Skol303

[i]Oooh[/i] it's a close one! [size=5][color=#800000][b]Don't forget that voting closes at midnight.[/b][/color][/size] Well done to all entrants - sterling stuff! - and a big thanks to everyone who's voted thus far. Whoever scoops the win, please message me with your choice of photo and I'll kick-start October's thread sometime tomorrow. Cheers

[quote name='FuNkShUi' timestamp='1443537503' post='2875628'] Good work people. Would love to participate, but don't have the free time. Sorry i needed the reminder, but happy i got here eventually Made my vote [/quote] Thanks for the support! You are a gentleman and a scholar and, well... you get the idea

[quote name='Truckstop' timestamp='1443532955' post='2875590'] Quality of the entries is very high this month, it's been difficult! [/quote] Cheers and thanks for voting! You're a good 'un

[size=5][b]A quick and impassioned plea for votes in this month’s Composition Competition![/b][/size] [i]…yeah, I know we said that we’d stop pestering y’all about this, but we lied.[/i] You get THREE votes in total, all for free (subsequent votes are charged at £10 each, PM me for details). Go on, have a dabble. You might even enjoy it! [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/270103-september-composition-challenge-voting/page__pid__2875556#entry2875556"][size=5]CLICK HERE FOR UNADULTERATED JOY[/size][/url] Each vote will make a fellow bassist gormlessly happy. Think on that. Here’s a bunch of dumb animated giffs to hammer the message home…

I haven't yet voted, so that's one more to come! But it does seem like a particularly slow month, voting wise. I appreciate that some members voiced objection to being 'nagged/tricked' into stumbling across the voting thread... but what the heck, I'm going to post a 'reminder' in General Discussion and try drumming up some support. It was only two or three people who objected last time [i](one of whom has since, err, departed to another forum)[/i] so I'm sure it won't cause too much upset just this once (if it does, I'll just say that Dad made me do it ).

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1443511441' post='2875286'] Having a hub makes little difference because all the devices on the hub are still all on the same bus. [/quote] I never knew that...! I currently have my audio interface linked to my 'puter (Mac) using a hub, to which other devices are connected (MIDI keyboard; portable hard drive). To date I've yet to encounter any latency issues when recording - nothing noticeable anyway - but this seems like good reason to connect the interface using a dedicated USB port, rather than via the hub. Enlightened, I shall now re-wire my wires

[quote name='lowdown' timestamp='1443263558' post='2873479'] A great deal on at the moment over at 'Spitfire Audio' for the Albion Library. [/quote] Cheers for the heads up! I'm sorely tempted by this... hmmm.

Hi G, I've personally had experience with the Tascam US144-mkII and the Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 (which I bought to replace the Tascam when I changed my monitors, as I needed TSR cable outs). Both were/are really good value for money in my opinion. You should be able to pick up the Tascam within your budget or under. The Focusrite is otherwise worth saving a few pennies for. Hope that helps!

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1443402445' post='2874422'] Is the implication that "made in China" is something to be avoided? Do we worry about where our jeans and trainers are made? [/quote] Exactly. Or our Apple products... and 99% of our computer devices, for that matter.

"Thinking of a master plan, 'cos ain't nothing but sweat inside my hand"

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1443126017' post='2872537'] It is only letting us vote for one, Paul. Something is wrong with the whatnot. [/quote] Doh! Cheers Rob; now fixed.

[quote name='the boy' timestamp='1443084344' post='2871986'] ahem..... voting thread??? [/quote] Yes... sorry.!.. I've been distracted by work today. Thread is now up: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/270103-september-composition-challenge-voting/"][size=5][b]GO, GO, GO[/b][/size][/url]

[color=#800000][size=5][b]Voting has now started on September’s Composition Challenge![/b][/size][/color] [size=4]Here's the inspiration for this month's music, chosen by our previous winner [b]lurksalot[/b]…[/size] …and here are the compositions. [size=5]Please listen to each track and vote for your top [color=#800000][b]THREE[/b][/color] favourites:[/size] [b]Dad3353[/b] [url="http://soundcloud.com/dad3353/every-seventh-wave"]‘Every Seventh Wave…’[/url] [b]the boy[/b] [url="http://soundcloud.com/theboysings/sunny-morning-1"]‘Sunny Morning (Gave No Warning)’[/url] [b]xgsjx[/b] [url="http://soundcloud.com/xgsjx/nautical-disco-funk"]‘Nautical Disco Funk’[/url] [b]Bilbo[/b] [url="http://soundcloud.com/robert-palmer-1/the-giving-sea"]‘The Giving Sea’[/url] [b]fingers211[/b] [url="http://soundcloud.com/nigel-jewell/wave-me-goodbye"]‘Wave Me Goodbye’[/url] [b]lurksalot[/b] [url="http://soundcloud.com/lurksalot/plain-sailing"]‘Plain Sailing’[/url] [b]Leonard Smalls[/b] [url="http://soundcloud.com/dredd-and-the-badass-weed/first-day-of-september"]‘First Day Of September’[/url] [b]Skol303[/b] [url="http://soundcloud.com/skollob/bombora"]‘Bombora’[/url] [color=#800000][size=5][b]Voting ends at midnight on Wednesday 30th September.[/b][/size][/color]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1442924998' post='2870560'] But big standing waves are a time domain problem - they manifest differently in different parts of the room. Using a frequency domain solution (EQ) to try and cure them is never going to be truly effective. [/quote] Very true. But other than treating the room or drastically shifting the PA/back line around, EQ is pretty much all you have to try and tackle it in 99% of small clubs and pubs.

