BigRedX

IME having just about any kind of job (or a family for that matter) is almost totally incompatible with being in a band that has any hopes of success. If you can't drop everything to do that last minute gig then you put the band at a disadvantage compared with all those are prepared to make these "sacrifices". Perhaps there will be time for a family once you are established as a musician. You also need to be one of the band's songwriters or at least have negotiated a share of the songwriting royalties in order to still have some money coming in after the band is over. The only time I have been able to put in something approaching the time and effort that is required to be more than just a weekend warrior, was in the 80s when I was unemployed, and more recently now I am self-employed and can be more flexible about how I allocate my time.

Like the P-Bass and the Ampeg stack, SM58s are popular because they were good for what they did at a time when there was relatively little competition.

I get recognised quite a bit, but that's partly because I seem to be quite distinctive looking and partly because I've been gigging for almost 45 years now. Most of the time it's more of a "I know you from somewhere" and then I have to list all the bands I've been in before they recognise a name they know. However I did get specifically recognised as a Terrortone when I was at the HIM/Fields Of The Nephilim gig in London about 10 years ago.

Thanks! In Isolation have a London gig in December. Nothing down south for Hurtsfall at the moment, because as we all know it's "Goth Up North".

These are easily achievable if your are prepared to spend the appropriate time and effort required and maybe throw a bit of money at it. Apart from the billboard thing I've managed all of them. However, from recent experience unless you are supporting someone well-known a tour with mid-week dates is pretty pointless these days. All but the biggest bands tend to concentrate on weekend gigs with the occasional Thursday or Sunday for the right venue or event. My last "tour" (earlier this year) was 7 gigs over three consecutive weekends (including one Thursday).

Making a living out of music is hard work just like any other job. It appears there are still too many people who thinks it's like the lyrics to "Money For Nothing".

I'm in a band. That's reason enough for me.

Very much this. Although I have a separate Helix Preset for every song often with multiple Snapshots, a lot of the time I'm using the same set of modules in the same order just with small tweaks to the EQ, drive and volume to get the bass to sit in the correct place in the mix as the guitar, synth and drum sounds change around it.

We were having this very conversation while packing up after rehearsal last night. Our synth player said it would be hearing one of our songs unexpectedly on the radio or as background music to a TV programme.

I have a Helix which is a similar device. TBH I'm not that much interested in the authenticity of the amp/cab models because firstly I don't know what the originals sound like, and secondly that's not what I'm after for my personal sounds. Most of the time when I add a bass amp and cab to the signal chain it sounds less good IMO, so I've given up and use EQ and drive modules instead. I have a couple of patches with a bass amp in the signal path, but that has been chosen primarily because the distortion sound it produces works perfectly for the song rather than anything good about the actual amp sound itself. I also use a Roland Jazz Chorus sim for some sounds- some that in real life would be totally unsuitable for bass guitar at gigging volumes, but again I like the sound it produces. And that for me is the great thing about modelling devices, you're not going to break anything by putting low frequencies through it. The worst that can happen is that you won't like the sound and then you try something else in the signal chain instead. Even if I only needed a single sound for the whole gig, I'd still be using the Helix, because it is possible to dial in exactly the sound I want, and trying something else is a question of selecting another module rather than going to the expense of buying another amp/cab/effect to see if it's the right one for me.

I'm in my early 60 and I still haven't realised. As others have said it very much depends on what constitutes "making it". For me it would be earning enough money from my musical activities so I didn't have to do anything else in order to be able to pay the bills. The closest I've got to that was when I was in my 50s and in The Terrortones who after the first year were completely self-sustaining financially. TBH I probably don't have what it takes in terms of drive and commitment. Sure I like gigging, recording and writing and pretty much everything that goes with being in a band, but I don't live and breath music every single waking hour which is what is really required. In the past when I plenty of time and energy to put into being in a band and playing and writing music, I was too stupid and naive to realise this. These days I have too many other commitments. That's not to say I haven't stopped dreaming, because IMO the moment you stop dreaming you might as well sell all your musical gear. IME trying to tailor your music/band/image to "make it" the less likely it is to happen, because you are always going to be behind the wave. My most successful musical ventures have been the ones where I haven't worried about what other people thought of us but simply got on with the process of making and playing music. We worked hard (although in retrospect not nearly hard enough) and the "luck" happened. The Terrortones was simply supposed to be a bit of creative fun to do in-between my covers band gigs. I ended up having to quit the covers band because The Terrortones were far more successful both in terms of the number of gigs we were getting and financially. I'll carry on writing music, playing in bands and gigging until I'm not longer physically able, and then I'll be composing and releasing weird music on Bandcamp from the comfort of my studio until I die.

