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| GryMlock |
 Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2005 2:20 pm Post subject: Need Help on Recording Bass |
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Joined: 24 Nov 2003
Posts: 3699
Location: Agombak Ago go!
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weih tolong skit.
macamana nak set kan EQ ke compressor ke .. supaya bunyi bass tu tak berdengung semacam. wooongg woongg woong. kalau EQ, kat mana tempat yg sepatutnya aku cut? pasal aku dah try2..end up cutting banyak gila yg lows.. sampai bila bass tu petik high notes.. dah terbunyi cam guitar pulak.
any tips? guidelines? articles/tutorials available on the net? Aku dah search skit.. tak dapat banyak yg usefull, and skrg pulak not that free to go around and baca semua yg dapat dari google search tuh. So kalau sapa2 yg tau.. bantuan anda amat di hargai.
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| Erylasia |
| Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2005 7:13 pm Post subject: |
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| Mixboy2105 |
| Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2005 2:27 am Post subject: |
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Joined: 21 Oct 2005
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Location: Kuala Lumpur
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Can you describe your recording method for bass?
Do your mic up a bass amp or do you go direct?
Actually, the problem with hearing the bass "berdengung" is most of the time due to the room that we are listening it from. Unless, you are in a recording studio, the bass response in an average bedroom is very uneven sometimes it varies as much as 30dB!!!
So even if you use EQ to make it sound great in your room, when you listen to it in the car or at a friend's place it will sound totally different from what is sounded like in your place.
The best advice I can give, is to invest in a good pair of speakers and do a little bit of acoustic treatment for your room. There is no point in setting EQ and compression, if what you hear fromth espeakers is not accurate at all in the first place.
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| GryMlock |
| Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2005 2:50 pm Post subject: |
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Joined: 24 Nov 2003
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dude, I plug the bass to the Amp, but I didn't mic it. from the amp out...goes directly to the PC audio card. I get better level this way comparing to by just pluging the bass straight to the PC. cannot do miking lah.. my neighbours are mostly family with small kids. nanti kena parang.
when i listen to commercial CDs, some do has a bit of dengung in their bass which I just mark that level of dengung as...the "ok dengung level" as reference. but when I try and do the recording.. I just can't get the bass sounded good without not having the acceptable dengung.
from the EQ aku curve down freq yg belah2 kiri tu hehe. sampai la tak dengung sangat. but then bunyi bass pulak kurang bassy.
ini ler masalah aku skrg. or i can just point to my bassist and say.. lu main tak betul ah. hehe.
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| Erylasia |
| Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2005 3:18 pm Post subject: |
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| Bassmaster |
| Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2005 3:24 pm Post subject: da bassicks first!! |
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Joined: 14 Apr 2005
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Bass is frequently recorded direct - meaning plug the cord straight into the board. Some folks like to add a little compression to bass.
Another technique is to place a mic in front of the bass cabinet and record the sound of the amp, or to split the signal from the bass and record both direct and through the amp.
Again, experiment to taste. Amp sounds will normally have more attack and "character" while direct sounds will normally have more "roundness and fullness". A combination of both sounds can be very nice.
A handful of tips
* Keep the bass tone controls flat (full on everything if it's passive, centered if it's active). You can't create sound in the mix that wasn't recorded in the first place. Although lots of (us) bassists generally prefer a deep sound with limited highs, you need it all on tape; you can cut the highs during mixing.
* A bass track that sounds good when soloed is not appropriate for many mixes. You often need to cut the deep lows (150Hz and below): the lows can swamp the playback equipment, and the lowest stuff doesn't even get reproduced in cars, boom boxes and small stereos.
* When the fundamental of a bass signal is missing (as with cheap playback systems), the brain uses the even harmonics to synthesize the impression of hearing the lower fundamentals. For example, if you have a good 164.8Hz overtone, the listener will "hear" the low E two octaves down at the 41.2Hz fundamental. You don't need perfect reproduction.
* Boost 1-2KHz to get the fret noise and finger overtones. These may sound ugly when soloed, but they'll add articulation to the bass in the mix.
* A general point to remember when EQing is not to always boost, which can cause overloading and distortion. Try to achieve the desired boost by cutting everything else and bumping up the level.
* Speaking of distortion, sometimes that's what's needed to wake up the bass. Run the clean track through an effects unit to add a little. Use an amplifier simulation if you've got one, or feed the track into a bass amp and mike that during the mix.
* If you've got a drum kit in the mix, make sure that the kick and bass aren't in the same area of the spectrum. Use your ears or an analyzer to check.
