Processing

[no66y©]

Hi y'all

I have put down a bass line for something.
My bass "rig"[1] is a tad limited so the recorded bass sounds ok but
slightly tame.
I could live with it but I was wondering if there is a simple bit of
processing [2] I could do to give it more bite?

Think say "Freya" by the Sword:

or - well any early sabbath

I'd upload the file so you could hear it but its on the music pc in the
other room and I forgot to copy it over <doh!!!>


[1] "rig" is probably too strong a word. Starter bass and starter practice
amp :-)

[2] EQ'ing was never my strong point - i'm kak at it to be honest, i tend
just to pump everything up to max LOL

cheers

[no66y©]

I just grabbed the file.....

http://no66y.designxp.co.uk/music/bassv1.mp3



I'm sure you can guess the tune....

[Steve Evans]

Post by no66y©
I just grabbed the file.....
http://no66y.designxp.co.uk/music/bassv1.mp3

Try a compressor, hardware or plugin, to tighten things up, plus a bit
of eq - boost lows and high mids, scoops mids a little. If you are
recording into vst capable software, you can't go wrong with the waves
5 plugin bundles :)
If you're struggling with a cheap amp, why not try the IK amp
modelling plugin instead.

Post by no66y©
I'm sure you can guess the tune....

-
steve <AT> steveevans <DOT> org
-

[no66y©]

"Steve Evans" wrote in message

Post by Steve Evans
Try a compressor, hardware or plugin, to tighten things up, plus a bit
of eq - boost lows and high mids, scoops mids a little. If you are
recording into vst capable software, you can't go wrong with the waves
5 plugin bundles :)

Thanks for the repley.
OK, I must confess at this point that I'm a total ludite when it comes to
VST
I dont know where to get them, what do do with them, where to put them, how
to use them etc.....
No idea what a waves 5 plugin bundle is either :-(

I fumbled my way though getting one or two which I have somehow managed to
import (is that the right term?)
into audacity but none of them seem to be what I'm after. I'm sure there
must be better ways.
I saw a site that mentioned krystal - that any good?

Post by Steve Evans
If you're struggling with a cheap amp, why not try the IK amp
modelling plugin instead.

I did do that but I'm playing along to a backing track so if I hit record,
it records the bass but also the backing track.
I guess I could drop the backing track to an mp3 player then play along?

Aghhh, I'm such a n00B

[Manalishi]

Post by no66y©
Aghhh, I'm such a n00B

awww bless :-) at least you know what he's talking about

[no66y©]

"Manalishi" wrote in message

Post by Manalishi
at least you know what he's talking about

I know what VST's are - kind of.
No idea what to do with em though :-)

All I know is - the cake is a lie!

[Steve Evans]

Post by no66y©
"Manalishi" wrote in message

Post by Manalishi
at least you know what he's talking about

I know what VST's are - kind of.
No idea what to do with em though :-)
All I know is - the cake is a lie!

Portal?


-
steve <AT> steveevans <DOT> org
-

[no66y©]

"Steve Evans" wrote in message

Post by Steve Evans
Portal?

yep

[Steve Evans]

Post by no66y©
"Steve Evans" wrote in message

Post by Steve Evans
Try a compressor, hardware or plugin, to tighten things up, plus a bit
of eq - boost lows and high mids, scoops mids a little. If you are
recording into vst capable software, you can't go wrong with the waves
5 plugin bundles :)

Thanks for the repley.
OK, I must confess at this point that I'm a total ludite when it comes to
VST
I dont know where to get them, what do do with them, where to put them, how
to use them etc.....
No idea what a waves 5 plugin bundle is either :-(
I fumbled my way though getting one or two which I have somehow managed to
import (is that the right term?)
into audacity but none of them seem to be what I'm after. I'm sure there
must be better ways.
I saw a site that mentioned krystal - that any good?

Post by Steve Evans
If you're struggling with a cheap amp, why not try the IK amp
modelling plugin instead.

I did do that but I'm playing along to a backing track so if I hit record,
it records the bass but also the backing track.
I guess I could drop the backing track to an mp3 player then play along?
Aghhh, I'm such a n00B

Fair-e-nuff, I think I may have jumped the gun a bit there, seeing as
I don't know your recording setup! :)
Audacity may have some built in fx like compression and eq which you
can use to the same effect.
Audacity is fine for basic stereo recording, but spend some time
getting to grips with the likes of cubase or nuendo, and you will find
it opens a whole new world of possibilities. You can have one stereo
track with the backing on, and another with your live overdub, etc.
The aforementioned also have built in fx that can be used in real
time, so things like compression and eq can be added and changed on
the fly.


-
steve <AT> steveevans <DOT> org
-

[no66y©]

"Steve Evans" wrote in message

Post by Steve Evans
Audacity may have some built in fx like compression and eq which you
can use to the same effect.

