Unofficial Mackie User Forums > DL1608/DL806/DL32R/ProDX Mixers

Any special trick or settings for recording good, clean bass via mixer?

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Greg C.:
I have a similar situation with guitars amps in my venue when doing board mixes. Since the guitar amps relative to the room are always pretty loud, I don't put a lot of them through the PA. My workaround since I have a fancier desk for that venue is to use a matrix send to feed my recorder instead of the LR bus. What I send to the matrix is the LR bus signal plus a matrix send from the guitar sub group to add 6dB more gain in the recording of the guitar. If I were doing 2 track only from the LR bus, I'd be SOL like you are with bass.

Also, I don't advocate doing amplified guitar into the desk via DI unless it's either acoustic or the player is using an amp modeler like a Line 6. This is because often the amp itself is a key part of the guitar's sound. And a DI tap from the guitar or the pedal board isn't going to give you that sound.

Lastly, I will agree with everyone else that the only way you're going to get any decent bass in your board recording is to use a DI and push more bass through the PA. There isn't any other choice in your situation. You can't defeat physics and using vocal mic bleed to pickup bass is highly inadequate and will never work. If your bass player can't turn down so you can push more of him through the rig, then you're stuck and the problem is on him.

Nottoodeaf:
I am lucky enough to do sound for two groups where the bassist just brings a SansAmp DI.  They are not on IEMs, but they live with a reasonable level in their wedges.  Great for board recordings and gives me tremendous bass control on FOH.  Otherwise, so many times the bassist gets his "killer" sound three feet behind him while I am left to deal with the "not so killer" sound 50 feet away that messes with FOH.  Oh how I love a musician that understands the greater good.

walterw:

--- Quote from: JMc on December 27, 2013, 07:08:52 AM ---Here's my question:  I'm wanting to get some nice bass presence in the mix with good detail, but without it overpowering or dominating the entire mix.  Any suggested settings for gain with respect to the other instruments?

--- End quote ---
you can't "mix" for a recording on this board, your only choice is to set levels for the live show, anything else would mean a bad mix out front where it actually matters. whatever's loud on stage will be low in the board and thus weak in the recording, that's just how it is when you're mixing around stage volume.

you could make the guy play with no bass amp and have tons of bass in the PA (and thus the recording), but he's gonna hate that option and likely not play well.

if he just had a little bass cab that was on a stand angled up at his ears, he could at least hear himself enough to play, while leaving it to the PA to create the real low end,and thus putting more of it in the 2-track ipad recording. he'll probably still hate it, though.

sam.spoons:

--- Quote from: walterw on December 28, 2013, 06:58:31 AM ---
--- Quote from: JMc on December 27, 2013, 07:08:52 AM ---Here's my question:  I'm wanting to get some nice bass presence in the mix with good detail, but without it overpowering or dominating the entire mix.  Any suggested settings for gain with respect to the other instruments?

--- End quote ---
you can't "mix" for a recording on this board, your only choice is to set levels for the live show, anything else would mean a bad mix out front where it actually matters. whatever's loud on stage will be low in the board and thus weak in the recording, that's just how it is when you're mixing around stage volume.

you could make the guy play with no bass amp and have tons of bass in the PA (and thus the recording), but he's gonna hate that option and likely not play well.

if he just had a little bass cab that was on a stand angled up at his ears, he could at least hear himself enough to play, while leaving it to the PA to create the real low end,and thus putting more of it in the 2-track ipad recording. he'll probably still hate it, though.

--- End quote ---

The OP does in fact mix for the recording by using the mains for the recording only and aux sends for FOH.

Jerrylee:
Here is my 2 cents. To the op. What kind of noise are you getting? Bass guitars have really low signal. They s/n ratio is pretty bad. The noise you may be hearing might just be coming from the bass itself. Everyone is focusing on what is going on after the bass signal. Odds are it's coming right from the source. His amp is not duplicating it because most bass amps were designed to filter out a lot of noise. But listen closely, part of it is probably there. When you are recording it you have a louder mix in the recording than live. This is why you can actually hear the problem.

And no more excuses about using the master fader recording app. I'm kind of shocked that anyone who is here in these forums is using it. How many times do we need to discuss alternative recording apps that can be played directly back from the iPad or even iphone? I personally use the tascam PCM recorder to capture my audio. It's free and works great. And I can listen back to check the mix right away.

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