Line6bassman, the Row's own audio guru in--the-making, has acquired a head full of savvy about recording tips, tricks, and techniques that he's willing to share. My philosophy is, if someone comes up to me and says: 'Hey, here's a fistful of gold for ya,' and it turns out to be real gold, I hold out both hands! This article is just the beginning. Go deeper, to get deeper.
Ed.
"Ok people, since I bought my 24 Track recorder I been trying to learn some things about what's the best way to record the bass etc. Actually I'm relearning these things
because I had a studio with all the trimmings a good while ago where I recorded a few people and groups so I'm in a period of refreshing the brain you might say, ( and learning. )
I thought I would put a tip that I learned for those who may be able to use this now are in the future. So as I learn some things that might be helpful to some in recording
Bass, Drums, Etc I'll put them here.
Here's one in a question and answer format. This one kind of goes along with our Riffs
video thread.
Question: How can I make sure that my Drums and Bass are
always punchy, powerful, and clear? My beats and low end
usually start out banging, but as I add more things to my
song, somehow it ends up muddy and doesn't have the same
impact when I'm finished.
Answer: The first thing you need to do is ask yourself if
this a Kick song or a Bass song? This is important because it
will help you determine which should be the main focus.
Here are some guidelines. Is the bass melodic, singable,
hummable, and memorable. Is it a memorable line when it's
soloed all by itself, if so, feature it as the main low end
instrument because that is what everybody will lock onto
and remember.
Think back for a minute. Whenever you listen to a hit song
that has a memorable and melodic baseline, you
automatically have to sing along with it in your mind and
the drums are just supporting it. How many times have you
hummed a bassline to someone when you are describing a
song?
If the bass is mainly a rhythmic, pulsing, thumping,
enhancement type of sound that is mainly following the
rhythm and drive of the kick drum, it should play a
supporting role for the pulse of the beat. The drums are
definitely what's driving it. The drums are the propulsion
and the bass is simply the low-end support. Decide on the
balance BEFORE adding any EQ or compression.
Many times there are songs that have "The Fattest Bass In
The World" in addition to "The Fattest Kick In The World" -
recorded all on the same song.
You need to have contrast in the bass frequencies to keep
it from getting muddy. It has to be one or the other, not
both.
You need one instrument to handle the low lows, and the
other instrument to handle the upper lows, so that each one
is out of the other one's way - that way you won't end up
with a muddy sounding low-end because each instrument is
playing separate, but supporting roles without getting in
the other ones way and not competing to fill out the
low-end.
Hope this one may be helpful now are in the future."
Line6bassman
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