Hey everyone, apologies if this is something I should’ve asked in another thread, I couldn’t find anything that would help me with what I’m specifically trying to figure out, neither on here or elsewhere online.
I’ve got a bass amp already, specifically an Ampeg Micro CL-100 stack that I love practicing at home with, I think it sounds great. That said, I’d love to be able to share my playing with people I’m friends with online or maybe be able to post covers on youtube or something, it’s an option I’d like to have. I don’t have a microphone or audio interface yet, and I’d like to have confidence in knowing what I actually need before I start throwing money around.
What would be the best way for me to be able to record my playing? Should I get a mic to record the cab? Should I just take a DI from my bass? If I were to take a DI, are there good free amp/cab sims that I could get a sound I like from? Would a mix of DI/Mic’d Cab be ideal so I can preserve the low-end frequencies while still getting the sound/character of my amp and cab? Should I use my amp’s “unbalanced” line out instead of DI? What does “unbalanced” even mean?
I figured that you guys might be able to help me navigate this and figure out what I should or shouldn’t do to record myself, and what I should or shouldn’t buy. Much love to all of you fellow bass badasses.
Yea lol, I’ve had to resort to the same myself cause I wanted to send a video to some family. Those phone mics really stink when it comes to picking up bass frequencies.
So, regardless of anything else, you are going to want an audio interface. It can be either standalone or built into other gear, but I would strongly recommend either standalone or built in to a mixer. You can run the bass in to that directly or after other gear.
Next you need to ask yourself how important having your exact amp tone would be. There are fantastic amp sims out there that frankly will sound better than miking your amp and cab would. Free ones are a little more thin on the ground but there are some good ones (like Ignite’s SHB-1 and NadIR).
If you decide you must have your own amp tone, then you have a few choices. Simplest is that if the effect loop on the amp is post-preamp, you could run the Effects Send to the audio interface. This will capture your preamp tone, which is usually most of the amp tone.
Otherwise you can either mic it or get a load/reamping box. I don’t think either of these are great but they are both doable. Miking has a long history of course.
Hey, thanks so much for all this really great info! I’m not 100% attached to my specific amp’s tone, and since I need an audio interface no matter what anyways, I think I’ll just try the free sims you recommended and if I’m not happy with the tone, I can try mic’ing the cab or the effects loop.
Again, thank you very much for helping me navigate all this stuff, cause it was starting to get very confusing lol.
For recording, I always go direct, unless it’s in the band context, where I just prop an phone up and video things.
A very cheap set up (and here I speak as an iPhone user) is to buy a Focusrite Scarlett Solo interface. Plug the bass into this, then run it into GarageBand, which is free on the iPhone (iPad / MacBook). In GarageBand, there are bass amp sims.
So for the price of the interface and a couple of cables, you’re recording. New, an Scarlett Solo is not expensive, and second hand, they can be bought for next to nothing.
I also use an external multi-effects pedal that has a built in recording interface and amp sims. When I’m using that, I don’t use the GarageBand sims.
If you look on the covers thread, pretty much all of my submission are recorded this way.
Thanks for the info! I don’t have an iPhone or a Mac, but I’m sure it wouldn’t be hard to find good stuff that I can use. You’re spot on about the price too, that scarlett solo is VERY affordable, and I know I’ve heard “scarlett focusrite” a bunch of times before so evidently they’re a go-to for people.
I’m really glad everyone on here is as awesome as I’ve heard they are, it’s really great knowing that if I ever wanna chat with some bass badasses, or if I ever need advice/help with anything, this community has got me covered
Thanks for the tips! It’s good to have an idea of all the options I’ve got available, and it sounds like there’s more than enough options recording-wise for me to find what’ll suit me best.
If you are using an Android device, please note that a FocusRite might not work at all, cause of power limitations.
You need to be creative with cabling and a second power supply.
Another option would be using a Zoom AMS-24, whic can be either run with via the 2nd power-only USB connection - or batteries.
Also, for Android the amount of usable effects is rather limited, unfortunately, cause it lacks good apps (like BIAS F/X for example).
Yea no worries, I’m on my PC typing this right now lol.
I figure even if mac would be more ideal, I’m sure I’d be able to sort out something good enough for my purposes.
I’m just starting to record myself and bought the Presonus AudioBox Go. It’s very inexpensive and will include a bundled DAW so nothing extra is needed other than possibly some cabling. I also bought a pair of studio monitors, although they aren’t 100% needed, they sound much better than PC speakers.
got one a while ago for absolutely no reason other than they were $60 at the time and just a super handy small little gadget you could carry around in your pocket if you wanted to. now the price has skyrocketed to an exorbitant gasp $75 this would be an excellent starting point.
I’d keep it simple at first. Grab a basic audio interface with a DI input, record your bass direct into it, then load that into your DAW and try out free amp sims like LePou or AmpliTube Free. If you want more of your amp’s character, stick an affordable dynamic mic (like an SM57) on the cab and blend that mic track with your DI track-this keeps the low end tight while giving you the warmth of your amp
Hey Sarah…beides advice on getting a DAI, if you haven’t already, I would look into Moises AI. It is a program where you upload a song into it and it splits the song into tracks. Then, you can mute the bass track and export the file…and that is your backing track that can be put into your DAW like Garageband. It is also helpful to learn songs as you can turn up the bass louder than the rest of the tracks to figure out what is being played and you can turn down the tempo on the more difficult parts until you are up to speed. Moises was a game-changer for me at about the 8-month mark of my bass journey. As to DAI and DAW, I got a Focusrite Scarlet 2i2 and use Gaageband on my macbook, but there should be plenty of options that are more PC friendly.
Short answer, start with DAI and a direct connection to your amp, not a microphone, which adds complexity, but watch the above videos for the whole picture. Long, but I think it’s easy to follow
this would be an excellent starting point.