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I am going to record bass. I have a Dean Active 4-String (alder wood with coated flatwounds) played out of a 12" Ampeg bass combo. I will also take a DI signal too. It is in a large 40x20x12 classroom (hard surfaces, with lots of crap in it). The style of music is some kind of indie/reggae/funk.

Here are my input choices:

SM57
Beta52
Cheap Nady Kick Mic
NT1A condenser
NT5 conderser
Avantone Ribbon mic
DI Box

What mic choices and placements would you try first? ( I will also take the DI too.)

I also have the PreSonus Eureka channel strip (pre-amp, com, eq). What mic should I put this on, or the DI?

When I use the Eureka, how much compression would you track with, pre-DAW?

Thanks for any help!
- Mike

Comments

DSPDiva Tue, 10/08/2013 - 10:36

For recording bass, I would skip the small diaphragm condensers since they're not gonna pick up the necessary low end off the amp. Go with the beta52 and if you want, try out the ribbon as well. I would put the 52 on the edge of one of the cones, but get it real close to the amp and then put the ribbon a few feet back. Once you get it into your DAW, you can mess with the phase so they match up. Also, make sure you plug your bass up to the DI, the DI should have a "thru" that you can send to the input of the amp and an "out" to plug into the line input of your interface.

Boswell Tue, 10/08/2013 - 15:37

If you want to put multiple mics through the Eureka, use a re-amping technique. You can record the first mic on the amplifier through the Eureka on one channel while also recording the direct signal though a DI box and a standard microphone input (no EQ or other processing) on another channel. You then play back this direct channel through a [[url=http://[/URL]="http://www.radialen…"]re-amp box[/]="http://www.radialen…"]re-amp box[/] into the amp and record a second mic through the Eureka. Repeat as necessary.

kmetal Sun, 10/13/2013 - 21:31

you can use the mic on both, the drum tuning, overall bass tone, and song key are the areas where you focus on making them work together and not mask each other. Make sure you check the phase of all the bass tracks. you might have to move the mics, or use the polarity reverse button on the eureaka, use a the trim pluggin in PT for polarity reverse, or just slide the tracks. otherwise it'll sound thinner, and less defined than it should. when you look at the waveforms in the DAW make sure there all going in the same direction (up and down) at the same/similar time. if ones going up and the other below is is going down at the same time, your signals are out out phase.

pcrecord Tue, 10/15/2013 - 09:38

ThirdBird, post: 407675 wrote: Any suggestions on how to eq/pan/compress the tracks? Individually, together?

While tracking don't use any eq/pan/compressor. (you won't be able to undo any mistakes)
At the mix time, EQ depends on the signal, panning : bass go dead center... Compressor : only if there's a dynamic problem (momentery peaks or too low notes)

BobRogers Tue, 10/15/2013 - 20:05

ThirdBird, post: 407751 wrote: Do I have to worry about frequency overlap if I use the 52 on kick drum too?

For most people, the room contributes to frequency overlap problems than a decent mic like a 52. Yeah a 52 will have a broad bump at its favorite frequencies. And yes you might have to put in some small cuts to make the bass and kick work together. But its not like a specific resonance or a particularly brittle range in a cheap mic. So, fine, be aware of frequency overlap, but don't worry too much.

KurtFoster Tue, 10/15/2013 - 23:37

it's likely the ribbon will need more gain than the Pre Sonus can supply. you don't say what other types of "inputs" you have to use but the ribbon needs lots of gain.

i also think you are over estimating the "goodulation" the "U-reeka" provides. in reality those things aren't really all that and a bag of chips too.

do the ribbon, the 52 and take a di. check that the phase matches. the "U- reeka" might have a phase switch so it may be of some value. i'd put the "U-reeka" on the di in that case.

Nutti Wed, 10/16/2013 - 23:14

You can also use sidechain compression on bass to get the kick to punch through if the bass is eating it up or carve with eq. I think limitation for this kind of recording is just knowledge. Ive had a real hard time with understanding what to do with the bass once its recorded to get it to sound right, but there are loads of info on the net and youtube with different techniques people use. Learn some of them and experiment, try to find some songs with bass you like and listen to the differences to what you have.

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kmetal Thu, 10/17/2013 - 19:07

i've been splitting the di bass alot, slaming it thru an 1176, and then combining them to one track back into the DAW. hence the sidechain, or parallel compression. i like to get in sounding as finished as possible on the way into the recorder. just my style but i'd preffer to not have 4 bass tracks. it keeps cpu processing down which is a good thing for many reasons, and is a lot more manageble as far as session organization. unless the bass player is really good (most of them aren't) than your probably gonna end up using a decent amount of compression, to keep things even and punchy. if your unsure then just take it easy, but if it's sounding good and vibing w/ the track, and evryone likes it, why not just commit to it, just print a dry 'emergency track'. w/ most bass players play w/ compression already, and something like that is going to effect the sound while the person is tracking, their feel, tone, and how they play along w/ the kick and snare.

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