Hello gents, my bass sucks.

[AceFireForce117]

This is really getting out of hand and it's driving me so near insanity that even justin bieber's voice mixed with a high pitch effect singing "i will survive" with the jonas brothers would sound good.

That said, i'm struggling with the bass. When i started reading all the posts on this amazing source of information i didn't even know the bass guitar could have distortion in it !

I've been compressing the beegies out of it, many stages, different eq'ing, different plugins and such.
i tried impulses (not all of them though), noamp, different bass sims.

I ended up using the tse bod with ampeg svx on the di track (before all the eq and comps) then in the grit track i put the same thing but without the ampsim
All routed to a buss with C4 and L2 and another eq.

I've come up with 3 different mixes. Which one do you prefer ? I'll describe all the different settings afterwards for each one of them

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/21142764/FT6 bass mix 1.mp3

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/21142764/FT6 bass mix 2.mp3

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/21142764/FT6 bass mix 3.mp3

Think i'll try that softube bass amp room and maybe the studio devil virtual amp but i can't afford that one yet

Think i also need a good night sleep !

Thanks for reading me boys and girls

EDIT : http://dl.dropbox.com/u/21142764/FT6 mix 6.mp3

 

[thefalloftheheretic]

Have you tried mixing all three together?
I'm tied between 1 and 3 for the best, but I do love me some clanky bass like 2.

PS: I use LeXTAC for my bass 99% of the time and it's the best bass tone I've ever gotten.

 

[AceFireForce117]

Mmmh interesting, i've just tried with the lextac.
I've got one di track and 2 grit tracks. Somehow it feels to me like it's not blended together. i don't know why, it might be me.
I think i might be trying to go for something i can't reach...
Anyway here's the latest mix :

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/21142764/FT6 mix 6.mp3

 

[thefalloftheheretic]

What are your HPs and LPs like on your EQ?
Grit/distortion tracks can often sound like balls if not EQed correctly.

 

[JohnTheRipper]

no offense, but the playing sounds kinda sloppy. with bass guitar, even the tiniest timing mistakes cause horrendous problems, and the tone won't matter at all.
This is actually a very good tone here (sound sample number 1), although you could add an exciter at 60hz to get some more low end, and more distortion on the grit track (also try using a fuzz, see how that works out). Also, on the grit track, try using an eq BEFORE the distortion, with a HP at 600hz and LP at 3-4khz, and possibly use the same eq after the distortion, but maybe with a bit more highs in there (2k-3k region). Oh, and cut the hell out of the low mids for a tight sound (300-400 hz, but don't exagerate).
BTW, what bass guitar did you use here? I really like the Chancellor-esque mid punch it's got in sample 2.

 

[AceFireForce117]

thanks for your answers !
yeah i know for the playing no problem

Why didn't think to eq before the distortion ? i'll try out what you said thanks
The bass is a brand new ibanez sr500 with fresh elixir strings.

 

[AceFireForce117]

any advice or critic are welcome