Recording Chain for getting huge bass tone

[theguitarfreak]

I always have problems getting a huge bass tone in a mix that sits right below the guitars but doesn't sound boomy or overpowering. I have tried a lot of different eq and comp settings but nothing has made me fully satisfied. So i want to start off at the very basic by making sure i am getting a good tone at the source.

I have an Ibanez SR505 bass guitar, a Sansamp Bass Driver DI, a Focusrite Saffire pro 14 interface and a POD X3 live. How should i utilize these to get the optimum result?

Does plugging the bass guitar direct into my interface's hi-z input produce a proper DI tone? Or do i need a proper DI like Countryman or Radial?

 

[professorlamp]

Most people will split it into 2-3 separate tracks
Sub bass
Dirt bass
Other (I don't bother with this one)

*rough guidelines*
You want the sub heavily filtered down so you're only getting 200hz and below, compressed to death so it's really solid and stable and then maybe another EQ to get rid of the nasty overtones the compression might've given it.

Next you're dirt bass
This will have a high pass at 200 (let your sub bass track handle the subs/bass) and then your favourite distortion plugin. Guitar rig, lecto, amplitbue whatever.
Next just apply a low pass at around 8k, remember every mix is different.

then once you have both tracks to your taste, solo both of these and balance it so you have a tasty balance of subs and grind, send this to a bus so you can 'set and forget' those settings and move the groups volume instead.

Done

 

[Sam Cruz]

Dont forget to try adding a little chorus effect on the "Dirt Bass" part, I've read it somewhere here, (cant find it though)

 

[professorlamp]

Think it was Slate that posted that idea...Yes it was

http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/production-tips/312429-some-cool-bass-mixing-tips.html

 

[MindMunch]

Try this

 

[Audiosprite]

You can also try parallel compression, and blending the amp with the DI

 

[RedDog]

Hands > bass > daw > ??? > profit

 

[Firaxis]

compression compression compression on the low end! haha. As stated earlier, get that low end completely under control and you will be surprised how loud you can get it. Pretty sure Nordstrom just goes bass-> sansamp DI -> post processing and his bass tones are enormous (I love the Dream Evil bass)

 

[BLUElightCory]

Hate to say it, but great bass tone is 98% great player + great bass. Run the great bass into a good D.I. and a good compressor and voila! Huge bass.

 

[Derykus]

Amp sims sound like crap most of the time. Why would processing on bass be any different? Real amp = huge tone. DI blended of course.

 

[jotun725]

Danelectro Honeytone for the grit.

 

[Ermz]

The chorus on bass grit thing is pretty cool. Gives the bass a wider, subconscious presence in the track. Make sure to high-pass the chorus until the lows are gone though.. you don't necessarily want your bass frequencies to be stereo, haha.

I used it on this stuff:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIAocwbXx24&feature=player_embedded[/ame]

and this:



Bass is a difficult one. On a full album I normally spend at least an entire day just tweaking the low-end. As mentioned a good player and good bass can make your life infinitely easier. Also helps if the arrangement is sparse and lets the low-end develop.

Break it up into at least two component tracks... highs and lows, this is so that your distortion box doesn't mess with the low-end. Use the plain DI line for lows. I normally just bus them together and treat them as one for most of it. Usually 4 to 5 stages of compression, and 3 to 4 stages of EQ. It's all about staging - choosing where to have a compressor, and how much to take off at that point can make or break your tone.

 

[andygo]

And working with two component tracks don't forget ALWAYS to check the phase - more bass low freq (sub), you are ok, less bass low freq you are not ok)))

 

[heshian46]

Danelectro Honeytone for the grit.

This

 

[hurdy]

Decapitator is excellent for bassy grit.
Ill usually do a sub track and a high grit track separatly. Then a 3rd track with the decapitator punishing the tone for extra grit

 

[kool98769]

I usually do 2 tracks.
1 low end, with the shit compressed out of it, then hit with a touch of maxxbass, then multi banded with the subs comp'd harder than the rest of the bass.
Then, the high track, I filter at about 200hz, compress it a bit, and run it into the B.O.D., and gclip to shave off some peaks, then make sure to cut off everything below 200 again with around 18db per octave, so that little content below exists.
Then bus it with a compressor with a moderate attack and a high ratio (6:1+) and eq it for the rest of the mix.
Having more low that is distorted really helps blend it in with the guitars. Still gives you a ton of meat, and still have that solid low end from the DI.

I think it sounds good, but I'm working out a better chain every time I record bass.
Also, the bass makes a big difference on where you make the cuts and boosts in EQ

 

[Charles J]

Player > Bass > Strings is really the most vital thing.

Other than that, duplicating the track a couple times and treating each track a bit differently is the way to go...

I'll usually have at least 2 or 3 bass tracks....it's gotten up to 4 or 5 before though.

Number one will most likely always be the DI either reamped through a bass rig or AmpegSVX/Studio Devil VBA
For the rest, I like to use a mixture of some ACTUAL pedals and a track or two of plugin distortions... all filtered differently to get the sound I'm after...
Some of the distortion tracks are REALLY extreme (like when using our Big Muff) and some have more clarity, but are still quite distorted.

I like mixing the different distortion/harmonic characteristics to get something interesting happening...

I then buss all of these tracks to a master "BASS BUSS" where I apply further EQ, Compression, maybe a slight bit of modulation, etc...

@Ermz: DUDE, the bass tone on that Naberus track is IMMENSE.... god how I want a PSA-1.1