Best way to record bass

[skullfxr]

I have have two two channel radial engineering DI's and an active radial engineering re-amper.

What audio interface do you have for your PC/Mac for recording?

Focusrite 2i4, windows 10, 16gb of ram, i7.

 

[skullfxr]

I've been recording my bass direct into my interface and then using Two Notes Wall of Sound. You can use their EQ, cab sims, gain, etc and come up with your own, and there are a bunch of bass presets (which can also be tweaked).

Could you get me a link/price info?

 

[skullfxr]

So would I plug the bass into the DI and just go? Do I needs sims or could I just use my compressors and EQ's?
FYI I have had the radial stuff for a year or two and have never used it nor taken it out of the box.

 

[Spaceboy]

di and use the darkglass plugin

 

[GregM]

I've been recording my bass direct into my interface and then using Two Notes Wall of Sound. You can use their EQ, cab sims, gain, etc and come up with your own, and there are a bunch of bass presets (which can also be tweaked).

Could you get me a link/price info?

I use a Focusrite 2i2. Here's a link for Wall of Sound; the download is free and it's just a few dollars for each cab.

https://www.two-notes.com/wall-of-sound

 

[nightflameauto]

What type of music? I've found for harder rock to metal, split the bass signal. One goes direct for solid low-end thump with no grit, the other goes to the guitar amp the rhythms were recorded with, just bring the gain down until there's some grit, not as much as the guitars, and a little less volume than the guitars so you don't blow your speakers with bass thump. Make sure the direct signal and the mic'ed amp signal are phase aligned and you'll find a really solid bass tone that blends well with the guitars yet still has its own thing going on.

Works for me anyway.

 

[fusedbrain]

So would I plug the bass into the DI and just go? Do I needs sims or could I just use my compressors and EQ's?
FYI I have had the radial stuff for a year or two and have never used it nor taken it out of the box.

Yeah, basically.
1) you could just plug straight in to the 2i4, with the input set to "instrument"
2) you could go - bass > Radial DI > audio interface> recording software. This might yield a better result, but you would have to compare.
Keep in mind that the signal coming out of the DI is still instrument level and you need to set the pre-amp on your audio interface to to "instrument" and bring the signal up to line level in order to record it. The weakest link in the smaller audio interfaces is usually the "mic pre" part that brings the signal up to line level.
3) If you have any stand alone mic pre's with an instrument input, you will probably get the best results plugging into that, and then running the output of the mic pre into the input of the Focurite, with the input set to "line" level.
A good stand alone mic pre is a great investment if you are going to get into a lot of recording. Even a lowly SM57 actually sounds f'n great when plugged into a good pre. My go to signal path for recording bass is the instrument input on an API 512 mic pre > audio interface.

Then once you have the track recorded, 90% of the time all you'll need is some compression and EQ.
Process through amp sims as required. Keep the first direct track as is and process a duplicate track through the amp sim and then blend them. The dry direct track will usually be the fundamental bass tone, and the processed track gets blended in on top for some hair / character / cut through the mix.

 

[ClintN667]

I will echo Neural DSP Darkglass. Its fantastic plus you can get a 14 day trial to test it out.

 

[stratjacket]

I have have two two channel radial engineering DI's and an active radial engineering re-amper.

What audio interface do you have for your PC/Mac for recording?

Focusrite 2i4, windows 10, 16gb of ram, i7.

Perfect. You don’t need anything else. There are 2 instrument inputs on the front of the Focusrite 2i4, just plug your bass directly in there and record.
Just put front panel selection switch to INST and then choose that input (1 or 2 whichever you plug into) in your DAW and record.

 

[skullfxr]

I have have two two channel radial engineering DI's and an active radial engineering re-amper.

What audio interface do you have for your PC/Mac for recording?

Focusrite 2i4, windows 10, 16gb of ram, i7.

Perfect. You don’t need anything else. There are 2 instrument inputs on the front of the Focusrite 2i4, just plug your bass directly in there and record.
Just put front panel selection switch to INST and then choose that input (1 or 2 whichever you plug into) in your DAW and record.

Cool. What exactly do I do after that? No DI required ?

 

[stratjacket]

I have have two two channel radial engineering DI's and an active radial engineering re-amper.

What audio interface do you have for your PC/Mac for recording?

Focusrite 2i4, windows 10, 16gb of ram, i7.

Perfect. You don’t need anything else. There are 2 instrument inputs on the front of the Focusrite 2i4, just plug your bass directly in there and record.
Just put front panel selection switch to INST and then choose that input (1 or 2 whichever you plug into) in your DAW and record.

Cool. What exactly do I do after that? No DI required ?

Correct. The 2 instrument inputs on the Focusrite are DI inputs.
So for example at a high level:
- plug the bass into input 1 and choose INST
- go into your DAW, create a mono audio track and choose Input 1 as the input source
- record.

This will record the raw bass directly into your DAW. Once recorded, you can then add effects such as compression, limiter, Reverb, chorus, OD or whatever you want. You could also use any amp or cab effect you wanted, but it’s just personal choice. I like the plain bass with some added effects, it’s clean and always sounded best to me.

 

[Monkey Man]

Kemper if you can afford it. That way you'll have your DarkGlass and Sansamp et al along with anything else someone (or you) has / have Profiled.

Plugin-wise, and obviously a whole-lot-cheaper, I reckon Brainworx bx_bassdude is awesome. It's a Fender Bassman model, but it's brilliant.

 

[LPMojoGL]

I’ve always just plugged into a Barber Tone Press then direct in.
Lots of good info and things to try in this thread.

 

[errrrrl]

I've used direct with plugins like Helix Native or just use my guitar amps and adjust accordingly with a compressor pedal on. Or you can be like me and pickup that new Darkglass head with built in IRs and stuff