Help this guitarist!

[zygoat]

Hey bass guys,

I'm a guitarist by trade but I record in my home studio and so I play bass sometimes too. My style is comparable to bands like Meshuggah, Opeth, and Killswitch Engage. Heavy music if you will.

I didn't think that getting a quality bass tone would be hard but I was proven wrong when I started seriously recording music. Currently I'm using a MIM Jazz bass thru a Line 6 POD pro XT straight to a Korg 16 track. Just in case anyone is familiar with the bass POD, I usually use the Gallien Krueger amp model for my main sound, and dial in a compressor and some graphic EQ.

I guess my problem is that when I mix the bass in with all the other tracks, it doesn't cut through very much, I can't hear the definition of the notes so well, although it sounds pretty good alone.

The sound I would really like to have is something I can only describe as jangly, slinky... I know those are bad ways to describe it but good examples would be in a lot of punk bands. The guy from Rancid has awesome bass tone. I think a lot of those punk guys play Precisions but every P bass i've played doesn't get that sound.

I guess I'm just looking for advice on getting that punchy bass tone in direct recording scenarios, with the POD. Are there pedals out there that can help me? Or maybe different strings...I've been using ernie ball.

i know this post was too long but thanks anyway

[fishmanrod]

no one is helping? must be because you play guitar..........the great satan!

 

Try eq to start. How it sounds alone means jack, it's how it sounds in the mix.

 

I hate ernie ball strings. Go to a music store and talk to a bass player behind the counter. I use Labella, they kill, esp on my 5 string.

 

Are you playing with a pick? You will need to eq differently. You may have to really dig in to get that jangly sound.

 

Here is a trick I use: use a passive DI right out of the bass and plug that in to the board. Now from the passive DI amp out go to your POD. now go from the POD to the board, second channel. Record two channels of bass. This will allow you to play with the 'wet' signal out of the POD and still have a nice heavy dry signal you can just eq to you still get bottom.

 

Chris Cummerford (audioslave) and Geddy Lee (Rush) both do this. Watch out for phase cancellation, you may have to reverse wire the jumper from the DI to the pod. You will know because when you plug the POD in your low end will go to zero.

 

Good Luck!

[scarecrowbob]

A couple of things to try:

 

brand new steel strings, way bright;

 

going direct with no eq; try it, it is free, and might get something like you need

 

consider your room acoustics, monitoring situation, and the rest of the mix; each of these affects haow the sound of the bass is percieved.

 

Remember that the fundamental is not the main part of the bass's sound; try boosting mids, cutting the llow and shelving the low-lows under 35Hz.

[sludgebass69]

If you're scooping your mids, that's the first thing to change. Boost the low mids to help the bass cut thru the mix without being out of control volume-wise. The scooped mids sound great by themselves but don't cut thru in a loud band situation real well.

[zygoat]

word up/thanks

[PrestiaRules]

 

Originally posted by fishmanrod Chris Cummerford (audioslave)

 

 

I always thought Timmy C was their bass player;)