Recording: '...Privilege...' bass and rhythm guitars

After an exciting new thing in recording drums last week, this week, we have an exciting new thing in recording bass and rhythm guitars. We left the apartment, and visited the D’Angelico Guitars’ showroom.

And, you know what a guitar company’s showroom means? A roomful of guitars! Squee!

What Kind Of Privilege Is This? bass and rhythm guitars: rig run down

So, as you can see, from the rig run down, there are some things I haven’t used before.

Firstly, the BandLab Link Analog audio interface. When I realized I actually needed a jack plug input on my audio interface, I found one on Reverb for $30. Although it’s a great piece of kit, and does have a handy combined XLR/jack plug input, it doesn’t have phantom power. So I can’t use my mic with it.

So I’m currently using two audio interfaces: the Link Analog for bass, and the iRig Pre for everything else. Having two audio interfaces does not align with keeping things compact, so they’ll both be replaced with a different unit that does both.

Secondly, lookit all them instruments from D’Angelico! As I have noted, I was lucky enough to visit their showroom, hidden away in the heart of New York City. Essentially, I rocked up with my little rig, and crammed as much as I could into my recording.

Recording: bass

Step one – set up

Firstly, recording bass followed mostly the usual guide, with the following specifics:

Additionally, it should be noted that as I DI bass, there was no need for a microphone.

Step two – admin

Because I had never been to D’Angelico’s showroom before, I had no idea what the situation would be regarding WiFi, so I went for safety: I opted to use the Audio Evolution DAW app, rather than BandLab – Audio Evolution works offline.

So, before I left the apartment at all, I exported Steve’s drums and imported them into Audio Evolution, and I was all set to go.

Step three – recording bass

Next, I got a level, I pressed record. I played bass… it was grand.

Recording: rhythm guitars

Ordinarily, I split guitar sessions into acoustic and electric. However, in this session, I’m trying to cram in as much as possible; time is limited; I haven’t figured out a solo, D’Angelico don’t have anything that screamed at me for the Strat-like tones that I usually use for lead guitars… so, I opted to stick to strumming.

Therefore, rhythm guitars.

The only difference between recording either was where I pointed the microphone.

Step one – set up

Now, I switched the BandLab audio interface for the iRig Pre, my XLR cable, and my microphone.

Step two – recording rhythm guitars

In this case, I was able to skip the usual admin step. Because I was tracking everything offline, I didn’t have to worry about lag in BandLab, so I was able to get everything I needed tracked into Audio Evolution.

Therefore, I was able to just keep working in the project I created when I was starting recording bass.

Can you remind me to make a video of this next time, please? I think that’d be more useful for you. Thanks!

What Kind Of Privilege Is This? bass and rhythm guitars: conclusion

In conclusion, it was a fun adventure to D’Angelico Guitars’s showroom. I hadn’t played any of their instruments before, and a couple of them really stood out.

Of course, this post was focused on how I recorded bass and rhythm guitars for my song – there’ll be another one focusing on the instruments I played in a minute.

To conclude, here’s how it currently sounds.

In next week’s post about recording, I’ll be back in the apartment with my Strat, tracking some lead guitar.

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