I'm amazed at how many guys here complain about the fact Signature has such great gear. You can have a signal path like this easily nowadays without owning a whole console. At Metrosound in St Albans, we have a Solitaire console which is lovely, but also API pres. I can state for the record that a bass sound is everything to do with the song, the player, and taste. I've stuck bass guitar through a £69 valve preamp di box before. The bass player WANTED a gritty/cheap sound. what they're showing here is basic mic positioning and signal path and sure, its through expensive equipment but they're talking total experience. Stop knocking these guys!
Agreed. The PRINCIPLES are what matter, not the GEAR. Everyone would love to have U87s and API pres and SSL boards and REAL 1176s and floating rooms...most people, and indeed, most STUDIOS, can't afford this stuff outright. A good engineer paired with a good musician make better recordings on poor/mediocre gear than a poor or average engineer paired with a shitty musician can make using high quality gear. 100% of the time.
Hey bud, Just wanted to say I'm glad to see there still are guys out there that still mic up cabs and don't believe in compressing the bass to all hell until it's buried 6 feet in the mix!! I've done a LOT of recording with guys that hand me a cable and say "oh, you're just going straight into the console, I'll use plug-ins later...".... You lose EASILY 2/3 of your power and ambience that way, imho, THE reason why you don't hear Bass Guitar in the mix anymore...
This was a really informative video, but I feel as though in this day and age, simply going Direct and blending a room mic is "enough" for the amateur recording engineer/home studio who can then properly mix it afterwards. That being said, double mic'ing a big bass cab as shown in this video definitely adds some "analog feeling" to the overall mix.
Hey Christian thanks for the "How To" videos, they are really informative and everything sounds great! I often wonder how loud the amp in the tracking room should be while tracking electric guitars. What levels do you shoot for? Is the amp really cranking? Moderate volume? Low volume? Thanks!
@SignatureSoundStudio the pink noise is used to find the spot without phase cancellation. you flip the polarity of one mic, then running the pink noise find the quietest spot and then flip back. that said most the time i actually like a little phase cancellation unless i want to be really biting. its seems to make it more colourful.
I didn't follow the summing part of the mics, you mentioned you would use just one mic and on the board mixed the two, since the capsules were positioned diferently wouldn't that cause phase issues? how about summing the DI line with the mic'd lines, would that be phase problematic as well?
@JustSomeRandomNewb The amp probably adds more compression than what he is adding to the DI. DIs are very sensitive and often need a little compression coming in regardless of how dynamic the player is.
Nice vid but it sounds like the part where he starts to play was messed up when converted from the hi res wav to whatever ended up in the video. There are loads of artifacts.
Very helpful video, but one question, is there an effective way to mic the bass amp with a dynamic mic without using a DI box? Or is the DI box a necessity to get a good sound?
Well, I'd recommend Amplitube by IK Multimedia, especially its Ampeg pack. It's a good tool to practice at home or even to practice with a band. It's also really usable to record your ideas. But I wouldn't advise you to use it live or in a studio (of course). Great sofware after all!
I'm a producer as well as a Musician in Miami. I work in a lot of Jazz and Latin productions in my Studio. I have a question that I hope you can give me your take on. I do a lot of bass recording on the upright type of bass like the Ampeg B4 baby bass with passive pickups among others fender bass etc. I have found that when I do record in 2 separate tracks like a direct signal from the bass and a Neumann 103 mic feding from my Ampeg cab when I try to blend the two tracks in to a mono bass track I'm running in to phase issues. The don't interact well cancelling bottom a bit from each other, If I solo each track the sound is much better. What can be causing my problem. Many Thx for you time and input! Kenny Quintero
And here I thought plugging direct into the 4-track sounded pretty good. I didn't know people mic'd bass amps, the local sound guys always use the direct out on my amp at gigs. The pro's are on a whole other level it seems, cool stuff.
@SignatureSoundStudio if i9 use both same mics... for recording will that be a reason for phase issue.. also... what basic grounds does mastering cover.. is every recording incompete without mastering.. or sometime eq+commpression can pull the job of... and sorry if the ques and my english is stupid... ive just started .. on them :)
@MisterNoHead Well, when mixing, many of us like to have the physical faders so we can concentrate on the audio rather than the screen display (you can't really mix with 'muscle memory' or whatever it's called in English if you do it on-screen). Other than that, different people have different preferences about sound, and it comes to the fact that when you like the sound of your equipment you're usually more confident and generally do a better job. Plus some of us love gear... ;)
Man, man, tell me please... If I plug my bass directly into an external sound card with 1/4 trs input, will it damage something? Are sound cards generally supposed to be used with bass guitars, or just regular 6string guitars? Thank You!
