Recording bass

All Those Yesterdays

Whats been working for you folks when recording bass lately?

kigcat

a mixture od mic`d enclosed cab and a touch of di`d signal

mccreadyisgod

I always combine a cabinet mic and a DI. The balance of the two kinda depends on the track, the bass, the DI, the mic, the tone overall... but always a blend of the two.

goto_l

what kinda system are you recording on? If you have a ton of available tracks, then mix things up, if you are really limited than go DI. You can always change the mix, but not the recording.

afarid

I recorded my bass directly through my MBOX, and it came out awesome. I just used a EQ to make it sound a little thicker. But if you have a DI always use it with a amp.

All Those Yesterdays

What brand DI's you guys using. Sansamp?

All our recording is done on 24 track reel to reel. If needed we sync two 24 tracks up (but try to keep things simple, to avoid that, its a lot of mixing).

Originally just did two mics, one on the cab one in the room. That got old. Lately been doing a lot with the Bass pod. Face it I'm a vintage buff, but its way cheaper to by vintage guitar amps then it is bass amps. I do use my Bassman now and then when it works. But the Pod is sounding descent.

A friend of mine who plays out with a SVT and the 8-10 cab, splits the single out of a Sansamp DI, and runs the DI to the board, and that works well live. I might be making the DI plung too.

mccreadyisgod

I use a Countryman DI box for all of my bass tracking. It's just a nice, solid, transparent box. The SansAmp is a great DI, but it has a definite sound that may not be what you're looking for. If you had the $$$, Avalon makes great DI's, but they are pricey. Even a cheap ProCo DI is better than nothing (and the cheaper passive DI's are better for active basses anyways).

A Pod is a good way to go, especially if you're limited on channels. It will give you the strength and punch of a direct signal, but will also give you the warmth and character of a mic'ed amp.

You don't need an amazing amp to use for bass tracking. I used to use an old solid-state Ampeg combo practice amp, and it sounded killer with just an SM57. I recently tracked with an older SVT-III thru a Sunn 6x10" with a Sennheiser 421, and it was an amazing tone. I've been recently considering picking up an Ashdown 1x10" combo practice amp to use for tracking sessions, I played thru one a couple months ago and it was an amazing tone at a managable volume level. I strongly prefer 10" speakers for bass tracking, but there are others who really love 15" speakers instead, it's just an issue of preference.

In a pinch, I've even used my little Vibro Champ for bass tracking, albeit at LOW volume levels (so as to not blow the speaker). But I'd really suggest you look at something like a little Ashdown or Ampeg or SWR practice amp for tracking with, they're not a huge investment and you'll appreciate it, I'm sure.