| Home recording and general music post from the archived Yabb Recording Website Message Board. Some of the info here may be outdated but many of the audio recording and home studio tips are still good. Note: The only tags I made and attempt to convert are italics, bold, center and underline. So if you see some gibberish surrounded by brackets, just ignore it.
Recording Website Archived Yabb board Post
Febuary 2001 Yabb Message Board Archive
Subject: I recorded a Bass line but it's too muddy.
by ax | 06/02/01 at 02:38:37
hi. there. Like I said, I got a Bass line recorded but sounds too muddy..is there any way I can fix the problem even a bit ?
I plug my Bass directly in to my mixer but it seems like I can't make a clean Bass sound out of it. Is it because of my Bass?
Mine is De Armond Pilot Bass. Please give me some tips for recording Bass . Thanks
Subject: Re: I recorded a Bass line but it's too muddy.
by Hooper | 06/02/01 at 05:09:38
To begin with: You'll get a much hotter signal if you run the bass through some kind of Direct In box before going to the mixer. I'm using an ART MP tube pre-amp for that now and it really warms up the signal. I don't know what kind of equalization you have available but if you can: Experiment with cutting or boosting at 100hz and 200hz. Also: A boost around 800hz will help the signal come through at lower playback levels. A boost around 1.5k will give you more pick sounds.
Subject: Re: I recorded a Bass line but it's too muddy.
by db | 06/02/01 at 07:23:41
Yep, direct box, or low to highZ mic transformer (RS) $10. Then, rather than use line in with not enough gain, you can use mic in, with plenty of gain. The guitar plugs in the high Z side and the xlr (lowz) side plugs into the mic input or cable at the mixer. Double check the gender, to make sure you have the one that works with a mic input. Sometimes the sub sounds on the bass can be too much, cutting some strength there is like boosting the other higher sounds.
hope this helps,
--db
Subject: Re: I recorded a Bass line but it's too muddy.
by Shailat | 06/02/01 at 06:32:39
You can record the bass direct into line input, as long as the S/N is good.
Actully a DI is another circuit which if not needed can be eliminated.
It actully depends on the output of your bass, type of mixer (+4,-10), type of pickups.
There is an advantage to using a active DI though.
As to the muddy sound - try a cut at around 250Hz -500Hz
Subject: Re: I recorded a Bass line but it's too muddy.
by Puke | 06/02/01 at 12:13:28
Dude,
Do not bypass a direct box if you can get one with a jensen transformer in it. There are very few cheap ways of getting a clean bass sound into your board )or pre) ...And very few boards and pre's with good high quality transformers in them. Anyone who has been in the business a long time knows that, when it comes to big, warm low end, there is still NO substitute for a Jensen X-former or it's equivalent (there are still some dudes other than Jensen that make some good ones, I just used Jensen because that is the "common" good one).