Lifeless sound Recording Bass into PT LE on OS X

[sricabla]

When I record the bass into my LE system it seems to have a lifeless sound. I have an Alembic that goes thru an Alembic F2B pre amp into a Lexicon MPX 200 (which I bypass if I'm not using any effects) into a FMR Audio RNC compressor into my 002.
I don't use a direct box since it "seems" to "work". Should I get a Radial DI or something?

Thanks in advance

[JES]

The F2B should sound great. A Radial will sound different but not necessarily better.

First, have you ever recorded this bass before? If you're the player, are you ever happy with your recorded tone? Bottom line is that the closer you get to the hands, the more important the gear is for the tone: so I'd start with the player and instrument. "Lifeless tone" can come simply from playing harder than you want. (Note, sometimes I play HARD, but doing so requires a different approach to recording the instrument than playing lightly.)

Second, I'd drop the MPX200 except when there's a specific effect you want to print.

Third, the RNC is not the ideal choice for bass, IMO. Honestly, I rarely record with compression anymore and just add it when I mix (just watch your levels if you take this advice). But I have some OK plugins (usually Waves RNC) and no interesting outboard units. If I owned an 1176 or something, that would be different. There's always that ART Pro VLA thread on the main board if you're dying for compression on recording.

HTH,
--JES

[whosmatt]

direct bass can benefit greatly from a little grit. i like to add it at the tracking stage via the distortion functions on a distressor. also try the sansamp bass driver di.

amplitube can be great for this as well in the plugin world. a little will go a long way.

[LouJudson]

You don't say which hardware - I've gotten fabulous bass sound using just the direct in on 002R. It was a custom active bass, not an Alembic, but the less in your signal path the better. Try going from the pre right into a channel and do the effects post.

I'm the engineer, not the player, and I don't know much about Alembics.

<L>

[Reuben]

I would experiment with different preamps. The Alembic pre is probably Just Fine for going through your live rig, but perhaps it lacks a quality you need for your recorded tracks. If you dont have others to try, maybe you're best off setting up an amp and micing it. Bass issues are sometimes hard to describe, but if you're finding the bass sound kind of unexciting compared to what you're used to in the room, that might be a place to start.