I am laying down some bass tracks now and trying to find a good sound, but it seems I have to get a brighter sound (I know how to get it, I am not asking) or else I can't hear anything in the mix, the bass drum just eats it up.

I like bassier sounds, but it seems it doesn't work well for metal, better for jazz, ambient or dub.

Do you guys prefer brighter, punchier bass sounds for metal?

Yes, clanky to a degree. I like hearing the strings slapping against the fretboard. If you utilize it as totally just lower register holder it's just going to be totally at up with everything else that eats the lows, kicks, floor toms, guitars to a degree.

You can try using a pick, works for me. You get a tighter sound by palm muting slightly also. Great basssist to idolize in this respect is David Ellefson, Megadeth. Since the band's music is very guitar driven, a tighter attack for the bass suits it much more, rather than the clunky, Iron Maiden style basslines.

Yes. Picking. And turn down the low mids, maybe?

Try adding some more mids, and if that fails, try a compressor pedal.

If you're doing the mixing, you should cut and boost different low frequencies on bass guitars and kicks. Taking out the really low frequencies on guitars and drums should make the instrument more audible in the mix. Unfortunately, not a lot of people seem to do this properly on a lot of records these days.


On my basses, I like a heavy, metallic sound, I try to use steel strings when I can get them, mostly use my neck pickup or neck/bridge mix, keep the bass half way, cut the low mids a bit, boost the high mids almost to almost max, and boost the highs a wee bit. Add a bit of compression to gel the low and high end together better, and mix my clean sound with some heavy overdrive on my ME-50b.

Those are good points about the guitar, I cut some of the low end on it last night, even before reading the last post. I tend to use a really bassy guitar tone, even though it's normal tuning it gets in the way of the bass.

It seems the bass I was using when I had posted originally works really weird electronically. I have no idea what I did when I wired it originally, but it certainly doesn't seem to work as intended.

I switched basses, I just turned the tone all the way up. I always use a pick anyway.

I'm experimenting with direct now. I tried a couple of mics and they were kind of weird, and my SM57 is clearly broken.

I'm actually using a cassette 4-track. I tried recording really hot, but it seems better if I record normal level without being constantly max, and then turning up.

For starters, run me through your rig.

What kind of bass?
What amp?
What speakers?
What kind of strings?
What tuning?
EQ?
How are you micing it?


If you do not have a amp sim, then don't DI the bass. You can achieve a usable sound on a cassette 4-track with it, but micing it properly is infinitely better.

Also, can you cite an example of the bass tone you are going for? Would be greatly helpful in finding how to resolve your issue.

try using a maximizer.