Recording Bass For Understanding, Not Feeling

[ArtisanBass]

I play fingerstyle bass and I'm sick of gettind drowned out in recordings. Playing with a pick is not an option after after all these years. Assume that my technique is semi-versitile (meanwhile, I'll imagine) and I want to get my prominant melodies out there in the mix. Sure I love to pound 8th notes for the sake of heavy, but enough of the practicing my arse off only not to be heard. There's got to be a better way than just turning up. I've been reading up a lot about creating holes in the mix in relationship to all the instruments, but I admit it can make the guitars suffer.

Background. Tuning normally in D. I used to use very heavy strings but I found the tone suffered. I trained myself back into normal .105-.45's. I use mainly 6-string bass but not too many high end parts. If I do get a good low end, it can turn out being a bit shrill for the higher stuff. All my basses have EMG pickups. I have a GK amp with an Eden cab. I also at times augment my sound with a Tech 21 SansAmp or RBI.

Let me know, if I'm being a selfish overzealous bass player not being a team player. Otherwise,I'd love some tips if you have any other than "use a pick" I'm going to be posting this on a few forums.

Thanks for all the thoughts in advance.

ArtisanBass

 

[cobhc]

Well i for one like to hear the bass in a mix, when playing it's own melodies, but merge in with the guitars when they are playing the same thing to provide the low end rumble. What instrument do you find the bass is battling, is it the guitars or the drums?

 

[ArtisanBass]

Usually the guitars. I do believe that in a lot of pro recordings.... people try to mix the guitars in the sense as to make the speakers like guitar cabs, instead of creating the illusion of heavy sounding guitars. If that makes sense. I used to play way more involved bass lines. I double the guitars at times and at times play basslines to enforce certain chord structurs or the plain heavy of the music. I've been playing metal for many years and I picked up bass because of metal. For the life of me, I don't think I've found a bass sound that I've loved that's not a pick sound. Once again, I'm a finger player. Geddy Lee's is pretty cool but wouldn't blend in well with guitars.
Thanks in advance for everyone's thoughts.

 

[cobhc]

Not being a metallica fanboy, but cliff burton's tone on ride the lightning was good imo, although the involved basslines he played were mainly with wah+dist.

 

[KeithRT99]

a little overdrive helps sometimes. When i do bass i make it so the bass is felt more than heard, that way you can really pick apart what the bass is playing. a good example of this is most in flames stuff, or opeth.

 

[cobhc]

yeah i do like the bass on the clayman album, but i also like being able to hear the bass, to pick out the notes, i agree that the bass should be felt, but it should be heard as well as felt, it shouldn't be a background instrument so much. i guess i want too much from a mix, i wanna be able to hear every single thing.

 

[Matt Crooks]

The biggest help will to high pass thr guitars... on 7 string guitars I cut everything from 80, sometimes 90, down. That clears up the low end for the bass. Then try adding some 700-1.1k on the bass as well, you may have to notch the guitars at the same frequency. What ever frequencies you boost on the drums, don't boost on the bass, and vice versa.

 

[Brett - K A L I S I A]

Use shitload of compression And play with the volume according to the different passages...

 

[ArtisanBass]

All the thoughts have been much appreciated. So many thoughts. I dig the In Flames mix with the bass all heavy. But if Peter were to get a bit of theme or melody, it wouldn't suit his sound. It would be too loud and take everything over. I like Martin in Opeth, but I think his bass should be heard a bit more if not volume but presense. Brett brings up a good point of compression. I have tried the heavily heavily compressed thing. It mixes a bit more like a guitar at that point.

 

[006]

Yeah, the most recent band that came in was awesome. Their bass play used only fingers and slapping. Mostly fingers. I ended up compressin the HELL out of the bass to make it all even that way when I turned it up to mix it always stood out. I don't know what I'm doing different than you or the studios you've been to, but for this band I got the bass to where it's felt and very well heard. He doesn't play along with the guitars most of the time, so he needs to be heard. All I did was use a boost evenly across 700Hz-2.7kHz and a little spice around 300Hz. No low cutting for him. That helped a lot. Then I used Waves' RennaissanceBass (NOT MaxxBass) to compress at 80Hz, so that it the bass would be felt no matter how high he got on the notes. He did some crazy stuff. The whole time, he's just as even as the guitars without being too high. Try it out. Good luck.

~006

 

[KillDivision]

I'll go with Keith, use some overdrive. Something like the EBS Multidrive. I love the compression that comes with bassoverdrives. It will get you more tone.

 

[ArtisanBass]

On a slight side note, .. speaking of compression. the Aphex Punch Factory pedal is great discreat compression for live. I've had a rack dbx for years and this think kicks it's ass. It's not for people who rely on compression to make up for dynamics though, just for some enhancement.

 

[madbutcher]

My favorite bass tone ever (and one that sounds kind of what you are describing you want) is Nefarious' on Macabre's "Murder Metal" album. I'd love to know how the engineer got that sound to cut through so fuckin sweet. I have seen them live and it sounds exactly the same live as on the album.

 

[STINNETT]

A bass sound that will really have clarity in a heavy mix is not going to sound good at all when solo'd. Keep that in mind. You need to capture alot of high end when tracking the bass. A good smooth technique is really important as well. Afterwards, alot of compression really helps. Some subtle overdrive helps too like the others have mentioned.

 

[daemon097]

Well, I will have to agree with overdrive. That, and making sure to eq all of your instruments so that you can make room for your bass to be heard in your mix. Typically, metal guitars are scooped...so, depending on the frequency range of your guitars, boost the bass in that general area where the guitars dip, and you'll notice that your bass tone is very present in the mix. not loud (unless you want it to be loud) .. but definitely able to be heard...

 

[Exsanguis]

You may want to mult the bass, keeping one for maintaining a clear low end, while having the other sound like a very low guitar, with overdrive, etc. From there, I'd ride the faders to accentuate certain lines, etc.

 

[ArtisanBass]

Here's a question I forgot to ask. I sometimes do put a bit of dirt on my sound. When you guys talk distortion though, are you talking grindy Chris Squire/Geddy Lee... or more like full overdriven distortion?

 

[Noumenon]

I have to say that Marcel Jacobs sound is GREAT.

 

[STINNETT]

Here's a question I forgot to ask. I sometimes do put a bit of dirt on my sound. When you guys talk distortion though, are you talking grindy Chris Squire/Geddy Lee... or more like full overdriven distortion?

Well, I can't speak for everyone. But personally I like it to growl just a little on the heavy notes, kinda subtle. You can beef up the presence of the bass without noticing much distortion.

 

[Disconnekt]

Yeah, you can add a surprising amount of overdrive without it being noticeable in the mix. To hear the distortion, you really have to fry the hell out of it (ex. Peter Iwers on Reroute to Remain. Something that sounds reasonably overdriven soloed will sound really good in the mix... the added upper harmonics will make your ears and brain think that lower notes are louder, and it shouldn't be buzzy or anything.