Recording Bongos

[dmarotta]

I just finished co-producing and playing on guitarist Carl Verheyen's new cd entitled Trading Eights. It features guest guitarists Steve Morse, Albert Lee, Joe Bonnamasa, Scott Henderson, Robin Ford, and Rick Vito.
I used my fretted Bongo 5 HH and fretless HS5 and all but two songs and thought I would share the recording signal path and settings on my basses as I am very happy with the bass sounds on this cd. Rather than talk about how great these basses sound I have included links to two songs on the cd.

The following link is the song Highway 27 with Carl and Joe Bonnamassa trading solos. I recorded the fretted HH 5 with EB reg. Slinkys on two tracks. The direct track was through a tubeworks DI into an old LA2 compressor. No eq on the bass. All flat.The other track was recorded with the Bongo into a Marbass CMD 1x12 combo amp with the bass boosted slightly miked with a Neuman mike. During the mix we favored the amp to direct signal at about 60- 40 %.

http://www.davemarotta.com/doc/Hiway27.mp3

This next song is our take on the Beatles "Taxman" which features Scott Henderson and Carl trading solos.
I used the Fretless Bongo HS with EB flatwound strings and favored the back pickup . Same recording path. During the mix we used mostly the direct signal. About 80%

http://www.davemarotta.com/doc/Taxman.mp3

There are very few basses I have owned that sound great live and recorded.The Bongos do both equally well with little or no eq.The engineers love them as well.
Hope you enjoy the tracks.

 

[Grand Wazoo]

Great stuff the second track sounds a bit like the "Police" early stuff

 

[mynan]

Killer tone! Very nice. Great playing too.

 

[phat5]

Thanks for the generous treat.....love it!
I guess my slinkys go back on tonight.

 

[Eggman]

Dave - those are great. Love the fretless sound. Thanks for sharing.

 

[strummer]

Awesome stuff!

And the bass playing on Taxman is just sick!

Thanks for sharing, Dave

 

[five7]

Very Nice! I wish the bass was up in the mix more though. But that is probably just me.

 

[five7]

I listened again at my hriends house and we are both blownaway by your fretless sound!

 

[threeminutesboy]

Amazing taxman

I love it !

 

[MingusBASS]

Both tracks sound great. The Bongo is mighty in fretless and fretted form.

 

[TSanders]

Great playing and great tone, no doubt

 

[Aussie Mark]

Great job Dave! That fretless smokes!

We're recording a demo CD in a couple of weeks time for our Pink Floyd tribute, and even though I play Stingrays and Precisions live with that band for authenticity purposes, I'm planning on recording with the Bongo.

 

[dmarotta]

Thanks for all the kind comments. The whole purpose of my post was to point out what a pleasure it is to make music when your instruments and amps are first rate and allow you to play without any hindrances.I should also give kudos to the Markbass combo amp because it passes the true sound of the Bongo as it is.With a high quality mike you can feel the air moving in the room which adds a nice warmth to the track.

 

[AtomicPunk]

Normally I am NOT a fan of fretless ANYTHING, but that track is seriously hot. Great tone.

 

[oddjob]

Dave these are great - the tone is amazing. How did you have the (pickup) pan set on the basses?

 

[dmarotta]

The pickup panning on the fretted bass was equal. The fretless is almost all back pickup. Flat eq on both basses.

 

[oddjob]

thank you

 

[sloshep]

Dave,

Thanks for sharing. Taxman is a killer track. Love what you did with the fretless. You made that Bongo sing.

 

[Black Lake]

excellent playing, and amazing engineering/mixing/mastering. First class all the way.

 

[bovinehost]

Dave, having you on the forum is a real treasure.

Thanks for the killer tracks and the commentary.

your bongo brother,

Jack

Edited to add: HOLY SH!T. You're KILLING IT on "Taxman". Yes!