I’m using a mic below the string segments between bridge and tailpiece and running that into an amp. Sounds great, sounds natural. Except for this: when you play an unamplified upright double bass in any room that’s not a treated recording room, there is some ‘life’ or ‘air’ in the sound from the room itself. This of course is the natural reverberations in the room. And that ‘air’ helps you hear the wood in the instrument.
Playing thru an amp, that changes. The volume of the amplification overrides the natural room sound to a degree. And the bass, while sounding its natural self thru the mic, loses a bit of that ‘air’. Especially in my basement studio, where the walls are treated and the rafters create a natural cascading bass trap.
So in the past couple weeks I’ve added a reverb pedal. And I’ve found that a hall setting, with relatively quick decay and at very low volume compared to the main signal, increases the air in the sound while not creating any unnatural wash or mud. I don’t need it when we move the instruments into my dining room, but in the basement studio it makes a difference.
Playing thru an amp, that changes. The volume of the amplification overrides the natural room sound to a degree. And the bass, while sounding its natural self thru the mic, loses a bit of that ‘air’. Especially in my basement studio, where the walls are treated and the rafters create a natural cascading bass trap.
So in the past couple weeks I’ve added a reverb pedal. And I’ve found that a hall setting, with relatively quick decay and at very low volume compared to the main signal, increases the air in the sound while not creating any unnatural wash or mud. I don’t need it when we move the instruments into my dining room, but in the basement studio it makes a difference.
