Recording Bass Guitar
Introduction
What's the one thing that's completely
key to a solid rhythm section, and extremely important in the overall feel
of a song? If you guessed the bass guitar, then you're completely
right. Recording the bass is an often-confusing topic, mainly because
there's so many options. Let's take a look at the easiest way to get a
great, solid bass sound on your recording with as little hassle as possible.
Recording Direct
You've probably by now heard of
recording direct, or using a DI, or "direct injection" box. If your
bass has an active pickup system, you can more than likely plug directly
into an input on your interface. If your bass has a more common passive
pickup, you'll need a DI box. These boxes are a translator of sorts -
essentially line transformers that take a low-level line signal of your
instrument and make it compatible with the microphone-level signal that your
mixer or interface needs.
Recording direct has it's advantages; you get a clean, unadulterated sound
that's really easy to manipulate in digital editing, and it responds really
well to compression and EQ. You'll get a sound that's very true to the
instrument being recorded, and as long as the instrument and the playing
quality are both good quality, you'll be set.
Recording With A Microphone
While recording DI is a really good
idea for many reasons, you'll find a lot of players and engineers that
really prefer a good amplifier sound instead of DI. I recommend the AKG D112
($199) or the Sennheiser E602 ($179), but as long as the microphone has a
really solid low-end response, you'll be fine. Follow the same rules for
micing a good guitar amp: closer to the center of the speakers themselves
for more high end, and farther away to the side for more lows. You'll also
find that you won't need to use as much compression when you record the amp,
because speakers themselves give off natural compression to the signal.
Compressing, EQing, and Mixing
As we've talked about before,
compressing serves several purposes, and the bass guitar is a perfect
example of why compression is a good idea. The bass guitar is a very dynamic
instrument, and there's a lot of techniques that can cause individual notes
to stand out above the mix - just look at a good funk bassist! Add a little
compression, and you'll find that even the most technically-perfect bass
player's sound will even out and become more friendly in the mix.
EQ is subjective; a lot of engineers, myself included, prefer to let the
bass guitar be the only thing really moving (while still not dominating) in
the pre-80hz area. The reason for this is simple: you tend to "feel" the low
end, and that's what makes you feel as if you really groove to the song...
so do you want the element to be static (the kick drum), or dynamic (the
bass)? The bass has musicality, whereas the kick drum doesn't.
Enjoy, and good luck! Remember, every situation is different; the tips here
are a starting point for your project!
