urb Posted April 6, 2008 Share Posted April 6, 2008 Hey guys Just wanted to share little experience I had yesterday with home recording set up - sorry for the less than coherent title of this thread but I thought as I had use some lateral thinking to get the results I did - that it would be good share any 'discoveries' you've made while working stuff out for yourself...! My thing was that I plugged my lovely new bass into my Mackie Onyx base station firewire interface a week ago and found I had an incredibly weak signal from the bass - my old Thumb bass has a Schack 3-band EQ in and puts out a red hot signal - so this was a bit of a shock to me - that my lovely Sei doesn't blast out bass frequencies in quite the same way. So I thought sh*t - I'm gonna have to shell out for a Sansamp or similar thing to boost me bass before going into the audio interface - then I thought of my lovely little Baby Baby Blue amp - and the fact that it's basically a "studio reference" amp (i.e. people in studios like them I guess) and that you can turn off the speaker on it and take a line out from the back of the head. It's also a real tube amp - albeit a single tube - so the signal is both crystal clear and warm as well. Anyway it worked a treat - just be adjusting the Gain I got the level I wanted and with a bit of additional 'am modeling' in Logic I got the tone I wanted and the signal level too. So I save myself some cash and got a great sound as well - thank f***! Markbass are about to launch a new software plug in that will do the same thing and I know Ameg already do one as well - I just really pleasantly surprised by the quality and lack of noise with the SWR - it's such a great little amp - not as powerful as some of the combos out there but still a really quality little amp - I've used mine loads and love it. I know this stuff isn't rocket science but there's so much to recording that you discover by trial and error - mainly error - so I realise I may sound like a total doofus going on about this but if any of you have any other money/time saving tips then please post away - I'm off to finish my tune. Cheers Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Funk Posted April 6, 2008 Share Posted April 6, 2008 The only tip I'd offer is to try every mic or preamp you have for every bass or other instrument you want to record. Sometimes you'll be very pleasantly rewarded like Urb was. But valve bass preamp to record bass - a bit of a no-brainer, isn't it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowdown Posted April 6, 2008 Share Posted April 6, 2008 [quote name='The Funk' post='170788' date='Apr 6 2008, 05:15 PM']The only tip I'd offer is to try every mic or preamp you have for every bass or other instrument you want to record. Sometimes you'll be very pleasantly rewarded like Urb was. But valve bass preamp to record bass - a bit of a no-brainer, isn't it? [/quote] Ummm... Not sure about that... I have a Avalon U5... Not a valve insight. Lovely warm sound... Garry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowdown Posted April 6, 2008 Share Posted April 6, 2008 (edited) Hey TF.. I have just checked out your band's my Space.. Cool stuff Man...Great. Garry Edited April 6, 2008 by lowdown Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahpook Posted April 6, 2008 Share Posted April 6, 2008 i use my ridge farm gas cooker di as a bass preamp for recording. sounds great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Funk Posted April 6, 2008 Share Posted April 6, 2008 (edited) [quote name='lowdown' post='170798' date='Apr 6 2008, 05:37 PM']Hey TF.. I have just checked out your band's my Space.. Cool stuff Man...Great. Garry[/quote] Thanks, much appreciated! EDIT: Just checked our your myspace too. I like it, especially the big, fat bass tone. Very impressive list of credits too! Don't get me wrong - a great preamp doesn't have to have any valves in it. I track stuff through my Aguilar DB680 (valve). The Avalon U5 and the Ridge Farm are both very high quality items of studio gear. I'd love to have all three at my disposal but that would just be greedy, wouldn't it? Edited April 6, 2008 by The Funk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakenewmanbass Posted April 6, 2008 Share Posted April 6, 2008 (edited) Hi Urb, I've used various pre amps from basic studio kit like my focusrite octopre (a good all rounder) through my bass pre, an Alembic F1-X very nice, tubey, quite transient with bright highs, the TLA stuff in various studios right up to the hand made channel strip pre amps for the Neve desk at Air Lyndhurst (studio 1). In their own way each of them has done something beneficial to the tone even if it's just heating the signal. I have to say that the only one that really stands up to the obvious outstanding quality of the Air studios stuff is the Alembic, I've done side by side comparisons with a few in house (some good kit too) gear and every time the producer has said "we'll go with yours" (that doesn't include Air as I didn't have the Alembic last time I had a session there) I'm not at all surprised at your SWR revelation though, their pre amps are great. Jake Edited April 6, 2008 by jakesbass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowdown Posted April 6, 2008 Share Posted April 6, 2008 [quote name='The Funk' post='170829' date='Apr 6 2008, 06:30 PM']I track stuff through my Aguilar DB680 (valve). The Avalon U5 and the Ridge Farm are both very high quality items of studio gear. I'd love to have all three at my disposal but that would just be greedy, wouldn't it?