WEEK 9 - AA1: Bassss

Five massaged Basss tracks!

Take 1 (a) – Fender Musicmaster Bass (1) into Trace Elliot Series 6 AH300 amp head (2). DI from head to MBox2 Mini/Protools (3).

FlatFender.mp3

First three takes had a buzz/background earthing problem through the amp head, but to my amazement, I was able to compress and mostly EQ a lot of this out. If you can pinpoint the undesirable frequency you can pull it out (to a point) without doing too much damage to the integrity of the bass sound. This take has as much extraneous buzz removed as I currently know how using these two methods. Result: bit thin.

Take 2 – As per Take 1 but with EQ

FenderTraceEQ.mp3

The player's own sound, almost standard 'smiley' amp EQ and I've applied compression. Tighter sound, more warmth, body and roundness than the first take. Has a slight buzz on some of the lower notes (which I kinda like); wondering why as no 'blow-outs' during recording/bounce.

EQ settings

Take 3 – Take 2 plus Noise Reduction

TraceEQNR.mp3

The good old buzz in quieter moments. A test of hearing as I tried to locate the frequency with the ProTools 7 band EQ. Good fun!

Take 4 (b) – Fretless (4) DI to MBox2 Mini (See 3)

FretlessMBox.mp3

Here I start to experiment, mainly because I don't spend time cleaning up the sound. Very clean source material indeed. Compressed, with Expander/Gate and Slap Delay II. Warmth, stereo effect, round sound, bottom end with enough click.

Take 5 – Fretless into Trace Elliot GP7SM 130 Combo (See 2), with a Shure 58 vocal microphone (5). Experimental!

Shure58AmpCompEQ.mp3

The unusual 'slit' design of the Trace Elliot GP7SM

As you can see from the pic, this amp is an unusual piece of hardware, one of the reasons I wanted to record it.

I like the novel result. I have used a four band EQ for removal of noise, a ton of compression and an Amplitube (6) amp simulator plug-in.

Amplitube setup. Note Wah setting. I also dabbled with reverb and delay.

Each of these sounds would be relevent in the appropriate scenario, but the fuller, rounder sounds of Takes 3 and 4 were to my taste. A mixed bunch.

REFERENCES:

Fieldhouse, Stephen. Audio Arts, Week 9 - Bass. EMU, University of Adelaide, South Australia, May 8, 2007.

(a) Slynn, Anna. Takes 1 - 3. May 10, 2007. Fender Musicmaster fretted bass.

(b) Slynn, Darren.Takes 4 - 5. May 10, 2007. Maton JB4 fretless bass.

1/ To investigate 'Fender Musicmaster Bass' try this site (site name sounds kinda kinky):
"Product Dating." Fender.com USA. May 11, 2007. http://www.fender.com/support/dating/ (accessed May 11, 2007).

2/ Trace Elliot. http://www.trace-elliot.co.uk/ (accessed May 11, 2007).

3/ "ProTools LE & M-Powered Systems." Digidesign. http://www.digidesign.com/index.cfm?navid=28&langid=61& (accessed May 4, 2007).

4/ Maton have not made the JB4 or any basses for quite awhile ;>( Try this site:

"BGRA: Maton jb4 pro fretless." BGRA.Net. February 2, 2006. http://www.bgra.net/2004/review.php?id=1993&type=bass (accessed May 11, 2007).

5/ "Shure - Wired Microphones - SM58 Vocal Microphone." Shure - Pro Audio. 2007. http://www.shure.com/ProAudio/Products/WiredMicrophones/us_pro_SM58-CN_content (accessed May 11, 2007).

6/ Amplitube. http://www.amplitube.com/ (accessed May 11, 2007).

* Note: for some odd reason I had problems with the samples this week. They sound fine at this end, but when uploaded develop a click at the end. I uploaded several times and swapped the samples over to no effect but will continue to pursue the cause. Could people let me know if they are getting the clicky ending or clean ...