mrtcat

For me I find a really small mixer (mine's 4 channel) and some decent monitors plus headphones invaluable. That way I don't need to set gig rig up to practice and have the option to use the headphones if it's late. Failing that a small amp dedicated purely for practice and a sound system that will run your iPod / laptop / cd's / vinyl / tapes etc. Most important thing for me is to have it ready so I don't need to set it all up / pack it all away before or after gigs. I find that way I remove excuses not to practice. Beyond that decor etc is all personal taste.

We've got 4 of these. [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/stairville_led_bar_252_rgb.htm"]http://www.thomann.de/gb/stairville_led_bar_252_rgb.htm[/url] Super cheap, can all be linked to run in sync. I built a simple case for each one where we just put them where we want them, take the lid off and plug them in. They're very bright and work brilliantly with a smoke machine.

Fun covers band playing our first gig with our new drummer. He's a bit special as he's the first pro we've had in the band. He has sessioned loads and is Spinal Tap's drum tech. He's also a really nice guy. We do loads of rock covers and our singer can actually sing. The pub also does loads of cheap drink deals (get em b4 the government bans them). Oh yeah full Bill Fitzmaurice pa system will be out to play too.

I built all our speaker cabs so I defo own them. I also bought the amps, rack gear, mixer, cables, lights and smoke machine. Drummer owns drum mics and his vocal mic, singer owns his mic and guitarist brings vocal mic and amp cab mic. I dont charge the band for it as they're all really grateful and all help lifting it in/out of venues and all put cash in if something gets danaged and needs replacing. Main thing is they all say thanks. It does however give me leverage. We had a drummer who started complaining we weren't getting enough cash. I do most of the booking leg work so when he started stropping with me the rest stood firmly behind me and eventually he got turfed out. I'd like to think its cos I'm popular but I'm realistic enough to know the truth.

1stly massive congrats - magic times. Can you have a word with my dad? That's a cool idea. Gotta be something unique to 2013 - some kinda ltd run us jazz / p bass / stingray if one pops up next yr.

If he wants to play every song in the same key as the next one surely they'll all be in E

Feel your pain. It's really hard to find people round here. We're a gigging band and we do weddings, functions etc. We get well paid and we have a calendar full of really good gigs, we have pro standard PA lights and transport and we have a lot of fun. When our drummer was forced to leave in the summer we thought we'd find a replacement pretty quick. We put ads out on pretty much every muso site and after three weeks we'd had 5 responses. One guy didn't own a kit, another had only been playing 3 months and the remaining three were all unable to keep time and were just plain painful to listen to / play with. Eventually we paid a dep for a few gigs and we got really really lucky as he asked if he could join us full time despite him saying initially that he only wanted a couple of gigs to fill some gaps in his calendar. Keep going. You never know where you'll find these people. Sometimes they're sold on personality before they are convinced by the concept of the project.

