Bass FAQ's

[I_got_a_mohawk]

Mmm, nordies are nice

[suicidalsid]

i read somewhere about splitting the signal with a DI so you can have overdriven bass mixed with the clean direct bass which retains the low register stuff that keeps it bassy.

advice pleaseeeeee.

[GaryM]

Originally Posted by suicidalsid

i read somewhere about splitting the signal with a DI so you can have overdriven bass mixed with the clean direct bass which retains the low register stuff that keeps it bassy.

advice pleaseeeeee.

I don't know how you would use a DI to do that. What you could do is put your fuzz effect in an effects loop that lets you blend, say 50% wet and 50% dry signal. Or better yet use a crossover to split your signal by frequency and only fuzzify the high-end.

[suicidalsid]

couldn't you do it with this DI...

http://www.behringer.com/DI20/index.cfm?lang=ENG

[GaryM]

Originally Posted by suicidalsid

couldn't you do it with this DI...

AUDIO TECHNOLOGY - AUDIO SOLUTIONS - ULTRA-DI DI20 : Professional 2-Channel DI-Box/Splitter

Well that could take the output from your bass and send it to the two balanced outputs on the DI box, which is great if you are going to two channels on a mixer and plan to effect one of them. Less great if you are just dealing with a regular bass amp.

[suicidalsid]

These are my (unorthodox?) intentions...

Bass guitar - DI splitter - Channel 1 to Tascam US-122 - Channel 2 the same but through Double Muff - recorded on seperater tracks, then mixed down to one till i get the blend i want.

So no bass amp involved.

Could this work??

[suicidalsid]

Or no mixer for that matter either so effect inputs isn't really an option for me unless I use plugins with software which I'm trying to avoid.

I guess i'm aiming for a poormans version of this

http://www.tech21nyc.com/bassdriver.html

[I_got_a_mohawk]

Originally Posted by suicidalsid

Or no mixer for that matter either so effect inputs isn't really an option for me unless I use plugins with software which I'm trying to avoid.

I guess i'm aiming for a poormans version of this

TECH 21 NYC - BASS DRIVER DI

Ive got one of those , Not really a fuzz pedal tho, its a beefy overdrive !

You can record the way you are doing it, just remember to play about with the levels. Sometimes you can get minor phase issues tho, but thats usually only if you have a pile of effects on the effected side.

If you are wanting a poor mans version why not get this :

MUSICAL INSTRUMENT AMPLIFICATION - STOMP BOXES - V-TONE BASS BDI21 : Bass Amp Modeler/Direct Recording Preamp/DI Box

Thats essentially modelling the BDDI, and you should be able to get it for under 30 squid

[mrlizard]

Originally Posted by suicidalsid

i read somewhere about splitting the signal with a DI so you can have overdriven bass mixed with the clean direct bass which retains the low register stuff that keeps it bassy.

advice pleaseeeeee.

recorded or live?

recorded, i usually blend the di with a mic on the cab, you have to watch for phase problems though, usually one's that can't be cured by flipping the phase (polarity)

Aligning the peaks of the waveform and shifting it back and forward a couple of ms till i like the sound usually does the trick for me. if mic'ing a bass cabinet is out of the question then blending the di'd signal with an amp modeller like guitar rig is another option. Where ever you read this advice i presume they were talking about recording bass guitar

Problem people usually seem to have with bass when recording is they want it to be super dooper bassy, bass doesn't really need a whole lot below 100hz or its gonna fuck with your bass drum. This depends on the style of music as well, with rock the kick usually has most of the sub, with metal the bass is usually lower because the guitars are downtuned, so the bass dominates the lower frequencys, to make the kick audible it has to be all click.

It doesn't have to be as clicky as is fashionable now, but bands hear it and say WE WANT THE KICK SUPER CLICKY. It gets exaggerated to the point that everyone's sick of it, in ten years everyone laughs at the records for having the stupid super clicky kick thing in exactly the same way as people laugh at 80's production now.

