Getting that rattling bass tone?

[mirflee]

Hello all,

I was wondering if you guys could put me to the right direction on how to get that rattling, distorted and heavy bass guitar tone in recording? I know, it probably involves alot of factors from a good preamps, bass cab, FX racks to the bass guitar strings. I'm just hoping to make the best of what I have for the moment.

I'm using a Fender P-Bass hooked up to Scarlett 8i6's Inst input, to my DAW which is Studio One 2.5. I'm running Onqel's BOD plugin with LeCab, using the free SVT impulses from here. The sound I'm getting is that bassy, fuzzy kinda tone, perfect for alternative rock but too tame for metal.

Have a listen :

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/69092742/BASSA.mp3

Thanks for reading!

 

[jeid]

If you're a Pro Tools user... use the Sansamp PSA Plug in.. It's pretty good for driven tones imo

 

[Machinated]

Fender jazz. New strings. Sansamp.

 

[The Unavoidable]

Fender jazz. New strings. Sansamp.

All of this and pick as hard as you can without physically pushing the strings against the pickups.

Myself I use a Yamaha RBX375 with VST Amp Rack, and it sounds killer.

 

[hurdy]

Fender P-Bass or Squire P-Bass?? You will not get a good tone with a Squire

 

[Deuteronomy]

1)A very good bass(Ibanez for me)
2)active pickups
3)Pick-unless your fingers are amazing
4)Sansamp PSA 1,1

 

[StoneLord]

Another one here for sansamp. My Bass driver DI gets that perfect rattle. New strings a must of course.

 

[LiberaScientia]

Fender P-Bass or Squire P-Bass?? You will not get a good tone with a Squire

That's bullshit, with a decent set of pickups and new strings a Squier can get almost there. He said it's a Fender in the OP, anyway.

Picking closer to the neck might help a bit.

 

[Trevoire520]

Duplicate your bass track and filter them so that one is lows and one is highs
Distort the highs track (Like Owen I'm a big fan of Sansamp PSA1 in PT, though just about anything will do the trick really)
Compress the low track,

Blend them together and eq/compress to taste. You'll likely find yourself ripping out alot of 500hz.

 

[hurdy]

That's bullshit, with a decent set of pickups and new strings a Squier can get almost there. He said it's a Fender in the OP, anyway.

Picking closer to the neck might help a bit.

You mad bro? I was talking about a factory squire not one with new pickups.
Some people are not specific with what type they have dude.

 

[Frak]

I use Ola Englund's method to getting a bass tone.
Duplicate the bass track (or create two send tracks) and use one as the low end "clarity" which I'll run through TSE B.O.D. Tweak that to taste and I usually low pass around 4khz on this track.
The second track will literally be my guitar plugin chain (TSE808->TSEx50->Lecab). On the distortion track, I'll low pass to about 3khz and high pass to about 800hz.
Can sound pretty bad on it's own, but if you get the low end right, it sounds crazy awesome in a mix.

 

[mirflee]

Hello all, many thanks for the replies! I'll definitely give them a go. I think I wasn't really clear with my setup.

I'm using a Standard Fender Precision Bass. I'm definitely getting that Sansamp BDDI. I'd like to know though before I spill some cash, how does it compare to the PSA and BOD plugins?

Duplicate your bass track and filter them so that one is lows and one is highs
Distort the highs track (Like Owen I'm a big fan of Sansamp PSA1 in PT, though just about anything will do the trick really)
Compress the low track,

Blend them together and eq/compress to taste. You'll likely find yourself ripping out alot of 500hz.

I use Ola Englund's method to getting a bass tone.
Duplicate the bass track (or create two send tracks) and use one as the low end "clarity" which I'll run through TSE B.O.D. Tweak that to taste and I usually low pass around 4khz on this track.
The second track will literally be my guitar plugin chain (TSE808->TSEx50->Lecab). On the distortion track, I'll low pass to about 3khz and high pass to about 800hz.
Can sound pretty bad on it's own, but if you get the low end right, it sounds crazy awesome in a mix.

