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[quote name='lemmywinks' post='1179253' date='Mar 28 2011, 11:02 AM']As long as you have decent monitoring then it's an ideal situation. Nothing to carry! If your monitors are just for vocals then you won't be able to hear yourself. Amps aren't actually needed nowadays, we just like 'em![/quote] Sacriledge! Blasphemy!! Be gone foul spirit!!!!!

[quote name='chris_b' post='1179212' date='Mar 28 2011, 10:23 AM']So if a bass note has to rely on radiation surely it'll take longer to get around to the front where the audience is and be "out of phase" with the rest of the note, which came out of the front of the cab?[/quote] All sound relies upon radiation from a source....

Low frequencis radiate more evenl;y from their source, the lower the frequency the more even that is. Bass frequncies radiate evenly in all directions regardless of where the ports are, ALL bass cabs can make use of this by placing the cab with in a couple of feet of the back wall (ideally right back against it) in a venue. By the same token if you take that back wall away ALL bass cabs suffer from a corresponding 3dB drop in bass going forwards to the audience. With careful placement in the right room you can make tiny amps do incredible things, Plux did a gig with a pretty loud drummer with a Nemesis D8 practice amp once, by placing it on the floor in the corner of the room, which had a curved underside to a balcony above it, I think we got a bout 7dB of additional free volume from all the 'free' energy being bounced towards the audience - the amp was pushed to its limit, but outperformed anything you would expect it to by a huge margin.

If you DI a high gain signal you'll find a massive amount of high frequency fizzy nastiness. If you listen to a cab's paper cones they cant get up that high and so act as a nice filter removing the poop. Fact is you're getting more gain because you are hitting harder, however compressing the signal (and I do love my comrpession) before the gain stage will just remove that expressiveness so I wouldnt recommend it before the amp. Instead get a cheap decent dynamic mic (Senn E835 is defintely up to the task) and mic the cab. Set up your DI, mic the cab as follows:- 1. mic 1" from the cone angled at 45 degrees to the axis of the cone pointing at the center of the cone. 2. Set recording levels for the mic and the DI signa.l 3. Group the two signals to one channel so you can monitor the combined level 4. play an open string and move the mic slowly back and forth watching the level on the group, when it is at its highest the two signals are in phase. 5. Check the mic'ed signal sounds good, but only worry about the top end, if it doesnt capture the big bottom dont worry, its the grind you are interested in. When mixing take these two signals, filter them and group them together. When filtering you want a low pass filter on the DI set to around 150 Hz and a High pass filter on the mic set to the same frequency. Dont be afraid to eq the seperate channels a little. You can apply compression to the bottom end (DI channel) to keep it super tight and consistent as the top end provides all the dynamics, the overdrive circuit will compress the top end a little anyway. Treat the combined signal as a single sound, applying overall eq and compression as necessary to sit it in the mix right. Sit back and bask in the glory of your perfectly tracked and mix bass part. Yes its a little more work, but it provides a lot more control, and a massively improved final result.

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='1175997' date='Mar 25 2011, 02:57 PM'] [/quote] Very very nice indeed!

I'll second the dont use a drum mic call above - its a bad idea, they tend to suck mids for a start, since you have to eq that mid back into the bass. I would also put a huge +1 on the Heil PR40, it is a sublime mic, designed for broadcast vocal, very good frequency plot, goes a lot higher and deeper than most dynamics do. Strangely it does in fact make a great kick mic too, you eq your own mid cut into it rather than relying on a built in one. In this case it can be ok to use the same mic for a bass cab and a kick since the frequency response of this mic is so much flatter than a kick mic. Oh and if you record vocals it sounds lovely on a pretty wide range of voices, and no one but no one is going to overload this mic with their voice... Ive also got pretty good results (mixed with a DI) with a 57, 58, Senn e835, and particularly good results with a [url="http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/aug03/articles/blueball.htm"]blueball[/url]

When I need studio porn I go here:- [url="http://www.gearslutz.com/board/photo-diaries-recording-studio-construction-projects/161575-manifold-recording-studio-construction-thread.html"]thread 1[/url] [url="http://www.gearslutz.com/board/photo-diaries-recording-studio-construction-projects/341598-bridge-recording-studio-build.html"]thread 2[/url] [url="http://www.gearslutz.com/board/photo-diaries-recording-studio-construction-projects/340501-circle-studios-birmingham-studio-build-refurb.html"]thread 3[/url] I find my needs completely covered by these alone, I am left literally weak at the knees by each of them!

