Bassing it up

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Typo Szar
Member Since: Jul 04, 2002

OK... I need as much help as i can get... so yeah thats why im turning to the warm webboard i now call home! Im recording my whole band with only SM58's, coz were borrowing them from our friend. Ofcourse when recording bass with this onto cakewalk, its not very bassy at all. Especially in the final mix, when i play it on cd players and even high quality sound systems, there is no low end to the song.
Oddly enough though, when i turned it on my media player, and used the graphic eq. and it sounded great, with all the low end i wanted. so i have 2 questions.

A. Is there anything i can do to record with a punchy low end on SM58's
B. Is there an equalizer like the one on media player that i can use in cakewalk to permanently add to my song?

thank u!

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Administrator
Since: Apr 03, 2002


Aug 14, 2002 08:42 am

don't mic the bass, record the bass direct, look for a line out, or direct out on your bass amplifier. If you don't have one of these outs, get a direct box like this one service.bfast.com/bfast/c...mp;bfmtype=gear they are relatively inexpensive and add a ton of sound quality to your bass.

If you wish to go better yet, a bass amp emulator/direct box is even better yet, like the Bass POD from Line 6 service.bfast.com/bfast/c...mp;bfmtype=gear or the Bass POD Pro service.bfast.com/bfast/c...mp;bfmtype=gear

Miking a bass amp is not the best way, direct is better if you can only use one track, if you can spare two or three track, then record one track direct, one track from a mic on the amp and one track from a mic on the strings for some string noize (sometimes cool, but not always).

The first two together wil allow you to mix them together at will later in the production and give you a great huge sound.

Member
Since: Apr 19, 2002


Aug 14, 2002 10:04 am

I've had pretty good results recording the bass direct with a DI. Once you have the track recorded, copy it to another track, use the cakewalk's amp simulator in one of them and mix to taste.
The secret is to filter all the low content before the signal enter in to the amp sim, this way you'll have a punchy and bassy signal from the direct track and a edging signal that will make tha bass cut throu the mix.

Hope this help!!


Member
Since: Jul 11, 2002


Aug 14, 2002 12:35 pm

The Sansamp is a little more cash than the average DI but considerably less than the POD. It has been the choice of Pro's for many years. We used it exclusively on our last CD. If you want to take a listen, go to www.thumpfluid.com

service.bfast.com/bfast/c...mp;bfmtype=gear

Czar of Midi
Administrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002


Aug 14, 2002 05:44 pm

And yes, CakeWalk has a couple of EQ's in its FX list.

Typo Szar
Member
Since: Jul 04, 2002


Aug 14, 2002 07:18 pm

Thanx for all the great help. I've tried lining in from teh bass amp, coz im so strapped for cash i can't even buy a DI... :( But i get alot of distortion and the signal is so overloaded. When i mic it it still sounds pretty sweet, but i just can't seem make a good low end in the song. Not just bass, but also bass drums, and even some guitar low end aren't very present unless i use the "tru-bass" and eq on my Windows media player. So i guess what i'm really asking is there anyway i can permanently add that to my final mix?

Administrator
Since: Apr 03, 2002


Aug 14, 2002 08:08 pm

I guess the best thing I can think of is to try different EQ settings and try to find the best ones, raise some lows, turn down some mids so it doesn't get to muddy...

Czar of Midi
Administrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002


Aug 14, 2002 09:13 pm

crux, if you have cakewalk, there are EQ's and such in the program. You just need to open your wave file for each track. Then right click on the wave view, and this will bring up the FX menu. There are several good FX to choose from.

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