The Songwriter Forum - songwriting reviews, tips and chat
Songwriter Forum => Recording => Topic started by: cowparsleyman on March 19, 2020, 08:05:37 PM
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Just a couple of tips really, that have helped me in the past...
MIDI bass guitars can sound a bit fake (some are absolutely fantastic), they just try to hard, a way round this is to use a Double (Stand Up) bass instead, it can sound much better, even on Rock numbers it sounds pretty OK.
Why does it sound better? well partially because of the muting, many double bass emulations have a fast decay, they are trying to emulate a great big piece of wood, and that doesn't ring for very long.
Therefore another simple way to make a electric bass sound great in a mix is to mute it, some bassists constantly use a palm mute, but it's really much easier for a whole song if you just stick a little strip of foam under the strings right by the bridge, so it's just, touching, you'll probably need to trim it a few times, I wrote BASS MUTE on it so I don't chuck it away.
Tony Levin used a nappy as a mute when he recorded his bass on Don't give Up for Kate Bush and Peter Gabriel...
Try it, it does make the mix much cleaner.
Hope this helps
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A lot of the great soul bass players in the 60s used the foam trick. Tried it with a duster and pretty effective apart from the playing ;D
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I haven't gotten this far yet, but I hope to remember this when I give it a try eventually. Thanks!
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Fender basses used to come with a foam mute as I remember....along with some pretty serious looking ironmongery over the bridge and pickup.
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Great tip CPM.
Will try that, I have a Yamaha Bass but when I DI it in, it never really gives a lot of sub lows, So I bought a fender 12" bass amp, (Frickin Loud) and tried micing that as well then mixing the 2 vibes, thats works a lot better. my mates P Bass, works great right on the DI. Prob better pick ups i guess but a lot more expensive.
Midi bass is cool if its not one of the main elements of a track,
Although I do like all the little techniques like slides, hammers, squeaks that are not easy to replicate but I know are possible,
cheers
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@Cawproductions (http://www.songwriterforum.co.uk/index.php?action=profile;u=20938) - yeah those little bass amps are mega loud, ive got a roland bass 100, which i use for its emulations, all of which are pretty good, often i take the xlr out going di (used that on Superfunk 77) with a yamaha PJ bass.
Im sure you can get a really great sound from your yamaha, just get as close as you can to what you want, from the pups , usually fo for the precision pup, the J pups are sometimes hard work and need quite a bit of eq afterwards, but it depends on the genre and what your after.
I also very often DI my basses, use an ampeg emulation vst but disable the cabs in favour of the two notes torpedo wall of sound cab emulations, then maybe add some sub lows with either waves rbass or bx subfilter. I prefer the waves product.
Don’t mic up my basses much these days...
Hope it helps
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Hi @cowparsleyman (http://www.songwriterforum.co.uk/index.php?action=profile;u=21308)
I DI out of the head of the amp too, but have to put headphones in to mute the speaker, some nice setting on the actual amp, some emulations etc, tube, solid state.
Prob just need more time (like now) to mess with it, been using a free Plug in called TSE B.O.D,
http://www.vst4free.com/free_vst.php?plugin=TSE_B.O.D&id=1321 (http://www.vst4free.com/free_vst.php?plugin=TSE_B.O.D&id=1321)
Dirts up the signal but lets you blend it back in with a mix knob, good for making the bass cut through the mix without crancking the volume.
I have guitar rig and BiasFX + THU overloud with Slate so not short of gear,
Still, seeing as we cant go out, time to mess with our toys....we all should be amazing musicians after this.
or maybe not.
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@Cawproductions (http://www.songwriterforum.co.uk/index.php?action=profile;u=20938) - you’re already there man
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Haha. Likewise dude.
I would like to be better tho,
Stay safe Rich