OT: Bass recording/mixing tips

[Kent F]

Hey there-

We're tracking some songs for our first family Gospel Bluegrass CD. Our kids do most of the playing and singing. We've messed around with this before, but now we're committed.

Laying down the bass track using a Breedlove Acoustic Bass with Pickup, we notice that there is string noise/buzz on the note change. There's not much we can do on the player side of things at this point. I would think this must be a common problem, but maybe not?

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to deal with this in recording/mix?

Thanks!

[CurtZHP]

I used to have a cheap acoustic bass that buzzed like crazy on some notes, no matter how carefully I played. On the one tune I actually recorded it, I ended up EQ'ing and processing the snot out of it until it ended up sounding like a very muted electric bass.

My advice. Find something that doesn't make any more noise than you want it to, whether acoustic, electric, or a synth pad, and get on with it.

If it doesn't serve the track, it's part of the problem and needs to go.

The listener won't know the difference anyway.

[Sound Machine Inc]

depending on the tempo of the song you COULD use a gate to chop off the attack of the note that is buzzy.. and possibly copy the track and slide back in time say 1/16th and raise the gate longer on it to use it as the "attack" that was gated in the original alignment

[Craig Allen]

You could try to get the bass worked on. Sounds like it may have a fret issue.

[Kent F]

The buzz is just on the note change when the finger is lifting off the string and going to the next one. There's no buzz otherwise.

[Sound Machine Inc]

if it's on the end you could use a ADSR vst like one of these

http://freemusicsoftware.org/category/free-vst-effects-2/envelopes

automate in SAW to cut the ends of each note or at least drop the end 6 or 8 db to minimize the noise

[Cary B. Cornett]

I am curious about whether you only notice this noise when you solo the track, or when the whole mix is up. There are occasions where a track that sounds rough and gritty by itself sits very well in the mix. Sometimes that "grit" is part of what helps the instrument hold its own against the rest of the track. In the end, it's really an artistic judgement call.

I'm not saying that we should let sloppiness get by: just know when it's a deal-breaker vs. when it isn't really much.

An example that got my attention was Norman Greenbaum's "Spirit In The Sky". A friend of mine had files of the original tracks, so it was possible to solo each one. You'd be surprised how much "slop" was in some of those tracks, yet when you hear the whole things together, it holds up just fine.

That said, the other advice you got here makes good sense. Either fix the instrument/player, or be ready to do lots of processing and/or editing.

[Craig Allen]

The buzz is just on the note change when the finger is lifting off the string and going to the next one. There's no buzz otherwise.

Ok, then try this:

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/FingerEase?utm_source=Google&utm_medium=PPC&utm_campaign=none&device=c&network=g&matchtype=&gclid=CI2au7eZ4rYCFQVU4Aod0TQADw

Fix it at the source if possible.

[Sound Machine Inc]

Also is your Breedlove fretted or fretless?

[Grekim]

Have you tried some low pass filtering? The fret buzz is probably way up in frequencies you don't need anyway. If bass is direct / no amp then I usually like to kill some of the highs anyway since the speaker would have done so "naturally."

[Kent F]

bass is fretted. Noticed the noise when recording the track. It's definitely the bass.

Haven't tried anything yet to minimize or remove the sound. The suggestions are helpful.

Has anyone run into this kind of thing before?

[Butch Bos]

Has anyone run into this kind of thing before?

WAY to many times but for me mostly live since I don't record much
Sometimes I low pass it or just consider it character :D

Butch

[MMP]

In SAW you could use the EQ in the compressor/gate section to duck the track when there is a lot of energy in the buzz frequency area.

[Dan Hauck]

I've recently put Fender black tapewound strings on one of my basses. They are remarkably resistant to squeaking & fret noise and sound a lot better than I thought they would. If you have the frequency analyzer you can solo up the bass track(s) and see EXACTLY where the noise is & notch it back until it ceases to be a problem.

[DominicPerry]

You could try using a nice valve (tube) bass amp. Mic it up. Certainly one of my basses which I thought was horribly clattery sounded much better through a decent valve amp.

Dominic