(Editor’s Note: Getting a nice bottom end with bass on your songwriting demos can add impressive dimensions to your music. Read on as guest author, studio owner, and working songwriter Bill Timpano offers his experience in successfully recording bass.)

Recording a great sounding bass track is not hard, nor is it a black science. By following a few simple rules you can get excellent results from your home studio. Before you begin to track a bass line, you should have a good idea of the tone you are trying to achieve as it relates to the particular song. Some of the factors you need to decide on would be pick or finger style, clean tone or a dirtier more aggressive sound, bright and spanky or a mellower more rounded tone.

Some people recommend putting brand new strings on your bass before the session. Personally, I like to have some playing time on my strings prior to recording for two reasons. Brand new strings stretch and require re-tuning until fully set. You do not want to have a tuning problem while tracking. Also, if you prefer round wound strings, they tend to be very bright when new. I feel that having a bit of playing time on them evens out the over tones and the metallic brightness. I usually accomplish all this as I am working out the bass lines for the song.

Ok, so we have a basic sound in mind, and our bass is up to snuff. Time to get down low! I have some strong beliefs when recording any instruments. I do not want to “fix” anything in the mix. So, get it right while tracking. And, the final tone I want to hear is what I try to capture as I record, including printing effects if necessary such as chorus and compression.

This is contrary to popular wisdom. I was very surprised to read an article recently on the great Eddie Kramer, who tracks in the very same manner. I want to do as little as possible during the mix down process: a bit more overall compression and some minor EQ’ing. I make sure the bass sits well in the mix as I track.

So, how do we capture that great bass tone? By now, I know my equipment and the final results this equipment will produce. So, get to know your gear intimately. This comes from countless hours spent in the studio. I have a go-to tube preamp and compressor that I use for direct tracking. I keep the EQ settings on the board flat. If I am looking for a real aggressive “in your face” tone I will mic a bass amp. I usually throw up a Shure SM57 microphone or an AKG D112 and move it around the speaker until I like the sound. Generally about 12 to 18 inches back as a starting point, directly at the cone.

A little tip here: the further away from the speaker you place the mic, the more low frequencies you will pick up. This is because the low frequencies need some time to develop. I like to shape the bass sound through mic choice and placement rather than EQ. Sometimes I will use only the mic’d track. Other times I may combine a bit of the DI track with the mic’d track. They key here is to experiment. The amount of compression varies greatly from player to player. An experienced bassist with a smooth even finger style will need much less than a player who is heavy handed and “rough” around the edges. A good basic starting point would be a threshold of -10 with a ratio of around 3:1. Set the attack around 10ms and the release at 500ms. For a punchier sound, lengthen the attack to around 20 ms. If the notes are coming fast, I will shorten up the release time a bit. I generally prefer at soft knee, however on slap bass I sometimes will go for a hard knee for tighter control on the peaks.

As for EQ, get it right during tracking and you can go real light during the mix down. If EQ is necessary, here are some tips. For big bottom try boosting around 80 Hz. If the bass is too boomy try cutting in the range of 125 Hz to 160 Hz. Muddiness is improved by cutting around 200 Hz.

One important note here: when given the choice, it is always better to cut a frequency than boost. As always, trust your ears – they are your best and most accurate tool!

About The Author

Bill Timpano is a working New York songwriter/musician and owner of HouseOfTracks.com, an online recording studio.

(Bass Player picture ganked from pasto1.blogspot.com)