Bass Guitars

It’d be easy to include the bass guitar in the above section, but it usually fills a different role from other guitars. The bass is typically part of the foundation of a mix. Like the bass singer in an a capella group, the bass guitar is usually what every chord in the song builds from. It is the sustained note that balances out the kick drum’s attack.

Getting It

A bass guitar is very easy to get set up, as most of the time it’ll plug directly into a DI box and into the system. If you absolutely have to mic a bass cabinet, use the same techniques described above for micing a guitar amplifier, except use a kick drum mic instead of a general instrument mic.

In the Mix

The biggest temptation with a bass guitar is to turn up its bass; it’s in the name right? Resist this temptation. More often than not, turning up the bass of a bass guitar will make it sound sloppy. Instead, use the low midrange (~250Hz) to control how full you want the bass guitar to sound. Attack is generally in the high midrange (~2kHz).