BigRedX

One of the advantages of being in a band that doesn't have a proper guitarist and is mostly keyboards driven. I get the sound engineer to EQ the Bass VI so that it is sufficiently bright when I'm playing "guitar" parts on it and then it sounds right for the Peter Hook-style bass parts too.

So long as both bands aren't expecting to be out gigging every Friday and Saturday night you should be fine.

Funny how these bands are even on the bill.

I assume then that the rest of the band will be playing to you? Set the tempo as part of the patch and the tremolo to 1/8 notes. Make sure that you can all keep in sync. There's nothing worse than a sequencer part that sounds out of time.

Unless you are lucky and hit upon a combination that suits your playing style you are unlikely to be able to get an envelope to match a sequenced synth. I use a chopped up sound on the chorus of one song which is done live using distortion into the Tremolo with a falling sawtooth wave. However for recording it has been completely replaced with the Step FX in Logic which gives me a lot more control over the envelopes. The problem with trying to do this with Tremolo is that the waveform you really need isn't there. The square wave is to abrupt a cut off and the falling sawtooth wave doesn't have a sustain potion. Having said that the song you linked to appears to be slower than ours so you might get there by playing with the duty cycle of the tremolo waveform and hope there's a sweet spot that does what you want. Of course there's also the issue of synchronisation. I use MIDI clock from the computer that is our drummer and second synth player to keep the Helix in sync with the backing which works on our song, but I have had problems in the past with songs with odd bar and beat counts where using something like tremolo can end up 180° out of sync which is the last thing you want. What is really needed is a MIDI-controlled Filter and gate with full ADSR envelopes for each. I've put a request in on the Line6 IdeaScale but it needs more votes...

Duran Duran and Kraftwerk are not incompatible. I saw both within a couple of months of each other in 1981.

Thank you for all the suggestions. However, based on multiple recommendations on other fora, we're going to try Tim Debney at Fluid. He appears to have done lots of tracks we like.

That's why you also need to be a singer or songwriter or producer.

Have you used him yourself? If so could you post a link to a track of yours that he has mastered?

Thanks!

Looking for recommendations for someone to master our next single for CD and download. Genre is post-punk/goth/synth pop. Looking for someone sympathetic to the style of music.

IIRC on the Hagstrom/Futurama two of the switches were on/off for each pickup and other two introduced different levels of treble cut. With those Dimarzio(?) pickups it could be anything.

Haven't we already done this somewhere else on the forums? IME what you choose to play is as important as any change in sound. And sometimes you don't need to "fill out" the sound. Live bands tend to sound better with less going on. If necessary work on your harmony vocals.

I don't think that neck was originally on that body - look how much space there is in the neck pocket. The body and and bridge/tail-piece have a distinct Hagstrom/Futurama vibe, and would have had a similar inverted jack socket.

Surely this is a problem with every bass manufacturer that isn't Fender, Gibson or Rickenbacker. Do something that is too similar to the above and everyone says why do we need yet another copy of... and anything too radical and most musicians hate them.

Vintage Init?

Generally the proximity effect is more important than direct coupling when it comes to the sound of a cab and castors don't come anywhere close to lifting the cab far enough off the ground to break that.

I don't know about the 4-string version, but my 5-string MiK Warwick Star Bass II had similar neck specs to my favourite 5-string basses.

Craig Adams was playing a 5-string Schecter when he was part of Spear of Destiny.

Eastwood do a 4-string version of their Hooky Pro Bass with 24 frets. Don't know about the string spacing but you could always ask them.

It's probably already been taken...

Next Hurtsfall gig is at The Arches in Coventry on Friday 7th March:

I'm sure for the band it probably sounded great on stage or in the IEMs. There is also the possibility that if they are mid-way through their tour and they agree with you, imagine how terrible the sound engineer can make them sound if he really tried. And if it's just one or two punters you can be easy to ignore and brush off. It's going to need a concentrated response by lots of fans to make a difference.

Why? If you really feel strongly about it you should be naming and shaming the idiot behind the mixing desk at these gigs. I don't go to very big gigs, mostly because the bands I like never get to be that popular, so I haven't really come across this phenomenon. Also the sorts of bands I go and see these days (post-punk/goth/electronic) tend to have a sound where the bass needs to be distinct. However should I have the misfortune to attend such an event I would have no hesitation in taking a photo of the sound engineer and posting it across the social media for the band/promotor/PA hire company and letting them know exactly what I thought of their "skills". IMO the sound at these gigs tends to be like it is because insufficient people complain.

Thanks. IME there are a number of things that go together to make good live band photos: A good photographer - which should go without saying. An interesting and appropriately lit stage space. Ideally the rest of the venue should be relatively dark compared with the area occupied by the performers Interesting looking band/artists. IMO there is no point getting up on stage to perform if you are not also going to give the audience something entertaining to watch. Otherwise you may as well stick to the recording studio. For me, live performance is as much about the visuals as it is about the music. When all those things come together the results are usually rewarding. Of course I only post the photos I think look good. There are probably an equal number of terrible phone shots of the band looking uninteresting also posted on Social Media. I just choose not to share those.