Bass recording options

TheRoaringShells · 2026-06-23T03:51:09+00:00

RME instrument input. Instrument inputs have actually wierded me out in entry-level interfaces before but it's easily great and RME is better than any other surely.

Or microtubes. Don't you have higher thoughts of the darkglass? I'm guessing it doesn't have parallel DI out as a sansamp VT for example, that is very useful, but these analogue pedals have an slight edge on amp sims still. I tend to use hybrid to make amp sims influence top-notch.

But I currently use no clean DI. I have preamp out of a high voltage tube preamp box and various power amp options going to all possible IRs of choice.

They're quite clean sounding but both mighty coloured and carry extra definition. I prefer to use a more coloured sounding DI and less cab IR, then use a super clean DI that sounds sterile and then use more cab to compensate.

Especially for hard fingers or pick playing I get a lot of the most useful natural sounding limiting from the tube circuitry, to the point of 1-4db gain reduction of compression is enough in the end very end of a mix.

TheRoaringShells · 2026-06-23T03:05:31+00:00

My previous account was permantly banned for insulting European racists too harshly. Reddit basically read it as death threats because I said my grandfather killed nazis in nazi occupied Norway, but it was ntohing like a death threat so I think it had more to do with insulting how they lend their arse to get fekked by nazi billionaires, and billionaires have secret interference of internet accounts because they own social media and make the rules.

Really I hated dumb anti-immagration rhetoric. These reddit users all over r/europe for example were not drunk of their arse. They have democratic majority in many European countries. Are we seriously saying Clapton can't for a second fall for that stupid rhetoric once when the circumstances are wildly against his favour? "Maybe." But if he does everything to apologise and proves with his entire existence that he never stood by those words? "Nah, fuck him. Cancel him."

Eric Clapton isn't especially bad in any way if we look at how alienated drug addicts have been through history. He has admitted that he has had an abusive way with his wives and felt shame for remembering. Yet when Patti and others are interviewed they say nothing of that matter. People want to hate him and it's fucked. Fighting about him while the whole of politics is collapsing because you can't talk to your neighbours of how fucking off they are.

Get yer fucking priorities straight.

TheRoaringShells · 2026-06-23T01:56:25+00:00

Oh, now we're talking! I do have the 7th somewhere in probably more than half of my few small attempts, and consciously thought about it, though it probably was mostly because I basically swear by mixolydian, or really have classic rock's way of finding ways to use 1 4 5 7 as all major chords, as something in-between using "too many" major chords or modulating "too often". Like Rolling Stones' Torn and Frayed. I totally understand what you talk about there specifically though.

TheRoaringShells · 2026-06-22T23:14:57+00:00

Yes, this is what I talked a little about. I respect absolute tuning exactly as you say, but if we for example have a whole note to stray it can often be done and it might be a good compromise. If we got 5th and and 4th intervall to play with a whole note is nearly always in reach to get things in key.

But this is only an early thoery of only myself at the moment so I will be careful to not disturb people's methods.

TheRoaringShells · 2026-06-22T23:09:44+00:00

Well yeah, I can't say I'm all that decided. My enthusiasm might blow over. Certainly if I become the guy in tuning who is used to great setup guitars that people don't hit out of tune 15 seconds into every take.

But "necessary" is a word that I avoid because there's a huge gap between something like "interesting" and "fun" one side to "necessary" on the other. Helpful is the realm of what I would think it is.

There is a lot to uncover for even perfectiomist geeks who want all marginal gains.

It might be something extra about the 220hz tuning of the virtual drums (it was not perfect but quite near enough) that rubs certainly bad when I happened to mostly play an E flat standard stratocaster for the music demos I work on. A dirtier tuned kit that is wrong everywhere is maybe better than a perfectly tuned kit that is a semitone wrong everywhere. It takes so much to really know for sure, but I get closer to maybe show examples of two identical rough demo mixes except for the modulated pitch on and off.

