Anyone ever double track Bass?

[John The Cut]

I've always just DId the bass straight down the middle, with maybe a mult to an amp sim.. but I just tried double tracking the bass, panned hard L and R.. sounds pretty good. In some bits there's a sublte chorusy effect. Gives the whole track more depth imo, anyone?

[scrubs]

I don't typically double-track, but I'll occasionally blend a DI signal with a miked amp, especially if I want a lot of treble from the amp, or if I'm adding distortion via the amp...the DI'd signal retains much of the fullness to the sound that gets lost with distortion. I don't generally pan them, though. Just EQ each take a little differently and make sure they are in-phase.

[Jonboy79]

I usually just double track and use the better take, but lately I've been using both, I'm liking it.

[John The Cut]

Its kind of making sense to me as a means of giving the kick and bass more space.

[RadioMoo]

Originally Posted by scrubs

I don't typically double-track, but I'll occasionally blend a DI signal with a miked amp, especially if I want a lot of treble from the amp, or if I'm adding distortion via the amp...the DI'd signal retains much of the fullness to the sound that gets lost with distortion. I don't generally pan them, though. Just EQ each take a little differently and make sure they are in-phase.

Or delay the DI'd signal slightly to fatten the sound, so that you have both a good pluck sound and good resonance.

[Pasta4lnch]

some times i'll put a lust stereo chorus or phaser and blend the mono signal dry so as not to muddy it up. makes it big! too big sometimes though . . .

[Pasta4lnch]

i meant "lush" not "lust"

[drmmrboy]

Anyone ever double track Bass?

Usually just DI and amp, to make one track. Never really layered bass, unless there was a different line.

"Big Bottoms" anyone..??

[John The Cut]

Met her on Monday, it was my lucky bun day.. you know what I mean?

[octatonic]

Originally Posted by mogWai

I've always just DId the bass straight down the middle, with maybe a mult to an amp sim.. but I just tried double tracking the bass, panned hard L and R.. sounds pretty good. In some bits there's a sublte chorusy effect. Gives the whole track more depth imo, anyone?

Comp, yes.
Double track, No.

I've never liked double tracked bass- sounds quite fake.
With good technique it really shouldn't be necessary.

One time I did program a sine bass in underneath the main track.
Simply used a gate on the programmed track to get the two lined up perfectly.

James

[mobaudio]

I double tracked a bass line one time. We'd hire this one bass player all the time and we'd have him do a track of what we wanted and a track of what he thought the bass line should be. Ususally, we went with what he thought, but one time we liked what he did with both tracks, so I just panned 'em L and R.

It's really cool for the headphone people, he'd start a run an 8th note early on one track or slide of a note a beat apart, so there's a lot of movement in the bass.
It was totally a happy accident, I've never tried to double track a bass on purpose.

Wait, on the last album I did, I ran an 8 string bass through a Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier and doubled the bass line on one chorus. Sho' did beef it up!

[Radioking]

I haven't double tracked bass but it is a good trick to double the bass line with an identical low acoustic guitar line. I read about the wrecking crew doing this on all the old 60's & 70's hits, tried it and it works great for retro sounding pop.

http://www.myspace.com/pressplaystudios

[Bob Ross]

Never for a "normal" pop/rock song, but occasionally for something unconventional or exotic. It definitely leaves a big hole in the center if you've got them hard panned to opposite sides (and I'm not sure I see the point of double-tracking bass if you don't pan the two tracks), but that hole can be a good thing.

Check out some of Mick Karn's work for an excellent example of double-tracked bass.

[Wayne]

I've not double tracked but find the typical mic and di' setup (even close miced) is already out of phase some.
Anywhoo the two can be interesting spread out a bit.

[John The Cut]

There's a cool little guitar amp plug-in - Simuanalog JCM900 that sounds great on bass. On a stereo source it just splits the amp sound to the L and the clean to right R. You can balance it using the drive control in the plug. I like where that puts the bass stereowise.

The idea about using another track of a low accoustic is cool. I like to hear the strings and pluck/pick of the bass

[shaharv]

i did this as an experimental thing on a song that ended being too 'empty' only 1 thin guitar, so the DI recording got hi=passed up really high and i used chorus to make it stand out , gave it a funky plucking sound, and the low part was a mic'ed amp the player had (with 1 of those Yamaha speaker kick drum mics, was way better for the low end than the 3rd channel... a D112)

[John The Cut]

Originally Posted by Bob Ross

Check out some of Mick Karn's work for an excellent example of double-tracked bass.

