Production masterclass with Ashley Thorpe
Getting a great bass tone
In this tutorial you’ll learn how to get a great sound for your bass, straight from your audio interface
#6
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Download the accompanying video and the MIDI/audio files at filesilo.co.uk/computermusic
In a previous tutorial I talked about some of the benefits of recording a clean bassline through an audio interface. It certainly cuts down on the amount of equipment that you’ll need to record from home. And now, music production technology is easily at a level where listeners would never even be able to tell whether you’ve recorded with a bunch of effects pedals and an amp in a studio, or you’ve just emulated the effects using plugins – which is what we’re going to focus on in this month’s tutorial.
If you’re anything like me, you’ll have a home studio setup with several different instruments at the ready. I’ve scaled down on certain things over time as I’m not playing live for the foreseeable, so amplifiers were the first to go – allowing me to make space. I can still put in a recorded performance, just as I would as a studio guest, but I’m in total control of shaping the clean recording thanks to everything that amp emulation now has to offer. Want some flange or fuzz on that bass? Go ahead. Need it to growl? No problem at all.