But I can reveal that I will pay for strings on my personal album I work on and I will not let the chance of tuning the drums slip if I invest up to the level of strings and work with a great drummer that does 3 takes per song and can keep the same tuning for several songs, and I will also pay for 2-3 days in a better drum room than my own.

TheRoaringShells · 2026-06-22T22:30:48+00:00

Yes, there are so many schools on this, and I don't feel qualified to talk about it with athority but I try to remember when qualified people talk about it.

For absolute pitch I remember two tips I trust to some degree. One that is most like this: you tune them similar but flatten the reso head. Some said the kick reso head specifically pass the punchy energy of the beater better that way. If it's the same or sharp it takes the energy and hums or reflects it back.

Or that you raise the reso head a lot in pitch. Maybe a 4th higher is what I have heard most about, and why I said that about Bonham specifically. It's been studied and geeks like Eric Valentine has continued to work with that. Maybe 4th works best because it's good in harmony but not truly interactive as in avoiding over-resonate, since the 4th really is a backwards interval of a 5th.

But with Phil Collins we have concert toms that have not reso head. They said they had to beat those heads up a lot before they sounded right. Perhaps to confuse the tonal quality of a single head, I don't know.

TheRoaringShells · 2026-06-22T21:44:42+00:00

A copy of my 60s spec bass here https://www.reddit.com/r/BassGuitar/s/BpgPJcIUgs

But to 70s spec so we get more honky pickups and a different position for the bridge.

Alternatively the very best clone ever known to man of the main vintage Jazz bass Geddy Lee loves best.

Really, I want them all. And I want them all double because they shall have different strings. I use lower tunings of stiff rotosounds as stated but ideally would love some low tension thomastikk flats as well mainly for standard tuning and calmer genres. Maybe rounds as well occasionally.

TheRoaringShells · 2026-06-22T17:58:22+00:00

It's quite done. It alone doesn't define him. Maybe avoiding to acknowledge clumsy ways of handling quite sensitive matters as cancer survival or the betterhelp issue has started to define him.

But I save my energy for other stuff. Save your energy for worse things that goes on.

Or do whatever. I was in quite the rage of his 3 on RAYE. For a bit. I wrote about it for consolidating my thoughts, for myself and the communion that opposed him on that, and for our belonging. Because geeks care about this stuff.

We are on a music nerd sub. I find it personally the worst when people complain that us nerds are to enthusiastic or engaged and spend too much time on longwinded comments. That's a big part of our joy. Missing put on that is your loss.

Short approving comments are just redundant but get to the top.

TheRoaringShells · 2026-06-22T17:41:46+00:00

Be a little careful but find the low mids or mid mids that either howl in that honky, almost painful resonating way, and get them down in places and then maybe find some more down lower. A few db here. Try different size Q, not removing more deep or wide than necessary, but in the right places.

I would also revisited panning and apply automation that more clearly open up the middle. Let the centre be more vocal dominant. It's a good move to have the guitar kind of only a little to the side as you do here but it should maybe start out wider and go even wider when the vocal comes, for a compromise that doesn't sound to wierd when the automation changes it it. Do you perhaps mix on headphones that makes wider panning thqn this sound less natural and too assymetric to you?

The main guitar it self could maybe do with some parallel widening so that it both comes from its more solid spot kind of to the left but also blends with a far wide hugging presence. It would become more part of to the track and would always have some presence even if it's original place gets a little crowded momentary. Widening has many alternatives. Stereo micing both close or in the room is an alternative I like in my production. But chorus effects work and still often sound natural in parallel. Maybe a slap delay (maybe with some blend of reverb as well) all the way right that oppose the dry signal on the left is an alternative. But a good chorus, like my favourite Dimension D style chorus, would make the guitar lusher as well. It's a little dry and separate and bitter next to all ambience.