[size=4]I’m done. Very little time to spend on my composition this month… I’ve just finished this off during my lunch break at work. [i]Yeah I know, excuses, excuses![/i][/size] [size=4]http://soundcloud.com/skollob/bombora[/size] [size=4]I imagine that most of you will probably hate it. A caustic, noisy and annoyingly repetitive little number in the vein of ‘Phat Planet’ by Leftfield. I kept on hearing that particular track when I looked at the image (it was famously used on the Guinness commercial: ‘Surfer’); that and the [i]“derr-duh… derr-duh”[/i] motif of the film Jaws. So with those themes stuck in my head, combined with little time for imagination, I ended up with a sort of cover version.[/size] [size=4]If anyone wants the dots or tabs, just let me know! [/size] [size=4]PS: I’m going to put my TB-303 synth emulator away for a while now… I’ve been over-using it in these challenges recently. It’s going to be melodic folk all the way for me now. Promise.[/size] [size=5][color=#800000][b]Don’t forget that the deadline for entries is tomorrow at midnight.[/b][/color][/size] Cheers. And as always, well done to all the entrants!

Mixing is all about compromise and in my [i](albeit limited)[/i] experience, mixing bass is one of the more tricky balancing acts to get right A lot of it depends on the room you're playing in. It's very easy to end up with gigantic 'standing waves' that can result in huge build-ups of muddy bass that can easily swamp the rest of the mix. Sometimes these can be tamed with a little surgical EQ'ing; other times you need to break out the chainsaw and carve big chunks out of the bass frequencies to get anywhere near a decent sound (especially if the room isn't set up for live music, which is typical of most local pubs). So it's not always the sound guy/girl's fault... more often than not you're both fighting the same common 'enemy' - that being a crappy room.

[quote name='EliasMooseblaster' timestamp='1442429316' post='2866946'] Hawkwind has been fronted by one Dave Badger. [/quote] There's also Mike Badger, co-founder and former guitarist of [i]The La's[/i], who is coincidentally a friend of mine

Love it! ...especially the badger's expression: [i]"Oh for goodness sake! *sigh*"[/i]

Good stuff already! Well done guys. My own effort is going to be stunted to say the least this month. My excuse is that I’m busy kick-starting another project with Mike Flynn of this parish (aka ‘urb’) working with singer Paula Rae Gibson. A sort of jazz-tinged electronica EP/album. Shades of Lamb, Portishead and Massive Attack so far, but it’s very early days… I’ll keep y’all posted as it develops. In other news, the album I’ve been working on with Mike (and Basschat’s 51m0n) is now finished, printed and due to arrive in my letterbox today! Very exciting. Ten tracks in total of a jazzy/funky/Latin flavour. It’ll be commercially available in due course for anyone interested. So yeah. Great to be busy, but very little time left for my own endeavours at the moment. But no complaints

And we complain as musicians about the triumph of style over substance in music Facepalm aside, I’d say it all depends on the context of the band as a whole. If the “pretty lass with potential” is going to be fronting a bunch of muffin-topped 40-somethings (hello readers!), then no amount of beauty is going to make up for the downwards gravitational pull of what will otherwise be facing punters on stage. A middle-aged ‘dad band’ will always look like a middle-aged ‘dad band’. If your mate is serious about wanting to crack the corporate scene, then he’d be advised to focus on hiring someone who is (or capable of seeming like) a professional singer, worthy of spending a corporate fee on. Issues of prettiness and physique are - albeit sadly - mostly confined to the younger end of the market. Image is [i]always[/i] important, of course, but less so as the audience ages; by which time the content of the performance is what tends to count about all else. All sweeping generalisations. But then so is casual sexism.

[quote name='alibabu' timestamp='1441794602' post='2861768'] I have not used Cubase since the end of the last century, but at least in Logic, you can set the speed to a really slow pace when recording a hard part, and then it will be played back in the speed you select for the project. If this is not possible in Cubase, maybe you could record the part in half speed (or any fraction of the speed you want) in something like Audacity, and then increase the speed of the section before importing it back into Cubase. [/quote] This can work... but it tends to affect the pitch when sped up to the correct tempo, sometimes very noticeably. Worth a try though! There are some MIDI-based VSTs that emulate guitars fairly convincingly, but they tend to cost. Here's an example: http://www.musicradar.com/reviews/guitars/rob-papen-rg-178486

Right... I'm back from the depths of sunny Wales! [i](I even managed to get sun-burnt. In September. Quite amazing, really. Good ol' global warming, eh?).[/i] Well done to Lurks on last month's win! Great track. And a good choice of image for September; very dramatic. I like it Also, well done to everyone else who took part last month. A fine crop, as per usual. Now to get our chops around this month's challenge. Usual by-laws apply: no bagpipes; and newly added: no lyrics about powdered animal penises. Well, not until after tea time. Bleurg!

Well done Lurks! Great job mate and well deserved

Just like this thread, their legacy will go on and on and on and on and on and on and on...