Live, i usually use just a di, i like using a mic on the cab as well but its usually not practical, especially not in small venues where you can quite clearly hear the sound the bass cab is making anyway (unless its a crate, then you hear a bear getting raped)

If you are talking about doing something like this with your amp, theres plenty of amps that allow you to blend in a more gainy signal, but using a DI wouldn't work in this situation.

p.s. sorry i just read the lower post, you are talking about recording, yes, that would work, but distortion usually sounds better through a cab, if thats not practical try some sort of cabinet emulation, even a pod would do an ok job. DI'd distortion sounds like killer bees. sorry for the epic post.

[I_got_a_mohawk]

Sooo many great points covered there!

I'll have to agree, from my limited attempts at it, mic'ing a bass cab well is a pain in the arse! Especially if your DI-ing it too.

And ill have to agree with the bass not being too bassy part too, ive also made that mistake when recording before

Also, your pointing out to use emulation? Definatly! a pod or what-not tho? I'd disagree there, if you can get your hands on GuitarRig2 or even better the Ampeg SVX VST, then your in buisness!

[mrlizard]

Originally Posted by I_got_a_mohawk

Sooo many great points covered there!

I'll have to agree, from my limited attempts at it, mic'ing a bass cab well is a pain in the arse! Especially if your DI-ing it too.

And ill have to agree with the bass not being too bassy part too, ive also made that mistake when recording before

Also, your pointing out to use emulation? Definatly! a pod or what-not tho? I'd disagree there, if you can get your hands on GuitarRig2 or even better the Ampeg SVX VST, then your in buisness!

yeah, i wouldn't advise using a pod really, but you can get passable results with them and lots of people have them kicking about, liked guitar rig and the universal audio nigel stuff. Whats the SVX VST thing though, i'm intrigued.

Bass is probably the only thing you can make sound amazing with an emulator, partly because you don't have to worry about phase at all and because you don't really need that much gain to make it sound good most of the time.

One way of getting the phase bang on when using a mic is to flip the polarity and move back and forth until it sounds as thin as it's going to sound, then flip it back, it should sound in. Theres probably ways of doing it with pink noise but i don't know where to start. Problem is phase is never going to be bang on, you just have to adjust it until the comb filtering effect you get is right for the song.

[GaryM]

Originally Posted by mrlizard

Whats the SVX VST thing though, i'm intrigued.

A plugin by IK Multimedia (the folks who did Amplitube) that models Ampeg bass amps and cabs.

KVR: IK Multimedia Ampeg SVX - Virtual Effect

[I_got_a_mohawk]

Originally Posted by mrlizard

yeah, i wouldn't advise using a pod really, but you can get passable results with them and lots of people have them kicking about, liked guitar rig and the universal audio nigel stuff. Whats the SVX VST thing though, i'm intrigued.

Bass is probably the only thing you can make sound amazing with an emulator, partly because you don't have to worry about phase at all and because you don't really need that much gain to make it sound good most of the time.

One way of getting the phase bang on when using a mic is to flip the polarity and move back and forth until it sounds as thin as it's going to sound, then flip it back, it should sound in. Theres probably ways of doing it with pink noise but i don't know where to start. Problem is phase is never going to be bang on, you just have to adjust it until the comb filtering effect you get is right for the song.

Like GaryM said, its by the people who did the Amplitube VST, but its all Ampeg models, sounds really good IMO ( sounds much better than the bass models on GuitarRig2 and regular Amplitube )

The way of sorting phase problem is ingenius! Easier to notice whats not there than what is!

[mrlizard]

Originally Posted by I_got_a_mohawk

The way of sorting phase problem is ingenius! Easier to notice whats not there than what is!

Always worth doing when you've got more than one mic on a source as well, like a guitar cab, measure the distance and move back and forth until you've got almost total cancellation with the polarity reversed on one mic.

Here's a thing, why is the phase button on a desk called a phase button when it flips the polarity?