RyanZ wrote: Tue Feb 28, 2023 12:14 am Mic'ed up the amp with my Cascade Vinjet ribbon and an e609 about a foot away

The e609 is a bit thin but, messed around with the UAD Pultec plugin to beef it up a touch.

Before you give up on it, try moving that e609 a LOT closer. You'll get some beef. In fact, try using it super close for the proximity effect to kick in, and move the Cascade just far enough back to be in phase. Normally I put a close mic on the dust cap's edge, but the e609 is pretty bright and can get harsh with a lot of distortion, so I might try it more mid cone.

Yeah. Also, in my experience the e609 can go from fine to crap easily depending on its axis. Getting it closer will help get it in that sweet spot as well.

But if I had an RE20 I'd probably reach for that instead too.

tommy wrote: Tue Feb 28, 2023 9:51 am

RyanZ wrote: Tue Feb 28, 2023 12:14 am Mic'ed up the amp with my Cascade Vinjet ribbon and an e609 about a foot away

The e609 is a bit thin but, messed around with the UAD Pultec plugin to beef it up a touch.

Before you give up on it, try moving that e609 a LOT closer. You'll get some beef. In fact, try using it super close for the proximity effect to kick in, and move the Cascade just far enough back to be in phase. Normally I put a close mic on the dust cap's edge, but the e609 is pretty bright and can get harsh with a lot of distortion, so I might try it more mid cone.

Thanks for the tip!

mdc wrote: Tue Feb 28, 2023 9:38 am 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).

Thanks for this. Adding to my list.

Garth wrote: Tue Feb 28, 2023 7:58 am

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.

No, at that point I usually just switch basses, but that’s a great idea. I do that with guitar all the time.

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.

Well that piqued my interest. But yeah I think space is an important factor in capturing those long bass waves. I'd personally try a distant mic and maybe blend in a DI signal with a low pass filter (might need to be nudged in phase).

The most consistent results I've gotten is with a mix of mic & DI. Typically it's a D112 slammed to the speaker cone on center. I've enjoyed the E602 as well but it's definitely more scooped and darker... excellent rock bass drum mic though. My 2nd choice would be using a LDC like an AT 4040 instead of the DI, backed off the speaker and more toward the edge. If I had more channels, time, and skill I'd probably utilize a blend of all 3.

penningtron wrote:

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.

Well that piqued my interest. But yeah I think space is an important factor in capturing those long bass waves. I'd personally try a distant mic and maybe blend in a DI signal with a low pass filter (might need to be nudged in phase).

Yes, if you use an ambient mic, you can move that track "out" in time away from the close mic's track until the waveforms line up.

I'd put it on the floor, either an end-firing mic on its side or a side-firing mic on a stand with the top of the mic just above the floor. Steve famously does that for drums. The floor acts as a wave guide for whatever low end is in the room--lines it all up for the mic to catch.

I have a Magnum, v similar amp setup, and we use it in my band. We put a mic with a big proximity bump (Beyer M380) a couple inches from the center of the cone...compress/limit that and there's low end for days.

I like room sound on bass when the mix can handle it, but you may want to go the other way and try that as well.

Also...the Magnum sounds pretty good when run direct. We do that a lot as well. Various plug-ins. There's a track on our new record that I think is straight into the interface 1/4" input with a compressor plug-in on it. Sounds great.

Finally...if you're getting erratic response out of the pickup, the big pickup has 4 (!) coils that are all adjustable via little pots. You can move the output level up and down for each string. Apologies if you already know that, but sometimes that's a factor with those basses. Also sensitive to setup in terms of response up and down the fretboard.

The Plugin Alliance SVT plugin is great

Great suggestions all, thank you. Excited to try them out once I’m off the overtime shuffle