How to record a Double Bass?

[desotoslo]

Originally Posted by leary

this is how i like it on my own bass. it really depends on how the bass sounds.

cool, is that a 421?

do you find you need to do much low / mid EQ'ing with that type of set up? must be meaty!

[leary]

it is a sennheiser md 421. for me the md 441 also works quite well. this gives me a good basic setup to work with. sometimes i have to reduce the bass a couple of db´s (lets say under 150hz or so).

you can hear the mic in action: International Friendship Society

there is a music-player in which you can click on song 1 ("beside you")

[Washington]

Recently, I has very good results with a Sennheiser 8020 (omni) set quite low - a bit under the bridge, 1.5 ft away. A second tube LDC was set higher, with particular attention to the phase coherence, but wasn't used at mix stage. The omni track was just perfect. Note that due to reflexion from the floor, setting a mic that low is tricky.

As a general rule of thumb, I've come to the conclusion that the acoustic treatment of the room is even more crucial for acoustic bass than for other instruments, since room modes are by definintion particularly problematic in the low register. Being able to record such an instrument without having to compress the heck of it at mixdown requires a good studio, more than anything else.

[PuReBaSiS]

Try a Shadow Hills Gamma Transducer pickup on the Bridge straight to the DI and a large Diaphram condensor, about 3-4" out from the bottom of the fingerboard. Mix to taste

[Remoteness]

For those that may have not seen this thread...

Upright bass, still a PITA