It doesn't remove soft or loud playing(DYNAMICS) it gives control to the total output,,,thats why you have a ratio setting.Buy a book on compressors and other processors.Compressors should ALWAYS be used in recording bass,guitar AND drum tracks it does not take away any of the dynamics of your playing if you know how to use them properly.
Thank your Gods for plug in emulations of just about everything. If you can´t afford the vintage analog gear ( like normal people would even have acces to it ) build your setup around quality emulations and you´ve gotten as close a you can come. In the context of a full blown mix I risk my neck and claim that the average listener wouldn´t know the difference.
I use DI's as a guide track. I group the tracks that have the mics on them with the DI track, and now you can see each transient more clearly. It helps immensely when you have to edit the bass track to tighten things up.
Not sure if you mean in the mix with a mic'd amp, or to record straight in. It is necessary if you are recording directly to a pre/amp or an interface. It boosts instrument signal to line signal. But if recording to amp then obvioisly no. Which you may already know. It is entirely optional to use only one or the other, or both in the mix. Just ensure the waves are in phase, there is a tiny delay between the two. Typically, your DI makes it to your converter faster.
@IScH45I It's called RUclips data compression. Sucks the life out of any high end information. If you haven't noticed this before this I'd be suprised.
I would normally be inserting a "Carrot Top" joke, (at least 3 of them), or at the *very least, a "that's a cute girl playing bass", but I'm not, Im just not going to be that way; because he is such a good bass player.
The legacy console stuff ... yikes ... now-a-days you can plug straight into an audio interface to the PC and get perfect clarity and control of tone/eq/effects etc ... seems like a ridiculous amount of gear - none of the stuff shown here is accessible to common man. I have a nice bass amp and a nice mic - but I'd never bother having gotten very good sound going straight into the PC. Everyone has their tools I suppose ... end result is all the same.
Basically, what this guy is telling you is...You need to spend at least $4,000 for a signal path worth recording bass. I disagree. Unless you have a fully stocked studio at your disposal. In which case, go for it!
I'm saying that you're surrounded by gear that is not accessible to common man ... and common man can't tell the difference between a recording you'd make with this stuff and a recording done in a modern DAW ... modern DAW's are affordable - that console and analog gear is entirely out of reach ...
Ah, fuck this. I'll just put my phone up against the amp... it's not like I'm making some big hit song or anything. Just doing it so I can learn how to use my DAW.
Sounds great, just need a multi million dollar studio now. Better win that lotto ticket tonight.
0:43 please join me in my cockpit of vintage analog gear worth more than your life and lets record some bass guitar
***** totally joking, but cool gear
Barkeroni
😂my thought at that moment was "holy shit, wrong video for me!!!"
So true
I'd rather play some bass with my vst plugins
I'm amazed at how many guys here complain about the fact Signature has such great gear. You can have a signal path like this easily nowadays without owning a whole console. At Metrosound in St Albans, we have a Solitaire console which is lovely, but also API pres. I can state for the record that a bass sound is everything to do with the song, the player, and taste. I've stuck bass guitar through a £69 valve preamp di box before. The bass player WANTED a gritty/cheap sound. what they're showing here is basic mic positioning and signal path and sure, its through expensive equipment but they're talking total experience. Stop knocking these guys!
Agreed. The PRINCIPLES are what matter, not the GEAR. Everyone would love to have U87s and API pres and SSL boards and REAL 1176s and floating rooms...most people, and indeed, most STUDIOS, can't afford this stuff outright. A good engineer paired with a good musician make better recordings on poor/mediocre gear than a poor or average engineer paired with a shitty musician can make using high quality gear. 100% of the time.
People are just having fun. No serious envy. Who cares we live in the world of slate fake anyway.
In what world can a Neumann U87 be considered as an "inexpensive microphone"?
In a world where your mic locker has C12/U47/U67/ and duplicates of all those. :) Which is NOT my mic box. :)
If you’re a member of the Beatles or The Rolling Stones
its called sarcasm
Inexpensive is a relative, but a good one is Røde NT2A, other good ones, but more expensive Audio-Technica AT4060 and the like.
Hey bud,
Just wanted to say I'm glad to see there still are guys out there that still mic up cabs and don't believe in compressing the bass to all hell until it's buried 6 feet in the mix!! I've done a LOT of recording with guys that hand me a cable and say "oh, you're just going straight into the console, I'll use plug-ins later...".... You lose EASILY 2/3 of your power and ambience that way, imho, THE reason why you don't hear Bass Guitar in the mix anymore...
Axel Gessner you need to blend the two, you definitely need to capture that air moving.
