How To Record World Class Bass Tone

Do you want to know how to get an amazing bass sound? This bass tutorial will show you how. I use a very simple setup to record bass and you don't need that much gear.

I don't even use compressors or EQ that much (or even a bass amp!).

These ideas translate to getting a good live bass tone too.

#BassSound #BassTone #HowToPlayBass

✅ If you like this video please like, comment, share and subscribe. It really helps me keep this channel going.

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[marklowe]

This is great info. Subjective of course. Playing as a session player for an artist can be very different to being the artist creating their own sound. The one thing I find important to use correctly on bass is compressor. Also subjective to the genre and tone goal.

[christopherstorrier]

Nice Stingray....you got a good one & well set up...nice...sadly can't afford a Stingray but my maple board Fender 75th Anniversary Jazz fitted with SD Apollo Noiseless Linear Coil Jazz pickups sounds so good, & no noise at all, older Stingrays sound fantastic, & i like 9v active bass's....👍🎉🎸🎧

[Insitemobile]

This has been my biggest issue with doing videos but not in studio. thanks

[saraerobins]

GOOD STUFF Dan! I agree with u...always send a "clean" and "dirty" to be mixed. No need to mix it urself...thats not what ur hired to do. But...it never hurts.to know how to use ur gear. Whatever that is. I ❤ ur MM...I NEED to get one. That would be very useful to me. Cheers! 🎶

[kcjones]

Pretty cool! Tools for the tool box!! Nice work as always!🤘🏻

[bazmole]

Refreshing! Tone comes from years of quality practice. Ive heard Squire Broncos sound amazing in the right hands

[sqwirlio]

Thanks Dan! I’d be very interested to see a video of you using plugins and effects to shape your sound.

I recently upgraded my audio interface and found that I can get a nice fat sound with multiple inputs connected. I currently have the master output and clean DI signal from a tube preamp running into separate inputs and a SansAmp running into a third input. The 3 signals blend together nicely.

[danielzuber]

Very good, as alway!! Could you do a lesson on how to use a compressor? For newbies (such as me 😊) this seems to be one of the effects that is harder to understand, because a good compressor setting is so sutble. So I find it quite hard to really find a sweet spot. Cheers, Daniel

[marcelb]

Radial Pro D.I and Sansamp Paradriver v2. Not as expensive but give me a solid sound whether I use my Sterling or my Godin bass. Thank for sharing. Cheers from Canada mate !

[simonlynch]

Nice work, would be handy to know your action height in mm’s measured at the 17th fret. Cheers

[ErixSamson]

I didn't know evidence audio cables and JulesAmp. Thanks.

[SSNene]

how did you get to play so fast on fills...what do you think when you play your solos on grooves with the correct timing

[paolozak]

Turning up the bass quite a bit on a 2eq Stingray is already a significant bass boost, so I wouldn't quite agree the sound is that neutral. And thanks for the -18 dB tip when it comes to digital input gain, although it requires a rather good dynamics mastery. If you go about and slap a bit too heavily you could end up eating up many of those 18 dB, wouldn't you ...that's where compression helps. But best is not having to fix things with compression and rather work on mastering the dynamics at the source... and by the way, I have the impression high end gear often has its own internal sophisticated concealed compression "secret weapon" recipe to avoid ugly clipping (Avalon, Allen & Heath, Markbass...)

[jjones]

What do you use to video record? How do you synchronize the audio and video of your bass playing?

[DougieD_Funk]

I mean I wouldn’t say compression is all about gear or that it’s even remotely unnecessary or unimportant. That could definitely be sending players down the total wrong path. It’s a professional tool and you could even say necessity ESPECIALLY for bass players. No matter the professional setting whether recording with a qualified studio engineer or on a stage being mixed by a FOH engineer, they’re going to use compression on the bass. It would be unprofessional not to. For some reason lately the word compression is synonymous with bass players particularly, except as a bad thing due to the lack of knowledge on the subject and throwing around the word “squashed”. If you’re “squashing” when using compression, you’re using it completely incorrectly. All it is used for is to make your entire signal even and punchy and just balanced whether solo or part of a dense mix .You want your highest note the same volume as your lowest note and everything in between as well. All it’s supposed to do is grab the peaks and raise the dips so you’re not overwhelming the signal when playing one specific area on the neck. When setting a compressor, as soon as you see that meter or LED appear, you’re accomplishing the purpose of that tool. There’s no “tone suck” there’s no loss of low end. Those are the results of an unaware person completely mis-using the most helpful tool due to not putting the small amount of time in to learn about it. You don’t need it for “slap” or a certain technique lol. If it’s done properly it’s a set it and forget it friend of ours and you can use any right/left hand technique and not need to go within a mile of that compressor. Think about live performances. Do you think the engineer is watching the bass players hands and judging when to switch the compression on and off the whole time? Lol no sir. As FOH engineers they just know how it works and therefore how to set it and forget it. And don’t think jus t because you’re a hobbyist or not working on a professional level which makes it unnecessary either. I mean sure, you can do whatever your little heart desires but whether playing in your room or Madison Square Garden, or playing Gwar or Gwen Stefani, isn’t the goal to sound professional or “good” as a general and subjective term or just the intent to NOT sound like an amateur as best we can? Whatever you do, strive to do it well and learn what you’re doing. Strive for knowledge that’s all.

[zombiesateourchannel]

Cables are highly underrated and highly overrated at the same time.

[hummarstraful]

Great playing but not a world class bass tone.