Dad3353

My present thinking is to firstly buy (and pay for...) the bass, and get it down from its present location to a brother's house in Shepperton, where it could reside for quite a while. Then, if there are no intrepid BCer's up to it, either wait for said brother to pop across on a visit, or bite the bullet and take the trip myself (not likely this year, but could be done, sooner or later...). I think I'll get started on the first move, and at least take it off the Sellers hands, leaving the problem of getting it into my hands in my own hands. I sense a string of PM's coming... In my (admittedly rather rare, these days...)trips back to France, I've never even been stopped, through customs, either with my (French-registered...) cars, or as a foot passenger. I brought back my Verithin Bass on foot, and, on another occasion, Our Youngest and I carried, between us, my flight-cased Hiwatt 200w PA head. No-one even twitched as we went through passport control and customs. Of course, this was 'back then', when s/h stuff was not in issue, anyway. If there were to be charges, nowadays, the simplest thing would be to just pay them and be done with it, but a courrier from Aberdeen to here would become very expensive. It is, however, a Fine Bass, so... Thanks for all suggestions and comments so far; we'll see what transpires. To be continued...

Our house run-down cottage cost, back in 1980, £6000. If I'd 'knocked off' a few quid, I could have bought a Matchbox model, maybe, but would have chosen the Bentley over the Porsche.

Yes, of course, if it meets my needs. Ive never done things any different, and my needs have always been met. No different. Do I want it..? 'Yes'. Can I afford it..? 'Yes'. House bought. Happy bunny.

Not my 'core' drum style, but I shall be availing myself of this unique (and rather unhappy...) opportunity, as the Quality is there (I already have some of their products...). For this 'one-off' whole collection offer, it's really a 'no-brainer'. Thanks for the heads up. Time to make sure that I have enough spare disk space.

My system is very simple, with just two 'rules', or choices to be made... 1 - Do I want it, Yes/No..? If 'Yes', on to Rule 2. If 'No', end of. 2 - Can I afford it, Yes/No..? If 'Yes', purchase, if 'No', end of. This makes buying stuff very simple, and very quick. I only buy stuff I will keep, so there's no selling to be bothered with. Simple, me..? Yup.

It has that typical '123223323' lilt to it, so 'Yes, it's 9/8'.

[Open letter to the BC Community]... Update ... The bass has now arrived at its destination. Only took three months; it was worth the wait. A new, slight, complication. The bass is now at Shepperton (near Heathrow, with easy M25/M3 access...), but my cross-channel 'mule' is based in Portsmouth, and won't be able to hop up to fetch it. Is there a BC member, travelling in the next couple of weeks along the M3, willing to get it from my brother at Shepperton, and harbour the bass, in its gig-bag, in the Portsmouth area until my 'mule' can pick it up at a mutually-agreed rendez-vous spot..? Thanks in advance; details by PM. Anyone planning a visit to France in the near future (2024/5 counts as 'near future' for these purposes...). There's a fine bass, currently in Aberdeen, that is looking for transport across the Channel, and 'official' means make it unrealistic. A PM to seal the deal; further logistic details can and will be worked out as needs be. Thanks in advance; two BCer's would be helped by this. OK, a bit of a Long Shot, but it really is a Fine Bass.

To me, there's already a guitar doing the rhythmic 'chunking' in the background.

It could be done with church organ-type bass pedals, and a virtuoso organist would have little difficulty with the riff itself. I doubt, however, from the description, that the lady in question is such a player.

I've just learned the tragic news that J, the key organiser of the events of yesterday's fête, hung himself last night, and died. No idea as to why; those that finished the evening with him remarked nothing untoward; he was extremely active and engaged with the day's activities, which all went off smoothly. Maybe more forthcoming in the next day or two, from those closer to him, but, for now, a complete mystery, and, of course, one heck of a 'downer' for all who knew him. For my part, I can't even begin to imagine what could possibly have brought this on; I, with many others, spent most of the day with him, setting up and enjoying the fête. We are all shocked, and deeply saddened. Damn and blast..!

Indeed, there's the drums, guitar and bass riff, then two synth lines which themselves should be enough for any keys player to be getting on with. Why the need, or even the idea, of wanting to do the bass part as well..? It's an odd request. Why not the drums whilst they're at it..?

I can't hear anything in that track that makes me think of keys playing the bass riff. It sounds to my cloth ears like a bass player, and can't really think what a synth/keys bass would add. It's a simple enough 'lick', deftly played; why anyone would want to alter that beats me, unless there's an underlying motive. I'd ignore the 'suggestion', play the bass line as you know how, and let the keys player do what they want. If the song improves : great. If not, either the BL stops it from happening again or the troop starts looking for another bass player, I'd say.

