solo4652

Dr Who theme.

We've just recruited a new singer, broadly following Les' plan. I trawled the usual muso websites looking for "Singer available" posts. I sent our current setlist and keys to prospective singers, asking each person to choose 5 songs and to let us know in advance which ones they'd chosen. Then I sent them rehearsal recordings so they could familiarise themselves with our starts, endings and arrangements. We did it like this to give the singers some control and choice over songs, and so they had no excuses for turning up not knowing some songs. We didn't invite them to an "Audition" - we tried to take some pressure off by calling it "an initial jam/meet-up". Two people per night, separated by 20 mins. Meet them at reception. Be as helpful and friendly as possible - good singers are very hard to find. I didn't email them afterwards - I rang them to offer some comments and feedback. We managed to recruit somebody with a lot of experience singing in vocal harmony groups, but not in bands. So far, she's been a breath of fresh air, but it's early days. Good luck with your search - we all know that good, experienced, friendly, helpful, non-egotistical, audience-aware singers are rare as hen's teeth, so you'll have to be prepared to be flexible, helpful and accommodating with your approach. Steve

Thanks for your comments. If the guitar and/or keys have not been recorded properly in the first place, then it's no surprise that Compressor, Leveller, Normalise in Audacity aren't bringing them up in the mix. Maybe the big changes in volume were just too much for the auto-gain on the little Line 6 to track quickly and accurately. It's not an especially sophisticated recorder, after all. Maybe I'll just set the mic gain to Low next time. Better still, I'll use my Zoom Q3.

Ahh. Leave it with me, I'll try again. Struggling to attach file. I'll have my tea and try later.

Okay. Please remember that this was the very first time we'd all played together, so don't be too harsh about our playing! *big breath* Original WAV file is too big to attach, so here it is as MP3 [attachment=178840:Clocks v5.mp3]

Would it help if I posted the track here? In reality, I haven't got much of a clue what I'm doing with Audacity, being honest.

At rehearsal last night, I used a Line 6 Backtrack with on-board mic to record a song. I had the mic gain set to Auto. The recording has very pronounced volume changes throughout - I'm wondering if it's the mic "hunting" for the right gain setting. Anything I can do with the effects available on Audacity to smooth the recording out? I've tried Compressor and Normalise, bur with little real success. After that, I'm just applying effects at random, which is no good. All help and advice gratefully received, Steve

Sorry - I've already deleted all the photos sent to me. From memory; CAR body, rosewood board. I don't know for sure that this is a scam - I'm just drawing people's attention to the follow up post by spencerwh on Join My Band. Let's see now; The seller says he/she paid £1800 for the bass and has offered it to me for £150. Apparently, it's being advertised all over the world with 40 pictures - not one of which shows the serial number clearly. spencerwh says: "...so far I've found the same guitar advertised in three continents (!) and the email address above appears on Google's 'spam' list if you perform a simple Google search." I don't think there are many people who would feel 100% confident about buying the bass. Might just be a really generous pre-Christmas offer, of course... Steve

We're looking for somewhere to rehearse close to Knutsford. Community or village hall? Pub function room? We're not loud, and we won't damage anything - honest. All suggestions gratefully received, Steve

Saw this; [url="http://www.joinmyband.co.uk/classifieds/fender-bass-guitar-for-sale--t698347.html"]http://www.joinmyband.co.uk/classifieds/fender-bass-guitar-for-sale--t698347.html[/url] Already looking like a scam. I asked for details. Seller sent me 40 photos of the bass, and offered it to me for £150! Yeah, right... Then saw this: http://www.joinmyband.co.uk/classifieds/fender-bass-guitar-for-sale--t698346.html

Any tips to free rusted-in saddle screws, please? I've tried WD40, soaking the saddle in oil overnight and brute force, none of which has worked.

Ha ha! "Sw***y" won't pass through the naughty words filter!

I started with a Yamaha BB404 bass, 7 years ago. GAS quickly set in and, thinking that an expensive bass would make me a better player, I bought and sold Fenders, G&L, Ibanez, Stingray. None made up for the lessons I didn't have. In the past year, I've sold all of the sw***y basses and now have two workhorses - an MIJ Fender P and a recently-acquired Yamaha BB1200, each worth no more than £500. I've also booked some lessons, 7 years too late. My advice, in the light of my own experience would be pretty much in line with everybody else's here; give much more priority to the lessons than the price of the bass.

