Recording Double Bass

[4 Strings]

I have a little project which will include a bit of double bass recording. The player has a totally acoustic bass (no piezos etc) and I have an old, large diaphragm c
ondenser mic and an SM58 type. The interface has two inputs. Doesn't need to be stereo, the track is an ambient sort with minimal instrumentation and playing. I therefore can't just use the old Precision with flats, I want that airy, deep sound with all the body of a db played with fingers.

I'll have the bass and player in two weeks, I can have him for two evenings which are a week apart so I can't leave him set up in the meantime. I also don't have much time to experiment and he doesn't have much recording experience himself.

Never done this before, any advice, experiences, pearls of wisdom etc would be gratefully appreciated.

[velvetkevorkian]

I did a recording a few years ago of my friend on double bass, on which I used a kick drum mic near one of the F-holes and an SM-58 type pointed at the end of the fingerboard from maybe 4 or 5 feet, which you can mix to taste. That gave an acceptable mix of thump and air, given the circumstances.

[4 Strings]

That's great, thanks. Can you remember the difference in tone between the two?

My only experience was of a student performance once and he had a piezo. It sounded very thin, it was all there, nice and crisp, but didn't give that lovely body in the sound. I suggested to use a mic (which the sound guy humbly did!) as well as the piezo and it made the world of difference. May have been a cheap piezo unit. We pointed the mic roughly at the F hole, as you suggest.

The room is quite dead but I like the idea of the 4-5 feet away. A violinist once suggested this for his violin (well, 3 ft!). He said it allowed the harmonics to form without picking up too much scratching, which you wouldn't otherwise hear unless you put your ear to the strings. Not sure about the harmonics bit, but I trusted him, did mean absolute silence though as the gain goes up!

[zero9]

Wrap the SM58 in a small towel / beer mat and wedge this between the tailpiece and the body (mic head looking upwards). Use the condenser in the room simultaneously with the SM58 and do a final mix between the two.

Good luck

Wil

[velvetkevorkian]

[quote name='4 Strings' post='880881' date='Jun 29 2010, 12:56 PM']That's great, thanks. Can you remember the difference in tone between the two?

My only experience was of a student performance once and he had a piezo. It sounded very thin, it was all there, nice and crisp, but didn't give that lovely body in the sound. I suggested to use a mic (which the sound guy humbly did!) as well as the piezo and it made the world of difference. May have been a cheap piezo unit. We pointed the mic roughly at the F hole, as you suggest.

The room is quite dead but I like the idea of the 4-5 feet away. A violinist once suggested this for his violin (well, 3 ft!). He said it allowed the harmonics to form without picking up too much scratching, which you wouldn't otherwise hear unless you put your ear to the strings. Not sure about the harmonics bit, but I trusted him, did mean absolute silence though as the gain goes up![/quote]
The mic at the f-hole was pretty much all bass, while the while the distance mic gave the notes more definition IIRC. He played some bowed stuff as well which would probably have been all rumble with just the mic on the f-hole.

[hubrad]

My first recording session, on my first DB - solid top Zeller, just at the time I was starting to look around for something nicer - was done on a large diaphragm condenser placed a couple of feet in front of me, fairly central to the axis of the bass IIRC.
The resulting recorded tone almost persuaded me to give up on the quest for another bass; certainly delayed the 'need' for such!

[Bilbo]

I have an article in an old Double Bassist magazine that suggests that the mic should be about five feet above the ground about five feet in front of the bass, pointing downwards at the bass (the instrument is meant to project so the best sound is not at the bass itself - remember bass frequencies have a long wave cycle so too near and you will lose a lot). Trouble with this is you will have a lot of potential difficulties with ambient noise if others are playing too. My own recordings are done with a Rode NT1-A about 12" in front of the bridge - the sound is warm and full - but that will obviously depend on your bass.

The 'mic in a towel wedged in the bridge' idea zero9 suggests was used by Rudy Gelder in experiments with Paul Chambers on all those 50s Blue Note recordings so it may be worth a try. IME, its all about experimenting as the different mics/basses/techniques will impact on the sound captured.

[Rimskidog]

The sound you get will depend on the interaction between that player, that bass, that room, the temperature, the mics, the preamps and the AD conversion. Best advice I can give is walk around the room listening for where you can here the sound closest to the one you want to capture. Once you've found it stick the condenser where your ears are. The get up close and personal. With headphones on move the other mic around close to the instrument. Wherever you get the best overall sound, that's where to leave that mic. Be slightly wary of f-holes as you tend to get boomy.

[4 Strings]

Well, looks like I need to have the mic pointing upwards, downwards, up high, down low....!

Thanks for all this, seems there isn't a 'best' way so I'm gong to have some fun finding the 'best' for the day. I must say, I like the idea (also mentioned in an article by another chap) of moving my ears around and placing the mic where it simply sounds best!

Just hope we can get a sound we're both happy with before to much valuable time has passed.

Thanks again, any other advice, keep it coming...