Silverhealer

My signal path for recording bass is for my electrics, to go into my Sansamp Bass Driver or Samson active DI box, into my Focusrite Saffire interface using phantom powering. My Dean Performer acoustic bass has an XLR and puts out a wonderful clean signal straight into the Saffire. Afterwards I generally use compression, with occasionally some amp simulation from Logic's Bass Amp plugin or Studio Devil. Having said that, I was listening yesterday to some assignment recordings a student of mine had done. I played a ratty Precision copy with some really dull strings , with the D string missing (and upside down as I'm left handed and hadn't brought my own bass) into a small practice combo whose make I can't even recall. The signal path was into a Mackie 8 bus, then into a MOTU 24 I/O interface and Logic in the studio I teach in. We tried an AK D112 (generally a bass instrument mic, but particularly for kick drums these days) and a Shure SM57, both off-centre to the speaker and about 3/4 inches away. We also did a DI into the desk via a Behringer active DI box. The D112 sound was deep, but sharper than the SM57, which was nicely round and a little 'woolly'. Blending the two produced a huge sound, a little dirty and satisfyingly retro in a sort of early 70s way. Some of this is down to the bass, as the DI sounds quite 60s/70s itself, something like the sound of Andy Fraser of Free. This is to digital too - I can imagine the sound to 2 inch 24 track would be even better. There are so many sounds you could get - it just shows experimenting is well worth it.

I am not only a bass player but producer/writer/programmer and I have only recently got back into bass properly after many years, but with a vengeance as I now have 4 basses to my original one! I use Logic Pro on a Mac, but collaborate with people using Pro Tools, Nuendo, Cubase, Samplitude or Sonar on PC and Digital Performer on Mac. I teach Music Tech and I have taught Cubase in the past. The whole platform wars thing in this area gets VERY dull - it's much more a case of get to know the program and use it creatively. You can certainly make great music on any system if you follow your creativity. I started with C-Lab (later Emagic) Creator on an Atari ST in 1988 and got Logic as much because it would load all my old songs as for any other reason. Having said that, it is at its current price setting fantastic value, with the top quality built-in instruments and effects and I have zero interest in getting anything different. I have considered in the past setting up a parallel system on the Pentium M Vaio laptop I use for everyday stuff and I do have Reaper on it, as I can use my Focusrite Saffire interface with it and have recorded a friend's band in a theatre to it. There are some remarkable plugins going for free out there - it would be possible to make superb complete tracks with, say, Reaper, the Computer Music Magazine cover disk plugins and a selection of freebies downloaded from the internet, both instruments and effects. The place to look is [url="http://www.kvraudio.com"]KVR Audio[/url] using their search engine. The big problem for anyone searching for free Windows plugins is the sheer amount of choice and if you don't exercise self-discipline your system could get very bloated.

[size=2]I'm left-handed, so my choice is always limited. I've just joined my first band for a long time, having been into studio stuff - recording, producing, songwriting - for the last 20 years. I still have my second bass after 29 years, which is an Ibanez RS924 (first was a Fender Mustang short scale and I wish I'd kept it too) This has such a great range of tones I'm glad I've stuck with it. It's what I will use gigging, as I did in the 80s. Last year, having come into a little money, I bought a Dean Performer acoustic which I use for recording and practising around the house. I love it to bits. I later bought a Peavey Millennium BXP 5 String, which sort of does the business, but is a bit anonymous. I wanted this primarily for recording, as I need the low B for a lot of the stuff I write, but I'm thinking of getting another 5-string, possibly a Dean Edge 5. I also currently have my eyes on a left-hand Aria fretless on eBay.[/size] [attachment=26633:3_Basses.jpg]