Recording Hardware "Beginner" Setup

Gear
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Well if you want to try getting bass signal to your computer on a budget with some decent results one of the single input instrument cables to USB will probably solve the problem. The interface and goodies can come later.

I’m using a 2010 Mac laptop But it seems to recognize almost any input. Out of curiosity a few months ago I used the Rocksmith cable from my PS4 to plug in. I think it’s called a real tone cable. You might find one used for $20. I think new they are like $35. It worked surprisingly well. Some of the other usb/instrument cables might do the trick too.

aufweiderhoren? I think?

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I took a peek at Reaper last year when I first got my Zoom U-22. At the time, it seemed too complicated for what I was trying to do, so I moved on to the much simpler Audacity. However, since Reaper is so well loved by people whose opinion I respect (@howard and @terb), I’m going to try to learn how to use it.

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Cool! For just recording I think you will find it pretty similar.

Laurent pointed me at it months ago and I am so glad he did.

Check out the videos by Kenny Gioia like I linked above, the guy has obsessively tutorialed every feature in the app.

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I just subscribed to his channel and will obsess about learning Reaper so I’ll be up to speed by the time my U-24 gets here. GC says it will ship May 22. Meanwhile, I’ll continue with my U-22.

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Auf Wiederhören = Hear you later (works in German, doesn’t in English)
Auf Wiedersehen = See you later (works in both)

Thanks for the input. Could it be that an “active audio cable” is the same as an “A/D converter cable” I mentioned? Sounds like it does the same.

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First off: I am not an expert. I am new to this, had help in this forum and from an audiophile friend of mine. Still I think there are other newbies interested in this summary of what I found out, but If I misinform on something don’t hesitate to let me know and I’ll correct it.

I have a bass, amp and PC with a DAW and now I want to record my music
That’s nice. First you have to decide on budget and quality requirements. It goes without saying that without budget you won’t get the same quality as you would with. I categorized three possible tears of budget/quality:

  • No Budget / Low quality - Fine if you just want to record for practice or send some recorded bass lines to friends and family so they can praise your improvement.
  • I have some money (60-150€) - Should be all you need for actually producing songs.
  • I want the best possible quality (Money shouldn’t be a question) - Probably more than you need if you don’t professionally create music.

So let’s go through the budget/quality tiers.
I have no money
Option No Money A: Get a 1/4" > 1/8" TRS Adapter or cable. Connect your bass to the sound card line in.
Option No Money B: Play like usual and set up your phone to record. Considering the effort the quality is really good.
Option A little Money: Get an active audio cable. (A/D converter cable - different names, same thing). Should be a bump up in quality compared to the other option.
Option Nice Amp: If your amp got a line out you can connect the amp to the line in. Probably the best quality in the no money option.

I have some money and G.A.S.
Buy a Digital Audio Interface (DAI). There are a lot and I mean A LOT of options out there, but I made a comparison table for the interfaces used by bass players here, because interfaces are not primarily made for instruments and every product series of interface generates a different sound. Make sure you like the sound of the one you want to buy. Trying it out would be the best option, but there are recording youtube videos for almost every model out there.
If you really only want to record bass and nothing else and never want to upgrade your system you can even find cheaper models from most brands like Behringer and FocusRite. All you need is a DAI with an Input.
If you want to upgrade later Phantom Power and how many Inputs and Outputs there are and if it has MIDI I/O might be interesting.
I want to reiterate that point: More money spend for the DAI gives you more options not better quality (in most cases). For example: the sound of the UMC 202HD is most likely exactly the same as the sound of the UMC 404HD.
Depending on your amp you can use the line out or DI to connect to your DAI. If you don’t have those don’t worry - there’s a solution.
Although this post focuses on hardware a quick software mention: the solution is the virtual amp - applied effects in your DAW. The sound coming from the DAI is very clean, but often very sharp and kind of hollow. An amp gives it more body and roundness.