I tried the audacity vst bridge, loaded up a vst and it crashed my pc solid
:-(
Dont think that worked so well!

Post by Steve Evans
Audacity is fine for basic stereo recording, but spend some time
getting to grips with the likes of cubase or nuendo, and you will find
it opens a whole new world of possibilities.

I had a little play with nuendo last night. Imported the bass track in
question and applied a vst thing (da tube )
I only had a quick listen as it was on this pc which has cheap nasty desktop
speakers but it was definitely an improvement. I will have another try later
on the other pc. that way I will be able to tell better what it sounds like.

Any good vst's worth having?

I've always used audacity because its dead easy to use, but maybe I'm
getting to the stage where I need more functionality?

[Steve Evans]

Post by no66y©
"Steve Evans" wrote in message

Post by Steve Evans
Audacity may have some built in fx like compression and eq which you
can use to the same effect.

I tried the audacity vst bridge, loaded up a vst and it crashed my pc solid
:-(
Dont think that worked so well!

Post by Steve Evans
Audacity is fine for basic stereo recording, but spend some time
getting to grips with the likes of cubase or nuendo, and you will find
it opens a whole new world of possibilities.

I had a little play with nuendo last night. Imported the bass track in
question and applied a vst thing (da tube )
I only had a quick listen as it was on this pc which has cheap nasty desktop
speakers but it was definitely an improvement. I will have another try later
on the other pc. that way I will be able to tell better what it sounds like.
Any good vst's worth having?
I've always used audacity because its dead easy to use, but maybe I'm
getting to the stage where I need more functionality?

With nuendo you can import your backing into a stereo track, then
create another to record live bass onto, then another to add something
else. etc....it's called multitracking ;)
If you just want to jam to backing, the aforementioned bass track can
be set to 'input' instead of record.
A big problem with using standard pc soundcards is latency, or delay
between what you play and what you hear. There is a 3rd party audio
driver called asio4all that does a very good job of reducing latency
with crappy soundcards. You can also buy usb audio devices such as the
maudio jamlab which comes with excellent, low latency drivers.
In Nuendo the audio driver settings can be found in: Devices/Device
setup/VST audiobay.
As I mentioned before, nuendo comes with it's own plugins for basic
stuff lke EQ, compression, delay and reverb, so you don't need worry
about extra vst plugins for now. There are, however, thousands of
vst's out there, both commercial and homebrew, capable of doing
everything from realistic drums to FX to re-creating hardware keyboard
sounds.
Don't forget that guitar rig and amplitube will also install the vst
versions, so you will have access to them from within nuendo.

good luck!


-
steve <AT> steveevans <DOT> org
-

[no66y©]

"Steve Evans" wrote in message

Post by Steve Evans
With nuendo you can import your backing into a stereo track, then
create another to record live bass onto, then another to add something
else. etc....it's called multitracking ;)
If you just want to jam to backing, the aforementioned bass track can
be set to 'input' instead of record.

Yep, audacity can do that.
The problem is, if I use amplitube:
1) the backing track plays through the pc's sound system
2) the lead also plays through the pc's sound system


So, if I click record, you get one track made up of the backing and the lead
rather than tw tracks (one lead and one backing)

I can twiddle with setting to get one backing and one guitar but it records
the guitar "raw" i.e. before it gets processed by amplitube.

Post by Steve Evans
A big problem with using standard pc soundcards is latency, or delay
between what you play and what you hear. There is a 3rd party audio
driver called asio4all that does a very good job of reducing latency
with crappy soundcards. You can also buy usb audio devices such as the
maudio jamlab which comes with excellent, low latency drivers.
In Nuendo the audio driver settings can be found in: Devices/Device
setup/VST audiobay.

I have an audiophile card so latency isnt too bad - though amplitube draws
quite a bit of system resources, especially with some models. that can cause
probles - I just avoid those models :-)

Post by Steve Evans
As I mentioned before, nuendo comes with it's own plugins for basic
stuff lke EQ, compression, delay and reverb, so you don't need worry
about extra vst plugins for now. There are, however, thousands of
vst's out there, both commercial and homebrew, capable of doing
everything from realistic drums to FX to re-creating hardware keyboard
sounds.

Ran the bass line through nuendo, applied the "da tube" vst and it did the
job, just added that extra bite I was after :-)
Many thanks for suggesting it - worked a treat.

Post by Steve Evans
Don't forget that guitar rig and amplitube will also install the vst
versions, so you will have access to them from within nuendo.

I didnt actually think of that! I meant to try it before but ran out of
time/got interrupted and had to go out before I had a chance.
I'll try that hopefully tomorrow evening - that could prove very very useful
:-)

Many thanks.

cheerz