This was a really informative video, but I feel as though in this day and age, simply going Direct and blending a room mic is "enough" for the amateur recording engineer/home studio who can then properly mix it afterwards. That being said, double mic'ing a big bass cab as shown in this video definitely adds some "analog feeling" to the overall mix.
Hey Christian thanks for the "How To" videos, they are really informative and everything sounds great! I often wonder how loud the amp in the tracking room should be while tracking electric guitars. What levels do you shoot for? Is the amp really cranking? Moderate volume? Low volume? Thanks!
@SignatureSoundStudio the pink noise is used to find the spot without phase cancellation. you flip the polarity of one mic, then running the pink noise find the quietest spot and then flip back.
that said most the time i actually like a little phase cancellation unless i want to be really biting. its seems to make it more colourful.
I didn't follow the summing part of the mics, you mentioned you would use just one mic and on the board mixed the two, since the capsules were positioned diferently wouldn't that cause phase issues? how about summing the DI line with the mic'd lines, would that be phase problematic as well?
I caught about 3 nice sized bass just yesterday with an sm57 spray painted chrome with mean looking eyes glued to it.
$50,000 WORTH OF GEAR AND 99% OF PEOPLE LISTENING TO IT THROUGH LAPTOP SPEAKERS
@JustSomeRandomNewb The amp probably adds more compression than what he is adding to the DI. DIs are very sensitive and often need a little compression coming in regardless of how dynamic the player is.
Nice vid but it sounds like the part where he starts to play was messed up when converted from the hi res wav to whatever ended up in the video. There are loads of artifacts.
Recording a bass cab with A Neumann U87 Condenser mic?Where did you learn recording?A DVD?
for the final mix you use borth di signal and mic? how do you fix the phase issues?
How much volume does the bass amp need when recording with a mic?
Enough to make the amp and speakers sound good.
Very helpful video, but one question, is there an effective way to mic the bass amp with a dynamic mic without using a DI box? Or is the DI box a necessity to get a good sound?
I love instrument recording.
Well, I'd recommend Amplitube by IK Multimedia, especially its Ampeg pack. It's a good tool to practice at home or even to practice with a band. It's also really usable to record your ideas. But I wouldn't advise you to use it live or in a studio (of course). Great sofware after all!
I'm a producer as well as a Musician in Miami. I work in a lot of Jazz
and Latin productions in my Studio. I have a question that I hope you
can give me your take on. I do a lot of bass recording on the upright
type of bass like the Ampeg B4 baby bass with passive pickups among
others fender bass etc. I have found that when I do record in 2 separate
tracks like a direct signal from the bass and a Neumann 103 mic feding
from my Ampeg cab when I try to blend the two tracks in to a mono bass
track I'm running in to phase issues. The don't interact well cancelling
bottom a bit from each other, If I solo each track the sound is much
better. What can be causing my problem. Many Thx for you time and input!
Kenny Quintero
ive played that bass before and it sounds meaty!!!
condenser or dynamic mic would you suggest for micing the bass amp?
okay cool video but almost no one has all of that equipment, I have a condesor mic and an orange micro dark. how should I record that
And here I thought plugging direct into the 4-track sounded pretty good. I didn't know people mic'd bass amps, the local sound guys always use the direct out on my amp at gigs. The pro's are on a whole other level it seems, cool stuff.
It just depends on what sound you are going for as both have different sounds, or if you use both at the same time its yet another sound!
@SignatureSoundStudio if i9 use both same mics... for recording will that be a reason for phase issue..
also... what basic grounds does mastering cover..
is every recording incompete without mastering.. or sometime eq+commpression can pull the job of... and sorry if the ques and my english is stupid... ive just started .. on them :)
re: u87 settings do you utilize the low end roll off switch and db pad? any special settings on the sennheiser as well?
Question?
How come you go into an analog board before going into Pro Tools?
Why not direct into the Digital Interface?
Would you record the bass through a stereo track or mono?
oh shit, what happened to the engineer's hand when the bassist started playing?!
im loving a d6 and 57/i5/sm7b combo
You're right. Compression should only be added after the fact. Engineers should not mess with the musicality of a bassist's performance.
is there any software that can replace my rubbish bass amp?
Hey great video and much respect to the bass player.hey try throwing a BBE on that bass while tracking. you will be pleasantly surprised. Peace!
nice sound! thanks for sharing this video
@MisterNoHead Well, when mixing, many of us like to have the physical faders so we can concentrate on the audio rather than the screen display (you can't really mix with 'muscle memory' or whatever it's called in English if you do it on-screen). Other than that, different people have different preferences about sound, and it comes to the fact that when you like the sound of your equipment you're usually more confident and generally do a better job. Plus some of us love gear... ;)
@Nathaniel Rose when monitoring through analog equipment there is no latency
Man, man, tell me please... If I plug my bass directly into an external sound card with 1/4 trs input, will it damage something? Are sound cards generally supposed to be used with bass guitars, or just regular 6string guitars? Thank You!
