Skol303

The 90--degree angles of the scratchplate also clash with the "splodginess" of the rounded body. The upper part of the plate should have been curved upwards to match the body contour. It's like they got that far and thought, "ah feck it, pub time" and just drew straight across with a ruler.

I'm hoping to come along. Currently waiting on some family planning to confirm... not that kind of family planning! Quick question: is anyone able to bring along a data projector and screen? Or can the venue provide this? I was thinking of maybe doing a session on 'Recording for Beginners' or perhaps a 'Dummies Guide to Using a Compressor and EQ' but I'd need a projector and screen for full-on, cinematic effect.

I was searching for an adjective but you nailed it... definitely too splodgy

Yep! I'm very familiar with being plagued by ground loops And they can be difficult to pinpoint... you basically have to work through your signal chain, methodically unplugging/plugging stuff in until you find what's causing the hum... or not. With just a bass and amp (possibly also a mic?) it should be relatively easy, and from what you describe the culprit is almost certainly going to be at the guitar/amp end of things, caused by interference with any nearby home electrics. In the end I bought one of these and it solved the problem completely; literally no hum at all. They're quite expensive brand new, but if you're patient they do occasionally crop up quite cheap second-hand on eBay, which is where I bought mine: Ebtech Hum Eliminator HE-2-XLR

Possible but unlikely. Compatibility is a big plus point for parties on both sides of this equation; so I can't see Microsoft or Apple wanting to upset the... err... Apple cart! Useful link though; bookmarked.

Very useful online tool I found recently, which can be used to quickly calculate the likely frequency response from different acoustic materials (at different thicknesses): http://www.acousticmodelling.com/porous.php The only snag is you need to know the ‘Gas Flow Resistivity’ of the material, but you can often dig out these numbers by searching the manufacturer’s product specifications. I’m trying to find the figure for the Knauf Earthwool Dritherm slab mentioned above in this thread… can’t find the exact number but have found it quoted as being around 10,000 Pa.s/m2. So anyone interested can use that figure in the calculator, type in the thickness of the acoustic panel you want to make and get an approximate graph of the absorption coefficient at different frequencies (the closer the absorption coefficient is to 1, the more sound is being absorbed). Useful if you want to check, for example, whether your panels are really going to function as bass traps or broadband absorbers. Honestly, I'm much more fun at dinner parties than you might imagine...!

^ That sucks. 15 years is a fairly good innings, but as you mention, properly built analogue gear can last decades (if not pretty much indefinitely) if well maintained. I'm slowly moving over to analogue, bit by bit. I have a second-hand digital/analogue desk, which can be used as standalone analogue if/when the manufacturer stops supporting the digital side of it. I've also pretty much stopped buying plug-ins and now instead save up for a few choice pieces of outboard gear, which has greatly speeded up my workflow (by reducing 'options paralysis'!), aside from any audible improvements from analogue mojo (a whole other debate, of course...). It means I'm reducing the number of tools at my disposal, but it's a strangely liberating process. Sort of back to basics. It also means my kids will one day inherit some gear they'll still be able to use - or more likely flog on eBay - rather than a stack of hard drives full of software they can't run.

That sounds like very bad customer service from TASCAM (I must admit I've never had to call upon them for support). I assume you also tried approaching the retailer to help fix the problem, or was it long after you'd purchased it?

Fact is, there's no such thing as a "trusted courier", because it all boils to down to the care and competence of individual people at each stage of the delivery - and people are inherently untrustworthy (I am of course speaking for myself...). In all seriousness, it's like asking "which is the safest car"? You can spend more money on a better quality vehicle - just as you can spend more money on supposed better service from a courier company - but it will only ever be as safe/trustworthy as the person driving/delivering it. My local UPS guys and girls all seem to be consistently great; I've used them for both work and domestic shipping for years without any issues. Same goes for my local Hermes people. And that must make me lucky, because I hear from friends in other parts of the UK (and folks here on Basschat) whose local reps from the exact same courier companies sound nightmarish. Ultimately, there's no safe bet: things can and do go wrong with courier deliveries. At work I ship items all over Europe and stuff does occasionally go missing or get damaged in transit. And the only way to be guaranteed of avoiding such risk is to deliver the goods yourself. Ideally in a safe vehicle. PS: this isn't meant to be deliberately insensitive to the plight of MikanHannille above - I have had things go wrong in the past and fully sympathise. It sucks when deliveries go wrong. Worst case you should at least get your money back.

Yeah, she handles all of our video production at work (she's ex-BBC, worked on one of the Attenborough series). Currently on a 6 month travel sabbatical and I am very jealous

Sorry I can't help with this one, but I have a colleague who can... when she gets back from trekking around South America in June! In the meantime, I'm sure someone here will come along who can advise.

