Trying to get a very specific kind of bass tone

[mbarbara]

So, I've been working on putting together some bass tones for a big recording project. I've got a distorted tone I really like (a kind of TesseracT/Periphery distorted upper mids sort of thing), but I can't seem to nail the kind of clean tone I'm going for. I want something very crisp/glassy sounding, basically something like this with reverb optional. Everything I've tried has sounded really thin and lifeless or kind of "honky."

 

Anyone got any pointers?

[Lachdanan0121]

Try splitting frequencies. 

 

Keep a more dry tone for your lower end, and amp/drive your mids/higher end. 

This is a much used bass guitar trick by many of a mixing/recording engineer.

[mbarbara]

3 hours ago, Lachdanan0121 said:

Try splitting frequencies. 

 

Keep a more dry tone for your lower end, and amp/drive your mids/higher end. 

This is a much used bass guitar trick by many of a mixing/recording engineer.

Sounds a bit better, but it's not quite there. Are there any compression/eq tricks that'll help?

[Lachdanan0121]

Try using the multi band compressor. This way you can glue your dry low, and your dirty mid/high together, but have more control in doing so. 

I think it is called 3 band compressor in Helix.

 

You can also try adjusting where the frequency split takes place. 

 

You want your bass to have a little bit of low end roll off.  You do not want your bass competing with your kick drum.  In a mix if they are competing you can lose definition, and volume in both the kick, and bass. (frequency masking) Making you have to raise volume, which then mucks things up.