I really appreciate your insights into all of this, Mark. I have recorded the DB a few times and gotten really nice results with Garage Band, my Macbook and a Tascam USB 122 interface and a couple of cheap condenser mics. In most of the situations there were other acoustic instruments recorded ensemble on just two stereo channels, no isolation or separate tracks. We put the mics just kind of out there in the room to get general mixes of all the instruments and really didn't think to much about what we were doing in any technical way. And I guess we got lucky considering the possible pitfalls you are describing. We did do some multi-track stuff too, but didn't move the mics from where we had already set them. I think we just had all the levels looking good and just left it alone without really thinking about putting it right up close to the bass. Dumb luck completely.
I'm thinking that whenever I go to an acoustic jam session now, I'm going to claim a corner and then work my way out until it sounds loud and balanced. Imagine, all this time I thought I had a great sounding bass and instead I just have a great sounding house.
