Not really a C/NC and probably belongs in the Tech Room but I didn't see a Poll Creation option and I wanted a poll.

So how do you like to, you know, do it?

Details (signal chain, compression, LPF/HPF, mics you like etc.) encouraged.

DI, eityher straight from my Alembic F1-X bass preamp (home) or an ART PowerPlant guitar preamp (studio). Seriously great tone from the ART. Guitar amps/preamps are always awesome for bass because they have a little rolloff on the subs which tightens the signal up. Just ask Lemmy.
Example:

Along that line...

(Thought this was an interesting look into the details that is "Thread..." relevant...)

Single 15" cab at the lowest volume you can get away with, mics as close as possible to the cone. Lately it has been just a Beta 52 and a cheapo Warm Audio Fet 47jr. But any LDC usually works fine, really. Together they sound pretty great and I haven't used the DI signal at all. I feel like if I keep the bass volume lower, I get a more smooth gradient from low to high notes without weird notes that poke out hard at me. I hate compression, for the most part so I try not to use it much, and if I do, it's like a 50/50 mix with the dry signal.

I had a Fender Quad Reverb that was great for recording really quiet clean bass with a condenser super close to the speaker. Super tight Wrecking Crew tones, and I like a little Spring on Bass sometimes.

ErikG wrote: Tue Mar 22, 2022 5:48 pm Not really a C/NC and probably belongs in the Tech Room but I didn't see a Poll Creation option and I wanted a poll.

So how do you like to, you know, do it?

Details (signal chain, compression, LPF/HPF, mics you like etc.) encouraged.

So...

This reminds me...

Buddy that recorded/had a hand in the "Production..." aspect(Eric Valentine... Goss/Johannes had similar credits, but I got the impression that Valentine did the bulk of the heavy lifting...) laid out the recording of Songs For The Deaf on his YouTube channel.

The drag was that Interscope got that video yanked with a quickness.

From what I can recall, the bass sound on "No One Knows" might have been a "Three Amps..." affair. The thing that was kind of a shock because it made up around eighty percent of that bass sound when you start to think it over?

I think it was either an eighties Peavey Decade or an eighties Peavey Rage not all that loud with a ribbon microphone fairly close.

Thought that one was worth noting for posterity because I get the feeling that video is never coming back to dude's YouTube channel.

I demo ideas with a DI all the time for laziness but my life recording bass has been 90% mics.

Plenty of single SM7 or RE20 times, maybe more often a ldc fet type deal combined with a big dynamic.

Plenty of times there's more compression on the bass than most other stuff. I use a Sta level or my Chandler Neve knockoff often because they each can keep the bass in it's space without weird artifacts.

Recently I've found a parallel overdrive pedal send in the mix can put some nasal/bitey sound to blend if I need more presence in a dense mix.

In my limited experience, I got a better sound from the XLR line-out on the back of the amp (after the bass and all of the effects were fed into it) than direct from the DI/pre-amp/distortion unit (an otherwise nice Darkglass pedal). The latter was noisier and not as useable to my ears, but the line-out which included this pedal and everything else was fine, presenting no issues.

So...a line-out from the back of the amp + a normally positioned mic (I used one without proximity effect) + another mic for mid-side, all mixed and EQ'd to taste sounded pretty good. For a home recording made by a tired old man.

Mostly lean on the mics (typical dynamic + condenser blend if possible), but a direct from the amp's line out can be useful to blend (phase aligned, of course) for more attack and string definition.

Have mostly used DI in the past as it seems to do a better job than any of the limited selection of mics the band has on hand, so at this point it's more out of necessity than being the "favorite way". For guitar, though, even a less than optimal mic is preferred to DI, at least in my experience.

I know... I should just buy the right mics. What can I say, I'm an amateur.

For an actual record, definitely prefer mic'd, sure you can have a DI to maybe reamp later as a little treat, but keep that shit low or out of the mix.

Have gotten good results for demos and practice recordings taking a line out from the Meatsmoke preamp and then adding a cab sim to it in Reaper if I didn't have a mic available.