Dad3353

You don't play many wedding receptions, do you..? ...

But what did I have for breakfast yesterday..? Gone, all gone. I played weddings and the like for many years with a splendid accordionist, as a duo. On the other hand, the ill-fated 'Catherine et son Ensemble' is one dep gig I'd prefer to forget..!

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

Time for an anecdote, I fear... Dany had been 'on the circuit' for many years, doing variety, dance-hall gigs, with his accordion repertoire, but had ambitions to modernise his band. When was this..? Well 'Message In A Bottle' was at the fore at the time, so late '79..? He'd taken on Rivière, just about the top local bassist at the time, and felt (rightly...) that he needed to 'up' his game from the Montarbo 'suitcase' PA box he'd been using all these years for something a bit... well, 'better'. He ordered from the shop I worked in a complete PA rig, about the best we'd sold up till then, consisting of a pair of Cerwin Vega 'fridge' cabs, an Altec power amp and a fully-spec'd HH console, plus a whole raft of mics, stands et al. All well and good; he took delivery and went off to play their week-end gigs with the new stuff. Come the Tuesday (weekly closure was Mondays...), there he was on the doorstep at the dot of opening, furious. 'I'm somewhat disappointed with the PA, which doesn't work ...' (Please note: this is translated and cleaned up from the original French in order to pass the profanity filters. Only the merest hint of the bile expressed remains, but the tirade was long and virulent..!). He insisted we unload the rig, set it up in our large piano workshop and check it out for functionality, as he'd had to rely on his old Montarbo, such was the poor performance of the new ensemble..!. This took all morning (the console has a lot of buttons..!), but worked flawlessly. Disgruntled, he packed it all back into his tour bus and went away. The very next week he was back, insisting that we check again, as it patently was faulty. Upon inspection, no anomaly (of course...): I suggested that, the next outing, I come along to their venue to see the rig in action, in a 'real-life' situation. Agreed, so the following week-end I turned up at their gig, ready to see what was what. I stood back and observed as they set it all up and did their sound check. It then became obvious to me what the problem was; Dany was doing to this new rig what he had always done with his Montarbo: turning every button and knob up to max. Yes, i/p gain, EQ, monitoring, fx... Even the O/P faders were maxed. Cacophony, howling, mush... Indescribable..! It took a fair bit of diplomacy to get the bandleader, certain, now, of the pitiful quality of his investment, to listen to me, then, after calming down slightly, to allow me to take over the console, set everything to its nominal mid position and start from there. In minutes, the hall was transformed, and they were able to enjoy, (for the first time ever..!) a good, solid sound system, and fill the venue with their otherwise excellent rendition of the latest hits (OK, with occasional spats of accordion for the older revellers...). The moral of the tale..? Having had his ears filled for decades with the 'Italian sound' of the over-reverbed Montarbo, his ears had taken that to be the 'reference', and any deviation meant there was something amiss. It took a while for them all to become re-adapted to a clean-sounding system. One's ears can, and do, often play tricks on us. 'Listening' is not as simple as one might believe at first.

I concur.

Print it onto one of these, then, and let them...

Back to the old nationalistic clichés again, I see..? And Mexicans; they never drop off of an afternoon, peut-être..? Now, if you'll excuse m Zzzzz... Zzzzz... Zzzzz...

Oh dear. I worked as a tech in a music shop in France for quite some years, and the stories I could tell about band leaders and their PA 'savvy' would fill a decent volume (yes, Danny Desaunay, this includes you..!). It's no guarantee of savoir faire; in fact quite the opposite, in my experience. Run for the hills..! I've used rear PA (alone...) before, but at extremely modest levels, just as a bit of monitoring, really. Sidefill can be very useful, but only on larger stages, and tightly controlled. No, the bloke's just deluded. Call in an independent sound tech to oversee and recommend improvements, is my advice (but I doubt this bloke will listen to such; again going by my past experience of band leaders in general, and French ones even more so..!)

Eh..? What..? Did someone call..? Ah, the old 'clout the drummer' gags, huh..? Better than that you will have to do. Can I continue my siesta now, please..? (Yawn ...)

