Bass micing and wave length.

[ashcat_lt]

If the speaker/cabinet is perfect and non-directional (not long-throw as mentioned above), the mic is perfect, and the room is perfect, there will be no difference.

It's a myth, a fallacy, and just plain wrong. I can just see this author sticking a mic inside the kick drum an inch or two from the batter head, another an inch or two off the floor tom, and then backing the bass amp mic away to allow it's frequencies to develop. So, ask him, why is the bass amp different?

It's not. JWL has the answer.

[Andy Peters]

I wasn't really asking subjectively about what would give me a better bass sound, the question was whether the length of a wave is effected at all in the recording of the wave length. So lets say we have a bass amp in an anechoic chamber and using an omnidirectional microphone we record the bass note with the mic 1 inch away, 1 foot away, and 10 feet away. If we adjusted the volume so it was hitting the mic at the same volume level each time would the wave length sound different? Its a purely academic question as I realize that just changing the volume would change the tone and so Im just wondering "in theory" kind of question.

It's a complete fallacy and the person suggesting it doesn't know what he's talking about.

-a

[nzkobc]

There are plenty of good reasons to move the mic farther away from the speaker, but I don't buy into the 'letting the wave develop' thing.

Yes.

Why does the entire wave need to be in the air before the microphone can start picking it up? It's a wave, it moves forward into the microphone. It's like pouring a glass of water, not catching a goddamn butterfly.

[Scodiddly]

Its a purely academic question as I realize that just changing the volume would change the tone and so Im just wondering "in theory" kind of question.

Wait a sec - why would changing the volume necessarily change the tone?

[blackdiscoball]

blackdiscoball wrote:
Its a purely academic question as I realize that just changing the volume would change the tone and so Im just wondering "in theory" kind of question.


Wait a sec - why would changing the volume necessarily change the tone?

I was thinking mostly tube amps but also because changing the volume would effect how hard the speaker(s) are being driven and so, also change the tone.

[farview]

Wouldn't it be better to change the gain on the mic preamp instead of the bass amp?

[nzkobc]

Wouldn't it be better to change the gain on the mic preamp instead of the bass amp?

It depends. Turning up the bass amp can produce some speaker compression, which sounds pretty good.

[Cojonesonasteek]

IMO the fact that you can get full range audio from a bass via DI tells me that the notion of "letting the wave develop" is utter BS.

[farview]

Wouldn't it be better to change the gain on the mic preamp instead of the bass amp?

It depends. Turning up the bass amp can produce some speaker compression, which sounds pretty good.

But the original question was about getting the same sound in an anechoic chamber with an omni mic no matter what distance the mic was from the source.

Changing the volume of the amp would change the source sound and make the (hypothetical) test invalid.

[blackdiscoball]

But the original question was about getting the same sound in an anechoic chamber with an omni mic no matter what distance the mic was from the source.

Changing the volume of the amp would change the source sound and make the (hypothetical) test invalid.

Thank you, you are correct, although I think the question was answered...and I think it was lost on most people.

IMO the fact that you can get full range audio from a bass via DI tells me that the notion of "letting the wave develop" is utter BS.

I don't think a DI has any impact in this, since the question has to do with a microphone picking up a sound from a speaker. Direct recording easily represents any frequency that the electronics are build to handle. If you wanted to think about the reverse of it would our ears not pick up "accurate" sound if we were to close to the speakers and not far enough away to "let the waves stretch out"? I don't think so, and apparently others on here agree which was my original reason for starting this. I read something that didn't seem right with the theory I had already learned and wanted to make sure that it was the article that wasn't right and not me.