Micing that Bass Amp!

[scorpio01169]

Well, the situation could have a great deal to do with the signal chain too. You might be running the D6 through a preamp I haven't tried that colors the mic just right. A lot of factors could come into play... where you like to place the mic, as opposed to where I like it, preamps, and even what you like to hear from the kick as opposed to what I like. And again... I definitely don't dislike the D6, by any means.

i like to point my D6 just a little off my beater for more bass and a little click and then i compress to get the tightness just right, oh yeah and when i get it sounding the way i want i do compress to tape

 

[Tommy Gun]

I actually always place the kick mic in the "core" (or dead-center) of the drum (front to back/side to side/top to bottom). That gives me a happier tonal foundation to start building from. It picks up all the NATURAL click/thud/boom, so instead of adding boosts in my kick EQ, I can use more cuts, and MAYBE supplement with a sample if need be.

 

[chonchball]

i read an article once from the producer of Muse's Absolution, and apparantly that bass player has a very specific bass rig and sound, and his solution to capturing it was to just throw a large diaphragm condenser in front of it. i dont remember exactly what mic or pre amp he was using, but i tried this technique out with my AT4040 since it can handle pretty high SPLs and i'll blend with a dry DI and a duplicate track of the DI with amplitube 2 running or sometimes i'll reamp it through my pod xt on a channel with some bite, i find that the treadplate on low gain will add some really nice compressed edge that you can then blend in with the rest of the tracks. it's also nice to make a dup of the miced track and filter out everything above and below 80 hz with a slightly narrow Q and limit the hell out of it with Waves L1 and Waves RBass. sure at that point you're running 4 tracks, but who said there's rules? if you can get a nice sound coming from the cab it almost doesn't matter where you put the mic. gain up your pre so it's hot but not clipping and capturing as much of the room sound as possible. keep your EQ flat on the way in, and then start cutting and boosting once it's time to mix.

i record a lot of tech and death metal and tweaking different versions of this usually proves great results. and don't forget to sum up your bass and kick to one buss that has a limiter on it so they can pump and react together. with a nice multiband you can train your bass guitar to get out of the way of the kick during the busy parts which will eliminate a lot of mud, and when the bass really needs to shine, make a seperate track for that portion or automate if the kick fights too hard for center stage at every turn.


(everyone invest in some kind of 4x10 or 6x10 a sans amp and anything made by ampeg for your room sound a classic SVT2 is great as is the SVT4, stay away from crossovers unless you REALLY understand the timing)