peteb

The trouble is that after five or ten minutes with these livestreamed performances, I start to get distracted and want to take a break to check on something else or get a beer or whatever (even if I like the band). I want to be in the same room, to share the experience with other people in the room (atmosphere or whatever) and for the musicians to feed off the energy of the audience. One thing that the lockdown has confirmed to me is that livestreamed online performances will never replace live concerts...

I like the all black look. The other just looks like a cheap flightcase to me...

Getting a bit OT from iconic London crime / police TV shows...!

Yep, a bit before my time. In the mid sixties I was a very young child living in Essex, soon to be transported up to West Yorkshire (where I have lived on and off ever since). The Rocket was still there when I lived on Churchfield Road. It was a bit of a sleazy boozer at the time, although not particularly rough. Maurice Plaquet had gone by that time, although there was a dodgy rehearsal studio (that used to flood whenever there was prolonged heavy rain).

When I lived in West London in the early 80s, I was involved in a Crown Court case and had to deal with members of the real Flying Squad. I'm sure that they got their training from watching repeats of the Sweeney...! I used to live on Churchfield Road in Acton, which was the location for the Winchester club in Minder. It was a bit strange seeing my old street on TV a couple of years later (not long after I had moved out).

Been getting a few laughs on Facebook

That is a welcome change from when I tried to deal with them about twenty years ago. They were shocking – fortunately the Bass Centre interceded on my behalf, otherwise I would have got nowhere...

It’s not just your chances, it is also those of everyone you come into contact with. When it comes down to it – it is your life, but Darwin did note that nature has a way of sorting these things out. Having said that, figures are coming down (perhaps not as quickly as one would like), there is a downward curve and things will get better. The problem is that some people are being completely irresponsible whereas others will be overly cautious. I suspect that the most reasonable approach is somewhere between the two extremes.

My post above is about pubs and smaller clubs. I really can't see anyone promoting an event this year that will draw a large crowd or requires artists / audience to travel long distances or across borders.

Has anybody got any suggestions for the best DAW for someone who is new to home recording and not particularly tech savvy? It must be easy to use and easy to download / setup and get started! I need to be able to load files sent to me, so that I can record a bass part and then send back to them. It must be grid based and be able to run on Windows 10 (on a modest spec laptop). Ideally, I want to be able to record a part and send it on two tracks, one dry and one through a preamp. However, at the moment I am more concerned with learning how to use the DAW. I can always upgrade at a later date when I’m more confident about recording and have a better idea of what I want. I am looking at getting a Focusrite Scarlett interface (either a Solo or a 2i2 3rd Gen), but will I be able to get away with the bundled software (I’m quite happy to pay for a DAW if I need to)? Should I pay the extra £25 for the 2i2, or will the Solo will suitable for my needs? I have a budget of about £200 for both the DAW and the audio interface. Any help or advice is very welcome…

I’ve got a couple of gigs left in the diary for this year, one in September and another in October. They are both in good venues that get decent crowds and I’m reasonably confident that they should both go ahead. Things will get back to something to normal, pubs will re-open and social distancing won’t last for ever. As you can see on the news, other European countries are starting to allow bars to re-open and they are starting to make steps to get back to normal (even though I can’t see any major events happening this year). My worry is that there is going to be political pressure on the UK to follow suit as soon as possible, when in reality we should be at least a few weeks behind. There is always a risk of a second wave of infection over here, so hopefully people will be sensible over the next few weeks. If that happens then hopefully things will be something like normal by the autumn.

This all depends if you like the sound of the amp completely flat! I got the R400 to replace a Mesa Subway D800, which had a really nice sound but lacked something (heft or whatever you want to call it). The Handbox has that in spades, but I struggled to use the EQ to find a usable tone at first. Now, the beauty of Leszek’s design is that (for me) 1k is just about the right frequency to cut on the contour, but the three knob EQ section isn’t necessarily that intuitive to use. I think that you have to look at the reasons why people are buying Handbox amps. I didn’t need an amp to be ridiculously light like the Subway, which used to bounce off the cab mid-gig, but I wanted an amp that was an easy one hand lift that had a lot more ‘heft’ / transient response than a Class D amp. For me, the compromise is that the EQ section is relatively limited in order to keep it in such a compact package.

