Metal Bass, what tone do you record with?!?

[Endrik]

Hi Endrik, great help!

I've been doing a little research of my own in recording bass. My band is a hard-rock metal thing, and we wanted the bass to drive the whole thing, like, a lead instrument.

We use the famous "crunchy" tone combined with a very deep low boom.

For this, I have, in my own research, done the following.

To achieve this, I use an MXR Bass D.I., an Ibanez Tube Screamer and an ART TubePAC (mic preamp and compressor). The path is: TubeScreamer, MXR and ART. Then straight into my cheapo Soundblaster Live 5.1 sound card.

I used to mic the amp before (Hartke combo) but I found this direct thing to sound much better. I use the ART's compressor to get an even sound going, specially when he does slappin' and poppin', works great.

My question is, is there a way to have both sounds, like, a "clean and clear" signal from the direct setup and a dirty crunchy signal from the mic'd amp? What should I get, a mixer?

I have not really experimented with the tubescreamer when it comes to bass playing. I dig Big Muff, you can get that sweet "growly" overdrive with it wich Tony Levin uses occasionally.

MXR Bass D.I. is pretty awsome tool. Very versatile.

I really don't like Hartkes, some of them sound decent at low volumes but they suck at high volumes.... uh and they really don't have much volume

As for your question... yes, there are many crossover or split boxes that can do that. You can do that with your MXR too, there are like 3 outputs on that box, just run one of the outputs to the board and one to the Amp/stack where you can use overdrive. And If I remember correctly MXR has a crossover function so you can split the hi frequency and low frequency signals. Like I said before, overdriven low frequencies can cause shit loads of mud.

[LEOKV2]

I have not really experimented with the tubescreamer when it comes to bass playing. I dig Big Muff, you can get that sweet "growly" overdrive with it wich Tony Levin uses occasionally.

MXR Bass D.I. is pretty awsome tool. Very versatile.

I really don't like Hartkes, some of them sound decent at low volumes but they suck at high volumes.... uh and they really don't have much volume

As for your question... yes, there are many crossover or split boxes that can do that. You can do that with your MXR too, there are like 3 outputs on that box, just run one of the outputs to the board and one to the Amp/stack where you can use overdrive. And If I remember correctly MXR has a crossover function so you can split the hi frequency and low frequency signals. Like I said before, overdriven low frequencies can cause shit loads of mud.

Thanks! So basically, what I will need is to get a mixer so I can mix down both sources (direct and mic'd) into a single bundle? Or will I have to separate tracks of audio on my computer (direct AND mic'd) ?

[Endrik]

you don't need a mixer, just get a decent soundcard, Soundblasters blow.
These days you can get very decent soundcards with very good price. M-Audio cards would be excellent choice.

[LEOKV2]

Sure, I have an Audiophile 2496 (or something like that) that I haven't installed yet. It has RCA inputs (i beileve 4 of them).

How should I do the connections then? One channel is for the direct and the other for the mic'd ?

[Endrik]

just plug the direct into the 2496 normal "jack" input" and the mic to mic input, so you would have 2 separate channels, you can use 2 mics to with that card, so there would be 3 tracks of bass. The more mics you have the more you can experiment.

I don't really remember about the 2496's preamps. I know that some of their expensive soundcards have pretty decent preamps.
But to get the best results you need a badass studio preamp (Neve, API, Avalon etc. or their "modern" replicas wich would be better choice for computer recording)... but they cost a lot of money... then there's some decent sounding preamps like Presonus wich have reasonable price.
Separate converter units would help too, but M-Audio's own converters are pretty ok.

[LEOKV2]

just plug the direct into the 2496 normal "jack" input" and the mic to mic input, so you would have 2 separate channels, you can use 2 mics to with that card, so there would be 3 tracks of bass. The more mics you have the more you can experiment.

I don't really remember about the 2496's preamps. I know that some of their expensive soundcards have pretty decent preamps.
But to get the best results you need a badass studio preamp (Neve, API, Avalon etc. or their "modern" replicas wich would be better choice for computer recording)... but they cost a lot of money... then there's some decent sounding preamps like Presonus wich have reasonable price.
Separate converter units would help too, but M-Audio's own converters are pretty ok.

The 2496 only has RCA inputs IIRC, here's a link:

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Audiophile2496-main.html

[Norton]

Anyone has any idea,how the tone in the song Future Tense by Sanctuary, acquired?

[horns666]

I think Jim just used a standard P bass and a old Ampeg SVT w/ 8-10" cab..

[Endrik]

The 2496 only has RCA inputs IIRC, here's a link:

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_u...2496-main.html

go to the electronics store, there are many "converter" jacks... or I don't know how you guys are calling them. Some plugs where the input is a normal jack and output is rca or whatever. There's many different ones.

[Norton]

I think Jim just used a standard P bass and a old Ampeg SVT w/ 8-10" cab..

So,that tone comes from a tube bass amp?



Funny,I always thought that it was a Warwick bass

[LEOKV2]

Question:

My ART TubePAC has to different paths of "jack types" to do the connections. Both inputs and outputs feature XLR's and 1/4's. Which way is the best? Is is better to have the whole "line" used in the same type of cable? Like, ALL XLR or ALL 1/4 ?

I mean, I can connect the mic to the ART using a mic cable (XLR) and then connecting the ART to the 2496 sound card using another mic cable with an adaptor (XLR to RCA)? What's best?

[Endrik]

it doesn't really matter, just do what feels the best/comfortable to you.

[LEOKV2]

The thing is, I actually don't know which one is best... so I was asking since, I dunno which method of connection provides the less noise, or whatever.

[Endrik]

dunno man, I doubt there's much difference

[LEOKV2]

I have another question.

I currently use the Soundblaster card since I program the drums for my band using Soundfonts. I know, call me obsolete, but, hey, that's me...

Thing is, could I have BOTH sound cards installed at the same time? So I could assing the 2496 for recording only and use the SB for Soundfonts?