@Geek99 According to the Facebook page for the event we've been moved up the bill and are now playing from 7.20 to 8.00. No idea why this has happened and we haven't had official confirmation from the organisers yet...

Surely an "item not as described" complaint to eBay, telling them that it is in fact counterfeit will do the job? They may well ask you to destroy the microphone and supply photographic proof that you have done so before refunding your money.

I assume from your OP that you are "the client" and it seems from the other posts that you already have a pretty good idea about the style and feel of the music that you want. That does make it a little easier. When I've gone down this route in the past it has always been with someone else having the final say, and in those cases composing and performing the music myself has made it simpler when the client comes back with changes - most of which would be impossible to apply to a piece of library music.

A probably a lot cheaper. It's been a while since I had to look at the process and prices, but for my client (a well-know but cheapskate chocolate maker) even the ball-park prices and approval time scales were too expensive and took too long. I believe that among other things they need to check that the recording(s) you want have been cleared for your particular use (some artists are very particular about how and where their music is reproduced).

Get in touch with the PRS.

Personally if was trying to run two mission-critical apps on a single mobile device and found that they wouldn't play nicely together, I'd invest in separate devices for each one. I also wouldn't even bother trying to run anything static off batteries. Use a mains adaptor and if that requires a special USB or Lightning adaptor to allow mains power and control functionality at the same time then get that too. A couple of years ago I witnessed a fairly well-known band abort their sound check because the iPad running their backing ran out of power. Then despite spending a couple of hours recharging it whilst the two support bands sound checked and played, it died again a couple of songs from the end of the set. The only battery driven devices I'll entertain on stage are the mobile end of radio transmitters and receivers. Everything else is run off the mains.

The problem is that mobile devices (tablets and phones) only have the illusion of being able to run multiple apps at once. Most will allow you to use them as a music player while running one other app in the foreground, but they are not properly multi-tasking like a real computer. Anything complex reloads in the background when you switch focus to it, hence the inability for them to run the mixer interface and crib sheet apps simultaneously.

TDK Metal tapes, supposedly the best quality of tape coating and according to the meter markings on my Aiwa cassette deck capable of taking an additional 2dB recording level before distortion. These also had a partly metal shell to give better alignment of the tape over the recording and playback heads I used these for the stereo masters of all my home recordings.

That's a pity. Unfortunately in the grand scheme of things Goth, we're still relatively new hence our lowly spot on the bill.

You could probably merge "Accessories and Misc" and "Repairs and Technical" into a single forum since IME they have a largish crossover with each other and plenty of threads regarding repairs tend to get posted in the forum for the piece of gear needing to be repaired. Which would make room for PA to have its own main forum in Gear.

Next gig for Hurtsfall at the Victoria Bikers Pub in Coalville. We're playing on Saturday 16 September on stage at 5.50pm. BTW since this poster was produced Reptile House have been replaced by Auger.

Whenever I've had problems like this it has been the digital devices going into some sort of protect mode or failing to "boot" properly due to under current or voltage, and it normally takes more time then is available at a gig for things to settle down which is why they don't work at the gig and are fine once you get home and have a proper electricity supply to test things out with. IME the only guaranteed way to stop this happening at gigs is to run your complete rig from a UPS.

Actually I was mostly listening to demo tapes by Nottingham bands, IIRC my favourites at the time were by The Basking Sharks and Fuel To The Fire.

Hurtsfall played on Friday night at The Angel in Nottingham with Inward Strange and Cold In Berlin. Another really good one for us, not quite as bonkers as our last gig in Leeds, and we didn't play quite as well (we were probably the only people who noticed that) but there were plenty of people down the front dancing and cheering between songs. Only down side was that the foldback mix for our set was entirely different to the one we had sorted out during the soundcheck despite the fact that nothing had need to be unplugged in between and the venue has a programmable digital desk. It wasn't a big deal, but in this day and age the only reason I can think for this happening is user error on the part of the PA engineer. However lots of people came up afterwards and told us how much they had enjoyed the set, and we sold a decent amount of merch. I was expecting to be able to post some photos but nothing has shown up on social media yet. Next gig is on 16th September in Coalville at the Victoria Bikers Pub as part of the Gothic Gathering festival. We're on just before 6.00 in the evening.