Bass EQ

Heard a interview a while ago where he said he uses a 1176 on Bass, and also Decapitator(Sound toys). That plug can do wonders. Little Gem

IME, i use a simple formula when it comes to bass /kick synergy

big open bass drums 26/24"=jazz bass
small damped bass drums 22"/smaller=p bass

I don't use any other basses.

Great thread, and great responses.

WHAT! MY bass playing could be the problem? Impossible...

Actually, I think you're dead on. BTW - thanks for dropping by!!

This won't help if you're mixing someone else's tracks but when you're doing your own, it comes down to the player. I'm a good friend with a popular NYC session bass player and he plays on my stuff all the time and the knowledge he brings to the table that I never considered is staggering.

First of all, the playing needs to be extremely clean to avoid ringing from the other strings. Ringing can sneak in and cause all kinds of problems, masking and fuzziness - especially once you start compressing. Second, how things are played and on what strings contribute greatly to the sound. I'll show him what I want and he'll take a minute to figure out the best way to to play it for a recording, usually explaining to me along the way. Plenty of times he'll play things that look awkward because he staying on a single string but he'll tell me the tone on that string is better for the recording for that phrase he's playing. Or he'll add technique to back things up - for example adding a quick slide up to a high note rather than just playing it to "add weight" as he puts it, to that note. On the same song he'll play regular and then some things he'll play as octaves. In essence he's balancing the tone and the dynamics of his instrument for me automatically for what will translate best for a recording even though it looks completely awkward for bass playing. In the end, in the track, it sounds like a bass just being played regularly, but the amount of tricks he does to his playing to make it sound like that amazes me.

I know it's not magic bullet advice but it does make a big difference. I usually have no problems getting good results from a mix he played bass on. Just something to consider - experiment with your bass player and try different techniques and see how they translate in the recording. Sometimes just playing notes on different strings creates enough of a tone change that can cause random notes to jump out or disappear.


Regards,
Frank

cowboy, the type of sound you were describing on some Nashville recordings, do you know what the signal path was on any of them? It would be cool if we knew exactly how a certain bass we liked was done. That might help us get to the bottom of this.

Oh, I just remembered something, a long time back, I did a quick demo of a song I wrote that went to Willy Nelson. My friend had a 16 Tk. Tascam that he'd just gotten for his office, and little else, (he's in film and media) . I borrowed his original 60's Jazz bass, or whatever year the most desirable Jazz Bass was made. When I played on the track, I sounded pro, real pro, kinda like what cowboy was referring to. So, now that I remembered that, I can say that the tone of the bass itself is a big factor. Add in playing skill, and then some good processing, you get good sound.

I bet there's a few tips and tricks that would help, but a great player on a great instrument is key. Then, how to record and mix that is what's left.

Hmmm.. Bass Rider? Never heard of it, and so I looked, and it's sitting in my Waves folder, gotta love that. I'm gonna ry that next time I get some tracks going. Thanks wiz ! I use Waves vocal rider sometimes, even with my LA2, it seems quite transparent.

This song is nothing special but I plugged my bass into a Presonus tube preamp then straight into an Alesis USB board then into Reaper 32 bit. It's not too bad considering the whole hardware chain is only worth $300

I'll second this. Great credits man. Nice variety.

Yeah, Reid's kind of a big deal!

I use Decapitator on EG's all the time too.

Each style of music will have different needs from your bass track. A number of things need to be dealt with on the front end. Here are a few of the things I have been doing lately when tracking bass.

Tone, attack and overall vibe come from tracking. No matter what style you are tracking, recording the harmonics is a huge part of getting the bass to not be lame. Trying to get rich harmonics from a sterile bass track is really hard even with the thousands of saturation and harmonics plugs out.

I almost always use at least a VP312 DI into a ML into my LA 2A. This is a fantastic sound for any style with tons of flexibility. In many cases this is all that is needed. I have also started to split the signal and run it into this little tube DIY preamp/proto thing I built and run that into some other compressor or pedal for the extra harmonics. I don't always eq it depends a lot on the style. But if I do eq its usually a neve type of eq or a pultec.

Most the time I am using a Tonesmith bass I built a few years ago when I was still building guitars. That bass is really hard to beat. A great bass makes it a lot easier. If you are dealing with dead notes up and down the neck it will be really hard to get a great sound.

Also, try playing with a pick or moving your right hand towards the bridge. Stuff like that really makes a huge difference when looking for attack and clarity.

In the box Decapitaor and Sansamp are nice on bass. But getting the tone and even playing on the way in is a must!

I almost never record a bass amp anymore for many reasons.

Just turn on the radio if you want to hear them. If you want to read them hear ya go.

www.allmusic.com/artist/reid-shippen-mn0001006887