Yes - I was wondering where the venues are for this. My thang would probably be the funkier end of the jazz/funk spectrum, movin' on down the line... It's made me pick up the bass this afternoon and groove along to So much Trouble in my mind (Sir Joe Quaterman) and Steam (Laura Vane). Good luck if you do go for it.

If you do, let us know how you get on. I might be able to have a half-decent stab at a couple of Meters numbers, but that's about it. Band would have to wait about 4 months while I learned them, too.

Sounds like an interesting project. Beyond my capability, sadly. [url="http://www.joinmyband.co.uk/classifieds/musos-wanted-for-jazzfunk-instrumental-fusion-t684114.html"]http://www.joinmyband.co.uk/classifieds/musos-wanted-for-jazzfunk-instrumental-fusion-t684114.html[/url]

I also play bass with Fleetwood Mac, Joss Stone, Morcheeba, Cher, Cranberries, Amy MacDonald, Sheryl Crow, Doobie Brothers and Coldplay YouTube videos when learning new songs. I'm looking for a female-fronted covers band of decent standard. I have loads of experience (YouTube vids available - just ask), I'm level-headed, hard-working and reliable, and I have loads of time available for rehearsals and gigs. I even learn songs before rehearsals! Not really interested in originals, rap, metal, dad-rock, goth, post-industrial gore-rock, trad folk, rockabilly or anything too loud, thank you. Oh yes - I can't sing or read music. I've tried and failed. Don't shoot me - nobody died, OK? Get in touch with any offers, please. probably best via PM, so I definitely get your message.

The neck pocket looks like a handy place to keep your supermarket trolley pound coin.

I have a GK MB500. Through one Tecamp Puma 12" 8 ohm cab, it's plenty loud enough for rehearsals with a 5-piece country-pop band, although we're not an especially loud crew. On Friday, we played a large-ish working men's club and the keys player nicked my DI feed into the house mixer for his bv's, leaving me to fend for myself with the GK MB500 through two Tecamp Puma 12" cabs, both 8 ohms rated at 300w each. Amp gain set at about 1/2, bass at 1/2, mids at 2/3, treble at 1/2, "contour" just up from zero, overall volume at 2/3. No problem whatsoever keeping up. The amp is ridiculously light (about 2 kgs, I think) and makes gigs and rehearsals really back-friendly. Clear, mids-forward tone which suits me. Gets a big thumbs-up from me.

@Ashdown Engineering. This is the first Ashdown product I've owned and I'm still scratching my head about what happened. If it would help you, I'm happy to give you the details of my Anderton order, in case you want to contact them and get your hands on the amp. It should be back with them on Monday (13th). PM me if you want order number etc. Back to more practical concerns; gigging tonight with no back up for my GK MB500. Probably be absolutely fine. Probably. Steve

@Roland Rock. It didn't work - only the faintest of sounds came out the PA speakers. The BDI was being driven by a PSU, not batteries. I've also tried the same signal chain in a different rehearsal room with a powered desk and passive PA speakers. Same result, no matter where we set the mixer channel gain. I'm fairly sure it's operator error on my part - I don't usually play through the desk and so I'm not especially knowledgeable about PA system setups.

Hi, Thanks for your post. I've returned the Mibass to Andertons for a full refund. From memory, the EQ settings I ended up with were; Gain; 3/4 Bass; 3/4 Mids; 1/2 Treble; 1/2 Vol; 2/3 (bearing in mind this was playing at home, trying not to disturb my other half who works in an upstairs office) This still gave a thin-sounding tone, especially in the lower register. Rig: One Tecamp Puma XS 112 (8ohm) tweeter set to "half", Fender MIJ Precision with fresh halfwound strings, tone just rolled back from full on. I didn't try the amp with my full gig rig which would be two Tecamp Puma XS 112 cabs. In comparison, my GK MB500 would be set at something like; Gain; 1/4 Bass; 1/3 Mids; 2/3 Treble; 1/2 Contour, just a smidge No bass boost Vol; 1/4 (Bearing in mind blah blah...) Steve