Multiple bass tones in one song?

[Chainsaw Calligraphy]

So I'm working on a project and at the moment I'm tracking the bass. This is my first time using a real bass in one of my mixes so I spent some time fooling around with pickup positions and picks etc.

The problem I've found is that in some parts of the track the bass sound needs to be tight and punchy (i.e bridge pickup and pick) but in slower heavier parts it needs that meaty tone you can only really get from using your fingers nearer the neck. I was wandering if any of you guys ever track seperate bass tones for different parts of the same song and if so how do you go about implementing it?

While it would be simple enough to do this useing two seperate bass tracks or whatever, I'm wandering if this is going to cause problems when I have to automate the HP filters on the guitars to compensate for the change in tone and if the sudden shift would sound too obvious. I also suspect this is going to throw a wrench in the works when I get to mastering it and I have to deal with violent shifts in the low end content. Thoughts and feelings? Any input on this would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Internity]

imo the best way is to track 2 times - one the parts with the pick and one with the parts of fingers.. track them into 2 different tracks in the daw so you can edit them personally and the send them to a bus

 

[crillemannen]

Record on 2 tracks. Edit,eq etc and automate when you mix it later on

 

[Skinny Viking]

I've done this with up to 3 different bass tones ... you should have no problems and in fact, the change in bass tone can actually make a song more exciting as long as you're using a tone that complements the respective parts

record onto separate tracks in your DAW, apply the more obvious EQ, comp, etc ... changes individually and then bus them together. Slap a more universal sounding EQ and comp on the bus and you should be fine. I wouldn't worry so much about if you may need to change settings for the guitars, etc .. until after you've listened back to see if it actually needs it or not

 

[MF_Kitten]

both bass and guitar players change pickup positions and technique throughout songs, so why the hell not?