Its a tool for an albeit highly subjective job. I need a tool I can rely on, that does what it should do well. Since I got my rig I have had absolutely no GAS for more. Then again since I got my 5 string I've only really had GAS for a similar fretless bass. Though having no spare funds at all has meant its been pretty much quelled for the forseeable...

[quote name='MuckedUpFunkies' post='1172388' date='Mar 22 2011, 06:13 PM']I still think spare volume is needed. Its not the amps problem, its the guitarist using it =L[/quote] No you misunderstand, a guitarist will have enough spare volume in a pub with a 112 or 212 easily for rock or blues. Spare volume is all well and good, but I guarantee that a guitarist is like Bad Spidey, give him great power and he will ignore the responsibility that goes with it....

[quote name='MuckedUpFunkies' post='1172371' date='Mar 22 2011, 05:55 PM']I completely disagree. Spare Volume is a MUST have for me even in the smallest venue. Never know when you may need to fiddle! =L[/quote] Errr, I was referring to the aforementioned Marshal 4x12 guitarist's half stack. This is a device known for causing large scale damage to the hearing of anyone unlucky enough to be within 20 yards. It is definitely overkill for a pub, though not for a [b]large[/b] stage in a very big venue, where you will find them being used to look good, rather than sound great. Not talking about bass rigs, where you need to move a lot more air (again with the fletcher munsen curves). A half stack bass rig will be needed in a big pub if you have no PA support for it. A 112 50watt guitar combo will actually do perfectly well in even a large pub, I've had the pleasure of working in a band that used a Cornford 12 watt 112 combo and those are easily loud enough for a blues band in a pub. Better yet if you need more guitar you can mic it and put a bit in the FOH, the guitarist will still hear himself and you actually have some control over the FOH sound.

[quote name='BottomE' post='1171113' date='Mar 21 2011, 07:08 PM']I did try a compressor last night and was, well, left thinking whats it all about. In some ways i found it a bit of an impairment when i wanted to put some natural emphasis in certain passages of the song i was working with. All the compressors i have tried built into amps have been switched off after a minute due to IMO a negative impact on the sound. I am interested in trying a chorus though. Wondered what that might do for someone playing mainly old style funk and soul? And lastly - i probably DO use effects as the filters on the Little Mark are very powerful and i love 'em.[/quote] Compression requires knowledge of how it works and what it can and should do for you to use it well. If you look through my old posts you're bound to run into my Compression 101 which I jotted down for someone. Personally I think the same can be said for most effects, in order to get the most out of them you really do need to understand what it is they are doing, but compression is the trickiest as its so hard to really hear what is going on, and if you can hear it its doing too much so you think its stopping you being dynamic. All 1 knob/button built in compressors should be detroyed at once. Sweeping statement, but its true, they are all utterly useless due to the huge compromises for average styled bassists playing an average bass in an average way, or being a very hard and nasty limiter under the guise of a compressor. Either way do yourself a favour and just dont go there... Old style funk and soul is full of effects on the bass, from nice heavily overdriving valve stages, through all sorts of filters, phasers, choruses, overdrives, distortions, whatever you want to get the funk out:-

I gave up looking for people for a funk band, in Brighton of all places. You'd think there may be people looking to do a funk band in a place where there really is a market for funk (well there was a huge market for it 10 years ago anyway), but you would be wrong, its all rock, metal and punk. Pretty disappointing....

