I've got some rumbling or distortion

[357mag]

Okay I've got all the tracking done in my song. Although since I picked up a better sounding bass I may re-record the bass line. Anyway when I solo the present bass line I can hear a little bit of a rumbling/distortion sound when I hit a G note.

To be more specific, when I look at the waveform the first G note is smaller and narrower and it sounds fine. No rumbling or distortion. When I look at the waveform for the repeated G note that comes after it, the waveform is definitely larger. This is where I can hear the rumbling/distortion.

I have a compressor on the bass track with these current settings:

Threshold is -20.0 db
Attack is 4.17 ms
Ratio is 2:1
Release is 220 ms

This is my first song so using effects like compression is pretty new to me, but I suspect that maybe I need to adjust a compressor setting somewhere.

[357mag]

Okay I just re-recorded just a little bit of the bass line with my Fender Jazz bass. I didn't hear any of that rumble or distortion. The pickups in my Fender are Duncans.

I was using an Epiphone Thunderbird for the initial bass line. Those pickups suck. Very dark and bassy. No articulation at all. My Fender sounds much better.

Good pickups are so crucial to getting a good guitar sound.

[martygras]

I would recommend using a compressor on bass before it hits the daw. This optimizes the signal and prevents overs.