Contrary to popular belief, there is more than one good way to record a bass guitar. Read on for a variety of innovative ideas that will make your tones (and your process) a lot less boring and a lot more memorable.

Engineers bend the rules of recording on a regular basis in pursuit of inspiring tones. Accordingly, there are countless studio tricks out there for recording drums, guitars, vocals and more.

But when it comes to tracking bass, we too often stick to the basics: throw a big, fat dynamic mic in front of the amp, take a separate direct signal, and blend the two with some compression. 

While this tried-and-true method never fails to deliver a useable sound, some songs call for a little something extra on the bottom end.

Here are seven outside-the-box ways to make your next bass recording a little more interesting:

1. Give it Some Space

While the bass-boosting proximity effect of a close mic’d amp is a surefire way to get a thick tone, it can sound a little claustrophobic sometimes. 

One of the easiest ways to breathe some life into your bass tracks is by simply backing off the mic to open up the sound a bit. Try moving your microphone a foot or more away from the speaker and you’ll instantly notice a difference; the instrument will “breathe” a little more, resulting in a more open sound that’s great for jazz, folk, or any genre that calls for a natural sound.

Of course, you can also keep the main mic where it is and add a dedicated room mic to pick up the ambience separately. This will ensure that you always have that solid, upfront sound when you need it, and you’ll be able to blend in the room mic to taste when you need to. Since every room will have its own resonant sweet spots and dead zones, it helps to experiment with placement of the amp and the room mic to achieve the most flattering sound.

2. Split the Difference

Sometimes the bass just needs a little extra grit to compete with guitars and stand out in a busy mix. Sure, you could crank up the gain on your amp or kick on a distortion pedal, but that approach tends to muddy the signal and you might find yourself losing some low-end weight.

Fortunately, there is a way to have the best of both worlds: split the signal between a bass amp and a guitar amp. This technique provides the solid foundation of a clean bass amp with the midrange crunch of an overdriven guitar amp, which helps it stand out in loud rock and metal mixes.

When you split your bass signal, try to use a real splitter or A/B box if possible—not just any effect pedal with two outputs. A proper splitter will ensure you’re sending the same strong, healthy signal to both amps, which will help them sound their best.

When it comes to sculpting the sound of the two amps, you can use a crossover to split your signal into high and low frequencies first, adjust the treble and bass knobs on the amps, or use EQ in the mix. Be warned, though: while your bass will sound huge, it will also take up more space in the frequency spectrum, and require careful mixing to manage.

3. Go Wide

In the vast majority of mixes, the bass guitar is an entirely mono element, panned straight up the middle to anchor the mix. While this is the safest thing to do and most mixes may benefit from keeping it simple like this, your bass tracks can get a lot more interesting with some stereo processing.

A wide bass sound might be a little out of place in some genres, but it can be just the ticket for certain styles of funk, pop, new wave, progressive rock, and psychedelic music.

A stereo chorus (set deep and slow or shallow and fast) is a great way to add some subtle motion to your bass tone. Another common thickening agent is the stereo detune effect: duplicate the bass track, pitch one copy up and one down by 5-10 cents, pan left and right, and listen for the slight wobble of the two signals beating with each other.

To keep a solid foundation with any of these methods, try using a crossover to apply your stereo effects to just the portion of the signal above 150 Hz or so.

4. Downsize

Unlike on the stage, bigger amps don’t always mean a bigger sound in the studio. In fact, it’s common practice for engineers to cut out some of the lowest bass frequencies for a more focused sound that doesn’t overlap with kick drums, synthesizers, and other low-end elements in the mix.

By using a smaller amp with a limited frequency range, you can bake this right into your sound and avoid excessing EQ later. You might be surprised at the fatness of your sound once you eliminate some of the excess low-end.

Instead of a giant Ampeg stack, try using a single-speaker guitar combo amp or even a miniature model like the Pignose 7-100. With smaller speakers and less bass porting, you’ll certainly lose some of that ultra-low rumble, but the meat of your tone will still be there.

Note that this technique is not suited to all types of music, and should be used consciously and deliberately—you won’t be able boost low frequencies that aren’t there if you decide you want a fuller sound!

5. Get Up-Close and Personal

While cranked amps, boutique pedals, and masterful mixing can all take your bass tracks to new heights, there’s one thing no speaker, circuit, or plugin can replicate: the real, up-close sound of fingers (or a pick) on strings.

Next time you need a little extra definition or more of a human feel, try mic’ing the strings themselves with a small-diaphragm condenser microphone to capture the detailed transients of your plucking, picking, or slapping.

You’ll probably still want to use traditional recording techniques for the “meat” of your bass sound—just be sure to put your amp in a separate room or use a DI to avoid bleed. Then, you can record a clean, isolated acoustic track and blend it in with your amp or DI track to achieve just the right balance.

This versatile technique is perfect for creating an intimate sound in soul or folk music, extra punch in rock and metal, or to mimic the sound of a stand-up bass in jazz, country, and rockabilly styles.

6. Fake it ’til You Make it

Some of the coolest bass tones can be achieved without even picking up a bass guitar. For a novel timbre that will keep listeners guessing, try pitch-shifting a guitar, ukulele, or other stringed instrument down an octave or two. You’ll still get beefy low-frequency content, but with a snappier response due to the shorter, lighter strings. As an added bonus, you’ll be able to play faster, more intricate parts that would be difficult or impossible with the longer scale length and heavy-gauge strings of a typical bass.

Octave pedals, synth pedals, and rackmount harmonizer units are all viable options for pitch-shifting your instrument, and some will even let you stack multiple octaves or harmonies at once for a truly gigantic sound. You don’t even have to use a different instrument if you don’t have one—simply playing all of your parts an octave or two higher on the neck and pitching it down will give you a completely different sound.

7. Meddle with MIDI

After trying out some of these increasingly experimental techniques, you may find that your song doesn’t actually need a bass guitar at all. It could be that you’re actually looking for the low rumble of a pipe organ, a buzzing synth-bass, a smooth vibraphone, or even a honking tuba to fill out the low-end. Fortunately, with the magic of pitch-to-MIDI conversion, you can easily turn your bass tracks into any of these and more!

A pitch-to-MIDI-converter is a plugin or hardware unit that analyzes an audio track and translates the pitch into MIDI notes, which can then be used to trigger sample-based instruments or synthesizers.

Pitch-to-MIDI works especially well on bass tracks because they are typically monophonic (playing just one note at a time), and their clean signal with strong fundamental frequencies is easy for a converter to analyze accurately. For best results, record your bass part as cleanly as possible—try not to overlap notes, and record with a very clean signal (no distortion or effects that could confuse the tracking).

Dante Fumo is an audio engineer working locally and remotely out of Milwaukee, WI.

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