* Add some compression (try going for about 5dB of gain-reduction on most of the notes). Adjust ratio and threshold for roughly this gain reduction. A medium release time, say about 0.5-1 seconds should work well, but first try the compressor's automatic (or medium) settings. Compression will allow you to tame the note peaks while "filling in" the decay of the notes. Extreme compression will turn the bass into an organ-pedal sound. (Apply compression after the EQ section).
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<b>uzefull urls
http://www.silver-dragon-records.com/recording_bass.htm
http://mixonline.com/mag/audio_lowdown_bass_recording/
http://www.prorec.com/prorec/articles.nsf/files/C05204C8DC2968B78625665000797D4D
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| huzai |
| Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2005 3:24 pm Post subject: |
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| Mixboy2105 |
| Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2005 5:28 pm Post subject: |
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Joined: 21 Oct 2005
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It has to start with a good instrument. The rest is just a matter of EQ and compression.
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| Jeff |
| Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2005 7:28 pm Post subject: |
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hmm, i think the problem u might have here is the same problem i had when i first started recording bass, which is : Play it first, then find the sound later through EQ-ing, i figured out that that sort of recording methods gives plenty of headaches.
I use a direct setup, which goes bass ->tube preamp ->mixer -> PC
I dont use EQing during recording, only compression, the bass sound is pretty good as it is... i fit the bass sound to that particular song by pickup selection... however, it gets some EQ boosts and cuts sometimes during mixing, and these frequency which get boosted or cut depends on how I treat the entire audio mix, whether the bass is going to be a dominant element in the song(or that particular part of the song), or jsut jerking around in the background...but with that said, the general frequencies for the bass are -
50Hz (Q=1.4) - increase or reduce for 'boominess' . I dont usually go this low..im still tring to figure out how to let the kick dominate this area without sounding messy (ala Abe Cunningham).
100Hz (Q=1 to 1.4) - sensitive area in a mix, but well worth boosting during recording to find that hard bassy sound ur looking for if your sound doesnt cut it. (you can leave the headaches to the sound engineer  )
400Hz (q =1 ) - boost to add clarity to basslines during listening in low volumes. In a mix the bass will probably be knocking heads with the toms here.
800Hz(q=1.4) - Add a bit here for more clarity and punch..sometimes a decibel is enough here.
1.5 Khz -3 Khz (Q = 1 to 1.4) - boost to get pluck from the bass. I usually boost this here during basslines which require picks, but i recently noticed that my Fender's sound lives around this area.
5Khz (Q = 1.4) - boosting here will help get more finger sound on ur bass, but use with caution, as this frequency range basically belongs to the Vocals and/or Guitars. Going to 7Khz sometimes work.
Recording on bad speakers leaves alot of guessing work on ur part, so i suggest some experimentation of recording basslines on ur own setup then checking it on some other speakers...u might need some adjusting on ur speakers after that but getting them to sound good on 2 out of 3 works fine for me  |
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| Erylasia |
| Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2005 8:10 pm Post subject: |
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| GryMlock |
| Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2005 8:24 pm Post subject: |
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Joined: 24 Nov 2003
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aite, thanks for answering such a newbie question. I'll play around with it some more. but at least now with mr Jeff's posting, I'll know what I'm doing with those EQs rather than hantam2 saja.
FYI the bass I'm currently using to record is coming out from Sam's bass.. warwick apa entah. and another is from Kluk2's .. forgot what was the bass name but it has build in effects .. there're two switches on the body to toggle the effects.
I'm having trouble doing the warwick though. serba tak kena.
using amplitube will help a lot but I'm kinda trying not to rely on amplitube too much.
if u guys have any more tips.. sila lah berkongsi ya? thanks!
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| Jeff |
| Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2005 9:12 pm Post subject: |
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Warwicks are damn good bass, pretty expensive too..on par with Spectors i think in terms of low end range. That could be your problem, i think they have active pickups so might be ur overloading the input signal..or maybe the extreme low end isnt coming through so well and could be gettting distorted therefore muddying everything up... a compressor might help there, with some slight EQing of the low end..ko try la tengok camne
hmmmm....Sam? Warwick Fortress yang ada sticker jamiroquai dekat headstock? Sam dulu LICT tu ke? if its him then aku pernah pinjam siot untuk show kat melaka. |
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| GryMlock |
| Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2005 11:26 am Post subject: |
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Joined: 24 Nov 2003
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Location: Agombak Ago go!
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hehe ni Sam CTP ah.
tulah jeff.. kalau pakai bass satu lagi tu.. that funky bass apa kenama tah. macam tak banyak hal pulak. Yg Warwick ni lah. macam sedap bila bunyi bass tu sensorang saja.
oit Ery.. ko kan rajin ngetest.. bass baru ko apa citer? dah berjaya mengrekod ke?
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| Erylasia |
| Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2005 12:25 pm Post subject: |
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| GryMlock |
| Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2005 12:32 pm Post subject: |
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