Bass guitar live recording - all the gear no idea

Simonspain · 7th December 2009

i have a gig coming up that i need to record and webcast live. no audience.

its a new one for me. guitar is simple with a Beta57 on the amp, but no idea what to do with the bass.

band (reggea) have a 'super-wizo' bass amp apparently, and i have an avalon U5 and either a Beta58 or sennheiser MKH800 high-end condenser. two extremes i realise but thats all i got. i have 112 but thats on the kick. else its a DPA4061, AKGblueline (omin or card) or a f'ing rode NT1A.. haha.. really scraping the barrel here.

think im gona just use MS stereo O/H and kick on the drums as small room and no audience.

whats the best way forward here. i read somewhere about inputing the speaker output into the U5? i have no manual with my U5 and never used before, and then wouldn't need to mic at all.

seems crazy to put an MKH800 on a bass amp, and then have to ruin it all with a yamaha 01(f'ing)V original crap preamps and terrible converters (thats all i got for the gig).

then its all going to be squashed to f'ck for webcast so should i be really bothered?

any bass-head recording and mic experts out there?

cheers guys

nedorama · 7th December 2009

I'd record both: DI and a mic; if you can borrow an Audix D6 or Beta 52 kick drum, mic it with that. Can you rent, or at least buy/return to get an extra amp? The NT1a may be a candidate, but not familiar with its SPL limits. Wouldn't bother routing the speaker input into the U5.

While the original 01v isn't the best, if you don't push the preamps it's not horrible. Certainly for a webcast it will do the job. I use mine with a MY16-LAN card and record 8 channels direct to disk and it sounds good.

Simonspain · 8th December 2009

Beta 52 kick drum mic will see what i can do.. that would obviously go nicely with all my other Betas. might even buy one. thanks

i had a brainwave on the stupidly noise preamps and am gona pull the Platinum Octopre out of the studio and use that going into the lines. tried it tonight and made all the difference with the pad down.. which pads the hiss too! must be a two stage pre or something. i thought the line bypassed the pre.. the 01V pres are like WHITE NOISE CITY. i put all channels on at +6 and it was like the noise generator. oddly some channels are much noiser than others.

i sold my 01x recently as i hated mLan, but the pres on that were OK, even when pushed. i still have my superclean i88X though which i will use for clinically clean O/H drums. they'll have to look alsewhere for 'character'.

anyhow, i hadn't thought of the max SPL thing, so wise comment there too on the NT1A. i was thinking larger diaphram better bass, and might even add something to it, thanks.

i saw an NS10 driver used as a kick drum mic once! work really well aparently, but dont have one to hand

nedorama · 9th December 2009

have you had the ground mod done to your 01v? it may be what's causing the issue. Many of the 01v's had a faulty ground that causes the pre's to pass lower gain, not work, sound bad, etc. An easy fix for a Yamaha tech. I had it done on mine when I had a similar problem and while not boutique, they are as good as my Digi 002 rack.

FYI - the 01x and the 01v share the same pre's, so it's probably your unit.

jufros · 10th December 2009

I'm not much of an engineer but I'm a serious bassist and I've played plenty of reggae gigs. I agree, you should track both a mic and DI track. I know a lot about bass equipment and have never heard of a super-wizzo amp. If he plays with a really smooth, tone and treble at 0, bass boosted tone, you'll probably want to DI off the preamp if it has one. If he plays an active bass, you won't need a DI for that and you can just mic the amp.

7th December 2009	#1
Simonspain Gear interested Joined: Nov 2009 Location: London, E17 Posts: 21 Thread Starter	Bass guitar live recording - all the gear no idea i have a gig coming up that i need to record and webcast live. no audience. its a new one for me. guitar is simple with a Beta57 on the amp, but no idea what to do with the bass. band (reggea) have a 'super-wizo' bass amp apparently, and i have an avalon U5 and either a Beta58 or sennheiser MKH800 high-end condenser. two extremes i realise but thats all i got. i have 112 but thats on the kick. else its a DPA4061, AKGblueline (omin or card) or a f'ing rode NT1A.. haha.. really scraping the barrel here. think im gona just use MS stereo O/H and kick on the drums as small room and no audience. whats the best way forward here. i read somewhere about inputing the speaker output into the U5? i have no manual with my U5 and never used before, and then wouldn't need to mic at all. seems crazy to put an MKH800 on a bass amp, and then have to ruin it all with a yamaha 01(f'ing)V original crap preamps and terrible converters (thats all i got for the gig). then its all going to be squashed to f'ck for webcast so should i be really bothered? any bass-head recording and mic experts out there? cheers guys

7th December 2009	#2
nedorama Lives for gear Joined: Jan 2008 Posts: 1,242	I'd record both: DI and a mic; if you can borrow an Audix D6 or Beta 52 kick drum, mic it with that. Can you rent, or at least buy/return to get an extra amp? The NT1a may be a candidate, but not familiar with its SPL limits. Wouldn't bother routing the speaker input into the U5. While the original 01v isn't the best, if you don't push the preamps it's not horrible. Certainly for a webcast it will do the job. I use mine with a MY16-LAN card and record 8 channels direct to disk and it sounds good. __________________ nedorama Monkey Boy Studios Summit 2BA-221, TLA-50 mBox Pro 3, Pro Tools 10.1.3 Radial JDI x 2, ProD2, ProRMP '65 Bandmaster 2x12 combo with Dr. Z Brake Lite, '65 Showman, '74 Princeton, '77 Princeton Reverb, Dr. Z. Mini Z Head, Dr. Z 1x12 Cab, pedals, George L's cabling

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8th December 2009	#3
Simonspain Gear interested Joined: Nov 2009 Location: London, E17 Posts: 21 Thread Starter	Beta 52 kick drum mic will see what i can do.. that would obviously go nicely with all my other Betas. might even buy one. thanks i had a brainwave on the stupidly noise preamps and am gona pull the Platinum Octopre out of the studio and use that going into the lines. tried it tonight and made all the difference with the pad down.. which pads the hiss too! must be a two stage pre or something. i thought the line bypassed the pre.. the 01V pres are like WHITE NOISE CITY. i put all channels on at +6 and it was like the noise generator. oddly some channels are much noiser than others. i sold my 01x recently as i hated mLan, but the pres on that were OK, even when pushed. i still have my superclean i88X though which i will use for clinically clean O/H drums. they'll have to look alsewhere for 'character'. anyhow, i hadn't thought of the max SPL thing, so wise comment there too on the NT1A. i was thinking larger diaphram better bass, and might even add something to it, thanks. i saw an NS10 driver used as a kick drum mic once! work really well aparently, but dont have one to hand

9th December 2009	#4
nedorama Lives for gear Joined: Jan 2008 Posts: 1,242	have you had the ground mod done to your 01v? it may be what's causing the issue. Many of the 01v's had a faulty ground that causes the pre's to pass lower gain, not work, sound bad, etc. An easy fix for a Yamaha tech. I had it done on mine when I had a similar problem and while not boutique, they are as good as my Digi 002 rack. FYI - the 01x and the 01v share the same pre's, so it's probably your unit.

10th December 2009	#5
jufros Gear Head Joined: Nov 2009 Posts: 42	I'm not much of an engineer but I'm a serious bassist and I've played plenty of reggae gigs. I agree, you should track both a mic and DI track. I know a lot about bass equipment and have never heard of a super-wizzo amp. If he plays with a really smooth, tone and treble at 0, bass boosted tone, you'll probably want to DI off the preamp if it has one. If he plays an active bass, you won't need a DI for that and you can just mic the amp.