What happened to my bass? Opinions needed
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Posted on Jan 24, 2005 11:30 pm
thermocaster
Appenine
Member Since: Dec 13, 2004
Alright...here's the situation. I made all these system upgrades (new CPU, new soundcard, an actual Behringer preamp) and have been recording, and the changes have had a really positive sonic impact on my regular guitars, on the vocals, on other stuff...but my bass guitar has become almost unworkable!
I used to get a nice, muddy, throbbing, even sound out of the bass when I was recording via the old computer, which just had the crappy Dell-installed soundcard and that was it. Now, the bass just sounds fuzzy and ill-defined, and really sticks out like a sore thumb on the recordings...to the point where I haven't even used it on a couple.
I tried re-routing the bass through my solid-state amp and direct-connecting it into the soundcard, but that seems to only make it worse. And going directly into the pre-amp seems to generate a lot of hiss.
I don't own a very expensive bass by any means - it's a $200 Yamaha without a model number that I bought 10 years ago. I'm hoping that the answer to this problem isn't that I need to get a new bass, because that's an expense I'd have trouble justifying to myself right now. :)
Any ideas? Is there a particular effects chain I might be able to put it through in CEP to muddy it up and give it that even sound again? Or another way to send the signal to the sound card?
Thanks.
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olddogMember
Since: Jul 02, 2003
Jan 25, 2005 12:06 am For the bass I'd say skip the pre-amp or amp, you really don't need anything with a bass to get a good sound, just run it thru your mixer and into the sound card. If your getting alot of hum/hiss, make sure you aren't facing your monitor or computer when your recording. Also make sure you aren't overdriving the input.
That's about all I can think of offhand. It's doubtful the problem is suddenly with your bass. And the new soundcard shouldn't be a problem either. Somewhere it sounds like your just getting to hot a signal to the soundcard somewhere along the line.
Dan
cooloFrisco's Most UnderratedMember
Since: Jan 28, 2003
Jan 25, 2005 03:19 am Yeah, I'd go from bass, to preamp (mixer or stand alone), to soundcard. As old dog said make sure you're not pushing it too hot. Once in CEP, I think it's good to add compression. Make sure you open up to a pretty slow attack (larger number) and prolly want a slow release (even larger number than attack). From there I eq (push up the lows and pull out some mids - how's that for generalities).
Jan 25, 2005 07:08 am I 3rd that ... I record my bass (a Yoshi something or another) straight into my M-Audio Buddy Pre-Amp and apply effects in Cubase.
Solid bass track every time ...
Just keep levels under red.
Coco.
Jan 25, 2005 08:40 am you crappy stock card may have some sort of built in compression type processing just to protect itself, which is why your sound is worse now.
