From the course: Real Recording School Weekly

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Clicky upright bass

Clicky upright bass

- [Instructor] Upright bass is tricky to record well. You almost need to be a fortune teller to be able to guess how the bass will fit in the final mix and what frequencies will be needed and which ones will be too loud or quiet. The hardest element to capture is the articulation of the fingers, string, and fingerboard. This brighter sound can cue the movement of notes as the boom with a low end can sound a little amorphous depending on the bass, room, and mix. But top end can also get too clicky at times. To create an example for this I placed an inexpensive, small diaphragm condenser mic up by the fingerboard. A common practice for many engineers but listen to the clicking sounds. (double bass music) You notice in the spot right around here we get a little slap (double bass music) and that could be a troublesome sound. What I commonly do is place my preferred mic, a large diaphragm condenser, lower down and pointing up the fingerboard but picking up more frequencies from below. With…

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