Horrifying Rock Instrumentals - Suggestions?

[RogerG]

Hi Rich,

Thanks for the listen. I did put in some very sparse leads (pinch harmonics which I'm not sure really qualify as leads but I was trying to not step too much on the bells). I guess I'll see. And it's too late for this particular listing but I probably will re-visit the bass for something (hopefully) in the future. What I probably should have done was put in a couple of layers so I had the distorted upper part of the bass and the lower part too. I've had bass players in the past use two different amps or pedals to get that sound live but I'm not quite sure how to duplicate that on a recording. - Roger

[playagibson]

Hi Rich,

Thanks for the listen. I did put in some very sparse leads (pinch harmonics which I'm not sure really qualify as leads but I was trying to not step too much on the bells). I guess I'll see. And it's too late for this particular listing but I probably will re-visit the bass for something (hopefully) in the future. What I probably should have done was put in a couple of layers so I had the distorted upper part of the bass and the lower part too. I've had bass players in the past use two different amps or pedals to get that sound live but I'm not quite sure how to duplicate that on a recording. - Roger

I'm no engineering master but what I do is start with the bass and drums first and make the guitars fit.
Panning guitars hard left and right will free up space for bass.
Blend some smooth distortion on the bass and bump up the 800-1k area, and don't forget to scoop out some eq @ 100-150k area for the kick to breath.
Usually I'll use an eq to see where the kick is pumping to determine where the bass should be scooped.
Amplitube has Ampeg plugins which sound amazing. If your playing bass yourself I do recommend those plugins.
Compression is another chapter I'm still learning. It changes from song to song and how the bassist plays.

[RogerG]

Hi Rich,

Well you're certainly better at it than me. Thanks for the advice/recommends. - Roger