Re: Preamp Bass recording vs Mic'd Amp


John Doe wrote:
Plug the Bass directly into the recorder, skip all the BS
additives....(puts on flame-resistant jacket for response)

Well, not exactly! Two things. First: When you go direct you lose all
the sound of the amp. That includes not only the tone of the amp and
cab (especially characteristic on some such as Ampeg) but you also
loose all the amp controls. If you run a passive bass with "toy" EQ you
end up with pretty much a bare bass. IF you want to go direct, a nice
high quality bass preamp with lots of knobs etc. is the way to go and
then run THAT into the recording AFTER you've tweeked it in ways you
like.

Second is that mics and speakers are the weak link in any audio
reproduction. Micing a speaker is usually the WORST way to get clear
well-defined sound. Of course a bass cab differs from say a bar
recording where all you pick up is the PA speakers in that the bass cab
isn't so much a reproducer as a tone GENERATOR...which is to say it's
kind of an instrument in it's own right. Therefore micing it is sort of
like micing an acoustic instrument. But just like recording an acoustic
instrument, you will need a quality mic to get quality sound. PLUS,
you'll need to know what your are doing in mic placement (or at minimum
experiment a lot).

I know I said two things but Third, is that many engineers take the
view that more is better so they do BOTH direct and miced cab. This
gives you some mixing possiblities to better control bass tone. So
John Doe isn't exactly wrong...for quick and dirty...but for absolute
best bass sound, he isn't exactly right either.

Benj

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