From the course: Real Recording School Weekly

Two bass amp mics to audition - Pro Tools Tutorial

From the course: Real Recording School Weekly

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Two bass amp mics to audition

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- [Instructor] Being an engineer, producer, and bass player I've always been curious about options for recording bass guitar in the studio. I remember stubbornly wanting to use my massive live rig on sessions when I first started making records as a band member. Instead, I ended up using a small cabinet with a single 15 inch speaker or even straight DI out of my bass amp head as an alternative. Sculpting the bass sound was always very important to me. For this listening session, I tracked electric bass through a classic tube amp with two different types of mics: a ribbon mic and a large diaphragm condenser mic. I wonder what the differences between these would sound like. So here we hear the ribbon mic itself solo. (bass guitar music) And here we'll go to the large diaphragm. (bass guitar music) Back to the ribbon. (bass guitar music) Large diaphragm. (bass guitar music) Ribbon. (bass guitar music) Large diaphragm. (bass guitar music) So notice on the large diaphragm mic we hear a lot more of the pick noise. If it's an electric bass, round wound strings being played with a pick, and we get a lot more of that kind of articulation from the pick sound. But we don't get the same deep lows that we're getting on the ribbon mic. Listen for the deep lows real quick. (bass guitar music) Much fatter, deeper bottom end. There's still good lows, but the mid-range component, the lower mids seem higher on the large diaphragm mic whereas the deeper deeper lows seem a little lighter. There's just different vibes to them. Let's hear them in a mix, too. This is gonna be the ribbon mic with the drums. (bass guitar and drum music) Large diaphragm. (bass guitar music) Ribbon mic. (bass guitar music) You can really tell that either mic would work, but they just bring out different elements of the electric bass and the amplifier itself. I hadn't put up a large diaphragm condenser mic on a bass amp in a number of years, actually, and after this test I've been using them more often on bass amps. I always try to pick the right sound for the music we're recording. This can be really crucial, and that can mean different mics to color the amps for different styles of music. Try this experiment with some of the mics in your collection and you may be surprised by what you hear.

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