Recording sound issue

[Stroopy121]

Possibly the wrong thread again.. Apologies if so.

Been having a problem with recording - I had my bass running into a DI box to the desk, aswell as 2 seperate channels with mics infront of my cab. Playing live the sound was fine but listening back theres too much 'attack' in the sound... The sound of my pick hitting the strings comes through nearly as loud as the actual sound does..?! I listened to both the DI feed and the mics seperately and all have the same problem.

Is it just that the action on the bass is too low/I'm playing too hard or is there a "quick fix" to either fix this in the mixing... etc...?

Any help appreciated!

xx

[cheddatom]

you can probably change your technique to get rid of most of this. However, once recorded you can do a low with some compression and EQ. It might be that there's too much transient attack which a compressor would help with. It might be that there's too much of a specific frequency band. Personally, I find that if there's too much "clack" you need to cut around 2KHz, where is there's too much "click" you need to cut nearer 4KHz.

My bassist has a weird technique where he's always slapping the strings against the fretboard really hard, and it creates this kind of "clacking" on every bloody note. A fairly thin notch at 2KHz seems to get rid.

[algmusic]

try practising and recording yourself at home and listening back. This will help you hear the difference between how you sound live and how you sound recorded.. it's not easy. I still hate my playing. You can work on getting the sound you want

[51m0n]

CheddaTom is on the right track.

A carefully set up limiter to catch the peak, a notch on the offending frequency and even som fast compression (softknee) to swell into the note slightly can all help control this. If you can find one a dynamic eq can be a godsend here too, or even a multiband comp set to virtually duck out the nasty part of the transient. Lots of tools out there to hel pyou out if you know what you are doing.


The difficulty is not immasculating the performance whilst fixing the issue...

[Stroopy121]

Lovely, thanks! WIll have a play with it and see!

xx

[Slipperydick]

I have similar problems, clack not click though. I put it down to my ham fisted heavy handed playing, but I tried Nickel strings and it helped no end - tried some cheapo 'Life' ones from Janikas on ebay, worth a go for a fiver..

[ironside1966]

move the microphone further away.

[cheddatom]

the same problem's on the DI track too!

[gilmour]

This is exactly why I stopped playing with a pick years ago.

FWIW the quick fix that we found was to buy a pile of felt plectrums and record with those. Took away a lot of the top end attack. Although costs a bloody fortune as they fall apart in no time, and leave your bass covered in felt dust I only did this for one recording.

[ironside1966]

[quote name='cheddatom' timestamp='1319704576' post='1417358']
the same problem's on the DI track too!
[/quote]

Then use the Di sparingly possibly with heavy compression with a fast attack. but just because you have recorder with a DI it doesn't mean you have to use it.
It seem to be standard practice to record every instrument has close has possible ,this is not always the best method and in the right acoustic space moving the microphone back can produces a much more natural sound, in short If you like what you hear then record what you hear. Condenser microphones have a faster transient response then dynamics so a condenser may make the problem worse.
My advice to anybody recording is get the sound right in the first place if you find a floor in your technique use the opportunity to learn and improve has a musician
lastly it is worth listening to the sound in the context of the full track before making the final decision.

[51m0n]

[quote name='ironside1966' timestamp='1319713163' post='1417540']

Then use the Di sparingly possibly with heavy compression with a fast attack. but just because you have recorder with a DI it doesn't mean you have to use it.
It seem to be standard practice to record every instrument has close has possible ,this is not always the best method and in the right acoustic space moving the microphone back can produces a much more natural sound, in short If you like what you hear then record what you hear. Condenser microphones have a faster transient response then dynamics so a condenser may make the problem worse.
My advice to anybody recording is get the sound right in the first place if you find a floor in your technique use the opportunity to learn and improve has a musician
lastly it is worth listening to the sound in the context of the full track before making the final decision.
[/quote]


In this case though the issue is it is already tracked and the OP is looking for solutions other than rerecording I think.

The problem with moving the mic back are the room has to sound very very good, the bass in the final recording will have a far more distant roomy sound (which wont work very well on a large number of genres as a rule) the bass will be 1ms late for every foot awayt from the cab you place the mic, which may well change the feel for better or worse.

There is no problem capturing the bass sound close mic'ed and with a DI, however you need to listen very hard to what you are capturing and make proper judgements about how these sounds all will stand together in the mix.

Tracking and mixing is a huge set of compromises which you have to sift through to get the best overall result, it may be that moving the mic back is the right compromise ( or not even a compromise ) when you next track, but right now some careful peak management will sort out the tracks as they stand.

[ironside1966]

Use this opportunity to learn. Try to fix what you all ready have, maybe try a demo of the SPL transient designer but 51m0n suggestion seems to be spot on. Then try to rerecord the bass part using microphone placement but remember to phase alien with the DI part. Next try play the parts without the problem. The great thing about home recording you can experiment and the more you experiment the more you learn, a far better investment than buying more gear.
This is another topic but the more I study the old producers the more I realize that the real art of recording plays second place to fix it in the mix.

Edited October 27, 2011 by ironside1966