| I've done a small bit of recording the bass. My best success has been
recording thru a Alesis micro compressor/limiter, then to the mixing board
(with 3 band EQ) onto 1/4"tape.
I have noticed that both the EQ settings, and the Tone controls on the BASS
guitar were very critical in getting the sound that I wanted. My bass has
active electronics (pick-ups), and has a direct (XLR) output on it.
Using the basses XLR output directly to the board, with the compressor
insert patched inline worked better then using 1/4" high impedence connections.
You don;t have a choise on most Basses.
Active mode on the bass, worked better then passive (There is a switch on the
bass). The basses EQ changes are more pronounced then when used passively.
I have also noticed that the tape format is very important. I was never able
to record bass like I desired onto cassette. My attempts using a 4 track X15
never were completely satisfactory. Bass response was my primary motivation
for choosing larger tape formats.
I have recorded on to 1/2" 4track, with much superiour results. (Teac 3440).
I am now using a 1/4" 8track, which has almost as good results as the 1/2"
4 track. My conclusions about this observation is that the wider the tape, the
better the low end response.
I doubt that recording from a speaker would result in much better sound
quality, unless you had some preference for distortion that might be
speaker induced. Most microphones have very poor bass response. I think
that there would be significant losses from such a set-up. Might be useful
as a secondary source of ambiance, but not for the basic track.
To summarise, 1. I'd recomend going direct to the board as opposed to mic'ing.
2. I would definately use compression to avoid peaks and saturation.
3. I would use large format tape (if possible), and at least
reduce my expectations of small formats.
4. I would experiment with EQ settings, on both the bass and
board (or inline EQ), and the compressor settings.
I would listen to tape, and not depend upon the monitor to
draw conclusions since
the sound might be tape limited.
5. I would not take advice from strangers ;^)
/Rick
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| re EQ of bass; most speaker systems cannot, even if your studio
monitors can, accurately reproduce the fundamental frequency of a bass
guitar or acoustic bass. Most speaker systems roll off considerably
under 120 cycles. What we DO hear thru those is harmonics. I suggest
a +5DB or so boost at 250-300 CPS. This isn't enough to make the bass
too honky or midrangey (the wordcoinmeister at work!) on full range
speakers, but is enough to get it heard on 3" boom box speakers.
karl
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