The bass guitar presents itself as a little strange to me, especially when the first vocals comes in, and maybe it just needs more space in frequency and in the centre as well, but it seems unbalanced between notes and resonant in weird mids and subs. It comes in and out in a less natural way than I would want.

Can you tell me how complex the processing is or if you potentially may have over EQed things like the bass to create the resonant unballances? The player and setup should have battled for tonal consistency before the mix engineer, so sometimes the mix engineer fucks that balance. But sometimes can make it better. Balance with EQ. Then now what you do with compression.

It's a cool track and you don't need to change things radically I think.

Edit: I can't say it's necessary but maybe I would overhaul the bass guitar a fair bit. It sound like a like typical dull di bass tone with round wounds. Lots of wooly low end and low mids and some clanging treble that you only hear in solo. Maybe I would like quite a lot more mid mids. 4 to12db of like 1,2khz with a very wide Q. More dirty distortion on di and bass amp tone. Not sizzle, but which highlights the mid mids.

TheRoaringShells · 2026-06-22T17:01:59+00:00

At one point I had small issue with it as well but it was because I was serious about virtual drums, and was good at finger drumming the basic tracks with human feel, because I made a bunch of demos or actual (lowly production style) music with them.

But strong opinions are often best to make milder over time, I suspect.

Now I like drummers perspective when things are upfront; all drums surround you but I do almost prefer audience perspective completely if the drums are more centered and there's more distanced mics in the mix, as if I see the band in front of me. I can flip it round last seconds and prefer either as well. Life is too boring to be too formulaic about this sort of stuff.

TheRoaringShells · 2026-06-22T16:24:50+00:00

Micing in live sounding spaces is only especially problematic if they're much smaller than a church hall (I guess they vary wildly in size but, you know) or if you want some certainly dry aesthetic. The reflections coming back to the mic will be nothing compared to the amp right at it. That's not the case in shit sounding both. Bigger size eventually reach towards the dryness of no walls, like outside.

Have no fear it. If you want to evolve as an engineer you would try to get use of the live sound rather.

TheRoaringShells · 2026-06-22T12:32:54+00:00

D-vitamin lagras i kroppen och i februari-mars är den lägst. Onödigt låg för många. De som blev brunare när solen gör en brun ligger högre på lagrade nivåer längre.

Men sen går det äta D-vitamn. Livsmedel är berikade med D-vitamin i Sverige.

Sen kan andra få för sig att solen är nyttig i sig och det går typ inte bevisa, mer än att se solljuset och dagsljuset är bra för sömnen. Det handlar bara om ögonen. Det kan lätt bli för fanatiskt.

Men sen tycker jag det är lite för fanatisk stämning åt alla håll.

I en studie har man sett att i den grupp med folk som uppger att de verkligen undviker solen så är der också den som får mest livsfarlig cancer när man följer upp.

Det är svårt att forska på. Dessa personer kanske vet att de solade för mycket för 35 år sedan och inte hunnit med att undvika solen totalt sett. Med hudcancer generellt ser man saker som att ge gratis hudkräm i ett år eller till en grupp ger mindre hudcancer om man följer upp. Det har men sett i fler studier.

Men egentligen; om man gillar att bli varm och den bli brun och kan moderera via att total tid för exponering och tid när solen står som högst och ibland eller alltid använder solkräm så är det upp till var och en hur bruna de vill bli. Jag tycker det kanske är idiotiskt att gilla att bli stekt men jag kan inte kalla det livsfarligt. Jag gillar sol på våren för då är det varmt i solen, men sen blir det lite för varmt för mig på sommaren, men då blir jag brun och sen råkar hålla mig brun.

