Skol303

Wow, lots of entries already this month! Well done all Keep 'em coming.

I looked into this myself a little while ago and concluded that storing wooden instruments in an attic is generally a bad idea. The two factors that will mess up are changes in humidity and temperature. They can cope with cold slightly better than heat; it's the summer months when your attic will become a Balti oven that are going to wreak havoc and result in banana-necks. Be warned!

A bit of mid-range [i]scoopage[/i] is usually a good idea with electric guitars, especially when distorted. By mid-range I mean somewhere around the 400-500Hz mark (so actually upper lows, but meh, you know what I mean). It helps to clear out a lot of the sonic gunge that can make a mix sound 'muddy/muffled'. But of course too much of a scoop and it'll start to sound thin and weak, which if compensated by cranking up the lows/highs even further will begin to sound cack. So I suggest just asking him to dial some of the mids back in and check how it sounds. All under the caveat that this is totally dependant on what the other members of the band are playing; the music in question; the room you're performing in, etc.

[quote name='RalphDWilson' timestamp='1450113428' post='2929736'] I had a listen too...[/quote] Thanks Ralph! Really appreciate you taking the time to listen and comment. I think I [i]did[/i] go a little overboard with the bass noodling on the Mate track... good point Got a bit carried away and it ended up being more 'busy' than it perhaps should have been. I'll definitely bear that in mind in future. There's certainly a lot of EQ'ing going on with this track (and the others), especially around the low end of things - trying to balance everything and keep some punch, without it sounding too 'muddy' - or too thin. The dubstep track is the most heavily EQ'd of the bunch (for obvious reasons - it's stupidly busy), but I probably could have been less heavy handed with the Gang Signs remix. Again, something I'll bear in mind. The 'refix' is just a deliberately crappy pun on 'remix' - as though the track has been 're-fixed' (broken and put back together again). Not specific to the dubstep genre; just my train of thought [quote name='BottomE' timestamp='1450119015' post='2929807'] Good mix of approaches going on with the different tracks. For my ear needs a bit more fatness down at the dark end. currently it seems just a little hollow on the overall BOOM factor - easy to fix. [/quote] Thanks! And interesting about the low end... chimes with what Ralph said above. I mix in a 'treated' room (i.e. acoustically treated): not a pro studio by any means, just the best I can manage at home. But I'm always quite cautious about mixing the low end - usually erring on the side of 'less' rather than 'more', to avoid risk of the dreaded low-mids 'muddiness'; especially on the more bass-heavy and/or busy tracks. My monitors do tend to suggest that I could dial in more low end and your comments back this up... so I think I'll start being a bit more adventurous in that regard and crank up the bass a touch more in future. And trust my ears! All super-useful feedback guys. Hugely appreciated. Paul

Haha! Cheers Dad. You lent it you ear and that’s what counts The Gang Signs track (‘Mate’) is my favourite of the three. The original is quite downbeat and melancholic; quite quirky. I genuinely enjoyed working on that one. The first track is a fairly generic hop hop number, nothing special. The rapper is a comedian (David Burd) who does a lot of skits parodying the ‘bling bling’ culture of US hip hop. Like a lot of hop hop tracks, the instrumentation is very much second fiddle to the vocal. This was an easy track for me to throw together - especially as the beat is lifted straight from one of my monthly challenge entries - so not much TLC invested in it. The final track is quite a cacophony, innit? Not my usual stye of electronic music… the original was produced by a 17-year old in the US - and I think that’s the core ‘target market’ for this genre. Think of it as being the electronic equivalent of thrash metal and you’ll be on the right lines. I liked the challenge of producing something relevant to kids half my age; shows I’ve still got some ‘moves’, despite being old enough to be dad to most of them. Cheers again for listening. Always sincerely appreciated!