You need to sort the attitudes of guitarist and keyboard players. Having just read your post from last night I now gather this is moot but it'll stand you in good stead when recruiting for your new project (wise decision btw as you can't educate pork - unlikely they would ever have displayed the right pro attitude for function work). If anyone auditions and is not prepared to agree to "leaving the vol knob alone after soundcheck", they don't get the gig. End of. Once you have your lineup, start here. [quote name='51m0n' timestamp='1351987553' post='1857689'] Second do tune the pa up with a mixture of good reference material and pink noise to get a pretty even response, not too hyped. Watch for harsh top end an eq it out, or mushy bass, bin anything nasty. [/quote] You have three types of eq at your disposal. 1. The PA eq which affects the overall PA sound (usually a rack mount piece of kit - forget 15 band stuff you need at least 30 band) 2. The eq on the mixing desk for each channel 3. The eq on instruments and amps When folk aquire pa gear and put it all together they assume that setting all eq knobs and sliders to "0" they have it running flat. Not so. In order to run a pa flat it needs to be eq'd flat. By flat I mean even levels of all frequencies. The speakers you use and crossover points will affect this. This can be achieved by ear if you are a god of live sound. The rest of us mere mortals rely on RTA (real time analysis) kit. Personally I use a Behringer DEQ2496 which has been by far the most valuable addition to my rack. It's a great EQ and has RTA analysis built in. You use a special RTA mic (£30 ish) which plugs into the DEQ. The DEQ then plays pink noise through the system, listens to it and automatically makes eq adjustments until all is level. It's surprising how much eq it sometimes takes to get a system running flat. In an ideal world you'd have time and silence to run RTA at every venue in order to get it flat in that particular room. Forget it - it'll never happen. Your best bet is to find a nice big outdoor open space, wait for a still dry day, set up the PA and run the RTA. Store the resulting setting as this will give you a fair start point at every gig. You should then be able to tweak out room issues from there. Now you're running flat. Soundcheck should become something of a routine at gigs. There's some great advice above my post so go from there. My advice is to get people used to eqing their sound at rehearsal so that there's no clash. When you have guitars, keys, bass and drums together it can easily get muddy. Guitars will need to be in a region where they occupy the higher frequency zone, keys in the middle, bass below and kick drum below the lot. High pass filters should be engaged on all but bass and kick drum. I start at a gig in this order: 1. Vocals 2. Kick drum 3. Rest of kit 4. Bass 5. Keys 6. Guitars My band mates are all sh1t scared of adjusting their vol after soundcheck as they know they'll get short shrift. Hope this helps. If you want to get uber geeky go here: [url="http://billfitzmaurice.info/forum/viewforum.php?f=4&sid=7cf1a4124c08a945a3ee13e3a432c2b3"]http://billfitzmaurice.info/forum/viewforum.php?f=4&sid=7cf1a4124c08a945a3ee13e3a432c2b3[/url] Good luck with the new project. Seems like you care enough about sound and professionalism which is where amateur bands usually fail.

I've been gigging a classic 450 for two years now. A quick count shows that I've done 177 gigs with it so far. I run it through a Bergantino AE212 and play either a Fender USA 75 reissue jazz or a Yamaha BBG5. I've never owned an amp for two years before. I used to suffer GAS badly but although I have had a wandering eye at times I just can't get past the fact that it looks, sounds and performs beautifully. Totally agree with previous posts about having too much low end. Low mids are where it's at and I'd rather let the PA worry about the mega low stuff.

They do some crap and some excellent stuff. PA wise the dcx2496 and deq2496 are two items id have in the rack any day. I once owned a 2x10 bass cab and it was pants. My experience is that some batches can have recurring faults. I had to send two eqs back from a batch with the same fault. Third time i got lucky with one from another batch - no problems. Thomann is a good place to buy online tho.

my wife is awesome. i have plenty of basses, amps, cabs, pa kit etc and she rarely grumbles. the main problem is that i like buying run down instruments and doing refinishes so i regularly have dismantled axes which smell of fresh nitro stinking and cluttering up the house. she'd be happier if i spent more money and bought stuff in a1 condition.

Private halloween / birthday bash for a very attractive 30yr old with very attractive friends. About 200 people at an old manor house hired purely for it's halloween appeal. We've got a new drummer and this was his 2nd outing with us. He's a pure pro and I loveplaying with him cos he's so expressive and somehow whatever fills and accents we try, no matter how complicated, he just seems to create so much space for it to work. I've also been working overseas for some weeks so we've had almost a month off. Everyone really loved it and the birthday girl's parents added an extra £50 to our fee as everyone enjoyed us. Tip top night.

Lidl's Parkside power tools are made in a couple of the sites that are also subcontractors who build Bosch gear I'm told (don't quote me on that tho as I have no proof) and many of their power tools are good. I'm a cabinet maker and amongst all my makita kit is a Parkside air nailer and it's bloody brilliant. Bought it over a year ago as a temp stop gap replacement and it's been so reliable. Never jammed once and buries even long brads very well.