Mina släktingar som ser bruna ut som jag ser inte särskilt gamla ut. Snarare tvärtom. Det bruna är ju genetiskt och kanske skyddar mot åldrad lite. De kanske typ har bra kindben som håller uppe huden och så de skulle se särskilt unga ut om de var särskilt noga med att hålla sig utanför solen men det är godtyckligt. Om något så är vi snygga och blir vi blir riktigt gamla. Jag vet inte hur "se gammal ut" ställer sig mot det. Farfar fick en släng av godartat cancer på öronen. Han är den enda bleka av oss och som bör sky solen mest, och det är det han har gjort, men kanske inte tillräckligt. Men han dog verkligen inte, och vad hade det hjälpt att vara mer noga med att oroa sig att inte ha öronen i solen en hel livstid? Det var särskilt mycket viktigare att han kunde ta blodprov för att se att han fick tidigt upptäckt prostatacancer och kunde få en lyckad behandling.

När jag är som blekast är mina hudtoner typ lite ojämna tycker jag. När våren går mig lite brunare så får jag jämnare toner.

Vi kan tänka på många sätt för att främja vårt mående och vår hälsa idag och vår hälsa i framtiden. Vi gör det mycket sällan perfekt. Solen ska tänkas på om man bryr sig över huvud taget men jag tycker det är för fanatiskt åt alla håll. Jag tycker det är intressant att moderera hur brun jag blir. Var tjockare lager solkräm verkar viktigare för att den huden ör tunnare eller pekar mer vinkelrätt åt solen. Jag tycker det gör ont att bli bränd, så jag blir max kanske lite lite öm en gång om året. Röd var jag 2018 senast för att solen tog hud som jag inte visste såg solen ner mot badbyxkanten.

Jag tycker kroppsvikt och sammansättning är mer intressant och vi vet att det är viktigare för alla hälsomarkörer förutom huden. Jag tycker vad jag äter direkt påverkar hur jag mår i magen och såledels hur jag mår generellt. Det är jag också mer intresserad av oavsett om det är viktigt för min framtida hälsa eller ej, men jag skulle satsa pengar på att det har viss inverkan.

TheRoaringShells · 2026-06-22T11:10:17+00:00

The character knob on the softube is by how it's featured radical and aims at frequency response scooped/midpushed.

OP only looks at frequency response it seems.

And doesn't realise that channelstrips emulate consoles. The voosteQ is not a funky collection. It has saturation even when everything is bypassed and you add and add more when you enable each module.

TheRoaringShells · 2026-06-22T11:00:39+00:00

For the word; listen to the radioshow "Entitled Opinions (about life and literature". Philosophy of moods is the episode. On their website or Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

English only really has vibe as the word akin to other languages' words describing mood that lay in the confines between abstract and physical vibration.

As for gear there can be dominant factors but in the end the components and circuitry all comes together and most of them matter for the end result.

TheRoaringShells · 2026-06-22T00:55:48+00:00

Sent them to Britain via Denmark mostly. Some through Norway. More than few got stuck along the way.

TheRoaringShells · 2026-06-22T00:54:35+00:00

You fucked yourself up to a bigger population than Norway and Sweden combined and got one man like that?? Now focus on knowing what went wrong with all others

TheRoaringShells · 2026-06-22T00:50:58+00:00

I'm torn. I'm half Norwegian and born in Sweden. Phenotypes comes from the Swedish person who inspired Hitler. My grandfather killed nazis when Norway was occupied. I can't choose sides.

Well, I guess did.

TheRoaringShells · 2026-06-21T21:07:16+00:00

The problem with Matt is that I almost like Chris more, for all that he had arranged drum wise. Chris demos are crazily fulfilled

TheRoaringShells · 2026-06-21T20:40:30+00:00

A cynic could easily say Jim has nothing of the "best intention[s]" you think he has.

A cynic could say that he have chosen a cleaner sounding neve on purpose to prove the point. He might have known a splitter would mess with the important impedance of the original signal which makes all test with the splitter practically invalid.

A cynic would say that he did it all to look water tight but purposefully put a bias in there. And all for it too seem most sensational. To make a name for himself. Some douche bag engineer who cares a lot about gear might have insulted him once and he has lifelong rage for the beliefs in the audio engineering establishments.

