Thread Need help to record my bass guitar

Same problems for guitars and bass… same solutions ;-)
You have 3 solutions :

Record with a mic:
If you want to record the real sound of your amp, you must plac a mic and record it with your sound card. This is the more “classic” way to record a bass or a guitar.

Advantage:
you will record exactly the sound you are used to ear when you play.

Disadvantages:
you need to record in a quiet room to avoid perturbations,
Most of the time, you must play loud to get the sound you want from your amp… I would not advise if your home studio is in an apartment ;-)
You will ear the result after you have record. You’ll often have surprise like saturation, equalisation, problem of dynamic, vibration of metallic part of the amp (yes it happens!!!!), etc…

Use a modelling preamp/amp
You can use modelling preamp like POD, V-AMP, J-Station, etc… Even Fender has launched a modelling amp some months ago.

Advantages:
you record what you ear
really little noise compared to a mic
you have different amp models in the same box
you can play and record with headphones: your neighbours will thank you!
And the acoustic of the room doesn’t matter!

Disadvantages:
You will not find exactly the sound of your amp...

Use modelling software
This is the same concept than modelling preamp. But your guitar is directly plugged in you sound card, or in your preamp. You have different possibilities for that: line6 launched a TDM plugins “Amp Farm” some years ago, Steinberg has the “Wrap”, Cakewalk has the “FX”, and IK Multimedia has Amplitube. I personally prefer Amplitube.
The main advantage compared to a modelling preamp is that you record a “clean” track with your guitar, and you process the sound after recording. So you can choose to change the amp, the equalisation, the drive when you are mixing, and you don’t need to make a track again to change the colour of your sound!!!

I use a Pod XT that is between a software and a modelling because it can be plugged via USB on your computer, and is recognise as a sound card. This is my preferred solution for bass and for guitar.

Krowms.

Hi,
you also might want to use a DI Box between your bass and the mixer. Is your bass equipped with a passive or active electronic?

Thanks for this detailed post!!

My bass has an active electronic. Yes I think I can use a DI box and plug it to my soundcard, and process the tracks after recording. Is it possible to ear the preocessed signal when I'm playing?

Geraldine-

If you're going to go DI with the bass, you may find an outboard compressor to be very helpful in getting a good sound recorded. I would normally compress bass anyway, mostly using a plugin on the computer. However, if going DI, it is really helpful to compress as you record.

I have a Digitech X Box Bass Squeeze that works great. It also does cabinet modelling specifically for recording going direct from the pedal. I use mine a lot. The compression is licensed from dbx, and it sounds pretty nice.



You can check it out at Digitech's website. They even have sound clips. $80 US at Musicians Friend.

I recommend using Ampeg SVX software by IK Multimedia....It will get you the sound you are looking for.


B. King