Recording bass cabs.

[Lowberg]

Hey guys. Im working on a band that wants that traditional 80s NWOBHM/powermetal sound. Struggling a bit with bass tones. Player is good, bass is good, new strings all that jazz. Couldnt really get that middy in your face steve harris type tone with bass amp modeling, so Im considering reamping.

What do you guys do as far as mic position goes, for bass cabs? Unfortunately i sold alot of my mics, but ive still got my 57 and SM7B which should work for the style.

Thanks!

 

[Melb_shredder]

I had fun trying an Audix D6 on there

 

[heshian46]

Those should work well for that style. Put them on the grille, play around with position till it sounds good to your ears. You could also play around with an LDC a foot or so back from the grille. Could help catch additional lows, and some bite as well.

 

[Shinozoku]

U67/87 style mic will take you where you need to go with the 80's bass tone. Mic up a couple of different cabs (4x10, 2x15, etc) and blend the sounds. Don't rely on the basic "SM57" thing. And a kick/bass mic will have mids sucked right out of it. Need a classic style LDC on that shit.

 

[egan.]

Sm7 will probably be nice. IME you have to back off a bass cab about 6 inches or so to get the sound of the cab though.

 

[Trevoire520]

The Steve Harris bass tone is a REALLY difficult one to get I think. He has a pretty mental rack setup filled with all sorts of stuff. Fender P Bass, flatwound strings and playing fingerstyle would be a good start though.

 

[plague_rider]

SM7 is a great mic choice for a bass amp... as said above though getting that sort of sound might be more difficult...

Try getting them a really solid tone with what you have and see if they are pleased with that rather than trying to get the Harris tone...

 

[Kita]

I would do the whole "copy the track and use a gritty gross amp sim on it and blend it in" thing to get that midrange grit. I know that's now how HE did it, but it works.

Oh, and don't use a bass amp modeler. Use a guitar amp modeler.

 

[crillemannen]

I usually use a beta52a , sounds awesome. If you got some kind of 47clone at hand, like a Peluso 2247Le or something like that sounds great to.

 

[MIAnn]

tech 21 leeds = instant 'arris

 

[aortizjr]

Usually like a D6 or Beta52 on a 15 for the lows. Use the SM7 or an LDC on a 4x10 for mids and high's.

I would try for even a cheap LDC since the harshness helps it cut and then use EQ to control the highs.

With amp-sims, have you tried blending a track with the bass running through a guitar amp? Or some distortion? If you blend carefully, you can get it to have that punchy harris midrange but without actually hearing the distortion.

 

[scorpio01169]

Usually like a D6 or Beta52 on a 15 for the lows. Use the SM7 or an LDC on a 4x10 for mids and high's.

I would try for even a cheap LDC since the harshness helps it cut and then use EQ to control the highs.

This, I would start off getting the highs, and mids just how you want, then slowly bring up the bass freqs because bass already has alot of energy

 

[AngryD]

Keep the DI, reamp with a kick mic, phase-align, blend, bass tone heaven

 

[Sloan]

Use the amp only for the mids/highs, not the lows - so don't try to mic it to get the lows. Mic it like you would a guitar amp. I had good results throwing a d6 and a studio projects b1 ldc on an ampeg 1x15 recently.

also, try running your bass di through a guitar amp/cab, just don't turn it up too loud and kill puny guitar speakers.

 

[Trevoire520]

Or you can use a guitar amp into a bass cab, no speaker death