Bilbo

Thanks, Simon. That helps.

This mastering malarky.... I have heard it said many times that good mastering can make or break etc and ha ve see the difference but what I am not clear on is what do you need to provide to the mastering studio? Is is a cd of a digital copy of the final stereo mix, an MP3, a CUbase/Pro Tools file or the full 120 tracks with all of the plug ins and what not? I have done an audio course and know what the principles of mastering are but just don't get what it is that you actually present to the people who are going to master your stuff.

Download cost me about £2 (can't remember where but itunes/amazon/emusic are the only possibilities). Its the music that matters, not the format!

DO more harm than good, I reckin...

I have bought 5 copies of Kind of Blue over the years; LP, Cassette, CD, CD with dvd and now a download (cheap as chips). INteresting thought; has it really sold 3 million copies or have 600,000 people bought it 5x like me

Got hold of a great download this week: Marcus Strickland 'Idiosyncrasies; featuring bassist Ben Williams and drummer E.J. Strickland. Not heard of Ben before but he's a monster player and has a cv that includes Terence Blanchard, Wynton Marsalis and Stefon Harris. The Strickland album includes a bizarre rendering of Portrait of Tracy on sax but is generally a really hot little recording in the vein of Branford Marsalis' Trio with Jeff Watts and Rob Hurst. Recommended.

Having felt iffy all evening at a jazz gig in Berkshire, I had to put my bass down mid-tune to run out and projectile vomit all over the toilets - sink, floor, mirrors etc (I was told I could be heard). Then, feeling like s***, had to clean it up. I then went to sleep in the van, convinced I was dying. Food poisoning (I don't drink or do drugs). Band finished without me and, to their credit, I still got paid.

Klein is a great player. I remember working out a great intro line he did on Wild Things Run Fast but I can't remember the track title (may be one of the above but I can't listen here). Also have him on a video from around that time (Refuge of the Road) but, again, can't watch the video as I no longer have a VHS player!

Uploaded Inner Urge onto Cubase last night, Mike, but not had time to try it yet (looked at the head, though. Slippery little sucker, isn't it? )

Keep the left hand wrist straight. Whatever else you do!

Whatever else it s, its yours, Johnny. Good work.

Good book I came across: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Guerilla-Home-Recording-Studio-Leonard/dp/1423454464/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1321003617&sr=8-1

+1 for piano/vibe/percussion samples. Ususally pretty useful now. I sometime do the same but by writing out the composition in Sibelius, saving it as a midi file, exporting to Cubase and then changing the VST instruments in CUbase to something more convincing (Edirol Orchestra, Halion stuff, FM8 or Massive synths etc etc) or jsut replacing the midi instrument with real guitars/bass etc.

Because of the nature of my set up, I tend to record one instrument at a time. Sometimes its drum machine first, sometimes guitar, sometimes even bass, although usually to a click. Depends what I am trying to achieve. My recordings tend to be simple sketch demos for my own compositions but I have had some success with recording whole bands (see Clandestino on my soundcloud page). My favourite recordings are live recordings of great players playing great, particularly acoustic instruments. Hours spent knobbing about with sequencers etc are, in my experience, pretty unrewarding and I prefer proper mic placement and real players anytime. I do enjoy recording solo bass though; me, a double bass and a Rode NT1-A microphone. Simple

Do the sums, he's 73 now!!

I think the secret id to understand the relationship between the notes you are playing and the beat (i.e 1,2,3,4). If you play even quarter notes, on the beat, same note, you will get a sense of whether you can play 'in time'. When you put a fill in, there is a tendency in developing players to focus your attention on the lick in its entirity and not on how it moves around the beats you already know you can play. If you know which notes of each lick land where in relation to the pulse, you can focus your attention on ensuring that you maintain the integrity of that pulse and don't destroy it with your fill. Its easier to explain this with a bass in your hand that in a straight narrative!!

And a poem by Theodore Roethke. Genius

I just found out that The Waking is based on a Keith Jarrett improvisation. Bloody marvellous!!

We all have out heads turned by the frantic playing of the Wootens, the Sheehans, the Manrings etc but, in an effort to achieve Basschat Balance, I wondered what are people's favourite slow songs. I am not using 'slow songs' in the perjorative 'last dance at the wedding/fundtion' sense. I mean what pieces of music move or excite you without the histrionics or even without a backbeat or a bass. Some of mine..... Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings. Faure's Pavanne. O Solitube by Branford Marsalis Veja Esta Cancao by David Sanchez Fool No More by Peter Green First Snow - Dave Holland Guide Vocal - Genesis Arrimate Mi Amor by Claudia Acuna Alfonsia Y El Mar also by Claudia Acuna and, new to the list, The Waking by Kurt Elling

+1 for Seconds Out but other favourites include Joni Mitchell - Shadows and Light Weather Report - 8.30 Cheap Trick - Live at the Boudakan Sammy Hagar - Loud and Clear (All Night Long in the US) Blue Oyster Cult - Soem Enchanted Evening Judas Priest - Unleashed in the East SF Jazz Collective - Horace Silver Tribute Antonio Sanchez - Live at the Jazz Standard I guess the bizarre thing is that 99% of jazz albums are by definition live anyway!

I remember the 40+ year old singer in my first (HM) band announcing to the audience at the Bristol Granary that I was a virgin. I was a typically self conscious 17 year old at the time (1980?) so didn't take it particuarly well

Yeah - I learned some stuff about recording vocals. Time well spent.

Take a Kindle....

Black Velvet was a synth bass, wasn't it?

I just play my 11 minute improvisation based on a theme from Moondance. They tend to leave after about 15 seconds.