Recording Killer Bass Guitar

by Jason Johnston Many people ask how about the typical way of recording bass guitar. Of course I always talk in "typical" terms because there are no rules, only guidelines. It's all about what works. It's about results. That being said, there are at least five ways that recording bass guitar is accomplished: 1. Go direct. This is the most common. Stick your bass cable into a "high impedance" plug-in on your interface, sound card or mixer and go to it. The high impedance or Hi-Z as it is also labeled is the essential connection because you won't be getting the correct sound level if you try plugging directly into a Lo-Z input that used for microphones. 2. Matching impedance. You can also use a direct box, also called a DI box (short for direct injection) to do what is called "impedance matching." This drops the impedance of the guitar down to low and gives a place for a regular XLR mic cable to be plugged in. This is handy if you need to run long distances to the sound board or interface. 3. Using a pre amp. A small pre-amp, often a tube pre like the PreSonus TubePre or BlueTube or Samson C-Valve, can be used. This will both match your impedance and give your bass a little boost as well as some sonic colour. Plug this into a line level input on your sound card or interface. 4. Put a mic on it. Putting a mic on the bass amp can give you good low end, but you will need to use a microphone that is suited for the task. That is one that can take high sound pressure levels (SPL's) and low frequencies. This is typically a large diaphragm dynamic microphone, also typically used for kick drums. My favourite is the AKG D112 for micing up bass cabinets. 5. Combinations. You can use a DI box or splitter to create combinations of the above methods, record multiple tracks into Sonar or Cubase, and mix the tracks later as you wish to create your own unique bass sound. Ace that bass and get the sound you want. Watch out for hums often created by CRT monitors and other devices and create something that hits me right here. You know what I'm talking about - RIGHT...HERE.

Instant Audio Mixing

by Jason Johnston

Okay, so there's no such thing as instant. Sure they have instant potatoes, instant oatmeal and instant tellers - but are they as good as the real thing? No. But here are a few quick tips to get a mix up and running on the quick. It may not be your final work, but it will help you on the way. I find this approach especially helpful as you want to get a sense of the song for laying some overdubs.

First select an 8 bar section to loop as you are doing this. Ideally a part where there are all the tracks represented. Hit play then follow these steps:

1. Drop all the levels to zero. Mute or hide the tracks you won't be using. (I drag and drop extra tracks in there to hide)

2. Drums Quick mix: Bring up the kick to a good level, add 4:1 compression, roll off the top end in the EQ. Bring the snare up, throw a little plate reverb on it. Add the overheads and other mics if they exist.

3. Next bring up the bass. Add some 4:1 compression and lower the threshold/increase the gain to get a good volume. Dip out the middle on the EQ to give you the "disco smile".

4. Add any piano/strings and leave them centered.

5. Pull up the electric guitars. If there are two guitars pan one left and one right. Do the same if there are multiple acoustics. With the acoustic guitar throw on a little room reverb and cut some frequencies around 200-400 and roll off the frequencies below 80 (or use a high-pass filter).

6. Bring the lead vocal. Throw on another compressor 4:1 ratio - adjust threshold and gain as needed. Roll off the frequencies under 80 Hz. Give it a little increase at 12 kHz for sparkle. Adjust the volume again so it just cuts through the mix.

7. Now add other vocals and backgrounds as needed

There you have it - instant audio mix. To be honest, it won't be great - but it will be a start. And it might just give you the reference point you need to do the rest of the overdubs as needed. This is not a list of rules but guidelines. Just remember to use your head, your ears and especially your gut when you need to mix it on the fly.

Vocal Mixing Tips

by Jason Johnston I have learned a lot from reading various books on the subject of recording. One such book is called "Behind the Glass - Top Record Producers tell how they craft the Hits". Below are some excerpts from top engineers/producers answering the question, "How to you get vocals to sit correctly in the mix?" "I ride the faders as I'm recording; when the guy is singing the vocal, I don't just sit there and listen to him. I'm feeling the emotions in my fingers, so to speak. When he's down, I'm pushing him up so I can hear every single syllable." Mike Clink (Guns N' roses, Sammy Hagar, Triumph, Whitesnake) "You just have to keep wrestling with it. Vocals are usually the trickiest thing..I usually start by putting the vocal up dry and see if I can shape it around the music...it's all about creating space; you only have so much 2, 3, 4 kHz that you can fit on a record before curling everybody's eyebrows. So instead of stacking it up, I'll try to dip some out and see if I can fit it in there, frequency-wise. A lot of people who haven't been doing this a long time, the first thing they'll do is start reaching for delays and reverbs and all that kind of stuff, but that's missing the point. You want to shape it so the music is sitting around it and the vocal is telling the story like it should, so it's in the right place. And then if you want to add something to it to put it in a space, go ahead, but you have to shape it first." Ed Cherney (Bonnie Raitt, Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan) "Compression will help, and don't ever be afraid of putting the vocal too high in the mix. Sure, there's a point where it's ridiculous - I've heard some people put it too high - but you've got to hear every word, and what you should do is ask someone not involved in the production if they can hear every word." Tony Visconti (David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Thin Lizzy) "Take different microphones to try out until you find the one you want..just sing in all of them, and try them out. I set them up in an array where the singer can quickly move from one microphone to the next, and it's pretty quick - it's not a painstaking process for the singer or the producer/engineer to identify the microphone that really works best for the vocalist. The microphone is the place to start..." Chuck Ainlay (Vince Gill, Dixie Chicks, Trisha Yearwood, George Strait) Use these tips as a guide, but remember the best advice is to experiment - try everything and anything to get that great vocal sound. Just don't forget the first key to mixing in the vocals is recording them well in the first place.