Skol303

I use a pair of ER20s when at gigs (which is a rare occurrence these days). They seem to work fine for me. I have moderate tinnitus - not something I notice every waking hour, but certainly noticeable in quiet conditions (or when I remind myself of having it - like now!). The ER20s certainly do the job of preventing any additional ringing in my ears after gigs - that's not saying they're equivalent to moulded plugs, just that they seem to do the job for me. Otherwise, my ears are generally 'ok'. I can't hear much above 14kHz, but I've never found this to be a big issue when mixing, etc.

[quote name='Blademan_98' timestamp='1355870153' post='1903971']Well, I thought I would put together my ideas and lay down some groove tonight. It is really rubbish [/quote] Keep at it mate. I've had a listen and what you've done is sketchy at the moment, sure, but there's the bones of song in there that could be finished. My effort this month is currently all over the shop. I've put the songwriting on hold and have gone for a noisy electronic number, which is actually more akin to my musical roots albeit 'off piste' to what I normally produce for these challenges... Anyway, I've bitten off way more than I can chew in the time available - too late to turn back now, so I've decided to roll up my sleeves and start polishing the proverbial turd! [Which is actually possibly - see here http://tinyurl.com/dljhbu]

Cheers Garry! Looks bloomin' great and is Mac-friendly. That's me made happy Thanks for sharing.

Feature on Music Radar website about this very topic: http://www.musicradar.com/news/drums/the-25-best-christmas-songs-of-all-time-229168

Ooh, ye tempting varlot! I've got my eye on one of these... can't quite justify the indulgence at the moment, but good to hear you're having fun with it. They look/sound bloomin' great! Moog rule.

[quote name='RockfordStone' timestamp='1355833077' post='1903273']...ive tried starting fresh before, but have always been drawn back to it, and i get more sense of enjoyment when i play as paper soldiers rather than as any other new project, and everything i write ends up leaning to the vibe i got from the band. ive had someone say to me that paper soldiers is me, and i am paper soldiers... maybe thats how it should be, i dunno[/quote] Sounds like you've answered your own question!

Hard to say Rob... it's ultimately your decision (of course!). If I were in your shoes I'd be thinking of it in terms of: [b]- Are there any potentially 'negative vibes' associated with the old project name?[/b] How does it make me feel when I think about? If there's any hint of disappointment or regret, do I want to address that by sticking with it and making things right, or would I be better off consigning it to history and starting afresh. [b]- Would I feel creatively constrained by sticking with the original name?[/b] In other words, would doing so make me feel pressured to produce the same kind of material and if so, is that the direction I want to head in musically? Or do I want to try something new and liberating? [b]- How much recognition and following does the old project have?[/b] Does it provide a ready-made audience for my new music - and would the audience really notice/care if the format had changed from how it was previously? [b]- How much much time and money have I invested in the original project?[/b] Does the investment support or outweigh some of the considerations above? [b]- Could I do things much better if I started again?[/b] And does thinking about starting again give me a buzz, or does it make me take a deep breath and start worrying about all the things I need to do...? Not sure if that helps, but heh, it's hoopefully food for thought! Personally, I like the name 'Paper Soldiers' - it doesn't scream any particular style of music to me, and it obviously allows room for collaboration or even evolving into a full blown band in future. But that's just one man's opinion. Whatever you decide, good luck with it mate!

[quote name='Lord Sausage' timestamp='1355604241' post='1900574']Ha! As if people like it! i feel ashamed i underestimated you all![/quote] It truly is a Christmas carol for our modern times. I'm picturing families across the land being brought together by a rousing chorus of "Degeneration of the Penis" for many a Yuletide to come

This is great! Nice version. You should enter it in this month's composition competition: http://basschat.co.uk/topic/193270-december-composition-competition/

Hi Bill. Nice jam! I particularly like the riff that runs from around the 1 minute mark to 1:20 or so (and repeats elsewhere). Keep us posted if/when you get a proper recording laid down, be interested to hear how this progresses

Some cool little snippets there mate! 'Fuzz The Boat Out' (the last one) is my fave of the three. I could see that evolving into a full track.

[quote name='Lord Sausage' timestamp='1354914316' post='1892081']So here it is, my entry for this months competition. There is a description of the idea and process on the soundcloud page. It has some structure and some elements of aleatoric composition. No harmony and counterpoint this month, tho there are some vocals. It will be interesting to see what you think! [url="https://soundcloud.com/dreaded-ted/degeneration-of-the-penis"]https://soundcloud.c...on-of-the-penis[/url][/quote] ^ Bonkers! And brilliant! There are some superbly insane moments in that track that I really enjoyed. I felt drunk listening to it, and I've only been on the Yorkshire Tea tonight [quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1355503157' post='1899391']Believe it or not, I actually got mine finished! It's even got me [s]singing[/s] talking on it. [url="https://soundcloud.com/xgsjx/the-santa-job"]https://soundcloud.c...x/the-santa-job[/url][/quote] ^ I [i]really[/i] like this... it's got a catchy b-line and the lyrics had me laughing out loud in places. Now when I look at the photo I see a Santa job interview gone badly wrong! Good work G Your vocal is great, btw.

