DI Bass mixing: Add amp plugin or only eq & comp?

[AhjayStelino]

Hello all,
The general view seems to be that it is better to DI a bass guitar rather than mic a bass amp.
However once the DI signal is recorded, what do you guys use on it?
Do you need to use a bass amp plugin or just get on with eq and compressing it?

thanks,
Ahjay

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[andygabrys]

i dunno bout "better" - just different.

if you are miking the amp, you are likely taking a DI too. The amp usually exhibits some natural compression and rounding of the tone. So the DI is usually going to be the one that needs a bit of leveling and help. I contract mixed and co-produced two albums last year and that is what we did. On some tracks though, I tossed the Mic track. Just depended on the song.

if you like Waves Rbass, and / or amp sims, no need for a mic'd amp track. and no bleed / easy to record and replay / replace if needed. On a DI bass I find both work - either an amp sim and a little more comp and eq or DI with comp / eq and maybe some rBass - naturally all track dependent.

nice clean music on your page btw.

[AhjayStelino]

Hi Andy,
Thanks. So you're saying both then I guess different probably sums it up.
Have not tried the waves plug in range though have heard a lot about it and so must look it up. the berklee production course seems to recommend it as well.
Neat gtr playing on "Chains!"

Ahjay

[Silversun]

If you end up taking both, its worth timing them up . The DI will have no time lag but depending how far the mic is away there will be a phase difference. Look at the waveforms close up and match the waveforms in terms of start points. It probably only a couple of ms on a close mic but it can make all the difference when your summing the two .

[AhjayStelino]

Thanks. Therefore with phase differences and leak etc to deal with, I am trying to stick with getting a good DI only mix to make life easier.

[Silversun]

I still vote take both. If youve got a nice sounding amp it can really worth the small extra effort.

[Kolstad]

I DI my bass tracks, and then sometimes put an EZ Mix patch on, sometimes the Amplitube Ampeg sim. Whatever makes it sit well in the track, I suppose. Lately I've also tried to record a DI track, convert it to midi with Melodyne, edit a little and put Spectrasonics Trillian on.

I do struggle a bit sometimes, though, so I consider trying out a Fender Rumble head, or micing up an amp with a 15' inch speaker (great for BIG sounding tone). I'm one of those guys who prefer to have a tone that can sit well in the mix BEFORE recording (my weakness), so I realize I might solve my issues by taking more notice of tucking the bass in with the kick with ITB EQ and compression, though.

But I think the huge, felt type of bass tone is the most difficult to achieve when you DI the bass, so choice and method also have to match the type of music you are trying to record.

[AhjayStelino]

Thanks Magne. Those are some good reference plugins that i can look up. Toontracks seems to have a good name with both superior drummer and now ezmix as well.
Ah the number of options when it comes to tone!

Ahjay

[NathanNasby]

All good bits of advice here! Another one I really like to use is Nomad Factories blue tubes. They've got really great sounding amp and tube simulators with a lot of presets for bass. I tend to DI. I find it's just cleaner and easier to work with coloring after capture. Seems that's often criticized by the hard cores but eh! it's what I like anyway. Ditto on the Amplitube (I use ver. 3.0 I think) and toontrack ezmix as well. Both are great plugins.

[AhjayStelino]

Thanks Nathan. I had never heard of blue tubes before. They look good!