Bass guitar: it forms a core part of so much music, especially in any band setting. It might not always get the plaudits it deserves, and you have to live off recognition from music fans ‘in the know’. Making sure your bass recording sounds the best it possibly can, however, will ensure the music as a whole sounds fantastic.
Once you have a decent-quality bass guitar and someone who can play it to a good standard ticked off your checklist, then comes the all-important step of recording the bass guitar properly. Does it need to be an expensive, arduous and time-consuming process, we hear you cry? Absolutely not.
This Headliner guide on how to record bass guitar gives you several options for the best ways to get the job done, depending on your budget, experience, and what kind of results you’re after. All hail the bass!
Option #1: Direct (DI) into an audio interface
Indeed, recording bass guitar can be very quick and hassle-free. All you need for this microphone and amp-free option is an audio interface. Almost every interface on the planet will have the right connectivity to get a bass plugged in — just check the one you use or purchase has a Hi-Z input or combination XLR/TRS/TS jacks that will accept an instrument cable.
With the considerable advantage of convenience then comes the tradeoff: it’s possible you won’t be able to get the signal as loud as you’d like without accompanying noise levels. This depends on the quality of the mic preamps on the interface you’re using, so bear that in mind. Also, the bass guitar’s pickup may also add a hum that spoils the recording quality.
Don’t become exasperated, though. There are ways around this issue: one option is to do your bass recording with a dedicated DI box, which then plugs into the audio interface. These little bits of gear will convert the signal to produce a much cleaner bass recording. One good option here is the Radial J48 Active DI, which is perfect for recording bass guitars with passive pickup circuitry. (See image below)
The next tradeoff is that, with your DI/direct injection bass guitar recording done, you will probably notice that the recording lacks the warmth and character of a traditional recording via a bass amplifier. This is going to come down to where you fall on the scale between purism and pragmatism, because the solution is to emulate the amp method of recording using digital plugins. An amp will appear on your screen in your DAW (e.g Logic or Cubase), and you can tweak the settings to get your desired sound. (It all depends on how you feel about emulating the real thing versus actually doing the real thing.)
It’s worth mentioning that digital plugins keep getting better and better and really can produce excellent results. So with that said, if budget, time and space are issues for you, a DI bass recording is a great option and/or starting point.