[quote name='MiltyG565' timestamp='1355525334' post='1899728']That's a bit of a mental looking thing.[/quote] [quote name='charic' timestamp='1355525634' post='1899730']Be interesting to hear how that balances.How about making it 24 fret on the b,e and a then 26 on the d and g?[/quote] Yeah, it's not quite a Fender classic, is it? I really dig the shape of it, although I imagine it's not to everyone's taste. The bass in the pic is a 36 fret beast, although what I'm looking at may be around 28 with room for two p'ups. Like I said, still early days so lots could change... but that's the rough starting point.

[quote name='charic' timestamp='1355474593' post='1898730']Never mind woods atm, what about the shape? How many strings? Any preference on electronics? Arrrgh! We need details man.. details!![/quote] Hehe! Early days... It's going to be a 5 stringer, with an unconventional number of frets (i.e. more than 24... maybe), active electronics (exact brand/type tbc), and shape-wise looking [i]something[/i] along these lines: [sharedmedia=core:attachments:125122] ...none of which is confirmed and a lot of which may well change! But that's the rough idea that Paul is currently working up a design for. I'll be able to share some concrete details in due course as the project develops. PS: no idea why that image has been posted twice. I suck at IT. But at least I can now post images, which I couldn't do a week or so ago. That's progress!

...so yeah, just get some quicklime on it and nobody will ever know... oh shoot, wrong forum!!

^ Cheers for the input gents! Yep, mahogany is looking like a favourite at the moment. I'm going to be discussing materials with Paul once the design is in place - he certainly knows his onions! Or his woods, which is more useful in this context

I think it's amazing you have a band called Xerocks! And I'm wondering where this could lead... Hewlett Pack'ardcore? Microsoftrock? Epsonny & Cher? ... I think Sam[i]sung[/i] and Pana[i]sonic[/i] are already ahead of the game here On a more serious note, best of luck with the gig! Nowhere near my 'hood but it looks like a rocking setlist so fingers crossed you get a good turnout. Cheers, Paul

[i]Skol[/i] is a stage name from my first ever band, and it's followed me thru life since my teens (some people I've known for years still only know me as Skol... only wish I could say the same for HMRC ). Nothing to do with cheap lager or 'cheers' in Swedish (which is actually 'Skål') . It's an abbreviation of 'skollob', there reverse of which I allegedly speak a lot of. Our singer was called 'Radion' after the washing powder of the same name (he wrote off to them and got a t-shirt); drummer was 'BOSS' (an acronym for 'bag of sh1t', as he was exceptionally clumsy); our banjo player - yes we had a banjo player - was Lord Cthulhu (big guy, lots of tentacle-like dreadlocks); and our guitarist was 'The Milkman' (he wasn't actually a milkman, but he liked milk). We were young, listening to metal but also stuff like Half Man Half Biscuit and Mercury Rev. And we truly sucked as a band, but we built up quite a cult following in our local 'hood and ended up playing a few gigs we really shouldn't have gotten away with to far more people that we deserved. Fun times. But yeah, the nickname stuck and will no doubt follow me to the grave. So choose wisely!

[quote name='MiltyG565' timestamp='1355344141' post='1897284']sounds like a cool bass! are you going to have photos of the build?[/quote] Sure! Paul at 13 Guitar is working on a design at the moment; once that's sorted we'll be choosing woods, etc, and then starting the build. I'll certainly be posting photos and whatnot here as it develops, and welcoming anyone's input

Quick update: I'm currently chatting through initial ideas with Paul (who's being very helpful) and will keep y'all posted here as things develop. It's shaping up to be an interesting project!

Cliff Burton. I was a metaller in my youth (still am deep down today - it never leaves you, like herpes! ) and he seemed like such an enigma in the scene at that time: the hippy image and of course those crazy solos. When bought 'Kill 'Em All' and heard Anesthesia for the first time I just thought to myself "Wow! I want to do that!!"... and so my obsession with bass begun. Through Cliff I also got into The Misfits and eventually Bach. Yeah, weird I know. Geezer Butler, Steve Harris and Dave Ellefson were also big influences. But Cliff, for me, was the daddy.

As I've said before, I've got crates of reggae/dub originals that sound like they were recorded in a garden shed (probably were) with more crackles and pops than a pine wood fire... and to me they sound ace and full of character. But if I were listening to Bach, or some other classical bangers, then such 'character' would definitely detract from the experience. So the importance of musical 'quality' (however you define that) is surely influenced by what you're listening to and in what context. Bottom line is, vinyl (and even CDs now) are a thing of the increasingly distant past - the future of music is most definitely digital. And with bandwidth/download speeds increasing exponentially, it's safe to say that better quality, lossless formats will become more popular as an alternative to MP3s (as I think 51m0n has mentioned already). ... and in the future, when music is stored in data clouds and beamed directly into our brains using lazers, we'll look back with teary-eyed nostalgia about our dusty old MP3 collections and the cranky old hard drives and iPods they're stored on. Etc, etc...

[quote name='Norris' timestamp='1355231627' post='1895633']Is it a new service offered by Royal Mail?[/quote]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1355174581' post='1895111']Chalfont St Giles... isn't that rhyming slang for something..? Good luck.[/quote] ... you can get a cream for that. So I'm told Good luck with the gig Blade! Let us know how it goes mate. Paul

[quote name='toneknob' timestamp='1355228679' post='1895565']Where do I get this fairy dust, and is it expensive?[/quote] It's like angel dust, only more sparkly! I get mine from Elias' shop ^