Bass miking technique research

The bass creates most of the songs' low frequency parts, and so the main focus when recording is to capture the low frequencies of the instrument, and also the mid frequencies for their attack and definitions.

The most common way of recording bass is Direct Injecting(DI), where the bass is directly connect to the audio interface or through a DI box. DI helps to captures the low end and definitions of the bass guitar, but not the sound of the bass body.

Another technique is to connect the bass to a bass amp, and record the sound by using mics. Bass amp should be used instead of guitar amp because of their better low-end response, and the low frequencies of the bass can damage the speaker at a high volume. For mic choice, dynamic mics such as SM58 or AKG D112 are preferred as they are able to handle the loud volume of the bass amp. The AKG D112 is more popular as it is a large-diaphragm cardioid mic that can handle a very high sound pressure levels, and it’s frequency response is specially designed to capture the low frequency sounds.

For the mic placement, the optimal place for the mics is between 1-3 feet away from the amp’s grill. This will give a solid tone with plenty of body, and also a nice definition of the notes. And while pointing the mic towards the centre of the amp's cone will emphasize the higher frequencies and give a more aggressive sound, moving the mic towards the speaker’s edge will gives a softer sound.

The techniques that our group would like to try out:
1. Dynamic mics, on axis and around 1 inch from the amp
2. Move the mic towards the centre of the cone to get a bright, crisp sound.
3. Move the mic towards the edge of the cone for a softer and darker sound.
4. Using DI box and mix the sound with the recordings from the amp.

The sound that our group will be trying to get:
1. Clear bass definition with attack. Example:


Comments

  1. UnknownSeptember 24, 2018 at 6:30 AM

    Ok, good plan. We don't have a D112, so it would have been a better idea to see what people think about the mics we do have. What might be the drawback of the 58?

    ReplyDelete

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