Bass is the backbone of your music, and in many cases the whole metaphorical house would collapse without it. Your bass should work with the rest of the band to provide a punchy and tight solid backbone to your music. In this article, we'll get you up with bass tips for recording & mixing.
Bass is the backbone of your music, and in many cases – particularly with more modern styles – the whole metaphorical house would collapse without it. Lou Reed once put the importance of bassacross rather well. I wouldn't want to hear Beethoven without beautiful bass, the cellos, the tuba. It's very important. Hip-hop has thunderous bass. And so does Beethoven. If you don't have the bass, it's like being amputated. It's like you have no legs.
Just like building a house, it's essential to build on solid foundations. When done correctly, your bass should work with the rest of the band to provide a punchy and tight solid backbone to your music. Unfortunately for the beginner, recording great bass can seem like a dark art, with many results sounding muddy or unbalanced. Thankfully, like most things, it's easy when you know how. In this article, we'll get you up and running with great results, fast.
Recording Bass Guitar? Start Here
It goes without saying that you need a great bass player to get professional results, but it's equally important to set up your instrument first. As described in our post aboutrecording acoustic guitars, we highly recommend you invest in setting your instrument up properly before doing anything else. As an absolute minimum, you should check the instrument action, its intonation, and consider a string change. Finally, and most importantly, always tune the bass before and between takes.
There are 3 main methods for recording bass guitar: 1. Recording direct using a DI box, 2. Using a Microphone, 3. Using a combination of direct and microphone techniques.
Unlike electric guitars, it is common to use a DI to record bass. Although this technique delivers a good solid clean sound, it can also lack life. If you want to capture a more 'real' sound, there's nothing quite like micing up a bass cabinet. DI's, however, do have other distinct advantages.
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If you do decide for practical or budgetary reasons to use a DI on it's own, the result can be greatly improved by processing the signal using amp simulation software. Amplifier and Cabinet modelling software has come in leaps and bounds over recent years, to the point where even the stock options with programs like Garage band can reproduce very convincing results.
For those that have the luxury of a great sounding bass amplifier, the best and most characterful results can be achieved using a microphone. The most important factors when choosing a mic for bass guitar are: (a) frequency response and (b) how well the mic handles high sound pressure levels (SPL).(a) It is desirable to have a frequency response shaped specifically for bass instruments, meaning it has a strong low-frequency response, with a scooped mid and a presence peak around 3-5KHz.(b) When it comes to high SPL levels, dynamic microphones will typically perform best; however, this does not rule out condenser mics entirely...
As determined above, dynamic mics work great for bass guitars. On the flip-side, they also impart their own particular sound on the recording thanks to their strong, tailored frequency response. For those who prefer a more natural sound, it's worth considering a condenser mic; just make sure you keep the bass amp to a sensible level and consider using a pad if the signal is too hot. A pad can be enabled at the pre-amp or even at the mic if your model has this feature. Pads will typically allow you to attenuate the signal by 10 - 15dB.
Recording An Electric Guitar
There is no one size fits all solution here, so it's essential to experiment with position and distance. Listen carefully to determine what sounds best for your application.
First up, try experimenting with mic position relative to the speaker cone. Just like electric guitars, you can easily achieve a bright or warm tone depending on where you place the mic. As a general rule, positioning the mic toward the speaker cone edge will produce a warm tone while pointing it directly at the centre will give you more 'bite'.
Secondly, microphone distance from the grill will also affect the tone. All microphones are different, so listen carefully for changes using a pair of good quality headphones. As you move the mic further away from the grill, the tone changes from a very dry, focused and non-reverberant tone, to a more natural and ambient sound. The other consideration here is proximity effect, whereby the bass frequencies become more accentuated as a directional mic moves closer to the sound source. Engineers will often exploit the proximity effect to thicken up guitars, but you might find that bass guitars benefit from a little breathing room; somewhere between 4 - 18 inches will usually work depending on preference.
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Often overlooked is the floor surface. For example, if you place the amp on a solid floor, the reflections will result in a brighter tone than that of an amp placed on a carpet. Keep in mind that the further your mic is from the amp, the more significant floor and room reflections become. Generally speaking, a microphone placed further away from the speaker grill will be more representative of the overall amp and room sound. In other words, it will sound more natural. Depending on the style of music you're recording, this may, or may not be desirable.
By far the most commonly used polar pattern for recording bass is cardioid. In short, their directional pickup allows for greater rejection of room reflections or other instrument sounds. On the other hand, they also colour the sound more - most notably through the proximity effect described above.
If you want to avoid the proximity effect and capture a more natural tone, consider using an omni-directional polar pattern. As we described in our Recording & Mixing Vocals article, omni-directional microphones will produce a more 'natural' or 'open' sound, but they will also capture more reflections. If you have a great sounding room, some natural reverb can be desirable; however, for most home or project studios, it is far safer to tame room reflections and add reverb during mixdown.
Playing/recording The Bass Guitar
Many engineers will insist on using a combination of mic and DI techniques to record bass. A blend of the two allows you to get the best of both worlds. In fact, some engineers will even record up to 3 or 4 tracks for the bass, usually featuring 1 DI track and multiple mics. For example, you could usea specialised kick/bass dynamic mic up close alongsidea condenser mic placed further away and then combine this with a DI signal. When mixed together, it can be possible to arrive at a more diverse range of sounds suitable for many styles of music - just make sure you check the phase relationships between these different channels. The key here is to be patient and don't be afraid to experiment. Different bass guitars, amps and the room itself all call for a different approach. The import thing is to trust your ears, and remember that if it sounds good, it is good.
In the vast majority of cases, getting a great mix starts with the relationship between your drum tracks and the bass. It's essential to get a good groove between the kick, snare and bass to build the foundations we talked about at the beginning of this article. Before you start any mixing, listen carefully to the groove and timing between the drums and bass. In many cases, the performance can benefit from a little tightening up. This process typically involves cutting, moving, and in some cases, time stretching some notes. Modern recording software has come a long way toward assisting or even automating this process; however, I find that some of this automation can remove the feel of your performance altogether. If you want to preserve the human element of your performance, try and keep editing to a minimum. Sometimes, the best way is to manually locate and edit the offending notes. If you find yourself having to make a lot of changes, it might be better to consider re-recording.
The key point to remember here is that something has to be the main reference point for timing. In the vast majority of cases, the reference point is almost certainly the drums. Listen carefully and assess the relationship between the kick, snare, and the bass; they should work very closely together to form the backbone of your track. If they don't, everything else you do after will be in vein.
Recording Electric Bass: 10 Quick Tips & Techniques For Capturing The
Once you are happy with the final performance, you can begin considering how the bass sits within the overall context of your mix. The following are typical processes to consider:
Where you choose to boost or cut EQ on a bass guitar is essential to producing a controlled and clean low-end within the context of your overall mix.
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