Dad3353

Here is my contribution to the May 2018 Basschat Composition Challenge, inspired by a picture chosen by last month's winner: Rikki1984. The ruined vestiges of a once-powerful empire, long-since engulfed by the ocean's depths. Joined, many centuries later, by a now-rotting hulk, another failure of mankind, another symbol of the ephemeral nature of 'power'. Quite complex, really, combining deceptively simple percussive elements (cymbal swells, taiko drums and more...) with more exotic timbres, such as sitars and operatic voices, (very...) deeply underpinned with several drones, aptly generated by a software synth, 'Atlantis' (the name is not a coincidence, but the appropriate timbre of the sounds certainly is...). The ocean's voice is expressed through renderings from hump-backed whales; these may well be leagues away, as their tones carry over vast distances under the surface. Thanks for listening, if you already have; if you're about to, enjoy.

Myself (drums...), Our Youngest (bass...) and Our Eldest (Guitar I...) live in, so we're already ready at the drop of a hat. Guitar II has a 20 km drive, the singster under 5 km. All the gear is permanently set up in our µ-studio at one end of our cottage, where Our Eldest lives, so there's no carting stuff about nor setting up/tearing down. Yes, we're spoilt, I know, but we're worth it.

No, really..?

Fixed..! (Funeste is French for baneful, augury of death, disastrous... )

Good evening, Jacob, and ... Plenty to read and amuse you here, and lots to learn and share.

... and then get hung out to dry for not showing decision-making ability and not having complied with what they'd asked for..!

If there are foldback monitors, get some bass put into them for general stage bass presence, fed from the PA. You'll not be needing an amp at all, then. If all are using in-ear monitoring, get some bass put in there for them (dosed as they require...) That's what they're for. It can't interfere with what they already have any more than having it rumbling through from an amp on stage, which they can't adjust. If they're not happy with that solution, get your own monitoring sorted (in-ears, preferably...), let the sound engi do whatever he needs to do for FOH and on-stage monitoring, and sod anyone else. If they don't want to do things properly, they'll have to put up with it, and that's all. Don't go buying gear for idjits that won't play the game loyally.

Horses for courses or making an @ss of oneself..?

Good evening, Dom, and ... Plenty to read and amuse you here, and lots to learn and share. (... but you knew that anyway, didn't you..? )

A case of slight exaggeration there, maybe..?

You're the bass player, and would maybe not like to have to change instrument just because the band feels it's not 'acceptable'. He's the singer, and should have the same privilege and respect, I'd suggest. Of course the 'issue' could be discussed, but he decides what he needs (or wants...) for the gigs. For my part, I've never bought into this 'acceptable' stuff; I've seen too many bands with all sorts of stuff on stage for it to count for anything. As long as your show is good, such props are of no relevance. Just my tuppence-worth.

Good evening, Ben, and ... Plenty to read and amuse you here, and lots to learn and share.

If the ground lift stops your equipment from humming, it's probably doing its job. All the stuff has to be earthed, but preferably only earthed once, otherwise, in some cases, tiny currents can circulate between these multiple earths, giving off hum. The ground lift will break this 'earth loop', but the equipment is still earthed, by the other part of the circuit. It's just no longer being looped. Use the ground lift, then, if it stops the hum, as you're still protected by he rest of the earth circuit. Hope this helps.

Good afternoon, Rikkers, and ... Plenty to read and amuse you here, and lots to learn and share. Welcome back; little has changed, except for the better..!

We're presently working out a set for our group (The Daub'z...) for a gig mid-June. For various reasons, we've not been playing, nor even meeting up, for over two years. We've drawn up a list of songs to go into the hour-and-a-bit set from past repertoires, including SOAD, RATM, Nirvana, Pink Floyd, Noir Désir, RHCP and many more. There are fifty or so on the list; we'll choose about fifteen or so. All of us can play any or all of these, no sweat, on demand. None of us use any support at all, neither tab, notation, recordings... They're all played solely from memory, having rehearsed them in the (sometimes distant...) past. For my part (on drums...), I've a fifty-year long repertoire of variety stuff and dance music, with songs spanning well over a century, which I played intensely for several years as a pro drummer. Believe me when I say that some of it sticks..! All in all, 200+ doesn't seem that unusual to me; if we, as a very amateur group, can collectively call up fifty or so, any half-serious player could easily beat that, as long as they've had exposure to a fairly varied repertoire over a reasonable length of time. Nothing unusual in that, for me.

Good evening, Jam , and ... Plenty to read and amuse you here, and lots to learn and share.

Easily done, the way it was made.

Love: Forever Changes ...

It's easy to confuse the terms 'cheap' and 'inexpensive'. They are not, however, completely interchangeable. Cheap in price does not systematically equate to cheap in quality. The opposite is also true: higher cost is not necessarily higher quality. Just sayin'.

That's answered here... Your First Ever Gig..? ... Well done, and please stop selling yourself short; you're doing darned good, better than several here, and far better than anyone who's never even tried to play bass..! Keep going; onward and upward..!

Fixed. ...

Nah, my accountant says it'd push me over into the high-tax bracket. Pop it into the tin for the poor of the parish. ...

[Pedantry] I'd have to disagree; it's counted in (typically on the hihat...) as '1-2-3-4-1' for the riff to commence on the following 'and' off-beat. [/Pedantry]