NickD

Ha, I'd never noticed that... Think I'll watch the whole thing again now.... just to check that out!

I'm glad it's not just me!

It was my first attempt at using keys (It may well be my last)... But then I reverted to type at the end! 🤣

Thank you, very kind! It's been a while since I've been able to participate, what with finally getting our album out of the door, and the usual work and family stuff. It felt great to finally sit down, look at the picture (great pic by the way!), and try to get something together.

Finally some time! Crap weather and no diesel cut me a little slack this month. Here is my contribution to the October 2021 Basschat Composition Challenge, inspired by the picture chosen by the previous winner: Doctor J. Lovingly knocked together in Cubase Elephants, using a few of the bundled VSTs, The Jake 5 and a Vintage Strat (the brand, not old and overpriced), both through the Helix. Vocals hastily recorded in the front room at a neighbour-friendly volume.

Congratulations! It was really hard to pick again this time, a quality set of tracks!

Sad News! Rest in peace fella!

Every now and then I try something new because I feel I should... Then I stick a set of D'Addarios back on and wonder why I ever bothered.

Keith had a Steinberg interface from me. Couldn't have been an easier deal, smooth as you like!

I've nothing against covers, or cover bands, but I realised a good few years ago that it wasn't for me. The same amount of energy invested in writing and tryting to develop a sound is much more satisfying to me (although getting paid is harder) For he last audition I did a few years ago I was given 5 complete tunes and a few half developed ideas, all either rehearsal recordings or rough home recordings. Not knowing how it would pan out I learned them note for note (the lines were pretty poor though), then I developed the 'what I would have done option'. I went into the room and gave them the choice... original, mine or both.

I kept expecting He-man to pop up in the video.

My partner takes lessons from Gabor Dorniyei, and he's a beast... Give him a Google. A great educator, really good with jazz, Latin, fusion... He's off doing a drum camp at the moment, then he's out with playing with Stanley Jordan and Laurence Cottle. He's based in Harrow though, although he does Skype too. I'm unsure of his availability, but he's well worth an enquiry. Only last week he was jamming with Gary Husband... We went down a couple of days later and you could still feel the Rhythm in the room!🤣 Bloody nice fella too.

Damn! For the first time ever I missed voting! I didn't spot the thread due to the comedy title, and didn't realise how late in the month it was to go hunting for it. My apologies to anyone who submitted the kind of thing I usually vote for but got beaten. 🤣

We finally got it over the line! This was supposed to be a band effort. We went in to record the rhythm tracks in January 2020, thinking we'd get that done while recruiting a singer and a guitarist.... then Covid hit! Rather than wait we decided to go ahead and do it all between the two of us, what we didn't know how to do, we'd figure out along the way... it's all about the bass and drums anyway, isn't it?🤣 Recorded between lockdowns, as and when restrictions, funds and work allowed, we finally got it together. If any Bandcamp users fancy giving us a follow, that would be much appreciated. I've only just put it all up there, and I'll not get chance to sort any social media stuff until the weekend, so no-one knows we exist and we're on a grand total of zero followers... the only way is up! https://isleofeverything.bandcamp.com/releases

For both music and life in general... "It's all much too serious to be serious about" - Daevid Allen.

I've just returned the Bass Fly Rig 2 to Guitar Guitar, after having it on pre-order since they announced it. I really wanted to be impressed, but wasn't. I do have a Helix LT that is mostly used for recording, but having previously had the first Fly Rig, and moved it on for want of an effects loop (I grabbed a Valeton Dapper to replace it at the time), I figured the V2 would be a great analogue solution. For some reason I just didn't enjoy it's tones as much as the first version. Being able to switch between gain levels was cool and the Chorus is still great for all its simplicity, but I found the bite switch introduced more hiss than I was comfortable with, as did the compressor. I didn't notice any significant improvement in the octafilter section. I don't think the tracking is particularly good on the octave alone and I wasn't keen on the fuzz tone. The filter part works nicely when used independently though. I know this is not the purpose of that section though, and that the 3 dimensions are meant to work together for synthy sounds, but it didn't do it for me. As a small, portable solution, for all it's budget-ness (if that's a word) I still think the Valeton is a better unit for my purposes. Your needs may be different though, obviously.

These are all bloody excellent!

I'd look towards whatever DAW you use. Mine (Cubase Elements 10) has some really well thought out comps, EQs, effects, etc, and I'm guessing pretty much any DAW has very similar stuff. You could record the raw track, take a duplicate and 'fix' it, or you could set up the sound as you want, then take a duplicate and remove the enhancements, providing both for the client so they can do as they will depending on their skill level or taste.

It's worth a try first. There could be other factors about the bass I guess (Ash & Maple on Maple) but probably not. I do use a helix or sansamp at home, but in the rehearsal room it's just gain up to just before clipping, a touch of VLE and it absolutely barks out every note. I ended up using it for everything on the album we're about to drop (do the kidz still say that?), and I love the tone we got from it. It's probably a good idea never to change anything until you've turned it up and really dug in a bit.

Wierd! My passive Jake 5 has the Delanos (P & MM), and with the amp cranked I find them as rude as hell. My Elwood 5L has the Haussels (J & mini MM), and while they're warmer and more vintagey, they lack the brashness of the Delanos.

I'm relatively new to EUB, but I went for the NS Wav5. It's only a piezo pickup so output is pretty low if I record straight into my interface, but through the Helix it's fine, and straight into my Markbass Combo, with the instrument's tone rolled off it sounds great. 3 Sigma sell IRs based on some acoustic basses, there are samples of each on the website. I bought the 'Berlinner' one (an 1894 Lowendall IIRC), and it sounds really good my ears.

I'm not sure HMWYRS can be topped, but I'd offer Ghost Town as a contender.

They're handy for home recording, and the 3 piece arrangements we're working on kinda need a gritty core tone, an octaver, and some reverbs and delays for the more chilled passages, but if I'm jamming with/covering for a friends rock band it's bass - cable - amp, with a clip-on tuner in the bag.... and I love it that way.

I really liked that first Kingdom Come album when I was a kid (the one with Get it On.... er... on). Sure a lot of it is pretty blatant, but Zep were the early masters of that anyway. Plus it was better than the stuff that Percy was putting out at the time.

I'm sure PP will play ball. I bought some drum cases for my partner that were collection only a couple of months ago. He opted for PP over cash which surpirised me (guess he wanted to make sure I'd turn up). We had to swap codes before PP would release the money, we were both surprised at how tight the process was.