Thanks! I will

[DeadPoet]

Sometimes if I'm not sure whether to use a fretless/upright or fretted I double track and use both (RedHotChili Peppers on BloodSugar... did it too). Or if you got two different lines going on (10CC - Dreadlock holiday, after 1st chorus), but no double tracking the way guitarists do.



Herwig

[Stefan Elmblad]

Miced cabinet + DI is pretty standard, I see no reason not to add one to the other when recording bass, for mix options if nothing else. Double tracking like the way done with guitars would just be a bloody mess I think.

[kennyd03]

Originally Posted by Stefan Elmblad

Double tracking like the way done with guitars would just be a bloody mess I think.

Yeah, getting the low end right is tricky enough when it comes to mixing. I usually stick to a single bass line. I have doubled bass lines with a synth bass before, but it's usually been one that has more mid-to high rasp/character (like a moog) and roll down (or off) the low end on it.

-Kenny D

[Bob Ross]

Rereading this thread I was reminded that many of Sting's basslines on the later Police albums (especially Ghost In The Machine and Syncronicity) were all double-tracked. Usually a fretless Fender P-Bass doubled by either an electric upright, or a fretted Steinberger L-2.

[Switchcraft]

Sounds like you could run into phase issues if you are not careful. I like to "audio to score" bass parts and put a subsynth bass below the elec bass in certain parts. This is done alot on records.

[Stefan Elmblad]

There's lot of records out there, where the bass line (or guitar chord root note) is doubled by a piano/synth bass line or such (Hendrix/Stones), and that may be a valid technique, cause then you're actually adding to the sound and density of the mix. Two different bass guitars? Maybe that too... I haven't tried it. If I tried I would expect that blending the best of both by use of hi/lo/bandpassfilters would work best. Two tracks of same bass guitar with same sound? Why the hell would anyone want it..

[Switchcraft]

Not to mention that bass should be centered... Otherwise you could be blowing you listeners speakers with inconsistancy of SPL on teh L and R. I think the doubling of everything has become a bit of a novice disease, but it it works for the track you got, it works.

[RobR]

How about double bass (as in what it's supposed to be called) doubled by an electice bass? Nightmare.

[Norman Lindsey]

Comp, yes.
Double track, No.

I've never liked double tracked bass- sounds quite fake.
With good technique it really shouldn't be necessary.

that's kind of what i feel as well. all that low bass region should be ultra tight. it's hard enough getting things sounding good on subs these days anyway. especially rock and roll .

[max cooper]

Get the Lou Reed/Transformer Classic Albums DVD. There's a great bit with the bass player and how he double-tracked the bass on "Walk on the Wild Side".

The main bass riff is double-bass and the harmony bass line is electric bass. He mentions how you could get double scale for playing two different instruments on a session.

Also, check out the P-Funk All Stars live if you can. When I saw them last, they had two bass players PLUS Bootsy Collins. They all play at the same time and it's so clean and so phenomenally "right" that you can't believe it.

When all those bassists came on stage I thought "gee, this could really get messy" but it's friggin' amazing.

The guy who plays a J-Bass is god-like. All over the place, but totally in the pocket and his playing is squeaky clean.

[absrec]

Originally Posted by Radioking

I haven't double tracked bass but it is a good trick to double the bass line with an identical low acoustic guitar line. I read about the wrecking crew doing this on all the old 60's & 70's hits, tried it and it works great for retro sounding pop.

http://www.myspace.com/pressplaystudios

Years ago, in country music the bass player would often play upright bass and then use a tic tac to double the bass line. It was done to add definition to the upright.

-Aaron

[Switchcraft]

Play two basses with harmonization and doubling a bbass part are very different. for urban and pop music the bass needs to be very clear. Doubling will lead to some phase holes. playing two parts, that can be funky.

[SMC Productions]

Originally Posted by mogWai

I've always just DId the bass straight down the middle, with maybe a mult to an amp sim.. but I just tried double tracking the bass, panned hard L and R.. sounds pretty good. In some bits there's a sublte chorusy effect. Gives the whole track more depth imo, anyone?

I've done it alot, and depending on the player, it can sound cool, or like shit.
I usually track two, so I always have the option...if it sounds like shit, I don't use it..