Yes exactly, you can hear the instrument sound natural when you are there in the room. In mix, you hear and treat the sound of the microphone with the instrument in it not the natural sound of the instrument! :)
Thank you so much. I'm getting more and more acoustic bands to record and the upright bass is an illusive sound to get right in the monitors. Hammered dulcimer as well! Thank you Sir!
@@TM-hw7by I've only recorded and mixed Hammered Dulcimer for my own stuff or people I'm producing. So I'm careful with how I do things and I punch in a lot. But as far as tonal range, I've had similar issues with mixing banjo and dobro on the same song. I always pan them apart and then find the best mid range frequency for each one (different frequencies for each one) and boost with a narrow bandwidth.
Great video! Basses really are pretty weird when you're trying to record them in a studio. Like you alluded to, they can fill up a room with sound, but when you try to capture that it doesn't quite translate.
True! The room has a huge impact on the recording. Everytime I recorded the Stringdusters it was in a different studio so I was never able to learn the room enough.
Yes! Thank you 🙏 I’ve been waiting for this video for a while. 👍 Your attention to detail is incredible and the final product shows that which made me seek you out in the first place. The string dusters could set up a mono cassette recorder in a room and it would still sound good but how you capture and produce them turns it to acoustic magic. I’m going to steal your techniques and I hope you don’t mind 😉
Thanks! I've been wanting to do this for a while. I'm glad you liked it. There is so much more to recording acoustic instruments, I'll be doing more videos on the subject in the future. And go ahead and use anything I'm showing in these videos. I'm happy to share.
@@FreakingOutWithBillyHume in the past I’ve gotten caught up in the “you have to use that EQ and compressor” mindset. After I just started mixing with almost no compression and only EQing to manage the low end my mixes have come out sounding WAY better. I save just a little tweaking for the end. I’ve learned a ton from your videos. Someday I’d love to share some of what I’ve been doing. Thanks again 🙏
I just found your channel, love it! Great points about acoustic bass. I've had the chance to record some wonderful bassists who specialize in upright and the better the player the easier it is. Also, a little distortion goes a long way!
Thanks! I am currently mixing a string band / bluegrass project and they recorded the bass with 3 mics. One was an Ear Trumpet Labs microphone. Never used them before, but at first I thought it sounded terrible. But as I worked it into the mix with the U47 (which was in front of the bass) I started too love the punch of that mics sound. I want to go deeper into these mics.
thank you - not too much out there on double bass specifically, given its prevalent role e.g. in jazz... one question: with a setup such as this, do you ever experience phasing issues (d.i. vs. mic) and what's your favourite way to treat them?
Yes. I make sure the mics are in phase by first listening and also recording a little and looking at the wave forms. Then I make sure the bassist isn't moving too much. However, the small diaphragm condenser that I have high up on the neck is mostly picking up the buzz from the strings vibrating on the neck and such and I'll sometimes high-pass that mic so there's not actually that much low end on the top mic, which is where the biggest phase issues are going to be.
I love the depth of your techniques on the UB. So meticulous on the eq automations Billy, it must've taken forever to do, I can hear the difference between the multiband and the automation though. How did the band like it? Ahh...they loved it I'm sure! I'm a fan!
Thanks! The band loved it. I've built much of my mixing career from what I do with then low end. It started with doing so much rap music back in the day.
what if the DI and the mic signals are (for example) 90 degree phase-shifted due to integration -- and thus the delay should be different at different frequencies?
I am always checking the polarity and flip one if I have to. However, the DI is always early since is is an electrical signal whereas the mics are picking up sound through then air, which is slow. I typically nudge the DI track to match the mics if I'm going to use it.
@@FreakingOutWithBillyHume Also excellent video walkthrough. I don't play (standup bass) any more, because of long term health matters. And, I've never been able to capture 100%. I now use (or should I say, try to program) Spectrasonics Trilian, just for writing purposes. It's not the same. Even though the samples (for me, as an amateur) are good, they're still not at a consistent volume, and that's very frustrating. Fantastic video walkthroughs all round.
Yes exactly, you can hear the instrument sound natural when you are there in the room. In mix, you hear and treat the sound of the microphone with the instrument in it not the natural sound of the instrument! :)
And yes. I always want the bass upfront instead of squeezing it in the corner. The same goes for the kick.
Awesome Tutorial, thank you for sharing your knowledge!
Thanks for giving that bass fiddle the love it needs
Always! Too many people just push them to the back of the mix.
Thank you so much. I'm getting more and more acoustic bands to record and the upright bass is an illusive sound to get right in the monitors. Hammered dulcimer as well! Thank you Sir!
Bass is hard, but what is the trouble with Hammered Dulcimer?
