Elusive Slap Bass Tone

[ADosjky]

Hello, everyone. I'm hoping someone can give me some pointers. I'm trying to record a slap bass part using a Fender Jazz bass direct input.

But I have no idea where to even start really.

Any help would be appreciated.

I'm just after a clean sound that cuts through without being muddy.

Thank you.

 

[paulears]

Well - I suppose it's down to the player to a huge degree - I prefer bridge pickup, tone all the way up, and my 5 str JB sounds OK, but only just OK. It's got too high an action for good slap, so I'd swap it for my other 5 or even the 6 string basses because they have a lower action and make a better slappy sound. Then - once recorded - I'll tweak the EQ to make it sit with what else is in the track.

 

[Paul999]

I agree with Paulears and would add that once the instrument is dialed in and you are getting the sound in the room you need, then you have to decide how "percussive" you want it to sound. Compression will be critical with slap bass. You can use a transient designer to get the attacks you want and I will typically use a parallel channel to get the release I want out of this type of bass sound. I may even make a third channel to control sub lows.

 

[audiokid]

The Transient Designer from SPL Audio is excellent. The hardware version is a bit nicer (faster and a bit cleaner) but both hardware and plugin are excellent for dialing in super cool attacks with that slap sound. The Transient Designer is also awesome on snares too.

 

[Link555]

I am, in love with my Transient Designer UAD plug in, very cool and useful tool.