***** Thanks mate, i've subscribed, i like all musical videos
what did you do to get 0 latency for him to monitor?
Not a bad video, but I wish you would have shown each one isolated so we could hear the difference.
good job!
yes,,always use it from the start
It doesn't remove soft or loud playing(DYNAMICS) it gives control to the total output,,,thats why you have a ratio setting.Buy a book on compressors and other processors.Compressors should ALWAYS be used in recording bass,guitar AND drum tracks it does not take away any of the dynamics of your playing if you know how to use them properly.
I use my iPhone and a pair of earbuds and my music i thing is pretty good
@IScH45I Yes, yes it does.
Thank your Gods for plug in emulations of just about everything.
If you can´t afford the vintage analog gear ( like normal people would even have acces to it ) build your setup around quality emulations and you´ve gotten as close a you can come.
In the context of a full blown mix I risk my neck and claim that the average listener wouldn´t know the difference.
How do you align the phase while mixing a miced signal and a DI signal?
Alex flip phase or manual time align, I guess...
Spectre(?)
Sound
Studios
If you will run 8x10 cab at max possible volume can it destroy mics?
very interesting great!!!
that moment when you spot the computer
Yes thats what made me look in the comments
is the DI necessary?
I use DI's as a guide track. I group the tracks that have the mics on them with the DI track, and now you can see each transient more clearly. It helps immensely when you have to edit the bass track to tighten things up.
it will be your only option most of the time lol
Not sure if you mean in the mix with a mic'd amp, or to record straight in.
It is necessary if you are recording directly to a pre/amp or an interface. It boosts instrument signal to line signal. But if recording to amp then obvioisly no. Which you may already know.
It is entirely optional to use only one or the other, or both in the mix. Just ensure the waves are in phase, there is a tiny delay between the two. Typically, your DI makes it to your converter faster.
very cheap your configuration to record sounds
Don’t waste your time with mics unless you have a cabinet and head. Instead just use an interface and go from the interface into you DAW
1:25 There was some serious shade thrown.
@IScH45I It's called RUclips data compression. Sucks the life out of any high end information. If you haven't noticed this before this I'd be suprised.
or just use a m-audio fast track......
2021?
The API desk is HOT!!!
IK MM SVX Classic anybody?
I would normally be inserting a "Carrot Top" joke, (at least 3 of them), or at the *very least, a "that's a cute girl playing bass", but I'm not, Im just not going to be that way; because he is such a good bass player.
This is the Guitar's guy. They've only got one musician LOL
The legacy console stuff ... yikes ... now-a-days you can plug straight into an audio interface to the PC and get perfect clarity and control of tone/eq/effects etc ... seems like a ridiculous amount of gear - none of the stuff shown here is accessible to common man. I have a nice bass amp and a nice mic - but I'd never bother having gotten very good sound going straight into the PC. Everyone has their tools I suppose ... end result is all the same.
That bass player would be enthusiastically welcomed into prison...People would be stabbing each other over who gets to be his cellmate...
Basically, what this guy is telling you is...You need to spend at least $4,000 for a signal path worth recording bass. I disagree. Unless you have a fully stocked studio at your disposal. In which case, go for it!
that place looks expensive
i dont want to buy a 1000000 usd record studio i just want home recording with a 1 small audio interface, and reaper DRW
Would have been a better vid if you actually showed HOW you cabled the DI & amp 🤢
I'm saying that you're surrounded by gear that is not accessible to common man ... and common man can't tell the difference between a recording you'd make with this stuff and a recording done in a modern DAW ... modern DAW's are affordable - that console and analog gear is entirely out of reach ...
Ah, fuck this. I'll just put my phone up against the amp... it's not like I'm making some big hit song or anything. Just doing it so I can learn how to use my DAW.
Jackson sounds good on that riff... but why did you play the lamest possible thing anyone ever thought of?
well gee, if I only had thousands of dollars...
get amplitube->go to presets->select bass->???->profit
Equipment worth: $1Million , Riff worth: $0, ...Creativity flop.
So true !!!
Simple, buy a £3000 microphone
Not a big fan of this sound.
Micing a bass amp? -facedesk-
Before you watch the vid: How to records a bass = D.I.
That's it, you're done. Rest is in the box.
@IScH45I Bass sucks too.