ben604

Hey Jay, I'm from just over the water, we play around Liverpool fairly regularly. If you wanted to pop down to one of our gigs, I could show you how we set up while we're loading in. I think we get a pretty decent FOH sound, so our on stage volume is very controlled and tailored to our tastes. Obviously, you can judge for yourself what we sound like! I'll let you know when we're playing locally if you're interested?

[quote name='acidbass' post='1233656' date='May 16 2011, 09:25 PM']There are a few websites on the net where you can download backing tracks for songs, on which you can select which instruments you want in and out of the track (like a tick box exercise). I play as part of a 3 piece band (drums, guitar/vox, bass/vox) and we are considering going down the backing track route for songs such as Rosanna. I have yet to look into pricing however![/quote] I think you might be thinking what I'm thinking... [url="http://www.songgalaxy.com/"]http://www.songgalaxy.com/[/url] They do multi-track downloads which you can use with their software or with Logic. I'm going to buy Bohemian Rhapsody tonight and prep it for practice on Friday evening...I'll let you know how we get on.

[quote name='Dave Vader' post='1232942' date='May 16 2011, 12:39 PM']Ah, see your point sir. Can anyone stepwrite the parts into a midi sequencing software type thingy? Or do it with a midi guitar?[/quote] Yeah, I figured that might be our only option. I was just seeing how others went about it. To be fair, I work in a school, so I might be able to convince our music teacher to lay down a basic track into Logic then have a fiddle with it at home to get it how we want it. I guess I wanted a quick and painless solution! Cheers guys.

That's a fair point, but none of us can play a piano!

We've been gigging about 8 months now, it's all going lovely but we want to expand out musical pallet, as it were. So we want to start playing with some backing tracks for songs with a bit of piano/strings etc Can you download backing tracks with everything apart from the usual drums, bass, guitars and vocals? OR Could/would we download MIDI tracks and run them through my MACBOOK Pro with Logic9 as the sounds are pretty decent? What's the general consensus? I want us to attempt Bohemian Rhapsody haha!

We play The Chain - Fleetwood Mac, nice harmonies to catch the audience's attention which turns into an up tempo rock song toward the end, seems to work.

We've just bought an Active Mackie PA and we're very happy with it. 2 x SA1521 Tops and a single SWA1501 sub. It handles 3 vocals, kick, bass (exclusively, I don't run any backline) and it's got bags of headroom. We play medium sized bars/pubs. Solid lows and clear, concise highs, there's nothing lacking. I'd assume the passive versions of these cabs would perform equally as well. Cost us £550 for the tops and £250 for the sub, used.

Just back from playing a local bar of about 50 people. While the owner likes the mix of classic and alt rock we do, the crowd were less impressed...I've got to admit, I'm a bit demoralized by it all, it seems that we're struggling to find the venues/audience that would appreciate the current setlist we have. Back to that old Mustang Sally debate, I guess... Anyway, we got paid and my foray into being exclusively DI'd into the PA is working out just fine and dandy. Back to the setlist drawing board...

That's something we'll look into. They've been serviced yearly up until we bought them, so they should be in good nick. Another service should hopefully reveal the problem. It was our 3rd gig in 24 hours with them so I can't decide if it happened when I turned it on at that gig or when I turned it off at the 2nd!

Thanks for the replys, guys. We ended up using just one PA cab...sounded a bit one sided, but luckily they've got a bit of grunt. Now, to buy 34 spares for the next time...

One of our active cabs has blown a t4a fuse of which we don't have a spare handy. Can we use any other for the evening safely? Thanks Ben.

[quote name='Tait' post='1208100' date='Apr 22 2011, 11:18 AM']I may be wrong, but I don't think many people listen to every song on youtube. I think most people that use Youtube will be in a similar position to me. I listen to most of my stuff of iTunes, all music I've paid for. I could then create an identical playlist on Spotify, but that'd mean there being adverts every few songs. Now, although Spotify is free, I hate the adverts, so I'd either have to spend £5 a month on Spotify, or just buy all my music. I don't spend £5 a month on music, so buying my music is cheaper. For the odd occasion that I need to listen to a song I don't own, I'll Youtube it. There's no reason not to Spotify it, I just generally go to Youtube first.[/quote] That's a fair point. I guess I'm lucky enough to be able to listen to music all day in work, so the playlists are vital.

[quote name='grahamd' post='1207656' date='Apr 21 2011, 10:49 PM']I pay the tenner already. Not only do you get most of the history of popular music on tap and the community of sharing playlists and discovering new music, be it on a mobile or at home, you can set chosen music to 'offline', so it's always there, no need to stream. An instant IPod, albeit with a tiny tariff, one that at least makes a minor contribution to the artists. No brainer[/quote] I pay too. I must use it for 8 hours a day during work, my cycle to and from work and listening at home. Absolutely vital to my sanity! The idea of browsing Youtube every 3 minutes for the next song seems ridiculous.

I'm what you would describe as Anti-Apple, but we use Logic9 in school and I've got it at home on a MacBook Pro from school and it's hard to look past it. Stable, intuitive and easy to use. I used Cubase in the past and spent more time fixing than creating. If you've got the dough, get a MacBook Pro...

must be heavier than a Neutron Star.

[quote name='Ancient Mariner' post='1206458' date='Apr 20 2011, 09:39 PM']The old stuff came in a lot of varieties - can you be more specific?[/quote] That's a fair point! I'm looking for PC3200 NonECC, Unbuffered to be exact.