I need help. I love the bass guitar and now that I am doing the recording I am not willing to lose the it in the mix. I have a Fender Jazz Fretless and a Peavy P-bass copy. I am recording on a Tascam 8-track which uses half-inch tape. Keeping a lot of low end in the bass guitar is less important to me than actually being able to hear what the fuck I am playing. I dig the bass sound on Bauhaus records, Mick Karn's solo stuff, and Bruce Thomas's work on Elvis Costello's records. I am willing to spend so if you can recommend gear or just micing techniques I would love to hear what you have. - D

oh i can't remember what those bass sounds sound like in particular.

but i would ask how you're recording the bass right now.
are you going d.i. or micing the amp?


what kind of mics/outboard do you have access to?

I don't know what they sound like at this time either...

Personally, I always DI the bass, for the finger noise, and then mic the cab separately and mix them to my taste...

In mixing, I start to do a roll off at 100hrz and move up from there depending on the sound you want. I find If I don't roll off the low end, The bass just sounds like mud. I like to boost the mids a little so it has some clarity...

If you have the ability to compress freqs, I like to add a little to the low mids to tighten things up.

But what the fuck do i know... i'm still learning..

Thanks for the tips. I cannot wait to try them out. As for gear I only have the cheapest: ARTpreamp, Sure 57,58, AKG drum mics, Carvin low freq mic, and lots of Behringer stuff. I am using my Fender Jazz fretless more and more and it seems to be easier to record than my fretted bass for whatever reason. Oh, and my bass amp is a solid state Ampeg combo with a single 12" and a little tweeter I removed because it was buzzing too much. - D