Fixing a farty bass track

bannerj · Post by **bannerj** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 10:27 am

I've got a bass tracked live directly through a countryman that sounds kinda bad. I've never had to fix something like this and am considering reamping. I have a dbx 160x and one of the sansamp bass di's along with a great river mp-2nv and a ua2108. I can borrow a bass amp maybe from a few musicians, but I'd like to try this first just with what I've got. I've also got sonalksis and URS channel strip pro plugin comps.

I'd love any tips suggestions.

thanks

Dan Phelps · Post by **Dan Phelps** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 10:37 am

If the track is missing good low end content, then you could also try a plug-in like Lowender to compensate.

MoreSpaceEcho · Post by **MoreSpaceEcho** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 10:57 am

what specifically is wrong with it? i'm guessing it's distorting in an unpleasant manner? i had one of those recently, i ran it through the sansamp rbi and then probably a distressor and basically hammered the shit out of it. not what i normally like to do but in this case it definitely helped. i'd think between the sansamp and the dbx you oughta be able to make it some kinda better.

bannerj · Post by **bannerj** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 11:12 am

I've read good things about the lowender here on the TOMB. Is it RTAS? I need AUs. I'll check it out.

The track is thin and kinda flubby/farty..not so much a matter of distortion, but just no real steady tone

digitaldrummer · Post by **digitaldrummer** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 12:09 pm

or find someone with a Bass POD or maybe the IK multimedia Ampeg SVT version of Amplitube? just another idea...

mjau · Post by **mjau** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 12:21 pm

Reamping limp bass tracks always seems to do some good, especially if you can eq/compress/whatever in the box and pipe that out to the amp.

micyourbrain · Post by **micyourbrain** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 12:49 pm

man I know what that's like!

darjama · Post by **darjama** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 1:40 pm

If you've got guitar amps on hand, try reamping thru those.

Not sure what you mean by "farty" bass tone, if I had to guess it would be overdriven and without any attack. Creative compressing (longer attack to help create peaks) might help in that case. If it's too much lower-mid, EQ away.

bannerj · Post by **bannerj** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 3:56 pm

hmmm...everybody's got their own vocab I guess. I've always called a bad bass sound "farty." It is all ffffttt and blang a blang....crap...I should just figure out a way to post the take.

vvv · Post by **vvv** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 4:02 pm

bannerj wrote:ffffttt and blang a blang....crap...

Is that the "fart", and then the inevitable result?

Jeff White · Post by **Jeff White** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 4:33 pm

vvv wrote:
bannerj wrote:ffffttt and blang a blang....crap...
Is that the "fart", and then the inevitable result?

This just made me fart while laughing!

digitaldrummer · Post by **digitaldrummer** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 9:10 pm

this thread is starting to stink...

mwingerski · Post by **mwingerski** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 9:47 pm

As a rule, take what you have and make the most of it.

But I am also a big proponent of reamping DI bass in general.
I feel like a mic'd bass amp sits in a mix better .. this is of course assuming a bass amp that actually has some low end to it...

I recently acquired an ampeg 4x10 cab, which weighs more than my refrigerator, but when paired with a decent amp head, it has done so much to make the kick and bass lock together. lots of low end punch without making it sound so low that the speaker cones feel like they're bathing in lead.

I like the sansamp too though. I think it's sometimes a prickly bear to sit properly depending on the context though...

another oddball idea that worked for me once was to reamp my monitors. Just solo the bass, stick a 421 in front of the speaker and then mic it through your great river. It can give some dimension to the bass that's often missing with a DI. Air is a great processor.

GooberNumber9 · Post by **GooberNumber9** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 11:09 pm

I'm not sure what platform or resources you have, but these are my weapons of choice on DI'ed bass:

- SansAmp Bass Driver DI (either track through it or reamp through it)
- SamsAmp PSA-1 plug-in (not just for guitars)
- Bomb Factory BF-76 compressor (either a little to smooth it out, or a lot to "reamp" it)
- Joe Meek Meekwalizer EQ (I put bass at 2 and everything else to taste. HUGE low end)

I'm sure someday I'll run into a bass track that doesn't work for me with one or more of those involved, but it hasn't happened yet.

Todd Wilcox

PS: I LOVE the reamping through the monitors trick! I'm going to try that sometime soon.

mixedupsteve · Post by **mixedupsteve** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 7:01 am

bannerj wrote:hmmm...everybody's got their own vocab I guess. I've always called a bad bass sound "farty." It is all ffffttt and blang a blang....crap...I should just figure out a way to post the take.

upload audio file to sendspace.com for free. list your own emailaddress to be notified and you will get a link. post that link here.

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Fixing a farty bass track

Fixing a farty bass track

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