Recording - May 2017 - 32

This miking trick can emulate an in-demand
sound from an easily available alternative

Upright Bass...
Without An
Upright Bass!
BY PAUL
VNUK JR.

eaders of my reviews will know that I record a fair amount of
Americana, roots rock, bluegrass and celtic folk music in my
studio. This means lots of acoustic guitars, loose gritty electrics, kick drums, violins-excuse me, "fiddles"!-banjos, mandolins
and more.
One instrument in these genres that can be elusive is the
acoustic upright bass, sometimes called a double bass. In my
neck of the woods, it's hard to find someone who can actually
play one, and even rarer to find a double bass in recording
shape. However, I love the sound it adds to a recording, especially
the hollow-percussive slap of the strings.
Over the years, I have developed a method to fake this sound
without actually having the real deal. Like any good recipe this
method requires a few ingredients:
1. We start with an acoustic bass guitar: one of those bass
guitars that looks just like an acoustic guitar, but with a larger
body, longer scale, and of course bass strings. This method requires
one with a built-in pickup that you can run straight to a DI.
2. Next we need a mic with a very tight pattern: a hypercardioid mic, or at least a cardioid with great off-axis room
rejection. A l ternatively, you can use one of the many portable
stand-mounted mic isolators on the market for focus.
3. Next is a good-quality bass DI box or instrument input on
your mic preamp.
4. Finally, we'll need a good reverb with a realistic natural
room sound or ambience program. This can be hardware or
a plug-in.

Let's do it!
My friend Gerry Baccash is a session bassist who is on my
first-call list. He is well versed in various musical styles and he
can play an upright bass, but he doesn't own one. What he
does have is a Gretsch G5440LSB Electromatic Hollow Body
Bass. It is more of a hollow body f-holed jazz box turned bass
than a standard acoustic guitar with bass strings, and for my
purposes it works better. He also has it strung with nylon-coated
flatwound strings, another plus.
His string choice really helps to create this illusion; they yield
a nice thwack with zero metallic fret buzz or string squeaks.
Also, the f-holes keep the sound hollow and contained vs.
a round soundhole, which could make the sound boomier.
Note, however, that a round-hole acoustic bass guitar is still
32

RECORDING May 2017

preferable to just miking the strings on a standard electric
bass, as you do want to exploit the sound of a hollow-body
instrument. I would think a Höfner Violin bass would be a
workable option for this technique.

Mics and preamps
For miking, use the tightest-patterned mic in your collection.
You will set it up similar to typical acoustic guitar miking, but
your focus will be on fingers on the strings rather than looking
for the perfect tone. You want to get as close as is comfortable for
the player and you are looking to highlight slap, pluck, and
fingering noise... in other words, everything we are taught to
avoid when recording acoustic guitar!
It's not an exact science. Depending on the player and instrument,
you could mic by the bridge or the neck. I have had good
luck miking farther up the neck where the bassist aggressively
fingers the frets. Just remember: strings, not body, and the bass
player needs to play with fingers plucking, not picking!
One of my two favorite mics for this are the Soyuz SU-019,
reviewed in our April 2017 issue. It's a "lollipop" cardioid
FET condenser mic that is really clean and has a beautiful
tightness to its sound with a nice off-axis rejection. The second
is one of Audix's Micro line of mics. I reviewed the MI250B
over a decade ago, and I'm a big fan of this mic for tight up-close
string work on nylon-string classical guitar. It also works great
here, especially if you swap out its usual cardioid capsule and
use a hypercardioid.
While different sonically, both mics allow you to get very
close to the strings without being in the bass player's way.
Another good choice is the 3-Zigma CHI body, reviewed in
this issue, with its hypercardioid capsule, and as with any
close-in miking task, this technique marries well to the DPA
Microphones d:vote 4099 instrument mic.
Any good bass DI or instrument input will do. Some of
my favorites are: the direct input on a Chandler REDD.47
tube mic pre or TG-2, the Avalon V5 (reviewed December
2016), which is really useful for this thanks to its voicing
presets; and the Radial Engineering Bassbone, which my
bass-playing friend Gerry travels with as part of his session
tools. Remember, you are after a big, fat, rubber-band-like
bass tone, not an aggressive driven sound; this isn't the place
to mic a bass cabinet.

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