Double Bass (the upright stringed variety)

[jeid]

Hopefully someone will be able to help me out here. There's a possibility that I might be tracking a double bass player in the not to distant future. It's something that I've never done before so I'm looking for some advice on the matter.

If we use the guy I have in mind, I know his double bass has a pickup fitted, should I just DI it? Or should I DI it and mic it up? What sort of mic would I use?

Any advice on the matter would be excellent. Thanks

 

[setyouranchor]

Hopefully someone will be able to help me out here. There's a possibility that I might be tracking a double bass player in the not to distant future. It's something that I've never done before so I'm looking for some advice on the matter.

If we use the guy I have in mind, I know his double bass has a pickup fitted, should I just DI it? Or should I DI it and mic it up? What sort of mic would I use?

Any advice on the matter would be excellent. Thanks

I'd take a DI and mic it, double the options then

I mic'd up a double bass when I was in college and used an NT5 and an NT2A. NT2A more towards the body/bridge and the NT5 on the neck around the main finger area. I dont have the recording now but it turned out pretty well! Just experiment!

 

[John_C]

i'll presume you wont be dealing with bowing, so i'll stick with plucked

Get your head down around it as it's being played and really listen, double basses sound very different in different positions. Pick out positions that pick up particular elements that you want, or maybe one that picks up a really good balance, It's all pretty standard fare.

The DI could be useful, but try not to rely on it during tracking,

Particular things to watch out for: resonant frequencies, double basses are so large there are often a few pretty strong low resonances that can really make some notes jump out as boomy and others sound weak. Generally you should be able to find a good position on a decent bass that sounds balanced.
- get a mic somewhere that picks up a nice high-mid/treble response without being distractingly harsh or rattly. You likely won't be getting the low end definition you're used to in a bass guitar so those upper frequencies are vital, esp for bits where the instrument is revealed in the mix.

edit: and get into a nice-ish room and put up a room mic, orchestral instruments are made to be heard at a distance in reverberant rooms

 

[punkrockacademyfightsong]

Most slapping players have two pickups: one piezo in the bridge and one in the neck to pick up just the slap attack.
I recorded a pshychobilly band once and recorded both the DI tracks (slap and bridge) and ran the bridge pickup into and Orange AD200B into an Aguilar 8x10. Miced it up about a foot from the speaker with an AE3000. By adjusting the horn level on the 8x10 I controlled the amount of slap attack in the amp sound and thus in the mic.
In the mix I used the mic signal mainly. Phase aligned all the tracks, added a little bit of bridge DI (lowpassed at 160 Hz or something near that and compressed to hell) for some solid low end) and a tiny bit of slap DI, which I limited for a bit more consistent attack.

Here's the result:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3607020/03 - Born to be a fuck mix 30-09-09 M.mp3

 

[jeid]

It's going to be quite mellow jazz type stuff, no slapping going on here haha.

Appreciate the input guys, thanks