I’m currently working on a folky, ballad-style track, and the original plan was to record the bass through an amp at the studio. I ran out of time as I had to head straight to rehearsal, and it became clear that squeezing in a rushed amped take would compromise the performance. So I chose to prioritise playing the part properly and leave tone decisions for later, with the idea of reamping the bass once the performance was locked in.
I recorded the bass clean at home, straight into the Apollo input using my Sire Marcus Miller signature Jazz Bass. Being in a familiar, relaxed environment made it easier to focus on feel, timing and consistency, and it also gave me space to edit and tighten the performance before committing to a sound. Separating performance from tone like this isn’t a rule, but it’s a workflow I often find useful when time or pressure creeps in, especially when planning to reamp bass later.
Once the performance felt solid, I could come back to the studio and think more clearly about tone, with mixing and mastering in mind. I’m currently doing a placement at Serotonin Studio in Gilston, which gives me access to some great gear, so I reamped the bass DI through a Franklin reamp box into an Ampeg SVT-3 Pro and an Ampeg SVT-210AV cab. The idea of blending an SM57 and a Sennheiser MD421 was suggested by my friend Jake, who manages the studio, and it quickly felt like a good direction to explore for this bass reamp setup.
The MD421 brought in low-mid weight and warmth, while the SM57 added a bit of midrange focus and definition to help the bass sit more clearly in the track. Both mics went through Neve-style preamps (Stam 1073 MPA). I also took a clean direct out signal from the amp to give myself more options, blending it with the mic’d cab sound to keep control and flexibility during the reamping process as the track moves forward.
The track is still very much a work in progress, but this approach is already helping the bass sit more naturally with the acoustic elements. For folk-leaning songs like this, I find that reamping bass after capturing a strong performance can open up more musical and intentional options, rather than locking decisions in too early, as the project moves towards mixing and mastering.
Ciao,
Damiano
PS. I shared a short video from this bass reamp session on YouTube.