I used to help out with sound at the local music service when they did their shows for the parents at the end of a term. They had a guitar lesson with something like 18 guitars in. Each young dude had his 'axe' and a little marshal 112 2 channel amp. They would all turn up and crank their amp settings (the treble goes to 11 man, it must be better!) The guitar teacher would tell them that it wasnt their fault, you couldnt make these amps sound good. It was hellish. Plux used to go along to play bass for them (poor chap!) Anyway when I got involved I asked if they would mind me setting up the amps, said teacher said fine, but they will all sound rubbish whatever you do, they are nasty marshals.... I set them one at a time, from flat. I asked each guitarist to select their favourite pickup combination then back the volume off to two thirds. I set a hint of drive, just breaking up really, turned the treble down on most, and the mids up a bit, left the abss flat or even slightly backed off. Each 'dude' had a solo in turn (yup 18 guitar solos one after another - not pretty), where they would bring their volume on the guitar up to full, after their solo they just took it back down. Each amp actually sounded pretty nice like this solo'ed, worked great with the bass and drums and poked over the top for each solo. The combination of 18 amps running like this was a fantastic sound, really fat, especially for the Stones track they covered. It was loud too, but controlled. Oh and this took about 5 minutes for the entire group of 18 guitars, I wasnt aiming for rocket science at all! The teacher ended up chaging his opinion of Marshal amps completely.

Guitarists generally and genuinely believe that guitar sounds best when everything is dimed. Whilst a noble thought it is utter tosh. Fletcher Munsen curves dicatate that as the volume gets greater the sound that was super in the doudouir is way too bassy and trebly at the gig. A half stack is total overkill for a pub gig, even a 212 is a lot more than really required, and will suffer from beaming and phase cancellation. First thing is to see if you cant tune the drums better. Really, if you tune them really well they will be immensely loud in a small space, but thats fine, I've never heard a band in a pub with unmiced drums that really were too loud. Honestly. The rest of the band do need to work as a team to not degenerate into a volume war though. You will be causing the same issues with your eq too. Flatten your eq completely. Get the drums going and turn up the bass to war volume to match. Check you can actually hear the kick drum against you out in the room - now go and turn down until you can. Thats right, you were almost certainly too loud for the kick. Now tweak the eq (tweak is the operative word) to go in the direction of 'your' sound. Bring up the rhythm guitar rig (flat eq!), dont let them touch their eq, you do it, you want lower mids not treble and bass, a hint of treble presence will do, and some low mid (for guitar) for body. Remember you need a whole for the lead guitar, carve it out of the rhythm guitar. It need not sound like anything but awful on its own, it isnt going to be heard on its own after all. Bring up the lead guitar, this needs to be treated carefully to slot into the space you cut out of the rhythm guitar, and again not get into your area, a bit more treble, and a bit of bass can be a good thing, but not enough bass to hurt your sound. The lead gutarist also needs to understand that if they are working as a second rhythm guitar under the vocals they need to lose some presence AND some volume. Check you can really hear the snare, the rhythm and the lead and the bass as seperate entities, if the guitars both chug a rhythm on an E chord you should clearly hear the snare and the kick, if you join in then you should still hear the kick and snare. People always bang on about how loud they need to be because of the drummer, but in my experience, even a loud rock drummer doesnt compete with a modern bass rig without being mic'ed too. They never really competed with a half stack at all. In other words you arent competing with him, you are probably drowning him out. This isn't obvious at all in a small rehearsal room, but put the kit in a bigger pub venue and its easy to completely swamp the kick with bass or guitar. Now properly eq'ed a vocal should slide right over the top of all of this, and with a decent graphic on a feed t oa decent monitor you should be able to avoid any feedback.

I paid for Reaper too, its superb. It will run on Mac or Windows and is exceptional value for money. Looks fine for a lappie btw.....

[quote name='thebrig' post='1164985' date='Mar 16 2011, 08:57 PM']I've just seen the [b]Alesis MultiMix16 USB 2.0 Analogue Mixer & Audio Interface[/b] [url="http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/aug08/articles/alesisMultimixUSB16.htm"]http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/aug08/arti...ltimixUSB16.htm[/url] Anyone have any thoughts on it? Cheers.[/quote] Why would they not have insert points on the channels???? That is insane...