Thought I’d post up a trio of remixes I’ve been working on recently. All very different… [url="http://soundcloud.com/skollob/save-dat-money-remix"]‘Save Dat Money’[/url] by Lil’ Dicky. Tongue-in-cheek hip hop (using a beat I wrote for one of the monthly composition challenges). [color=#ff0000][b]Caution:[/b] lyrics contain profanities![/color] [url="http://soundcloud.com/skollob/mate-remix"]‘Mate’[/url] by Gang Signs. Probably my own favourite of the three. Minor key electronica from one of Canada’s more interesting up and coming acts. Me on fretless bass. [url="http://soundcloud.com/skollob/takedown-refix"]‘Takedown’[/url] by Levalti. Dubstep aggro with samples of heavy metal guitars. Fun for all the family. Critical feedback very welcome

Good sleuthing guys! Kevvo: I'll merge those two threads for you next chance I get (unless another Mod gets there first). I daren't try doing it on my mobile in case I break the Internet. Or something.

Loads of good 'uns to choose from I've always loved the balls out energy of this one by Rob Wright of No Means No... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJi0_WcJHkg

Thans for sharing the link! All good, dependable tips I personally record DI from my bass amp (just a small combo, but it gives some character to the sound that I like). I then add compression and sometimes apply software amp sims to flavour the sound, depending on what suits the song. Occasionally I also use a condenser mic in front of the speaker and record that in parallel with the DI, so I can 'blend' the two tracks. All that said, on the (admittedly few) studio projects I've worked on, the mix stems have always tended to include just one DI track for bass. So I think some studios just record DI and don't bother mic'ing up. But again, my experience isn't broad enough to be anywhere near representative of the 'norm'.

[quote name='charic' timestamp='1448981842' post='2919776']Might crack out the new keyboard for this one, I'm playing it all the time anyway [/quote] [quote name='RockfordStone' timestamp='1449076997' post='2920609']i wrote songs before for space based photo's... maybe this one will make me pick up my bass again[/quote] About time too, you pair of slackers! It'd be great to hear something from you guys again. It's been too long...

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1449178329' post='2921400']Well the thread as usual went all over the place and that's fine.[/quote] All good, Blue - and that's what I like about your threads. You're something of a rarity in this community in that you've made a life out of playing bass, whereas the majority of us here do so part-time, whether for extra income or just as a hobby. That's mostly a reflection on the live music scene, where it's notoriously difficult to earn a steady and sufficient income. As such I always enjoy your insights. You come at this from a different perspective (different from me, at least), which is always interesting. Cheers

Quick update... the [font="helvetica, arial, sans-serif"][color="#282828"]La Bella 750NB (5-string set) fit the Rockbass Alien just fine. Phew! [/color][/font] [font="helvetica, arial, sans-serif"][color="#282828"]​They're not strictly 'tapered' strings in the true sense, but they feature narrow fabric winding at the bridge/ball end, which allows them to fit perfectly within the pin holes of the Rockbass bridge. They sound very nice too![/color][/font] [font="helvetica, arial, sans-serif"][color="#282828"]Job done.[/color][/font]

Blue, I think your perception on this is obviously swayed by the fact that what you do for a living - i.e. pay your way by playing in a band - is the [i]exception[/i], rather than rule, for the majority of people who own bass guitars. Just as being a professional sportsperson is the exception for someone who owns a football, or a bicycle, or a set of golf clubs. Only a minority of people choose - and succeed - in making careers out of such things. The different between “a boys night out” and “being in a band”? You seem to define this based on whether the musicians are earning their crust from playing music (and so need to play frequently); whereas I think most people would more simply define a “band” as being a bunch of people playing music, period. Other than that, I’m not sure what question is being asked here. Is being a professional musician better than not being one? Too many variables for that to have any kind of sensible answer: not least how much money you want (or need) to earn and where music sits in your list of life’s priorities, especially when measured against family. The only distinction to be made here is that some musicians are full time; other are part-time; others still are purely hobbyists. All are musicians. Still... an interesting thread!

