Your 'Must Have' Studio Gear?

[twangchief]

If you walk into a studio and the engineer insisted on you using only your bass (...and of course a patch cable), what other piece of gear would you insist on using?

Just getting an idea of how many bassists let the engineers do their magic with a direct box or tend to prefer a certain piece of gear (...compressor, preamp, etc...).

Cheers!

 

[i_got_a_mohawk]

If it was an engineer i knew was good, i'd be fine going just from my ray straight to board.

However, i would quite like to try recording to a mic'd up vintage ampeg fliptop!

 

[tdogg]

IME i dont listen to producers when it comes to my tone any more. my warwick into my DEMETER into the board works wonders

*i should add that the last "professional" producer i worked with got arrested for heroine posession like 2 weeks after i worked with him

 

[lamarjones]

I do what the engineer/ producer says if its a project they are leading. Period. I try to show up with a p bass as well.

I'll hook up my rig if they want to get the amp miced as well as DI, but half the times they just want the DI.

If its my own project, then whatever, but I'll always listen to what they are saying, I didn't hire them to be ignored. I also don't try to hire guys that I think don't have a clue.

 

[NickyBass]

I'm a big fan of the Ampeg B-15n mic'd and a Countyman DI. I feel that the amp is more important than the bass. I prefer older J basses in the studio, but will play anything that has strings that works for the particular project. I also prefer not to change basses too often. Of course it all depends, but generally I like to have a consistant tone from track to track.

Then again, what I want doesn't matter all the time. I think the one thing to have in the studio is an open mind.

 

[tdogg]

I do what the engineer/ producer says if its a project they are leading. Period. I try to show up with a p bass as well.

I'll hook up my rig if they want to get the amp miced as well as DI, but half the times they just want the DI.

If its my own project, then whatever, but I'll always listen to what they are saying, I didn't hire them to be ignored. I also don't try to hire guys that I think don't have a clue.

yeah i think i just had a bad experience

 

[bluestarbass]

I'm a big fan of the Ampeg B-15n mic'd and a Countyman DI

Id probably cite that as the most reliably good bass setup ever. Ive gotten slightly better tones, but not without lots of tweaking, a countryman DI and an ampeg b15 just does it in the studio.

 

[4Mal]

IME i dont listen to producers when it comes to my tone any more. my warwick into my DEMETER into the board works wonders

*i should add that the last "professional" producer i worked with got arrested for heroine posession like 2 weeks after i worked with him

I try to work with folks that don't talk smack and don't do smack ... ya know I have *some* standards ...

I've migrated from tone zealot to the flat and uncompressed DI'ed approach. At home I run

bass > Radial DI > Digi 002 R
> Navigator >Digi 002 R
So I get two lines in paralelle. Both are flat, neither is compressed.

That gives me or someone else more options at mix time.

I don't own one yet but I'm going to snag a Radial re-amp box soon. that way I can record direct & dry, then later send the signal out to a small isolated tube amp and play with mic placement while not having to play the part at the same time... I can't ever see me going back to mic'ing an amp often. I can definately see me using SVX and mic'ing once in a great while.

Nice to have the options though ...

 

[Japanoak]

The place i've been goin to has a sweet Batt Tube DI box.. it sounds great. bass>batt>70's Kustom amp(sounds pretty good)>board or whatever he's runnin. I like the sounds i get. The engineer is a bass player as well so he knows whats up.

 

[RuinerSeverhead]

If Ruiner walks into a studio - and there is no Scrotum Smasher - Ruiner walks out.