need advice - how to get good bass tone

[YAZAM68]

helo.... I'm new in recording and dont really a bass player. And needs some help to improve my BASS tone/sound in my recording.

OK, for example, I would like to get a BASS sound something like U2 'with or without you'.... what should I do? COMPRESS it? REverb it? Put some gain?

For information. I just using a cheap Squier Bass thru Toneport UX1 to record my BASS.

[engineroom]

I always use a little gain/distortion on my bass tone and then compress it. In reality just mess with the EQ on the Toneport or in the audio program you are using to tweak things a bit.

[bilco]

Originally Posted by YAZAM68

helo.... I'm new in recording and dont really a bass player. And needs some help to improve my BASS tone/sound in my recording.

OK, for example, I would like to get a BASS sound something like U2 'with or without you'.... what should I do? COMPRESS it? REverb it? Put some gain?

For information. I just using a cheap Squier Bass thru Toneport UX1 to record my BASS.

It is going to be tough if you are not a bass player because about 90% of the tone is in your hands, how you attack the notes, when you release them, where your right hand fingers are on the strings (over the end of the neck, over the pickups or closer to the bridge.)

It is not helping any that you have a Squier bass. The stock pickups in my 1988 Pbass were pretty lame, so I can't imagine that your stock Squier pickups are going to sound great.

Here is an interview with Adam Clayton:

Adam Clayton Bass Player Interview

He says he is playing mostly a Precision bass with a Jazz bass neck on it. He says he plays a lot more with his fingers now. There is a YouTube video of the song you are talking about and it shows him playing with his fingers, kind of just to the right of the pickups maybe, they don't keep the camera on him long enough to see much, but to me it SOUNDS like he is playing it with a pick. You can be sure he was tracked through $$$$$$ preamps and/or $$$$$ amps in the studio. Again, it is mostly in his fingers though. If he played that with his fingers and not a pick, he is way more consistent in his 8th note playing than I am and I think I was playing before he was born!!

Search YouTube for more videos of them in concert and see if you can pick up the way he is holding the bass, what his right hand is doing and especially how hard he is attacking the notes. His playing on that song is pretty much how I think of his style, so any song you can see him playing on would help.

But here's the deal.....

I have been playing bass about 37 years and I play 2 to 3 gigs every week. I think I have good tone or at least it is MY tone and the musicians I play with complement my tone, but I REALLY WANT to be able to record the tone I hear on Dee Murray's tracks for Elton John (especially "Rocket Man") or Leland Sklar's tracks for Jackson Brown ("The Pretender" for one) or anything recorded by McCartney and I can not get the tone of any of those three guys! I think in the end we have to get "our tone", a tone that works and be happy with what we bring to the instrument.

Practice with a click track or metronome and practice with the recorder running or at least in pause, trying to get to where you have a fairly consistent set of dynamics coming out of the bass. If you want a mellow sound, play over the end of the neck really lightly with your fingertips. If you want a harder sound, try over the pickups and hit the strings harder and if you want a thinner sound, move towards the bridge. Try with your fingers and try with a pick to see which works better for you. I can't play with a pick to save my life, even though I play acoustic pretty well with a pick....

Keep after it and it will come to you. It takes time and practice to get a good sound out of any instrument. Good luck discovering YOUR sound.

bilco