Recording Alembic

[jazzyvee]

Hey yesterday evening I collected a track for me to to lay a bass line down on Logic Pro 9.
 
I've had a listen to it today and I plan to put the bass down tomorrow at home.
 
If I'm using the series basses should I.
 
a) Record each pickup on a separate track?
b) Take the combined bass output from the Bass channel of my DS-5 into one track?
 
With either option should I go directly to the desk from the DS-5 via jack leads, through a F1-x ( i have two) into the desk from it's DI, or go from the DS-5 into independent DI boxes then into the desk?
 
If I decide not to use a series bass, should I go direct to desk from jack, or via F1-x or a stand alone DI box?
 
Also if I use the F1-x should it be set to pre or post for the DI output, or should I use the full range out direct to desk.
 
As I will be recording at home I may if time allows take the opportunity to record the parts a number of times on different tracks using a selection of my basses and leave the producer to decide which one to use.
 
Is there any benefit of putting the SF-2 in the signal chain to the desk or is that adding confusion/ overkill?
Any advice would be welcome.
 
Jazzyvee

[terryc]

Stick a mic in front of the amp, record into Phillips cassette recorder for that full graunchy bass sound LOL.
Jazzyvee..jeeze I know absolutley f*** all about recording! My son is the whizz kid on that as he graduated BSc in Music Technology & Sound Recording

[terryc]

Stick a mic in front of the amp, record into Phillips cassette recorder for that full graunchy bass sound LOL.
Jazzyvee..jeeze I know absolutley f*** all about recording! My son is the whizz kid on that as he graduated BSc in Music Technology & Sound Recording

[kenbass4]

Jazzy,
 
The short answer (and you're not going to like it)is Whatever sounds best to you.
 
I've recorded direct, with nothing between the Bass and the mixing desk, and it sounded good. I've recorded using my Amp, DI AND miking the cabinet, and it sounded good, but different. I've also run stereo, bass side to bass amp DI'd, treble to distorted guitar amp miked, and it sounded, you guessed it, good but different again.
 
How's that for a non-answer!
 
Ken

[keith_h]

If you have the channels available I would run a stereo DI box to the board for the pre signal and then stereo DI out of your F1-X for a post signal. This will let you mix the various signals to get the sound you like best. It will also save you the potential of having to overdub because you didn't like the pickup mix in mono mode. If you want to take it a step further you could mic the cabinets on a channel. If you are limited on channels then I would still try to record a pre, post and mic'ed cabinet in mono mode.  
 
I think the key is getting as much sound recorded as you can in the same take/takes and then getting the sound you want during the mix down.
 
Keith

[gtrguy]

You can try direct first, mono is fine. I prefer going into a tube pre (Alembic) first and then into the DA converters. OR, into tape first and then into the computer. I try using my fingers, a pick, putting a bit of foam under the strings, etc, to see what works best. AND, sometimes the old Fender P bass tone is the thing too, depending on the music!  
 
You want a good bass tone that fits well with the drums and does not interfere with the vocal and does not spike. Good playing with good consistant attack and release is important.

[earsplit]

Like others said, when recording bass, I try to get the most raw signal possible and focus on attack. I would run both pickups in stereo with the filters fully open. This will allow the producer to add a low pass / blend each pickup depending on how it fits in the mix. I would only run it into a tube preamp completely flat before going into the board. If you want to mix amp tone / etc afterwards, you can always run your recorded track into the input of whatever device. I always found this method most flexible and producer friendly

[stout71]

I have never used Logic Pro 9, but if it's anything like most decent recording software, the number of tracks available is generally not an issue.  I would use two tracks and record it in stereo.  You can always pan both tracks to center later and re-create the mono sound.
 
Like Keith said, use a stereo DI box to split the signals.  Whether you choose to run it through a preamp before it hits the DI is a matter of preference, but you can always do an A/B comparison to see what sounds best to your ears.  When I record, I always use my F2-B and a stereo DI, but that's just me.
 
And there's no reason you can't stick a Sennheiser 421 or another decent mic in front of the cab for another track.  You can blend them all later, or leave out what you don't like.  Hard drive space is cheap.

[gtrguy]

Good playing is very important when recording. All the rules are only to get it to sound good, so do what sounds good (in the mix). You can put in too much low end and you can put in too much high end. Balance with the rest of the tracks for the style of music being played is good.

[jazzyvee]

I had a good chat with my band's sound engineer on Sunday on the way to our gig, he also lectures in sound production at a music college in my city and is a fully fledged pro.
He suggested recording both bass outputs onto two separate tracks and not using anything between the bass and the desk except a decent DI-box at which point he offered to lend me two phantom powered ones to use, which I collected  yesterday.
This morning the band leader called and asked me to record the bass full on with no specific eq-ing unless I was 100% sure I could get the right sound down to the point there would be very little further EQ required by the producer.  
 
So for safety I decided to record with volume and filters fully open and the Q off so as not to emphasise anything.  I tried a few test takes and popped in a LP filter to listen back to it and was able to get a superb mellow heavy reggae bass sound so I'm sure the producer will be able to do something creative with that.  
All the remaining tracks will be recorded with the bass fully open and no additional EQ.
 
Looks like I'm gonna be on 3 tracks from the upcoming album