Bassy recordings

[nadnerb]

Hey, for some reason I am prone to always getting much more bass in my live recordings than I want, and usually ending up turning it down up to 30dB on the equalizer when I edit the songs. I use a Sony RH10 recorder, a SP battery box and SP-CMC8 omni mics run through the line-in. My question is: does it make a difference in the final product whether you use the bass-roll off as you are recording or if you just turn down the bass with an EQ after the recording? Also, does anyone have any suggestions as to why the recordings are so bassy to begin with? Thanks!

[A440]

The difference between bass rolloff and EQ afterwards is an important one.

A good pair of mics, like the CMC-8, should pick up whatever sound is in the room.

If you use bass roll-off, you never record the bass. That whole part of the spectrum just isn't on the recording, or is on the recording at a very low level. So if your live band sounded good in the room, then you are deliberately having your mics ignore bass tones that would have made the recording sound better. You're getting a recording of lower fidelity, and you can't get those bass notes back.

Whereas if you just EQ afterward, you have a high-fidelity recording of a concert where the bass was turned up too loud, and you can simply lower it.

Bass roll-off was useful for people whose mics were overloading the mic preamp with too much bass, creating distortion that ruined the recording. If you're not getting distortion, then it seems to me that the best strategy is to capture all the sound in the room and tweak it later.

Why are you getting so much bass? A lot of potential answers: bad room acoustics, incompetent sound mix, bad mic placement. Do you have the mics someplace low, where the highs are getting muffled? Or is the sound you hear on the recording similar to the sound you remember at the gig? If the mics are near your ears, they should hear what your ears hear. Be objective about the sound in the room--was it too bassy? Sometimes at a live concert, the big, booming vibrations of too much bass registers as excitement. Also, move around in the room and see if you can find a sweeter spot for the acoustics. In a club, just a few feet can make a huge difference.

If the mics aren't picking up what you are hearing--objectively--then something is wrong with the mics. Try recording your stereo at home with the same mics. Accurate? Or bass-heavy? If they're not accurate, get in touch with Sound Professionals and see if they have suggestions.

Also, what headphones are you using? Are they bass-heavy?

[m15a]

a440: supposing that there is actually too much bass in the environment, wouldn't there be a benefit to cutting down on the bass before recording even if there isn't an overload problem? because you can then increase the level you're recording at and have higher quality. maybe a couple bits of resolution or something.

unfortunately, can't much help with the original question, though. but like a440 is suggesting, you can treat the problem just like troubleshooting a computer. look at each stage independently. (source, room, mics, recorder, headphones, ears . . . )