Step 1: Hook it up
I prefer to record direct in, for clarity and convenience of editing. The subtleties of a good bass amp are often lost in the mix (especially heavily compressed rock mixes). Chances are that if you're doing home recording, you don't have a great bass amp, microphone and recording room. So this article is geared towards direct recording. Something like a line6 Guitarport or Toneport is perfect for getting a clean direct signal, but if you're strapped for cash you can make do with just an adapter and your sound card's line in.
Step 2: Record
It's common sense that you will need to play as tightly as possible, hitting notes cleanly and not hitting multiple strings by accident. A lot of the time, a proffesional sound comes from putting extra effort into recording things tightly. If you make slight mistakes - re-record, trust me, it's worth the effort. Here's what my dry signal sounds like:
Step 3: Compression
When recording bass directly, compression is key. The bass should be smooth and consistent and not vary in volume too much. Bass amplifiers will compress the tone, so when recording direct we must too.
For my bass compression I'm using Adobe Audition's dynamics processing tool,
with an attack setting of 7 ms and a release of 50ms:
This is what it sounds like with compression:
Step 4: EQ
I usually take most of the treble out of the bass. I find that it is not clear
in the music, and generally sounds messy as it interferes with the guitars.
Here's my bass EQ setting:
This is how it sounds:
This is how it sounds mixed with the drums:
Step 6: Mixing the bass
As mentioned in the heavy guitar article, I usually turn down the low bass from the guitar to make room for the bass. It's better to be able to hear solid bass notes than low sub-harmonic rumble from the guitar. Here's how it sounds:
In a heavy rock context, I am of the belief that the bass should add power and a solid low-end to the mix, but not be loud enough to be heard clearly, or dominating the mix.