it's been a fantastic tool. It's got a nice, even response. and it seems to get a lot of love around here.
I have that mic too and it is indeed pretty killer. Vary the distance from the speaker and you can get some insane low end or a more finely tailored response. It has a nice little high-end sizzle too - it's currently my favorite bass cab mic. Pretty sweet for vocals too IMO.
- The SM57 can do really well, especially blended with a DI sound. The SM57 can pretty much do anything and is indestructible, but a bit honky sounding without EQ.
- Sennheiser 421 is a classic, but very scooped sounding mic.
- Sennheiser e609 is a nice lower cost alternative, similar to the 421 in some ways.
- Heil PR40 - I've not tried this one but people seem to love it.
- EV RE-20 (more flat response than the RE320). This is my "someday" mic. Very neutral sounding with a mellow high-end.
- MXL R40 ribbon mic. This actually sounds really cool, nice and compressed/fat sounding. I've gotten some great results but you have to place it a bit further away as it's rather sensitive.
I generally prefer dynamic mics for bass cab mic'ing. There can be a ton of SPLs depending on the volume so it's nice to know you won't blow stuff up. Depending on how much post-processing you are willing to do you can record with just about anything. Better mics, placement and pre-amps take less work to get a great sound!
Does anyone have any experience with the AKG P2? I've seen these videos around and was wondering if the mic is worth a go.
Could be a cheaper alternative for a dynamic mic, for someone on a budget, if it's worth a damn(?)
Could be a cheaper alternative for a dynamic mic, for someone on a budget, if it's worth a damn(?)
Err... SM57's can be found for $50 on Craigslist. Cheaper even than the $99 plus shipping for a P2.
I use an EV RE20 for miking bass cabs, or if I want to get some of the room, I also use a Rode NT1A.
Miking bass cabs is a matter of trial and error and really depends on the tone you're after. I also like to DI and blend the signals, which is why I'm getting myself a sweet Avalon, 'cos i'm sick of turning up to a studio gig and finding they have crappy home made DI's which kill my tone!
Miking bass cabs is a matter of trial and error and really depends on the tone you're after. I also like to DI and blend the signals, which is why I'm getting myself a sweet Avalon, 'cos i'm sick of turning up to a studio gig and finding they have crappy home made DI's which kill my tone!
Absolutely true.
The AKG does have a better low end frequency response however, and might be more preferential when trying to mic the frequencies of a bass cab.
If it's worth the extra money I don't know(?) 57s will definitely be cheap, but the best mic for the job....?
Unless you have some sort of philosophical predilection to use only one recording modality at a time, there is really no reason to think in terms of either/or.
Excellent results can be had by using a DI in combination with a well-positioned, quality microphone. And you don't need to spend hundreds of dollars for a boutique-quality microphone either. Used properly, an ordinary Shure SM57 or Sennheiser e835 will do the trick nicely.
It's only one extra channel on the mixer, dude...
MM
A sensible way to go would be one or two mic's maybe even three, say one in front of your cab/combo and one or two placed in the room AND use DI. So you'll get multiple tracks each with a different feel/tone. Tweak individually and blend to your liking. One mic and the DI should do you good though.