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Prices are taken from Thomann (except Zoom, had to use amazon. Thoman doesn’t have it anymore.)

I want the best possible quality That’s not even G.A.S anymore. Too much money?
I won’t go into details here, because a) if you chose this tier you have to inform yourself anyway and b) microphones as a topic are a rabbit hole in itself, but the basic setup for the best quality according to sources like Scott from Scotts Bass Lessons and the youtube reverb channels is to use your DAI together with a mic that records the amp output.
So you plug in your bass to the DAI, route the output of that into your amp and then record the amp output with a mic that’s also plugged into the DAI and then record both Inputs at once.
So what I mentioned before with the software is now done with hardware: Combining the clean DAI sound with the full and round amp sound.

P.S: I don’t know what keeps me from editing the first post in this thread. Would have wanted to put the info directly at the start of the thread :frowning:

P.P.S: There is already a thread about DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) - the software part. If you are interested in recording I highly suggest to check it out too: What's your favorite DAW?

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Very good @juli0r… you are an excellent researcher and report writer. Great job!

Pam

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Thanks. I assume it’s in USD, but may I ask the price of the U-24 since you just ordered it?
I just couldn’t find a price for it. At least not a retail/new price.

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$149.99 seems to be the going price everywhere.

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Thanks again.
Phew, more than I expected. I can literally order the U-44 for 8€ more than that on amazon. Weird.

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The questions you were asking seemed simple but there are so many different factors to consider. It’s difficult to sum up a rabbit hole. Great job putting all this together.

There is one thing I want to add. If your amp has a DI out, you can go from the DI to your DAI, to get the coloring from your pre amp. Also, if you don’t have a DI out, you should be able to use the out on your effects loop for the same thing.

This same thing works if you have pre amp pedal with a DI out.

Also, if you happen to have a Rumble Studio 40 (or Stage 800), they both have a built in DAI you can use to go straight to your computer.

@juli0r You have probably figured most of this out already from your research. I just wanted to post it for completness.

I’m glad y’all have kept this thread going. A lot of this information is spread out over multiple posts on multiple threads across the forum but I think we needed a central place for putting this side of it all together. Thanks, all.

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@eric.kiser you just made my day! I had know idea I could hook up this way. Wow, thank you.

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Wow crazy. Normal price for the U-22 is about $60US and the U-24 is about $90.

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So one thing to point out - you don’t need to have an effects loop on the DAI to use effects. You just plug the last pedal on your pedalboard into the DAI like you would the amp. I’ve never actually seen an effects loop on a DAI, surprised the Behringer has one.

I’m actually running an XLR out from my DI on my pedalboard to one of the ins on my DAI. This is nice for me because I get a ground lift there as well, which I happen to need.

Setting it up this way, you can then run an out from your DAI to your amp.

Personally I don’t have any effects I would put in the effects loop on an amp to begin with - I want mine to be all pre- and have that final preamp on the amp be post-. All of my sound shaping for tone is then on the board/guitar, and the preamp on the amp would be for shaping for the room. YMMV.

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@howard where have you seen the U-24 for $90? Every place I’ve checked is $149.99 or more.

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I mean the price it is usually at. The price seems much higher now than usual. Mine was around $90 when I got it, it’s about $115 now in Japan.

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Someone had mentioned that DAI prices have gone up recently since all the musicians are stuck at home.

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Makes sense.

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… and they’re on back order.

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I’d still like to add the option “Connect the LINE OUT/PREAMP OUT of your amp to the LINE IN on your sound card” to the “I have no money”.

This gives you a signal with the eq settings of your amp. Considering I spent €6,95 on this, I have no complaints about the result whatsoever, and it gives a nice, clean signal with very little noise.
In my opinion, if your amp has a line out or preamp out, this is the best solution under 10 euros.

EDIT: Apparently, doing this from a DI would work too, but I can see how an XLR to 3.5mm jack cable would cost more than seven euros.

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