£400 is the price (new...) of an entry-point kit; fine enough for home practice or messing about on (and a good product, just the same...), but cannot be compared to playing an acoustic kit, and is still £400..! A decent electro kit is well above the £1000-plus mark. I'd love an electro kit, but I've seen too many entry-level kits fall apart or be too quickly hammered to dust to spend £400 on one. For gigging, the PA has to be of a minimum standard to plug into, too. No, electro kits are rather the more expensive option; certainly not 'budget', in my experience (more's the pity ...).

Something like this, I suspect... Archer 3/4 Double Bass ...

Subsafe Audio Protection ...

A Dutch auction, eh..? Seeing who blinks first..? I'd wait a bit longer, at the risk of someone else snapping up this 'bargain'.

Following a Report concerning some reactions in this topic, I've done a bit of cleaning up. A simple misunderstanding that escalated; let's leave it there. Play nicely, please, despite the late hour. Thanks in advance for your understanding and cooperation.

Stereotypes..? They're so passé; Shirley no-one these days holds those ancient views on gender and such nowadays..?

A new way of relicing, perhaps..?

Disaster, but for whom..? One of many 'Kiemsa' anecdotes posted previously; I was the 'lighter' and truck driver for them for several years ... Every year there is a full week of music in the town of Bourges. We had a whole raft of dates, several each day, in bars and cafés all over the town. In one place, mid-afternoon, we were set up in a tiny cramped corner of a tiny bar (about 5 m x 10 m..?). The tables were fine, 'art-deco' cast iron affairs, with two cast stems supporting the marble top, for four (cramped...) customers. Our lights were 4 PAR 56 cans, on the floor at the singer's feet. Once they started up, the place went crazy. There was a swell, the placed was literally heaving; I had a heck of a time trying to hold back the public from sweeping all forward, saving what I could of the PARs, the monitors and the band from this deluge of a throng. Came half-time, and a short pause, the wreckage became apparent. Every tabletop had been snapped clean off, leaving mortally dangerous cast-iron spikes sticking up by a foot from the floor. How no-one was not injured or transpierced is a miracle. The bar owner was not at all happy, but, seeing the business he was doing, and the very strong crowd wanting more, allowed us to continue the second set, asking for a touch more musical restraint. Vain hope; he just had time to remove the spikes, chiselling them from the floor, before more mayhem. There were two more 'showcase' events and bar concerts that same day. Oh how we laughed; you had to be there.

As a Cynic, I'm generally wary of 'data', and the little shown in this topic even more so, as the questions posed seem (to me...) to be biased from the start, and we've no idea as to geographic nor demographic spread. Someone once said 'there are lies, damned lies and statistics.' It could have been me; I don't buy into 'data' of the sort without a great deal more background information. Where, then, do I get my opinions from..? Several decades on the planet with my own experiences and observations, coupled with sources I trust, rightly or wrongly, plus the over-riding factor of my own conscience. That'll do me (he said, with smug complacency ...)

Mmm... Tee..!

If composing is your bent, and you're looking for inspiration or a reason for doing it, look no further ... April Composition Challenge ... To judge from the quality of your 'Mother Of All BS', you'll have no trouble at all fitting in with the high quality of the regular participants. Worth a look..? As for the track (a bit short; cries out for expansion...), I liked the false rhythm at the start, which gels very nicely as the 'motor' gets going. If that's what you do with simply Garageband, continue; you're on a roll, there. Good Stuff; thanks for sharing. Don't waste such talent, get stuck into the BC Challenge..!

That kind of mileage is pretty well standard for most French bands, but the weather here tends to be slightly more clement in general. Well done, lad; you're now a real trooper, if you weren't before..!

Very satisfied with our Smothhound. First and only system, so nothing to compare it with, but no regrets on its acquisition. It's Good Stuff.

And that's another thing. When will you learn to leave that Zimmer frame out of everyone's way..? No respect for the rights of passage; with failing eyesight anyone could do themselves severe damage tripping over the darned thing. Think of the children, and the bad example you're setting..! (Non, mais..! Aucun considération pour autrui..! Il y a de quoi désespérer de nos aïeux..! Tsk, Tsk..! ) ...