Hello Dave,
Woxbox wrote:
... get a bass recording that sounds reasonably like what I hear in the room. With the guitar, my setup works pretty well. The playback is what I expect. But the bass has always difficult. I switched to an SM57 mic, which helps but it still losses stuff here and muffles stuff over there. I just now experimented with DI into my Behringer preamp. It's pretty clean, but also kind of dry.
I've looked up the keyword 'Ampeg' in your profile, and you write there that you have a BA-110, that's one of their small combo amps if I remember correctly?
I also stumbled somehow over your expectation to get something 'that sounds reasonably like what I hear in the room' - and that is kind of impossible I think, the way an amplifier and room interact with each other can never be replicated except maybe with re-amping (but only you would be able to hear that).
Woxbox wrote:
I have taken the advice here to heart and experimented heavily with compression and EQ settings. That cleans up the track nicely but of course it can't put back what the mike never picked up in the first place.
That first video recommends mixing the mike and DI, and I can see why. But my Ampeg amp doesn't accommodate this -- the output is to the speaker or headphone jack, no other option.
So I'm wondering how much difference a dedicated bass microphone would make. I'm looking at the Shure PGA52-XLR. Seems to be the next step. Make sense? Are there other bass microphones I should consider?
Thanks in advance -- Dave
I think what you'd like to have is maybe a combination of DI signal (dry and direct into the interface), and your amp sound? Most DI boxes also have a direct parallel output, so you could go into the Behringer interface with the XLR cable, and with a normal instrument cable from the DI to your amp, you split that signal into two. Please note that everything what the others said (like for instance OliVBee with his remarks about phase issues) will apply, that's why I only tried that once with my also small MarkBass combo amp (which does have a DI out itself)...
About the microphone question, yes that SM57 is often recommended especially for guitars and also for things like snare drums, because it follows the transients quite nicely, and also has that certain 'twang' which give guitar amps just that touch of aggressiveness which is often sought after, and welcomed. For bass: yes you can take it, and yes there would be better ones - but still, even a better mike won't give you the sound of your amp that you hear in your room, in fact you don't want that room component on most recordings.
I've tried my large diaphragm condenser (Røde NT1-A) on the 15" speaker of my MarkBass combo, and it's okay with a bit of tweaking, but of course not nearly as direct as the clean bass signal. If you mix those, you could possibly take GrooveEnth's remark about effect tracks to heart, and split the signal with a cross-over in the DAW, so that for instance everything under 200Hz is direct, and everything above is miked amp?
What I do since a while is not using two channels/tracks like I described in https://www.wikiloops.com/forum/viewthread.php?thread_id=2004&rowstart=20#post_21482 anymore, but using the quarter inch output of my active DI into the interface, and using the device's 'blend' knob to mix the dry and modded signal directly before going in. Like Thomas wrote, always learning (and listening) :) And believe me, once you have something like an upright, well that's another can of worms entirely :D
Ampsims in the DAW might help as well in case you'll go in direct - I sometimes used a virtual Ampeg SVT amp (with or without cabsim) in my DAW, that came close to the VT Bass DI I'm using now (which mimics different Ampeg amps and a switchable cabinet as well).
So yes, the Shure mike you've mentioned would give you a different sound, so would a Sennheiser, AKG, or even a large diaphragm condenser, but it still won't be the sound of your amp in your room...
Hope that helps a bit? Good luck with your search for the perfect tone, we're all on that path... :)
Cheers,
Wolfgang