Our Fête de la Musique passed off rather better than we had feared, given the level of information and organisation experienced beforehand. The town square parking, just in front of the Mairie had been cordoned off; we learned that we should show up at 14h00. I collected the Trafic we'd been lent, we loaded up at 13h00 and were well on time, to find that the 'stage' (a curtain-side trailer...) was due at 15h00. In the end, and in view of other timing issues, we decided to set up on the pavement, and leave the 'stage' to the other group, supposed to arrive at 17h00. Meanwhile, a 'boom-boom' disco DJ was set up in front of us, on his own little trailer, and spend the next couple of hours blasting out '1...1...1...1...' Big Beat disco stuff, more appropriate (if ever such stuff could be so called...) for a midnight 'after-rave' party for sozzled ado's on the beach. Once the noise came to an end, the other group arrived, loaded into the 'stage', and spent half an hour doing a sound check, from a tablet. That finished, we were asked to start; it was now 20h00, and the bright, almost hot, sun had become overcast, with even a slight chill. Never mind, we played our set (cut down to be under an hour, as we no longer have a second guitar...). Well received and applauded, all were happy with our prestation, but I found that 'in-ears' are fine for hearing my own drums (e-kit through a laptop running Superior Drummer 3...), but the acoustic isolation removed 'live' feedback from my fellow musicians. Next time, I'll either use 'open' 'phones, or set up a drum monitor fixed to the rack. Lesson learned. With our shorter set, I had energy enough to get through (the repertoire is made up of 'energy' numbers, followed by 'recovery' ones...). We finished, and packed away the gear into the van whilst the other group roared into life. I was able to carefully edge the van through the crowd (lots of kids running around, having a great time...) and got a passage though the barriers to drive home. We unloaded just in time before it started to rain; the lads went back to continue the fête and I made myself comfortable back in my armchair. Altogether positive; could have been better, but I'll take the modest win. It was heartening to see the townsfolk enjoying the occasion, helping out with erecting the marquees for the barbecues, filling the pavements with customers for the bars and cafés, the whole town enjoying a simple village fête. That's what makes it worthwhile.

I suppose it rather depends on whether tutoring is to please you, or to get your son off to a Good Start with the instrument. I would certainly suggest that, if he, (not you...) takes to it, it would be the best way forward. It wouldn't hurt to give him the option, at least, no..?

How much electricity would your studio need..? I might suggest that 500W might be quite sufficient, and that an autonomous solar system could quite easily do the job. Rough cost : between 300-600€ Have you got any photos of the barn..? It might give some inspiration as to how to make it useful, without either breaking the bank or breaking your back. Can you get sand and gravel delivered, for laying a floor..? I've done three, here, in our 'ruin' of a cottage, and it's not that hard, really. I could come down with Our Boys and lend a hand. So, pics, please..?

Grateful Dead..? It's hard to find any two renditions of any of their songs, original or covers, that are even similar, let alone the same. That's one of their charms; 'never the same twice'. Here's just an example amongst many : Dark Star...

Saturday afternoon saw the last practice session before our outing next Friday. still no real news on logistics, other than 'we play first, probably...', nor what, if any, PA, lights, backline... might be found. Apparently there'll be a semi-trailer as stage; not ideal, but... Whatever. More of an issue may be the weather. It's a bit early to pronounce, but it's not looking promising. No back-up plan, and if it pours down, there'll be no audience, either, so we may end up not even unpacking the truck I'll be borrowing. Rehearsal went well, and we sorted out the order for the set; for the rest... Que sera sera.

I'm not sure it I'm missing something or not without this here 'Facebook' thingie. If I am, I'm quite happy to.

Pack away several shorter cables, then. Have a set, long enough together for your longest anticipated runs, plus one extra. Dmx can be daisy-chained, one cable after another. 300m is a very long run; most of the stages I play on would not need more than a 50m, long enough to go from stage Front Left, around behind the drums, then forward to stage Front Right. I could easily do that with two 20m and a 10m, with a 10m spare. For smaller stages, I wouldn't need to unpack even those lengths. We have all cables (mic runs, foldback runs, FOH runs, lights, power...) always running around the back of stage.as much as possible (we need a short run for the floor monitors from the sides...). Just sayin'.

Lee... You've seen our cottage (albeit briefly...); Our Eldest's micro-studio is in the attic of what we call the 'quatrième', as it's the small 'house' at the end. A typical 'attic' shape, ancient wooden plank flooring, and rudimentary slab-foam insulation behind horizontal planking. No special measures have been taken as regards either sound-proofing nor sound transmission; we have used it in the past for full band rehearsal (bass, drums, two guitars, voix...). The sound outside is not at all loud (it's true I have no neighbours, but Our Eldest does play loud guitar, or recordings, often enough...), and transmission through the floor is minimal. It all depends, then, on exactly what material and technique was used in your current quarters. If you're not going crazy with hard-rock acoustic drums, I'd suggest that, for most purposes, decently dense floor covering (one or two layers of carpet or rugs..?) would suffice; maybe a block of foam under any bass amp..? I'd do something similar for the attic 'walls', using textiles, and see how it goes. The acoustics of odd-shaped rooms is a great advantage when recording with mics; it's easy to place mics and dial in the sound for most uses (not, maybe, for vocals needing that 'tiled bathroom' effect, of course...), so there's little need, usually, for bass traps and such. All of this is assuming that the house is not a modern 'pavillon'-type construction, made from plasterboard and matchsticks, though. Any help..? Give my regards to Ingrid, please, with my best wishes..? Douglas