Why does the tone degrade

hi there i posted this question in the C5 and earlier section but to no answers ,more people seem to hang out here so ill try my luck here,i recorded some live bass guitar the other day and when i played it back i noticed the tone had degraded,the brightness and presence seemed to dissapear ,i dont notice this with vsti s , 6 string guitar i get a slighter degrade it just seems to effect the bass guitar more noticabley .i was recording direct through a sansamp i didnt alter anything when playing back the recording ,i was recording at 32bit 44.1 khz i am using C4 ,soundcard is EMU 0404. thanks again .

OK, I’ll bite.

How are you monitoring the bass whilst recording? And then how are you monitoring it on playback?

The answer to your problem lies in the level, and possibly other factors which I can’t possibly guess. One thing you can be fairly sure of: if you are recording the bass cleanly, it will play back very nearly identical to the original signal.

(Disclaimer: I have no personal knowledge of your soundcard: it may be a complete pile of p** and that’s why the recording sounds different. My guess is that’s not it though.)

Assume you aren’t using any effects on playback, anywhere in the VST mixer?

What level are you monitoring at while recording?

If the level is quiet enough you will hear the acoustic noise of the bass and attack on the strings which will probably sound brighter than the signal being recorded.

thanks guys for replying ,i just tried it again and turned up the volume while recording ,and yep i feel a right bannana :blush: , it was the fact that i was hearing it acousticly as well, sorry for wasting your time but at least that`s sorted that out. thanks