Bass players are always preferably recorded direct.  That means plugging the bass into a box that smoothes out the signal and sending it straight to the mixer.  This drives me nuts.  I don’t mind wanting a direct signal to use but not using amps at all is ridiculous.  I pay for my gear just the same as a guitarist and for the most part chose that gear because it added something tonally that I liked.  So then why is it the case then when the band goes into the studio, I leave my rig at home?  

I think much of it has to do with convenience.  It is probably easier to record that way and even easier to tell a bass player to forget the amp.  I couldn’t imagine a recording engineer telling a guitarist they won’t be using their amp.  Their would be no end to the whining and complaining, and rightly so because a guitarist amp provides a lot of their tone.  But so does a bassist.  My Gallien-Krueger isn’t the nicest amp in the world and isn’t even close to my dream amp, but it still does some positive things for my sound.  It adds some growl in the mid-range that compliments my Precision bass really well.  I also am a fan of the sound my two Avatar cabs put out.  I would be fine with just brining the 2X10 and throwing a mic on it just to get some amp sound on the recording.

Which leads to the best compromise:  Do both.  Yes, it is that simple.  Record the bass direct AND place a mic on a bass cab.  You then can blend the two and add as much or as little amp sound to the “clean” signal.  I have recorded my bass this way in the past and it actually works really well.  The additional time will be worth it in the end and I can be proud of the sound that translates through the recording.

If anyone else has any thoughts on how their instrument is recorded, likes or dislikes I would love to hear them.

*Update:

Found an article via TalkBass on Sound on Sound that talks a little about what I am looking for.  Here is a snippet.

If you really want to go to town on the bass sound, try combining a miked amp with one of the DI techniques described earlier. Often you can get away with a smaller amp than if you rely on the amp sound alone, as the DI will provide all the bottom end you need. This combined approach is taken by many professionals. The relative phase of the miked and DI’d sound has a profound effect on the final result, so you may need to phase-reverse one of the sources to get the best result. Also, experiment with the EQ of the individual sources as well as their balance, as the EQ controls may not have the same effect as they do when the sources are heard in isolation. Similarly, changing the mic-to-speaker distance will also affect the phase of the combined sounds, so this can be useful in fine-tuning the result.

It has been a goal for the band to record in Nashville.  My brother-in-law went to school in Nashville for music business and is now getting himself established in the highly competitive world of recording in the most competitive city in the country.  This all means that we have the opportunity to go record for much less than it would normally cost us.  

Deciding to record, however, has been the easy part.  Now we are in the process of writing new songs and learning material so that we can record.  The problem is that just learning new songs isn’t enough.  We have enough songs that we could actually cut some and still have enough for an album.  This doesn’t mean they are cohesive or flow well together.  They don’t necessarily represent pieces of a puzzle that when put together makes sense.  I am not sure I even know how that is done.  

I don’t know if it is the pressure of recording in a city known as the “Recording Capital of the World,” or this being my first real experience recording, but I am really hung up on it.  I want this album to be good.  No, I want it to be great.  I want to be able to look back on it and be proud that we really did a solid job.  The real problem is that I am a bass player.  I am a bass player and the newest member to this band.  I feel like I overstep my bounds enough with some of the feedback and comments I make.  I have been in the band for a little more than six months, but I still want to be respectful.  

So right now I am trying to do everything I can within reason.  The first thing is taking charge of my own bass lines, refining them, crafting some runs, building some depth.  I have a lot of work to take care of, so I am just going to do what I can and hope that everyone else is doing the same.