Off Topic Recording Bass with a Microphone

[Bass Control]

My band is looking to start doing some more professional recordings of our music in the future. We recently purchased Logic Studio and an 8 track interface for the band house. In previous recordings, I have gone with just the DI straight out of my Hartke head. I'm starting to feel the urge to mic my cab as well for the recordings and have both the DI and microphone mixed on the recording. Are there any bass players out there who mic their cabs when recording and what microphone do you suggest I use?

If it helps any, my cabinet has two 15s in it.

Thanks guys!

 

[MingusBASS]

It all depends what kind of sound you are looking for.

Some folks use kick drum mics like the Shure Beta 52. They sound good but they have a scooped sound.

If you are looking for something more flat, check out an Electro Voice RE20 or Heil PR40.

A good mic pre can work wonders also.

 

[the unrepentant]

I'd try both if i were you, at the same time maybe. Or you could just DI your bass, sounds more like just the bass that way. I've recorded bass with mics a few times and they seemed to be lacking something both times, it's hard to get a decent sound recording bass with a mic i find, but i'd be inclined to give a sennheiser E602 a go if i were you if you like a very punchy sound with lots of low end. I tried it with a wet flappy plastic bag of a kick drum and it worked wonders so i'd imagine if you just set your bass flat it could sound pretty good.

Alternatively if you really want to move some air and use a mic, i'd go for a condenser really, like an AKG C414, jack of all trades mic so you can use it for guitar and vocals too. If you want something a little cheaper maybe an SE se2200a or an SE Z3300 (i find the high end on the 3300 to be a bit nasal but the low end reproduction would probably suit bass a lot more). they reproduce the low end reasonably well and the high end as well. I find that a lot of mics that are designed for kick drum and claim to be good for bass too just don't reproduce the high end enough and your bass lacks definition, same with the kick drum, it lacks that beater click, which is fine if you like it that way, but personally i like a bit of high end. I'd reccommend this website very highly though if you want to know the tech specs of certain mics. You want to look at the frequency response diagrams for the mics you're interested in specifically, if you don't already know what it is, think of it like an EQ, that's how the mic will make the sound source sound.

Personally i find myself just plugging my bass straight into my audio interface though more often than not.

 

[MrMusashi]

experiment.. put up as many mics as you want, record all simultaneously.. if you got 8 inputs and do the bass after the drums you should have no problem doing it
then you can listen to what you prefer afterwards, perhaps even mix a little bit of several together..
just make sure the mic can handle the sound pressure without being damaged

MrM

 

[Aussie Mark]

If it's a Hartke cab, running direct would be about 1000 times better than miking the cab.

 

[Kristopher]

Honeyburst Sterling, GK head and cab, and an AKG D112 mic: mp3 clip

I'm a recording noob and pretty much suck at making recordings, but I love that mic and the sound I get from it.

I also like the Whirlwind IMP-2 direct box. It's cheap and works great.

 

[ronnyG]

Sans amp. That's all I have to say.

 

[oli@bass]

Since you have Logic Studio: Record the bass as direct as possible. Then use either the amp simulation in Logic ("good enough") or get NI GuitarRig ("simply the best") to completely customize your sound.

That way, you can always tweak the sound of the bass to your liking during mixdown.

BTW, I always recorded the bass direct in the studio. It seems the preferred way of sound engineers around here...

 

[the unrepentant]

i can vouch for guitar rig, i have a demo of guitar rig 3 and it's fuggin fantastic!

 

[Aussie Mark]

BTW, I always recorded the bass direct in the studio. It seems the preferred way of sound engineers around here...

+1 The sound guys love EBMMs because there's already a great preamp in the chain.

 

[fly]

i use my kick drum mic (apex 125) and a shure sm57 as well as going direct,and i get a pretty nice mix of the three...just experiment