There’s nothing quite as cool as the subdued, full tones of a well recorded upright bass. While recording any bass is difficult, the upright bass is even more difficult than the electric bass since a purely electric tone is rarely satisfactory. Here are some tips for miking an upright bass, for a recording that sounds clear, full, and strong.
1. Use microphones that fully represent the playing of the upright bassist. Upright basses growl, sing, moan, and at times, they can even rock, so your miking technique should compensate for that huge array of possible tones. That being said, your best bet is to listen to the bassist play through the song or songs that he’s going to be recording, and listen to what’s strong and weak about his bass’s sounds. For instance, if you’re recording a rock bassist, and he’s slapping the upright, picking the notes, sliding all around and playing with a real tight, funky sound, you’ll want to have a microphone up close to capture the fret noise and slaps, because that’s part of his sound. You’ll also want to keep one microphone far away to capture the rest of the tone.
2. Have an army of microphones ready. Keeping the last tip in mind, there’s a lot of things you might have to change in this recording session. Keep a nice vocal large diaphragm mic for the far miking, SM57s for the slap, maybe a matched pair of cardioid condensers if the bassist is using a bow, have everything ready. There’s not going to be a way to do this well without experimenting, so be prepared.
3. The majority of the tone will come from a mic that’s a fair distance away. The upright bass has a large zone around it where even the slightest microphone movement will completely change the response, or worse yet, areas where certain notes seem to ring out louder while others are barely audible. A large diaphragm microphone placed a fair distance in front of the upright bass will result in the best overall tone, though you may be able to use that matched pair if you’re looking for a fuller sound (best if the upright bass is one of the only instruments in the song).
4. If you recorded with two microphones, mix the close mic lower. It’s more there for percussion, while the far mic is what’s picking up the upright bass’s tone.
5. Experiment. Miking will change if, for instance, you’re recording the entire band at once–if this is the case, you might choose to use a pickup on the bass for the tone, and hope for the best with a few room microphones to pick up the rest of the instrument’s subtleties. Allow some time for experimentation–to get that full upright bass tone, it’s worth it.
Do you have any tips for recording an upright bass? Post them in the comments section below.