[/quote] Blimey... That would be a tasty set of toys..... I think i am gonna try and make it to one of your band gigs , at some point. Looks like that might be a night of fun..! Garry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmorris Posted May 28, 2008 Share Posted May 28, 2008 [quote name='urb' post='170751' date='Apr 6 2008, 04:06 PM']Hey guys Just wanted to share little experience I had yesterday with home recording set up - sorry for the less than coherent title of this thread but I thought as I had use some lateral thinking to get the results I did - that it would be good share any 'discoveries' you've made while working stuff out for yourself...! My thing was that I plugged my lovely new bass into my Mackie Onyx base station firewire interface a week ago and found I had an incredibly weak signal from the bass - my old Thumb bass has a Schack 3-band EQ in and puts out a red hot signal - so this was a bit of a shock to me - that my lovely Sei doesn't blast out bass frequencies in quite the same way. So I thought sh*t - I'm gonna have to shell out for a Sansamp or similar thing to boost me bass before going into the audio interface - then I thought of my lovely little Baby Baby Blue amp - and the fact that it's basically a "studio reference" amp (i.e. people in studios like them I guess) and that you can turn off the speaker on it and take a line out from the back of the head. It's also a real tube amp - albeit a single tube - so the signal is both crystal clear and warm as well. Anyway it worked a treat - just be adjusting the Gain I got the level I wanted and with a bit of additional 'am modeling' in Logic I got the tone I wanted and the signal level too. So I save myself some cash and got a great sound as well - thank f***! Markbass are about to launch a new software plug in that will do the same thing and I know Ameg already do one as well - I just really pleasantly surprised by the quality and lack of noise with the SWR - it's such a great little amp - not as powerful as some of the combos out there but still a really quality little amp - I've used mine loads and love it. I know this stuff isn't rocket science but there's so much to recording that you discover by trial and error - mainly error - so I realise I may sound like a total doofus going on about this but if any of you have any other money/time saving tips then please post away - I'm off to finish my tune. Cheers Mike[/quote] looking at basic electronic stuff - the Thumb presumably has an actively powered lowish impedance output which will work well with a typical line level input which I guess is what you'll find on the Mackie Onyx. Does the Sei have a low impedance output or a 'traditional' high impedance passive output ? ( which would 'want' to see a high 470K to MegOhm + impedance on the input ? ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urb Posted May 29, 2008 Author Share Posted May 29, 2008 [quote name='rmorris' post='208538' date='May 29 2008, 12:11 AM']looking at basic electronic stuff - the Thumb presumably has an actively powered lowish impedance output which will work well with a typical line level input which I guess is what you'll find on the Mackie Onyx. Does the Sei have a low impedance output or a 'traditional' high impedance passive output ? ( which would 'want' to see a high 470K to MegOhm + impedance on the input ? )[/quote] I'm pretty sure the Sei has a low impedance output - the weird thing is that my Epifani 502 doesn't really like being used a pre-amp as I can't seem to get the signal level I want from it - anyone got any tips on this? But the tube head of the SWR BBB is just wonderful - and the resulting sound is just smooth and clear. The only draw back with that combo is that it's only got a 10" speaker - so it's only good for small gigs. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistahbenn Posted May 29, 2008 Share Posted May 29, 2008 Hey URB Well, yesterday I slapped my Rode NTK valve condenser mic in front of my new Epifani 3x10 with a home made acoustic panel behind the mic, and its the best sound ive recorded for ages! Next time i will di the aguilar amp too and blend both the signals. But honestly, micing a quality amp, even at low volume, will give a clean natural sound, which is also full of feel and moving air! Have fun. Ps how is the babby? Benn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urb Posted May 30, 2008 Author Share Posted May 30, 2008 [quote name='mistahbenn' post='208858' date='May 29 2008, 01:51 PM']Hey URB Well, yesterday I slapped my Rode NTK valve condenser mic in front of my new Epifani 3x10 with a home made acoustic panel behind the mic, and its the best sound ive recorded for ages! Next time i will di the aguilar amp too and blend both the signals. But honestly, micing a quality amp, even at low volume, will give a clean natural sound, which is also full of feel and moving air! Have fun. Ps how is the babby? Benn[/quote] Hey B - that's exactly what I've been thinking of doing as well - how much would one of those mics set me back? I want to get one for recording sax and vocals as I have studio monitors and a decent sized room for recording - my album needs to be started soon! Let me know - I know from experience that miking is actually the best way - and or combing that with a direct signal - to get the sweetest bass tone...I'm