I’m in the mix D.I. signal with the mic‘ed signal team. Getting a great bass sound out of that at the practice space. As for home recording, these days I’m simply using the Bogren BassKnob: STD plugin. Sounds pretty good to me! Funny enough my Beyer M320 was in 200$ range when I bought it, but yeah, M88 or MD421 do the job too! Also I’m using the Sound Radix Auto Align plugin to align the 2 signals.

RyanZ wrote: Sat Feb 25, 2023 10:33 am So I've been laying down some funky ass bass lines (insert Infectious Groove ref.) for a new set of songs. I have finally got my bass/Sansamp/interface dialed where I've got a really balanced clean DI signal. The problem is now that I am into mixing the bass is almost too smooth. I am probably going to re-amp the signal because i want the bass to be be a bit more snappy/aggressive (think Naked Raygun.) What are your techniques for achieving this (either at tracking or mix?)

I've had decent luck reamping through a little practice amp, OD pedals but looking for other ideas. Anything ITB besides EQ to try? has anyone ever put a little gate on a bass to tamper sustain? Is that stupid?

If you're chasing a specific sound, nothing is stupid, it's all about what you are wanting to hear. It is a new one on me though which is fun.

What you're describing is actually an expander. I think a good analogy might be that a limiter is an extreme compressor and a gate kind of an an extreme expander.

To stay in the box, most gate plug-ins have ability to dial that ratio back. I'd probably try doing it in parallel with the original signal...and you could even try a separate eq on that and hi-pass out all the mids and below to get as much of that attack as possible. Not sure if you'd put the expander before or after the eq in the signal chain...probably after I'd think...but try it either way I reckon.

RE20 or M88 are most flexible. M380 is the king of deep bass.

I like miked bass better generally, but there's plenty of DI bass on our recent records. It's easy to go direct and get clean, deep bass...pretty easy to get totally roached, processed bass...less easy if you want something with character that is between dead clean and totally saturated.

The plug-ins I've heard (I am no connoisseur) still don't seem to deal with the initial impulse and the decay of instrument sounds that well, which is why guitar amp sims sound kind of lame if the sound is not super glassy or super distorto, and things like organs or sustained strings are pretty convincing. I'm sure I can be fooled, but it still seems easier to just mic up electric guitars and more dynamic bass stuff.

I've tried a lot of things but to me a Beta 52 just sounds pretty much like what the amp sounds like, so I kinda stopped experimenting a while back. M88 is good too, but to me add a weird mid bump that can or can not be flattering. D112 doesn't work for me at all... on anything really. I dont mind a cheapo ribbon but if I do that i'll mix another mic like a 57 or a SDC with it. Usually just grab the Beta 52. If I take a DI I pretty much always use a Rusty Box on the DI path.

I should be asking questions, not answering them, but I’ll touch on my experiments

For roundwound bass/Ampeg V2/Mesa 1x15 I have gotten good results with
some combination of almost any mic I have - RE20/421/D112/4033/Pro 37. It usually sounds ok and then you put an LA-22 on and it pops out.

What’s fucking me is the beautiful flatwound sound coming out of my Ovation Magnum. It’s got a bridge mute you can use to just barely touch the strings and all the sudden its Journey in Satchidananda in the room

Except when I try to mic the Ovation, something falls flat. I think its because most of the upright I’ve heard is jazz from the 50s -70s, and I believe the room is a much bigger component in that sound. When I record it with a couple close mics in a small room is more hollow and just doesn’t really translate. It absolutely doesn’t bloom.

I’ve had this issue come up on another recording - in the room the bass did a lot for the overall sound and you could definitely tell when it dropped out and came in, but recorded it barely sounded like they were doing anything at all. Of course they were playing light to begin with, and in a context where maybe they could have hit it harder, but if your amp can do a lot of heavy lifting and you can pull off the sound it can be cool. It’s just not a sound that translated well in that setup, especially when the bass is soundchecked and mic’d as though it’s being played much more aggresively

Maybe I’ll try to stick a ribbon on it and the sound I want is right there, but really I think everything I record is going to be a fight until I’ve been working on records at least semi-regularly for years

From the "Ugly Duckling..." corner, I've actually had a Blue Kickball wind up doing a halfway decent job on bass amps a couple of times. Not even sure that it is currently in production, but it could be worth a try if one comes up for something reasonable used.

421

Thanks for all the rad suggestions friends.

I think I found something that I like yesterday for this project.
Bass->Sansamp->split =>out to interface, and also into my Sunn Beta preamp pedal (slightly driven)-> Marshall lead20 1x12 practice amp.

Mic'ed up the amp with my Cascade Vinjet ribbon and an e609 about a foot away

The blend is super nice with the Sansamp and the Vinjet. The e609 is a bit thin but, messed around with the UAD Pultec plugin to beef it up a touch. I will sub that mic out next time around with the RE20. I love the sound of the strings, pick attack and the rasp of the driven amp with the warm DI signal.

llllllllllllllllllll wrote: Mon Feb 27, 2023 7:53 pm What’s fucking me is the beautiful flatwound sound coming out of my Ovation Magnum. It’s got a bridge mute you can use to just barely touch the strings and all the sudden its Journey in Satchidananda in the room

Except when I try to mic the Ovation, something falls flat. I think its because most of the upright I’ve heard is jazz from the 50s -70s, and I believe the room is a much bigger component in that sound. When I record it with a couple close mics in a small room is more hollow and just doesn’t really translate. It absolutely doesn’t bloom.

I’ve had this issue come up on another recording - in the room the bass did a lot for the overall sound and you could definitely tell when it dropped out and came in, but recorded it barely sounded like they were doing anything at all. Of course they were playing light to begin with, and in a context where maybe they could have hit it harder, but if your amp can do a lot of heavy lifting and you can pull off the sound it can be cool. It’s just not a sound that translated well in that setup, especially when the bass is soundchecked and mic’d as though it’s being played much more aggresively

Maybe I’ll try to stick a ribbon on it and the sound I want is right there, but really I think everything I record is going to be a fight until I’ve been working on records at least semi-regularly for years

The answer might be right there. Have you tried combining a close mic w/ an ambient mic & possibly in a larger room if you have one available? Would probably try a ribbon or condenser as the ambient mic. Some of those very inexpensive MXL ribbons are quite dark and might be just the ticket for low-dough.

I kinda lucked into having a very fancy bass around my apt that has active pickups. I'm now sorta convinced that for DI sounds, active bass sounds much, much better than passive. Maybe it's just this bass? Anyway, the UAD ampeg SVT sim that comes as a freebie with any/all UAD interfaces sounds really, really good to me and takes pedals really well. I like the rusty box more than the sansamp bass driver, but they're both totally cromulent. The rusty box into the SVT sim sounds particularly good.

FWIW, the sE V7X (not to be confused with the V7) is essentially a $100 M88 clone. They sound good in all the same places an M88 sounds good, definitely worth a punt if you don't have an M88 and don't want to buy a $400 mic. I have a 421 and anything it sounds good on, the V7X sounds equally good or better (imo).