[quote name='TomKent' post='1165861' date='Mar 17 2011, 03:14 PM']I think the 10k rule is more of showing your dedication to music, however having done 10,000 hours.. yeah you do get substantially better (however, practicing 8 hours a day.. 7 days a week.. did help lots).[/quote] No the 10K rule was determined by a bunch of people who did a lot of research into truly virtuosic performers, apparently on average they all put in apporximately 10,000 hours of practice before achieving the point in their career where they were said to be virtuosic. IIRC they were all classical performers, although I may well be wrong. Its nothing to do with showing your dedication, it is about the literal amount of time you have to spend practicing in all to go from never touched an instrument to a virtuoso.

My understanding of the 10000 hour figure (Having not yet read the article by the OP) is that that is the amount of practice time required to become a virtuoso performer, not the amount of time required to become a functioning pro quality musician. There is a very big difference!

I just get broken links when I try and view the articlew - running firefox 3.6.8

Really well played slap bass absolutely rules. Badly played slap bass absolutely sucks. For slap read any technique, for bass read any instrument (believe me, I have kids, and recorder and violin can make bad slap bass sound heavenly!). In short then, bad musicianship sucks, good musicianship rules. Aside from this you may have a prediliction for certain genres that may or may not have certain instruments played with certain techniques that you dont like the sound of particularly (I loathe that horrible rhodesy sound you get on fusak, just makes me puke), or just certain eras may have certain aspects of their produciton that you do or do not like (Phil Collins' sickening gated reverb for instance ). Doesn't the generalism that you hate all slap bass suggest that you a particularly close minded individual though? I love it when its done well, hate it when its done badly. Anyone saying there wasnt much slapping going on at the last SE bash wasn't in the room with me then - fair soiled me keks slapping away like a loon, if you didnt enjoy it, sorry, if you did, great, I had a lovely time though

He we go again If it has to be a pedal:- Markbass Compressore Joe Meek FloorQ If its in a rack then the usual subjects are:- dbx 160a Focusrite Compounder Transparent levelling is all about settings, and if you dont have all the comtrols and the meters to set up the device properly then you are on a hiding to nothing....

It better be the be all and end of of 2nd hand consoles for that much of a road trip! BTW cheers for the heads up (on GS) about the Red5 kick mic being only £35 at the moment, just got mine delivered, superb for the cash, incredible really!

[url="http://www.bassdirect.co.uk/bass_guitar_specialists/Roscoe_Century_Standard_Gallery.html"]Roscoe Century Std?[/url] very very light basses, lots of cash though....

The guitar tone is pretty nasty, I can hear what the guitarist is going for but its a pretty plasticy synthy version IMO. To really nail this kind of immense chugg/grind sound have a search for Slipperman's guide to tracking heavy guitars, he puts it pretty well IMO. Be prepared to get it very very loud to achieve it though. More importantly you seem to have fallen into a bit of a classic trap of everything front and center, everything as loud as possible. It means you have had to bring the vocal up a lot to make it clear, at the expense of the energy of the entire track really. If you can get the rhythm guitar double tracked and hard panned left and right then you will open up the middle for the vocal, which can then go a bit further back in the mix. Carving space in the stereo field is as important as frequncy mixing IMO... I think the drums could have more impact, they dont need to be louder so much as poke their nose through a bit more and have more life. Maybe a bit of very very heavy parallel compression to bring out the attack and weight of the shells? Also I'd defintely duck the bass off the kick (just by a dB or two) and possibly even the rhythm guitar of the snare (just the immediate transient of the snare) to allow the kit to really punch through. Something sounds like it may be distorting a bit when it shouldnt be to my ear as well, whether that is an overdriven preamp on tracking or something else I cant tell... Thats about it really. Its pretty good though, great starting point for fettling IMO!

Anything upto 8K, wasnt running flat out or even being pushed, but sounds totally immense....