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1350988515' post='1845831'] I doubt we can know how much of an undersell it is..... going rates are all relative....bla bla.. But you should all have..or all SHOULD, sit down and discuss what you will go out for under certain parameters and conditions. I wouldn't blame the guy who goes out and gets the gigs so much..I blame the rest of the guys not setting understood and agreed guidelines. Some guys are very active and others not so,...for all sorts of reasons, but the guy getting gigs needs support not a bollocking. Accept that you didn't have a decent system in place..and therefore fulfil it/them thru gritted teeth..and then get an agreed price structure for future dates. We do this with a online calender..where everyone updates it and then I send out confirmation e-mails with price and any detail for a quick check by all. I expect them to come back to me within 24 hrs latest...and they do..if they have any probs as I am telling the venue/booker we will confirm within that time [/quote] This. In our early days I went out and found us gigs only to be blasted by other members who couldn't be arsed to go looking but wanted more cash. i know the op isnt issuing a bollocking or being unreasonable (quite the opposite as he's seeking some objective advice) but anyone actually booking stuff needs a pat on the back and he'd probably really benefit from having some guidelines. FWIW we do pubs for £200-£300, parties for £300-£500 (plus travel) and weddings for £600-£900. We're essentially a pop rock covers band (4pce) and although we're pretty entertaining we're realistic that we're not as slick as a big 6+pce function outfit and 60% of our gigs are pubs.

Ours cost about £40 and is made from a black cotton sheet with iron on printer paper from staples. I just printed the letters, cut them out and ironed them on. My wife tidied up the sheet edges by stitching a hem all round. The top hem is a big loop so we can either run a pole thu it, pin it up or gaff tape it to the wall behind. Since this pic was taken we splashed out another £5 to have our website address ironed on. Works a treat as now any pics taken of us in pubs don't havre dart boards, lamps, brass tack, specials menu etc in the background [attachment=121743:IMG_3523.JPG]

Anyone gigging near solihul tonight? The wife and I are visiting my folks there and they'll no doubt be tucked up early so we'll head out if anyone's playing.

[quote name='Sean' timestamp='1349731667' post='1829911'] Nitromors isn't even blemishing the finish! Heat gun tomorrow night. The neck is sanding off really easily though. [/quote] What's the finish? If its nitrocellulose or similar it'll rub off with the appropriate thinners.

Hi loki, do you fit leds for other people or do you only do your own basses? If you fit for others would you retrofit front dots and how much?I've got a yamaha neck I'm about to use for a build with 12 dots. Very interested in this.

You can't educate pork. Play boyzone and Val Doonican and you'll be bombarded with punters. Whatever you do don't play decent music.

Green Day and The Foo Fighters were hands down the best of the festival. There's definately a reason they're the biggest names there.

The lady is getting the "mate rate" by way of a free Dj. If your guitarist also wants to waive his gig fee that's his call but if he or she expects anyone else to drop their fee then their not being fair. We're playing my best mates wedding in a few weeks (I'm also best man) and I'm giving him the services of our band as a wedding gift. I have however offered to pay the rest of the band. Two have said they don't want my money but one does. I have absolutely no problem with this as its only fair and he's never asked me to play for free.

I firmly believe there's a right price for each gig. It all depends on the venue, the band and various other factors. To some venues on some days you will be worth £x and at another venue on another day you will be worth £y. The thing is the money / enjoyment you get has to make the effort worthwhile for you and your bandmates. So when the venue and band agree a price which works for both parties then that is the right price. This may be £200 or it may be £1000 but I guess what I'm saying is all gigs should be looked at individually. I always make people's financial expectations one of my first questions when auditioning musicians or joining bands. Money doesn't really bother me but I've been in a band where we rarely gigged as drummer wanted £100 before he'd pick up sticks. Likewise I wouldn't want to be playing week in week out for a tenner each. The thing that really annoys me tho is venues who expect every band to bring in tons of punters. Bands and venues both have a responsibility for promotion and if run well a venue will have regulars because the venue will be paying the right money to the right bands every week so people would know its worth visiting the venue.