cheddatom

I demo a lot of songs on acoustic guitar, recording them on my phone or Line6 device. More often than not when I drag the files into Cubase they will synch up with a click/drum machine track and I don't have to edit, just get the tempo of the click right. Sometimes these are 2-3 minute recordings which stay in time with a click that wasn't there when I played it. Until I played the drums I thought my timing was impeccable!!

[quote name='Doddy' timestamp='1332939983' post='1595156'] With regards to Toms point above,if the bass player is playing on the back of the beat the drummer shouldn't be slowing down.[/quote] I guess what feels "relaxed" to him feels like slowing down to me... That probably makes no sense. As a bassist, it sounds like he's playing "on the back" but as a drummer it feels like he's slowing down. Either way I think my point is that even as a drummer, it's impossible to ignore the other members of your band. If you did i'm sure it'd sound crap. Just like listening to a click influences the time keeping, so does listening to the bassist (or guitarist or whatever)

In my rock band CreepJoint I will keep time fairly well, but I do speed up and slow down in certain sections. This fits with the feel of the music and works. In another band I play drums in, the style is very much (from a rhythm POV) ska-punk verses and reggae choruses. The guitarist is always pushing the rhythm forward and the bassist is always pulling it back. My ears seem to flit between the two and i'm left with a confusing mess which inevitably leaves me slowing down as i'm concentrating too hard to try and stay in time! I think keeping time is very easy to do when you're on your own. It can be very difficult when you're playing with other musicians (in my experience) Any advice from people who find keeping time really easy would be most appreciated!

I have some experience as a drummer. I have to say that I would prefer to set the tempo but in the bands I play in the front man tends to want to shout "1 2 3 4" However, keeping that tempo constant from the start to the end is very difficult. If the bassist starts playing "on the back of the beat" (not even sure if that's the right phrase) then it can make me slow down, because I don't have a click track i'm playing very much to the "pulse" of the music, and the bassist can really change that, without necessarily intending to change tempo. Playing to a click is easy though and I'm going to try and start doing it live as well

I love the Tech 21 XXL at the moment. On the bridge pickup (jazz configuration) with a mid boost on the bass it can get very "brutal" indeed!

I'd love to see Dick Venom - I bought the CD but I know it's the live experience I really wanted. I will make the effort at some point. Our Helical Mind would be great to see but I imagine their crowds would intimidate me. Still, when i'm free I will make the effort 'cos again I love the recordings.

I have loads of them spare, PM if you need one

ahhh, cool

what's the thing that says SHOTT?

deffinitely a big mid boost for his main sound, I absolutely love it!

I've only played in originals bands and with some pretty weird bass sounds. I use compression and EQ to try and replicate the sounds I get in the studio. I think it works well because i've always been able to hear myself on stage and never been asked to turn down. Whenever i've played boomy stages it's been amazing because the kick drum really rattles your balls. I've never struggled with muddy bass sounds on big hollow stages.

get a blender loop for the ME-50 so he can use it with his bass. If you can get one with a feedback control on it too that would create hours of fun from his existing kit. Barge Concepts do them but last time I looked it seemed they'd closed?! I do have a spare one if you're interested. £50 for a blend/feedback loop, then £50 on a nice dirt pedal - sweet!

I think you can break it down into each aspect of an "act". Is the act as a whole authentic. Is the performance authentic. Is the recording authentic. Is the song authentic etc etc. If you pay to go and see someone sing and they're miming, that's not authentic, but if you know they're going to be miming, it is authentic. If you think you're listening to artist A singing on the CD but you're actually listening to artist B then the recording isn't authentic. People seem to be relating "authenticity in music" to "quality of music" - although it is subjective, I don't think many musicians would agree that Britney Spears produced a higher quality of music than Beethoven. However, in terms of authenticity, she doesn't pretend to write her own songs - what's not authentic about Britney Spears? (besides any cosmetic surgery) Or is "authenticity in music" the same as "artistic integrity"? In which case i'm not sure Britney Spears ever produced any "art" at all (in that picking a song off the shelf and singing it as instructed is not an artistic expression in my opinion).

deffinitely my own (link in sig) There are other tones I have loved in the past though: Dirk Lance from Incubus, Timmy C on Evil Empire, a lot of the tones on Muse's Origin of Symmetry, Justin Chancellor, the guy from Karnivool. Now i've managed to surpass all these and I literally have the perfect tone(s) for me.

[quote name='JakeBrownBass' timestamp='1332246304' post='1585405'] How do you take aliases then, artists that change there name for an image or marketing purposes? [/quote] I'd say an alias for a solo act is just like a band name for a band. If they have chosen the name because they think it will represent anything other than themselves or their art, then it's not authentic. So, if I call my band "total *****" because I think we're total *****, or because I feel it represents our sense of humor, or our music, or whatever, then it's authentic. If I call my band "total *****" because I think it'll get us more attention, then the name's not authentic - unless the whole point of the band is to grab as much attention as possible, in which case that would be authentic, but only if we were honest about our intentions. I was in a band called "The Premature Ejaculators". Only 3 out of 4 members suffered from the condition, but we felt it represented our band in that we always left our audience wanting more.

Well, in my opinion, you simply have to be yourself to be authentic. If an artist is dressed up to create an image which was not their design, but then dno't make it clear that this is not their own image, that's not authentic. If an artist sings someone else's music with no creative input, but they give the impression that they are creatively involved, that's not authentic. just two examples, but to me it means a sort of "honesty" so if anyone is "faking" in any way, it's not authentic.

cool. To make that tone.... line A - guitar compressor > ODB3 (low gain bass boost) > EQ (cutting above 800Hz) line B - EQ boosting high mids > Ibanez SS10 (tube screamer type) Blended about half and half, and then all of that into a Boss limiter with a bass big muff on dry mode at the end.

I got a loop logic second hand to do exactly this and it works really well! My only complaint is that my shoes are too wide to operate the switches independantly. I'll have to find something slimmer to wear for gigs.

I know it's arrogant but I love my tone at the end of this song [url="http://soundcloud.com/kilta/the-optimist"]http://soundcloud.com/kilta/the-optimist[/url]

I really didn't like the GT-6B, I just couldn't get used to it at all. I've not tried the Korg. Have you looked at the newer Zoom units? I find these more intuitive.

[quote name='JakeBrownBass' timestamp='1331715780' post='1577447'] I used to have tempo changes in my originals band. Because they were there naturally before we started using sampling we worked out the changes. If its an actual tempo change as appose to speeding up in the chorus because your excited it shouldn't be an issue with a bit of practice. [/quote] yeh i'm sure you can work it out with a sequenced tempo track, I've never tried, we just don't bother with a click for some songs! Pretty lazy I suppose

Having played a lot of drums to click - yeh, you can "push and pull", but that's not the same as tempo changes which can really contribute to the "feeling" of a song.

I almost always use a dirty tone and (if I do say so myself) never have problems cutting through guitars. I have no problem using tweeters too, as long as I have a graphic EQ. You probably do want a clean blend or a dirt pedal with one built in.

I use my BBM on dry mode and I don't get the volume jump others talk about, but i do have the volume set quite low..?

I think if you're loud enough the scoop can work for you, especially for a clanky pick tone.