Same tonal range as the acoustic guitars and always open notes ringing.
Separation i should say.
@@TM-hw7by I've only recorded and mixed Hammered Dulcimer for my own stuff or people I'm producing. So I'm careful with how I do things and I punch in a lot. But as far as tonal range, I've had similar issues with mixing banjo and dobro on the same song. I always pan them apart and then find the best mid range frequency for each one (different frequencies for each one) and boost with a narrow bandwidth.
I love your videos Mr Hume. love also your sound. thanks !
Thank you!!!
Great video! Basses really are pretty weird when you're trying to record them in a studio. Like you alluded to, they can fill up a room with sound, but when you try to capture that it doesn't quite translate.
True! The room has a huge impact on the recording. Everytime I recorded the Stringdusters it was in a different studio so I was never able to learn the room enough.
Yes! Thank you 🙏 I’ve been waiting for this video for a while. 👍 Your attention to detail is incredible and the final product shows that which made me seek you out in the first place. The string dusters could set up a mono cassette recorder in a room and it would still sound good but how you capture and produce them turns it to acoustic magic. I’m going to steal your techniques and I hope you don’t mind 😉
Thanks! I've been wanting to do this for a while. I'm glad you liked it. There is so much more to recording acoustic instruments, I'll be doing more videos on the subject in the future. And go ahead and use anything I'm showing in these videos. I'm happy to share.
@@FreakingOutWithBillyHume in the past I’ve gotten caught up in the “you have to use that EQ and compressor” mindset. After I just started mixing with almost no compression and only EQing to manage the low end my mixes have come out sounding WAY better. I save just a little tweaking for the end. I’ve learned a ton from your videos. Someday I’d love to share some of what I’ve been doing. Thanks again 🙏
thank you very much for this great tutorial! I have to mix an upright bass today...for the first time! Many thanks again!
Glad it helped!
I just found your channel, love it! Great points about acoustic bass. I've had the chance to record some wonderful bassists who specialize in upright and the better the player the easier it is. Also, a little distortion goes a long way!
Thanks! I am currently mixing a string band / bluegrass project and they recorded the bass with 3 mics. One was an Ear Trumpet Labs microphone. Never used them before, but at first I thought it sounded terrible. But as I worked it into the mix with the U47 (which was in front of the bass) I started too love the punch of that mics sound. I want to go deeper into these mics.
Killer job, nice vid man, I love that Sans Amp, it's used on all my bass sessions.
Hard to beat the Sansamp!
thank you - not too much out there on double bass specifically, given its prevalent role e.g. in jazz... one question: with a setup such as this, do you ever experience phasing issues (d.i. vs. mic) and what's your favourite way to treat them?
Yes. I make sure the mics are in phase by first listening and also recording a little and looking at the wave forms. Then I make sure the bassist isn't moving too much. However, the small diaphragm condenser that I have high up on the neck is mostly picking up the buzz from the strings vibrating on the neck and such and I'll sometimes high-pass that mic so there's not actually that much low end on the top mic, which is where the biggest phase issues are going to be.
I love the depth of your techniques on the UB. So meticulous on the eq automations Billy, it must've taken forever to do, I can hear the difference between the multiband and the automation though. How did the band like it? Ahh...they loved it I'm sure! I'm a fan!
Thanks! The band loved it. I've built much of my mixing career from what I do with then low end. It started with doing so much rap music back in the day.
Thanks for sharing!
This is an awesome resource! Thanks so much!
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you so very much! Very helpful!
Thanks for watching and commenting!
what if the DI and the mic signals are (for example) 90 degree phase-shifted due to integration -- and thus the delay should be different at different frequencies?
I am always checking the polarity and flip one if I have to. However, the DI is always early since is is an electrical signal whereas the mics are picking up sound through then air, which is slow. I typically nudge the DI track to match the mics if I'm going to use it.
Only just stumbled across this. Fantastic walkthrough.
Thanks so much!
I have a video that shows how I record standup bass - ua-cam.com/video/uTkGgxXBpxw/v-deo.html
@@FreakingOutWithBillyHume Also excellent video walkthrough. I don't play (standup bass) any more, because of long term health matters. And, I've never been able to capture 100%. I now use (or should I say, try to program) Spectrasonics Trilian, just for writing purposes. It's not the same. Even though the samples (for me, as an amateur) are good, they're still not at a consistent volume, and that's very frustrating.
Fantastic video walkthroughs all round.
Thanks!
Wow, cool, exactly what I was looking for...
Awesome!
The problem is that the sound was captured with a piezo. So you will never be able to have a correct double bass sound ...
You might not have watched the whole video. I blend this with a Neumann M149.
very cool video. Thank you
Thank you too!