about to get an Epifani cab as well - so that's the next step I guess. What do reckon to this kind of deal from Thomann? It would make sense to get all the bits at once: [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/prod_cbundle_74.html?gk=migr&cbcid=454&art=43678"]http://www.thomann.de/gb/prod_cbundle_74.h...4&art=43678[/url] or is this the puppy you are using: [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/rode_ntk_inkl_spinne.htm"]http://www.thomann.de/gb/rode_ntk_inkl_spinne.htm[/url] Baby Ben is doing great - and getting cuter and cooler by the day - apologies for the baby pic but he is rather cool: [attachment=9189:Baby_ben_lovely.jpg] Cheers Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WalMan Posted May 30, 2008 Share Posted May 30, 2008 I tend to plug the bass through a little Yamaha mixer & into the sound card. Once the bass is down I have been messing with the LE version of the Amplitude SVX. I could use the BassPod, but if I do it is fed through the mixer rather than the USB as I have never been able to fix the latency I get on either POD or BOD via USB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmorris Posted May 30, 2008 Share Posted May 30, 2008 [quote name='urb' post='208672' date='May 29 2008, 10:43 AM']I'm pretty sure the Sei has a low impedance output - the weird thing is that my Epifani 502 doesn't really like being used a pre-amp as I can't seem to get the signal level I want from it - anyone got any tips on this? But the tube head of the SWR BBB is just wonderful - and the resulting sound is just smooth and clear. The only draw back with that combo is that it's only got a 10" speaker - so it's only good for small gigs. Mike[/quote] So is the 'problem' with the Sei that the signal level straight from the bass is simply low but sounds fine tonally or does it sound tonally unbalanced to your ears - not enough low frequencies ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rslaing Posted May 30, 2008 Share Posted May 30, 2008 I bought one of these [url="http://www.mediaspec.co.uk/detail_studio_outboard.asp?brand=Millenia&stock=461&mediaspec=22"]The dogs bol**cks[/url] It really does everything you could ever want, and overcomes all of the problems you could face in a studio. Phenomenal. It only took 40 years to find something I can't find fault with.. No impedance matching problems, any sound you like, massive tonal variations, and allegedly, a sound engineers dream. (I'll let you know) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urb Posted May 30, 2008 Author Share Posted May 30, 2008 [quote name='rmorris' post='209829' date='May 30 2008, 07:51 PM']So is the 'problem' with the Sei that the signal level straight from the bass is simply low but sounds fine tonally or does it sound tonally unbalanced to your ears - not enough low frequencies ?[/quote] It sounds great - it just needs a boost volume-wise - and so does my fretless 5 which has an EMG pre in it - so it's not just the Sei - it also might be something to do with the Mackie Onyx Bsse station - when you crank the gain hyou just get loads of extra noise - not so when I use the SWR... M Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistahbenn Posted June 1, 2008 Share Posted June 1, 2008 [quote name='urb' post='209388' date='May 30 2008, 09:25 AM']Hey B - that's exactly what I've been thinking of doing as well - how much would one of those mics set me back? I want to get one for recording sax and vocals as I have studio monitors and a decent sized room for recording - my album needs to be started soon! Let me know - I know from experience that miking is actually the best way - and or combing that with a direct signal - to get the sweetest bass tone...I'm about to get an Epifani cab as well - so that's the next step I guess. What do reckon to this kind of deal from Thomann? It would make sense to get all the bits at once: [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/prod_cbundle_74.html?gk=migr&cbcid=454&art=43678"]http://www.thomann.de/gb/prod_cbundle_74.h...4&art=43678[/url] or is this the puppy you are using: [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/rode_ntk_inkl_spinne.htm"]http://www.thomann.de/gb/rode_ntk_inkl_spinne.htm[/url] Baby Ben is doing great - and getting cuter and cooler by the day - apologies for the baby pic but he is rather cool: [attachment=9189:Baby_ben_lovely.jpg] Cheers Mike[/quote] Hey Mike, Ben lookin cool, he has bass player fingers! Well, I picked my mic up for about £250 from soundcontrol in manchester, which was a bloody good deal.... probably why they gone bust. I think any good quality valve condenser will do the job. Its good to experiment. Im just about to move house and setup a new studio. Im gonna do it properly this time with acoustic treatment in the form of some foam, and maybe some bass traps. In a bit, Benn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rimskidog Posted June 29, 2008 Share Posted June 29, 2008 [quote]little Baby Baby Blue amp - and the fact that it's basically a "studio reference" amp (i.e. people in studios like them I guess)[/quote] Sorry to burst a bubble but it's marketing guff. You're pretty unlikely to find one in a real pro studio (unless they were being given away free with bagels at AES or something and even then it's probably being used to hold upen the door - sorry)! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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