Upright Bass and/or Tricks

[johnnyrowing]

I have a hyper-specific need and I am hoping to borrow some wisdom. I do lots of Americana. I NEED to figure out how to populate my tracks with upright bass to be more "in-genre".

Here are some ideas that I have:
1. Use a buddy. I have a buddy that plays upright bass but he is so busy and ain't really music crazy like myself. Therefore, he isn't really available to record for me unless the stars align. So, this doesn't really work as well as I'd like.

2. Soundset. Is there some kind of high quality soundset out there that I might be able to either play on e. bass - convert to midi - and then trigger. Or, perhaps, just play on keys and then tighten up with programming?

3. U-Bass. I bought a fretless U-Bass and it sounds SO MUCH like an upright. However, trying to convert it from how it sounds in the room to the recording has been a total fail for me. Is there a specific mic. or position of said mic. that I ought to be trying. This is my preferred way of working because it has a real vibe to it. But, I am just failing right now.

4. Any other ideas methods that y'all are using?

I hope someone out there has either answers or ideas.

Johnny R.

[funsongs]

I have a hyper-specific need and I am hoping to borrow some wisdom. I do lots of Americana. I NEED to figure out how to populate my tracks with upright bass to be more "in-genre".

I bought a fretless U-Bass and it sounds SO MUCH like an upright. However, trying to convert it from how it sounds in the room to the recording has been a total fail for me. Is there a specific mic. or position of said mic. that I ought to be trying. This is my preferred way of working because it has a real vibe to it. But, I am just failing right now.

Any other ideas methods that y'all are using?
I hope someone out there has either answers or ideas.

Johnny R.

Hi Johnny.
I also got a KALA U-Bass (fretless - what was I thinking?!) which I took to my local luthier - had him install mandolin frets (per Lee Sklar) up the 9th position.
When we record it, we use both a live mic and D.I. and my engineer blends the tone (to my liking). I tape a piece of felt where a pickguard would be,
to mute any fingernail/tapping that might otherwise get picked up.
You have Craig's email (or I can send it to you) if you want to converse with him about settings, you could do that too.
I'm thinking you'd rather be able to do all of that yourself (edited 12/1/24: without) having to WFH someone else.
Hope that helps; CHEERS!
Peter

[VanderBoegh]

I use the upright bass in East West's "Goliath" sample library when I need upright. It sounds good (to me), and has a variety of slides, falls, and other fun little performance nuances. The downside is that you'd have to play it through a keyboard, so it might not have the feel of a "played by a live player" vibe. UNLESS..... you recorded your real performance on any bass guitar, then ran that performance through Melodyne and converted it to MIDI, then used that MIDI line and fed it through the Goliath upright bass. It's a circuitous work-around, but might get you the results you want?

~~Matt

[cosmicdolphin]

Trillian

[johnnyrowing]

Thanks Funsongs, Matt, and Mark.

This gives me a place to start.

Johnny