If you’ve ever recorded bass guitar direct and it just sounds thin and lifeless, you’re not alone.
In general, bass guitars sound better when played through a large amp. More bottom end, more top end bite, more energy! But of course, many of us are recording our bass guitars direct into our audio interfaces since that’s our only option.
And that’s OK! There’s a few things we can do to fix the issue.
When it comes to mixing a lifeless bass guitar there are three simple mix steps I like to take to give the bass depth, fatness, and presence.
The “before” and “after” is huge on this one. Check it out!
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My name is Graham Cochrane and I'm the founder of The Recording Revolution, one of the world's most loved audio recording and mixing blogs with over 200,000 readers each month. 
Love this! Especially since running bass direct thru my interface is my only recording option at the moment (small apartment, neighbors all around me.) And I love the song! Who is it and where can I get it?!!
Hey Billy! This is my song Slipping Through My Hands! Thanks for the kind words bud! You can download the track here: https://rickyreillymusic.bandcamp.com/track/slipping-through-my-hands
Check out the others, you might like them too!
Hey Ricky,
Love your stuff mate!
(I just bought ‘Little Leprechaun’ Wow man! made me cry….
beautiful.
Thank you so much Graham! I’m really glad you enjoyed it and I am very grateful that you downloaded it! If you want to keep up to date with all my new songs and videos you should go to Facebook.com/rickyreillymusic and like the page 🙂 new songs and videos every week!
Like that a lot. Great mix – each instrument is clear. This is where I hope to get to. Thanks
Hi Graham
Extraordinary timing. I’m recording DI bass tomorrow. Thanks!
Just what I need, being a bassplayer. Wonderful; Thanks for the video.
I now read your guide “6 Steps to a radio-ready song”.
I like it except Edition Move #2 – Tune your vocals. I find it almost shocking that you encourage people to use vocal pitch correction instead of improving their singing ability!
Auto Tune doesn’t have to make a voice sound like Cher. It can be used to nudge a vocal that’s just slightly off and tune it without creating the digital affectation that has become so cliche in today’s music. I sometimes set it to automatic then set the tuning speed to around 120 and the humanization to around 60 and it works to make the vocal sound real yet still in tune.
I agree, but sometimes we don’t have the luxury of time or availability of the vocalist to redo or add takes.
Shouldn’t be shocking. Singing in the studio (with headphones) is much harder than singing in “real life”. Even the best singers in the world need a touch up here and there in the studio due to an imperfect monitor mix.
Thanks Graham it´s awesome!
Thanks Graham!
I tried this on a DI bass track and it sounds much better! Thanks for the new download and for all the great information you have provided for us!
Great tips Graham! I’m a big proponent of Sans Amp – used it on vocals and electric guitars too.
Thanks for the great tips Graham, your time and effort is greatly appreciated!!! Mike Dillon 54W
I also use reverb on DI bass, a subtle room reverb, to emulate recording in an actual live space. If set up right, it warms the bass up considerably, makes it rounder and more three-dimensional. Also, a little chorus, as a send effect, to add some convolution (three-dimensionality) to a flat bass, works great, and also works extremely well on drum samples, to make them come alive. This, again, simulates the response of an actual room, without adding too much space – just some `wooden` warmth. Of course, if you use convolution reverb, you can replace the chorus with that, but it’s also a question of how much space you want to add. Then I add saturation, too make the bass sound fat-bellied (I don’t know why my amp simulators add a lot of low mids – maybe too make the bass seem fuller and more `analog`, but too much of that makes it seem lifeless and flat) – it slims the sound a little bit. And tape emulation on everything – these add some harmonics and some saturation. But reverb and modulation are key. And I start every effect chain with a little tube distorsion to add that sparkly string attack that, for some reason, all amp sims I’ve tried (about four in number) miss. It brings so much liveliness to it.
Thanks for the tips, Graham, and take care (of yourself and of us 🙂 )!
*LESS fat-bellied 🙂
I know you’re big on simplicity and doing things cheaply, but I bought a hardware dbx160 recently that has made mixing bass so much easier.
It can sit in the mix right where I want it now without getting squashed as easily. Pretty good choice for a first hardware compressor.
Finally – finally – you’ve pointed me in the right direction to making that bass sound tuneful and not just thumping. I don’t DI, but have been constantly trying to figure out how “they” managed to get that sound, that kind-a warmth that fills out the background – thought it was amp settings or strings or mic placement or pretty much anything else – I get the EQ stuff, but adding a touch of distortion and harmonics, damn I hadn’t considered that – thank you for this vid
Having two musicians in my studio today to record vocals and.. bass..yes. I did forget about the distortion. Thanks Graham and have a wonderfull day and weekend!
Right when I’m needing this…. It comes!
Love this Graham. Good video. I’ve just switched to Maxx Bass from RBass and I tend to prefer it. However, I do use these principles but with a duplicated track for the distortion…
Thanks Bud! ♫♪♫
Great, impressive and lovely technique
Thanks Graham,
Another straight to it – no BS – vid with great tips.
Thanks
P
Why not just add some compression to the original track and EQ to taste? Or run the bass thru a submixer first?
Or re-amp it?
Very nice!
Another very useful videos as usual Graham.
I’m very exciting to have your blog’s new look.
Clean, simple, and very catchy!
“Changes really makes everything better”
Great video! Song sounds much better after the bass is fixed. The cut at 400Hz made the biggest difference to the sound on my laptop. I try to get the bass and guitars to support each other, So it’s important to get the bass out the guitars way (and guitars out of the basses way).
Also, I like the sans amp. I wonder if you could get the distortion from overloading one of the gain stages in the SSL channel strip?
This was a great tip for DI bass recordings which is what I have mostly. Thanks Graham!!!
Nice Graham – good stuff.
I’ve never used r-bass or max bass before. Does it sound to anyone else like the added low end from the r bass is almost like a different instrument? Or is it just my ears/iPod headphones?
This bass is pretty thin, and while the artificial low end is a clear improvement, to me it sounds kind of like two separate instruments: a plucky bass with a lot of pick attack and a low mumbly synth or something underneath it.