How I Record + Mix My Bass

[@corymohler1341]

This was sick man! I’d be interested in seeing your process of video making as well! Be blessed and groove on.

[@TheShellJr]

finally someone sharing this knowledge, thanks man!

[@Cymanytb]

Dude, I loved this, your bass tone is the best out there!

[@Carsonchildersmusicnow]

Definitely show your video recording process!

[@okadz7485]

Thanks for the info, and i hope you can make a follow up on how to record a playthrough and sync the audio with it

[@lunacy_bass]

I'd also like to see that.

[@jd5081]

Agreed, syncing the video with the audio seems tricky

[@emisor73]

Fantastic man! Hey what do you think about this setup: Bass to Fender Downtown Express pedal to Scarlett 2i2 to Macbook with Garage Band? (A beginner here) Thanks.

[@BassFreedom]

For sure! That's a solid setup! You have everything you need to get goin' :D I started with almost the same exact setup with the macbook, garage band and Scarlett!

[@btn006]

Awesome video. Questtion, how do you hear yourself as there is no cab if i understand correctly?

[@brooklynboy1000]

Are you from Maryland? The way you say tone. Do you need a cab sim if you’re using an Aguilar bass preamp ?

[@BassFreedom]

I am from Maryland! Great ear, haha. No need for a cab sim if you're using the Aguilar amp head :)

[@blakedanner5911]

I'm new to the channel but I'd love to see how you get your bass tones,I've always played guitar so bass tones are new to me

[@d.r.sbasschannel4734]

Def needed this. This is excellent. No high or low pass filters?

[@kasunmaduwage2316]

Thank you very much

[@crocholiday]

How does the finished track end up sitting in a final mix. Most of what I see online about mixing bass says mids are key to cutting through the mix. I never totally got that. I love the sound of a bass with scooped mids and used that for years when I played mostly with a pick. I recorded several albums with that set up and the engineers I worked with loved the tone. It seemed to cut fine but I'm not sure what they did in production. Doing more tracking from my home studio for folks and I know there's no wrong way as long as it sounds good. With a pick I'd probably scoop mids again but not sure about my P with flats or plain finger style on my J. My worry is if I shape too much I may effect how the producer can use it. Just curious if you had any issues with scooping.

[@BassFreedom]

Shape away until you get your desired tone. You can always send your producer the raw track so it isn't like you are ruining anything you experience with! As for mids, it always depends on the track. I tend to slap a lot, play aggressively, as well as a lot of funky bass lines. So I mix it this way the same almost every time. I'm not a professional when it comes to audio engineering but I found a way over the years where I am at least happy with my own sound/tone. Best of luck to you!

[@crocholiday]

@@BassFreedom Thanks for the feedback! Now I'm working on what recording method will work best for me. It doesn't help that there's no wrong way here either lol. Direct in? In through a DI first? In through an amp? Mic'd cab? Combination of them? lol. One producer I tracked with a few years back grabbed my signal from my DI, my amp, mic'd my cab and then a room mic then blended them all together in production. I wish I knew the ratio he used. It sounded killer.

[@horrorshowbass]

Hi Andrew, can you do a vid on how you do IG posts? I have a few vids up but my audio is in mono (itrack solo) and using laptop camera so quality is poor. Should I buy a better camera and mix audio in a DAW?

[@horrorshowbass]

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[@BassFreedom]

I'll try to put a vid up about this! And yes, 100%. If you want high quality content, you need a nice camera (even the newer phones will suffice, but nothing like a good camera with a nice lens) and to be recording from a DAW.

[@horrorshowbass]

Cheers dude, my laptop camera only wants to go mono 😑

[@AleEsc_Covers]

I'm trying to record my bass (active circuit) but it gets distorted even when is not reaching the clip on the interface and on the DAW, I tried to record with another bass (passive) and I'm not getting the distortion. Do I need to buy a Direct box for recording my active bass?

[@BassFreedom]

Tons of active basses tend to be too "hot" with signal. What you need is a pad (which a direct box offers). Sometimes the interface or even your amp has a pad - which lowers the signal. If your bass has the option to switch to passive, I'd record on that. Sometimes on my active bass (18V active...always clips), i'll literally turn the gain knob all the way down on the interface and it is the correct signal lol. Best of luck!

[@AleEsc_Covers]

@@BassFreedom My bass has a switch to activate a boost but even without the boost is getting saturated, also I've tried turning the gain down but I'm still having the issue. I think I'll have to buy a DI (I don't know if that's the solution or a better interface would be).

[@26Feathers]

How important is an amp sim/amp head? I have a regular cab+amp combo which I use with my bass

[@BassFreedom]

I think an amp head is important because it adds extra EQ options! I run my amp head DI into the interface/Logic and use my cab so I don't have to wear headphones when tracking!

[@someonesomewhere8805]

Pullin out some 1KHz is key for me too.

[@yonihaimovich]

Amazing tone, thanks for sharing! A question only about recording (pre-mix) - I get the importance of the compressor pedal, but how important is using an amp head (like your aguilar), as opposed to connecting the compressor pedal directly to the audio interface? Does the amp head do something that the audio interface and software plugins can't? Or does it do anything better? How important is to eq before recording?

[@BassFreedom]

Thank you! EQ is more important BEFORE recording in my opinion! The better you sound going in, less you need to do! The amp head serves as a 'preamp' essentially, and definitely boosts tone because you have more sculpting options. I find that the raw DI even with a compression pedal take more tweaking in post. I hope you find the sound that's right for you!!