Very helpful this, thanks.

 

[Studdy]

Very similar to the other here.
I like to drive a decent preamp/di combo fairly hard on the way in. Get some "transformer" in there. I've yet to find anything better than the Great River for bass. I will usually split the bass into 3 tracks.
1. Low end rolled off around 300hz give or take. Generally compressed and limited but usually no added distortion except for the sound of the driven preamp.
2. Rolled off around 300hz. This is also compressed but does have some dynamics left in tact. (im usually leaving a slight eq gap where the mud is, so im finding the muddy spot in the low mids and thats my center point for my filtering. if that makes sense.)
3. Duplicate of #2 distorted to hell and back probably limited. I will also do some notch eq on this to remove some annoying peaks. I will generally raise the volume on this track until i hear it in the mix, then i back it off.

Then bussed together where maybe a little processing is needed to "gel" them together.

Why i like this method also is because i like to sidechain the kick to the #1 low track to duck a few db's without messing with the rest of the spectrum. Of course there is a million ways to achieve this.

Best Forum on Earth \m/ \m/

 

[Nimvi]

To add to previously mentioned techniques: try Onqel's R47 (the Rat sim) on the distortion side too, with a speaker impulse behind it. It can go from enhanced attack to full grind pretty well imo.

Start off with the tone knob somewhere between 1 and 3 o'clock though. I think that pretty much anyone whom has used a rat pedal agrees that the 12 o'clock setting is a bit too harsh. The emulation is no different in that regard.

 

[hurdy]

To add to previously mentioned techniques: try Onqel's R47 (the Rat sim) on the distortion side too, with a speaker impulse behind it.

Hey dude, do you mean put speaker impulse in front of it?? I never tried running thru an impulse before the rat... Could be interesting

 

[Nimvi]

Hey dude, do you mean put speaker impulse in front of it?? I never tried running thru an impulse before the rat... Could be interesting

Nah, I meant after it, but try it anyway! Who knows what treasures you may uncover

 

[RedDog]

To add to previously mentioned techniques: try Onqel's R47 (the Rat sim) on the distortion side too, with a speaker impulse behind it. It can go from enhanced attack to full grind pretty well imo.

Start off with the tone knob somewhere between 1 and 3 o'clock though. I think that pretty much anyone whom has used a rat pedal agrees that the 12 o'clock setting is a bit too harsh. The emulation is no different in that regard.

This^, yo.
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/35204107/Dat_Grind.mp3
R47 (High Drive, Mid filter, blended in 50%) > BOD (Crank it) > Bass cab IR.

 

[Trevoire520]

You mad bro? I was talking about a factory squire not one with new pickups.
Some people are not specific with what type they have dude.

Nah, still bull. Squier vintage modified/classic vibe basses are awesome even with the stock pickups. The maple bodied VM jazz in particular is a beast of a metal bass.

 

[Line666]

(Like *James I'm a big fan of Sansamp PSA1 in PT, though just about anything will do the trick really)

I do the Ola two band split, keep the low as the DI usually, low pass it at 300hz ala Ermz then run the high pass the top end track at 500 and run it through B.O.D (although I've not had a chance to use the new one yet). Blend in Ampeg SVX to taste on either track in the early stages and add strategic boosts in the 3-5k for general presence in the mix if you need it along with heavy limiting on the low track and slightly less but still moderately heavy comp on the top.

Hard pick attack definitely helps as does choice of instrument - cheap basses often sound really dull even with fresh strings (this is a must too). Throw in a distorted amp track to taste as well if you want it (David Volls Zombass 1 preset was a good example of this) and try not to go overboard with it (restraint is the hardest thing - constant bass rattle in a track can be really distracting).

 

[Nimvi]

This^, yo.
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/35204107/Dat_Grind.mp3
R47 (High Drive, Mid filter, blended in 50%) > BOD (Crank it) > Bass cab IR.

Yuuup that's the stuff! Sounds awesome man!