To be honest, the one thing I struggled with my R400 was the EQ section. I eventually managed to find a sound that worked for me after reading something posted in this thread, but I find the three knob option a bit counter-intuitive (especially after using an amp with a semi-parametric Q for many years).

I loved DSOTM and WYWH, but lost interest after that. Perhaps that's the reason why?

The biggest gig I’ve played in recent years was to 2,000 plus bikers at a bike rally. We were the middle band of three, no soundcheck as headliners were late and then took forever (ska band). We hit the first chord and absolutely no sound from the bass (it turned out later that a wire had come loose when I had changed a battery, five minute repair with a soldering iron). I pulled out my spare bass from the double gigbag at the side of the stage and no one was any the wiser (even the drummer didn’t realise until he saw the video footage after the show). When I first joined a regularly gigging band, I was offered the gig on the basis that I would get a spare bass, even if it was just a beater just to get me through a show if anything happened. In over 40 years of gigging, I’ve only needed the spare maybe half a dozen times, but that has included a few of the most important gigs that I have done. So, I always take a spare wherever possible and always for the bigger gigs. I’ve probably had more issues with amps than basses over the years and yes, I do take a spare (a TE Elf these days, which fits in a gigbag and will get you out of trouble at a push) …

The point is that it doesn't really matter whether you like it or not - it's something that inspired (several) generations of bass players, some who may have influenced you (even if indirectly). I managed the whole lot. Not really my thing, for me the Jaco album kicked into gear with the second song (i.e. the tune after this one), but still interesting to get an understanding of how he interpreted a very challenging bebop standard.

I noticed that in the most recent Bass Direct newsletter, the first two bass builders being promoted were: Dingwall (as used by Lee Sklar) and Spector...!

Get It On (slap part starts @ 2:11)

Red Baron off the Spectrum album (Billy Cobham)

I wouldn’t necessarily agree that they are that predictable! There were often quite leftfield tracks and ideas, although you probably had to be a fan to have heard ‘Groovy Little Hippie Pad’ or ‘Manic Mechanic’, etc. Of course, Eliminator was quite unique at the time. I saw them at Hammersmith Odeon (pre Eliminator) on one their first ever European shows, which is still one of the best gigs I have seen. Having said that, I wasn’t as impressed with the Eliminator tour and I’m afraid that I haven’t been inspired to buy any of their albums post Afterburner. Still, a great band on their day…

Reflecting on his friendship and working with the great Jeff Porcaro

Playing a version of Black Hole Sun in fives...!!

Would love to see it - perhaps I should think about getting Netflix??

Would it help if I used less confusing adjectives like ‘sterile’ or perhaps ‘crap’?? The point that I am making is that the majority of bands using a silent stage approach in pubs do not sound very good. That is not to say that it doesn’t work in bigger venues, because it obviously does. But not at the Dog & Duck… As far as drummers goes, you are missing the point. You may be dismissive of ‘Dad Rock’, but that’s what a lot of us play and there is certainly an audience there. If you ever were to venture into that genre, you would find that any decent drummer will tend to be a reasonably heavy hitter. The challenge for them is to then vary their technique or otherwise find ways to get their levels down to work in a small venue / stage area. For example, I have seen drummers change the angle of their snare drum so that they get less rim every time they hit it. There are always compromises that you have to make when you are playing small venues. I should mention that there are plenty of perfectly good small pub gigs that I have happily done with R&B or blues bands that I would refuse to do with the louder hard rock band (despite being asked).

Haha :-) That was part of a discussion about playing a bigger venue, the point being that in pubs normally everybody can hear the onstage sound and it can sound odd if they can't...