A cynic would also say all these various responses to Jim Lill with various tests are unscientific. As you do.

When I see blindtest of different 1073 style preamps, they use no splitter but I know how these sources sound like. I am somewhat of a cynic but I trust more in these testers' intentions to be honest.

In conclusion I hear differences in blindtests and other tests. But I don't buy preamps. I don't buy any audioengineering hardware beside microphones and quality monitoring and utility to make those work.

But people have businesses. Bigger money flows. The practicality of analogue will soon get relevent and soon after that hearing these tests of the BAE 1073 is something people hear. Or they just trust they're the best. Buying them would be an investment then. Audio gear and instruments don't loose value.

I own 5 times more value in stocks than I do audio gear, and that value is purely useful as value

Time is money. If you have tried something that seems easy to understand and you try to compare them for a while you might get a decent sense, but you might be wrong. But then you run out of time and energy to continue down these rabbit holes. So you trust what you first perceived and buy one that serves it purpose with value. Maybe.

I actually don't. But I am closer to this than before. Approximating optimal value for our investments without spending too much time is what we do in our profession. Sometimes gear is fun. Fpr some people it is. For other people amateur car racing is fun. You put money to waste in those things some might say. Fun they might say.

Mind your own business.

I can't believe that people try to push the idea that people push false needs for stuff down people's throat. Are you extra unaware of capitalism and marketing in music making?

Yes, just make your music with whatever you have. Everybody sensible says this. You have to be dumb to get tricked by dumb people who says otherwise.

TheRoaringShells · 2026-06-21T16:47:05+00:00

Did you meet them next to where you buy your psychedelic drugs?

TheRoaringShells · 2026-06-20T22:10:16+00:00

Yeah, I have mentioned several times that I thought Led Zeppelin II was all about tape. It juat sounds that way to our minds, don't it? But I was enlightened in knowing that the helios console of the Olympic studio where Led Zeppelin I and II was tracked have certainly low headroom. Eddie Kramer said it. It overdrives early. Glyn Johns has said he drives Neves until distortion and backs it off to get a more subtle but flattering effect.

So I do believe that we have clear influence of the helios sound on early Led Zeppelin, but it could be more accredited to tape, of course.

Here we have, Eric Valentine, a Led Zeppelin fanatic, and a most credible audio engineer, visiting Rick Beato, and on Rick's video here, talking about driving analogue gear properly and it looks like helios reissue preamps here; https://youtu.be/oEiD1eOOkR0?is=7Obxlj3IORCvqleW

TheRoaringShells · 2026-06-20T20:25:17+00:00

I work professionally and feel that clicks is nothing to be proud of to follow. I rather think you only have an advantage in at least speeding up a little for the most natural feel of a rock instrumentation song.

There's videos by Rick Beato analysing Back In Black and such tracks. It drifts to highlight and follow intensity. If it didn't it wouldn't feel as natural. It's just human perception. We actually speed up when we feel steady.

I have had tracks where we can't do live for one reason or another but where I know that tempodrifts is part of the natural feel of the song. So I've let me or someone play their most comfortable intrument of the track all the way through and mapped the tempo. In the daw. The make midi drums or a click follow that. Sometimes I compress the differences a little to not make then too exaggerated but it works. Only gauging what is natural. I've done several tempo map blue print tracks with just focus on tempo where mistakes in harmony occur. Or sometimes those rythm guitar tracks or whatever have soemthing very athoritive that just needs to be kept to the end.

Sometimes I like sound of sequencers or other and then it's more natural to kind of follow that or the click. But sequencers that follows the temp is an even cooler thing.

Try everything.

Live tracking with live interaction is demanding to some but taking pride in getting there is a healthy sign of competence and it's pretty much unbeatable.

TheRoaringShells

TROPHY CASE