Glad you got it sorted! You're going to have a lot of fun with your new interface. In case anyone stumbles on this thread at a later date, I'd like to add a +1 for Focusrite products... and I'm no way affiliated with them or fellow moderator Sibob (but I am always open to bribes ). They're consistently good interfaces: nice build quality, low latency and all round good value for money. I previously owned a 2i4 and wish I'd kept hold of it as a portable interface; it was perfect for getting ideas down quickly. I've also had good experiences with TASCAM products. In fact, I think Dad3353 might still be using my old TASCAM 144-MK2 interface!?

Absolutely this. And I'm just amazed that this conversation didn't take place whilst he was packing up.

^ Good stuff! Let us know how you get on. PS: if you're planning on kitting your room out with acoustic treatment over time, then it might be worth investing in an omnidirectional mic and a copy of Fuzzmeasure (or REW... which is free but not quite so easy to use). Very useful for identifying exactly which frequencies need tackling, reflection points, etc. That said, I went along way myself without taking any acoustic measurements. So it's not essential, but something to consider.

Haha, indeed I do. I was involved in an online start-up business looking for several £million investment at the time... not-so-happy days! I hear from a lot of quarters that Spotify gets rich on the back of musicians; and I know of musicians who organise activities whereby a particular artist will receive many thousands of crowd-source plays in order to boost their Spotify income. So it seems there are ways to 'game the system' if you have the social network to do so, but it still adds up to little more than chump change. It's a difficult conundrum. And I agree with the comment above that Spotify at least pays some royalties and that people are welcome to try blazing their own trail without it however they wish. Regardless, if the future of mass music distribution isn't Spotify then it's going to be something along such lines. It's still very early days for all of these business models, so much room for improvement of course...

Joking aside, you could use unopened bales of mineral wool as bass traps. They might not be as effective as when opened, as the wool would be more compressed and so the fibres might not be as efficient at converting sound energy to heat. But they would certainly do something. ...although you might have some explaining to do whenever people come to visit

March's Composition Challenge is now underway! Here’s the image for your inspiration, chosen by last month's winners, Dad3353 and Doctor J… Rules: Avoid any content that other forum users may find offensive. Make sure you have permission to use any 3rd party sounds and samples in your track. Entries should be no more than five minutes long and written/produced during the month of the competition. No bagpipes. The deadline for entries is midnight on Saturday 24th March.

This guy wins the prize for the laziest bass traps ever!

2" won't help at all with the low end, but if that's all you're able to install then go for it - every little helps 4" thick panels are generally considered to be the minimum in terms of having any measurable effect on the low end. They work even better if you can mount them a further 4" or so off the wall (i.e. with an air gap behind the panel). Free acoustic treatment right there! You're absolutely right; the walls the cardboard box won't inhibit the low frequencies at all, so you can happily build bass traps using cardboard boxes. I've seen a photo of a home studio in New York that did just that - literally stacks of packing boxes stuffed with mineral wool. In fact, some bass trap designs include a hard 'membrane' - usually a thin sheet of plywood, 1-2mm - which vibrates at very low frequencies, helping the bass trap to be effective down to 30Hz or so. But they're more tricky to DIY. However... bear in mind that hard surfaces (even cardboard) will reflect higher frequencies and this can cause all sorts of problematic phasing issues if you're unlucky - e.g. you might improve the low end a little, but end up with new dips in the mid-high frequencies. But in home studios, that's normally a trade-off work taking as it's the low end that always needs the most work. So in short: yes, go for it! The cardboard box approach is certainly viable. In terms of results, in my own room I've recently noticed an 'improvement' of around 3-5db from installing some additional bass traps on my back wall (20cm thick): that is, the null in my low end respond is now 3-5db less deep. That's not a big difference, but it's noticeable by ear. And that's pretty much the amount of benefit you can expect to achieve from 20cm thick traps. Far more dramatic has been changes to my room layout. By adjusting my listening position, pushing my monitors up against the front wall, tilting my desk forwards, etc, I've gained an improvement of around 10-12db. Much more impactful and it cost me nothing; just some time to move things around, test/listen and adjust. So make sure you get the basics right first: listening position, speaker placement, etc. Then use acoustic treatment to gain those extra db that can make all the difference. Edit to say that it might help if you leave the side of the cardboard box facing the room open - i.e. just covered in fabric, no cardboard. This will help the bass trap to absorb frequencies across the full spectrum more evenly, so you're less likely to cause weird phasing issues in the mid-high end. Just an idea.

Well done guys! Good work. Please message me with your choice of pictures for this month and we'll get cracking

^ No problem! For anyone wanting to buy new instead of DIY, I also heartily recommend either of the following companies, both of which I've used myself: Blue Frog Audio GIK Acoustics

Thanks, very kind of you to say and without wanting to be too cheesy... it's a great forum 'cos of everyone's input. Group hug!

I think a lot of people just don't really know what tone they're looking for. So they twiddle about a bit with EQ; try out a few different options; think "meh...does that sound right, I dunno?"; and then zero all settings back to neutral. They then gander about online shopping for a new amp/instrument/strings/whatever to help achieve what EQ couldn't - again, without really knowing what the desired outcome should be. Pot Luck ad infinitum