[size=4][quote name='the boy' timestamp='1449065546' post='2920494']Slow down guys.[/quote][/size] [font=Helvetica][size=3] [size=4]That is actually quite slow for those two. They run on ‘hummingbird time’, or some such [/size][/size][/font] [font=Helvetica][size=3] [size=4]I’ve got a week’s leave before Christmas during which I hope to get mine down. I’ll probably try my hand at the old piano we acquired this year, which has been woefully under-used and is now probably in need of tuning. That’ll be my excuse when it sounds cack, anyway.[/size][/size][/font]

Just bought some hard-to-find strings from them. Great service! Friendly and efficient

True. Hardware definitely takes the strain off your computer's CPU. If you're running a newish computer however (which I'm not!), then it becomes much less of an issue. The snag with software is more around longevity in my opinion. Will your DAW of choice still be supported in future? There was certainly a lot of hullabaloo when Logic switched to being Mac-only, after being bought by Apple. I suppose that applies to any software, but it can be an issue if you've invested substantially in platform-specific plug-ins, only to discover that your DAW of choice is no longer viable. I've personally been using Reason on and off since 2000 and I can still open the files I created using Reason version 1 (not that I'd want to... my production skills were even worse back then!). So software redundancy has never been an issue I've encountered. Yet

For anyone interested... Propellerhead are currently offering Reason (my own DAW of choice) bundled with [color=#545454][font=arial, sans-serif][size=1]€[/size][/font][/color]500 worth of plug-ins. https://shop.propellerheads.se/product/reason-8/ A good deal if you're in the market for a new DAW

[quote name='Leonard Smalls' timestamp='1448973369' post='2919667'] That's my new inspiration! Xenophilic funk...[/quote] [quote name='Zenitram' timestamp='1448973787' post='2919673'] The best funk is totes xenophilic.[/quote]

[color=#800000][b]December's challenge is now on...[/b][/color] [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/274216-december-composition-challenge-get-writing/"][b][size=5]Let's get ready to ruuuuummmble![/size][/b][/url]

Final one of the year! A huge thanks to everyone who's taken part, voted, Tweeted, etc, throughout 2015. I love you all, deeply I didn't expect to win last month so was a tad flummoxed by the choice of image. It's been such a tumultuous year; it didn't seem appropriate to end on something too flippant or jovial (despite the festive season), so I opted for something a bit more contemplative - a reminder that we're all just sat on a big rock hurtling through space, despite our differences. Ok. Now get to it! Chop, chop.

[b][color=#800000][size=5]December's Composition Challenge is now underway[/size][/color][/b] [size=5]Here’s the image for your inspiration…[/size] [size=5]Here are the rules ’n’ stuff…[/size] By entering the competition you agree to the [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?app=forums&module=extras&section=boardrules"]Basschat Terms & Conditions[/url] and [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/3178-forum-guidelines/"]Forum Guidelines[/url], which are designed to help ensure the forum remains free of offensive and/or illegal behaviour and material. In a nutshell: [b]1) Please avoid any content that other forum users may find offensive[/b]. If your track contains explicit lyrics, for example, then please warn other forum users so they can choose for themselves whether to listen to it. [b]2) Please make sure you have permission to use any 3rd party sounds included in your track[/b] (ie. sounds that you have not recorded yourself, such as samples of other people's music). The owners of Basschat accept no responsibility for infringements of copyright or other forms of legal ownership, which are solely the responsibility of competition entrants. If we spot any breaches of copyright then your track will be removed from the competition. [b]3) Entries should be no more than five minutes long and written/produced during the month of the competition[/b], taking inspiration from the photo provided. No cheating! If you have any questions, just ask! [color=#800000][size=5][b]The deadline for entries is midnight on Wednesday 23rd December[/b][/size][/color] [size=3](8 days for voting this month ‘cos of Christmas. Don’t blame me. Blame Santa [/size] [size=3])[/size]

Cheers guys! Very surprised. And a close run finish. Well done to everyone; I had a hard time choosing between them all. I'll kick-start this month's challenge ASAP... [quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1448928613' post='2919396'] I'll have to reconsider my positionning concerning EDM, which I'd always considered as being one of the lesser arts; apparently there's a certain taste for it from some of today's youth. [/quote] Said not so much in the voice of John Peel as Brian Sewell

[quote name='lurksalot' timestamp='1448915931' post='2919204'] To be honest , I was going to customise the settings last time I used them , then I wasn't so sure , so I left them lone , but having done that, I thought I might try a different setting , but I didn't. [/quote]