Monkey Steve

weirdly, my favourite album that was release this year is probably a spoken word one, Crow by Joolz Denby & Henning Nugel. It's a companion piece to Winter by New Model Army, which is also a great album, and Henning Nugel's cinematic music is stunning, adds real dynamics to Joolz's poetry. Honourable mention to Wakrat

I use a similar technique to Entwistle - effectively fingerstyle but hitting the strings with the end of my fingers rather than picking or plucking them. Sounds very similar to slapping with a thumb, but allows for much more speed. the other approach would maybe be some sort of eq adjustment

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1481734935' post='3194702'] Their response sounds to me like they think you moved the bridge. Certainly what you've found sounds odd. I wouldn't blame Thomman. They're only guilty of jumping to conclusions. If you want anything more from them, why not send them pictures of the holes with the paint in them? [/quote] Agreed - by the sounds of it they haven't understood that the fault isn't down to you. Try again

what does your gut tell you? Are you happy being left to the production role, and perhaps importantly, are you likely to get paid for doing it, or will you be told at some future point in time "sorry, we've got a producer in and your services are no longer required" While it sucks, I do wonder about the other side of this. A mate's band are going through a very similar thing at the moment - they have a band member who simply isn't what they want/isn't up to it (they're right, he isn't) and they've told him that he can stick around for live work but won't be on the album. It's definitely the right decision for the band, but there's no way to soften the blow and he feels like he's just been kicked in the balls after a year of work and some decent live reviews. And he's now got a similar decision to make - does he keep his pride intact and quit completely, or carry on under a cloud?

Lawnmower Deth doing their Christmas Show at the Dome on Saturday night. Can't say I'm a massive fan (had my arm twisted by a mate who is, and who's girlfriend has had her arm twisted one time too many) but they were good fun

Black Sabbath's Dio years/Heaven & Hell

I don't know Limehouse Lizzie at all so I'll start by making clear that this isn't aimed at them in particular, just as another option...but I've seen a few bands f#ck up their own sound quite badly over the years. the one that sticks out is a four band gig I did a few years back, smallish room under a pub with the top three bands sharing kit which meant the soundman had a fairly easy job of just adjusting volumes without needing to worry too much about the eq. Then the openers turned up - the band's first gig, offered as a favour by someone at the venue to give them a helping hand. Arrived late, and with a mountain of their own gear that they insisted on playing through, volumes way too loud for the room, and there then followed a 45 minute battle with the soundman where they kept insisting that they were right because they knew how they wanted to sound, and the classic newbie mistake of confusing on stage and off stage sound. threw the running times completely off and the venue had to open the doors about half an hour late. They then played to a largely empty room despite it being sold out, because everybody had been driven back into the main pub by the sheer volume. I went in to have a word with the soundman (mainly to make sure that he wasn't going to let the rest of us sound like that) and he just shrugged - they had decided to dispense with the PA for everything but drums and vocals, wouldn't DI the bass, so the volume was their backline turned up to 11 and there was nothing he could do to stop them. He did then pull the PA when their allotted time was up, with the band thinking that they were only half way through their set, and explained to them with a grin that when you're bottom of the bill you don't get to overrun. Hopefully they learned that a good soundman is your best friend

my favourite 5's are a Warwick custom shop streamer stage 1 and my Wal, so probably not a good recommendation for the casual buyer. As others have said, try some, I'd recommend a thru neck (but that's a personal choice) and my personal tip is to check how the pickups handle the low B string. Some are better than others, and for personal preference I'd suggest having a look at an active bass as they often handle the we much better

Just to slightly disagree with this "no freebies" idea... I got my Wal off of Dean Garcia of Curve fame. He told me that Ian Waller approached him and said that he'd made the bass specifically for him after seeing/hearing him playing with the Eurythmics, was extremely pleased with the book matching on the very stripey facings, and gave it to him for free. According to the story this was only a few months before Waller died, but the bass is dated for 1986 so either Dean's memory is a little faulty and he got it a couple of years before Waller died or it was in fact a bass that had been sat around for a couple of years...possibly it took Waller a couple of years to track him down. Entirely possible that the idea was to get it seen/heard in Eurythmics videos to tie up the 80's pop market, although Wikipedia tells me that Dean hadn't been playing with them since 1984. He'd never played a Wal before and has never bought another one. The pay off is that when he went to take it on tour with Curve they objected to him bringing "a sideboard" on stage and made him get a tin of black paint...told me he'd always felt guilty about spoiling the wood that Waller had been so proud of (and fortunately the paint came off nice and easy once I bought it).

[quote name='Low End Bee' timestamp='1481281272' post='3191141'] Perversely I'm thinking that I might quite like to be in a band of awkward ****ers who just say what they think and only really concentrate on the music. Work hard, have a bit of a shout up and not worry about tea and biscuits. Have a bit of an edge to the band. Maybe it's because I'm a bit of an awkward sod myself? [/quote] My last band was like that and it can be quite refreshing - nobody was whispering behind anybody's backs or going home in sulks or never quite properly learning the songs that they didn't like to keep it out of the set, instead we told each other what we thought about the songs, the playing, the arrangements, etc, quite often using industrial language. It helped that we were reasonably good mates who understood that what happened in the studio stayed in the studio and even big disagreements should not influence our drinking plans for the rest of the night. But it can get tiring - over time the stronger personalities tended to emerge and that becomes quite grating when some people just flat refuse to compromise regardless of what everybody else thinks.

check your insurance (do you have insurance?) I've just been asked to lend a mate my most expensive bass for his band to record their album with, which I don't mind, but I once lent him a Les Paul for a band we were both in and got it back less a big chunk of the binding (which he did offer to pay to repair, but it adds to the road worn look). So he's had a strong talking to about keeping it in a hard case, and I've checked that my insurance covers any location and does not require me to be using it should anything untoward occur.

from experience, it's "whatever they think they can get away with" - the cost of the same job can vary hugely, so I'd suggest ringing or e-mailing a few to ask. I'd also suggest asking for recommendations of a good one from people who have used them before...cheap is not always good. I'd certainly give a shout to Knight Guitars if you are anywhere near Surrey - great blokes, and very reasonably priced for the stuff I'd had them do for me

Had a TU2 that got trashed at a gig, now on to a TU3. Work perfectly for a low B (or lower depending on the band - as low as an A in a previous band with no problems) and depending on the signal path you choose also works great as a kill switch

[quote name='geoffbyrne' timestamp='1481201284' post='3190440'] There's no nut on the Dunlops on my basses - there's a spring circlip on the back of the strap attachment that snaps on, therefore no nut to come loose. Only screw involved is the one into the guitar/bass body and it's slightly oversize to be nice and tight. See diagram here: [url="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Jim-Dunlop-Straplock-Dual-Design/dp/B0002CZW3G"]https://www.amazon.c...n/dp/B0002CZW3G[/url] G. [/quote] Yep, Dunlops for me every time. Never had a problem. I have the Warwick equivalents on my Streamer and it's not the same - they look very similar but are secured by screwing on a nut which has to be re-tightened from time to time.

[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1481189932' post='3190318'] "Diego", are you there? Those guys drove me crazy. The answer to playing like sh*t was play louder so that the wall of sound covers everything. Pity, as the singer/guitarist was decent and had some cool songs... but the other guitarist was clueless and he kept complaining he couldn't hear his guitar and kept turning louder. He used a very scooped kind of sound with lots of distortion and with the amp on the floor aiming at his knees... My suggestions about positioning the amp differently and dialling in some more mids were completely ignored... he was one of those guys that feel personally attacked if you dare suggest changing anything they do. It was only a month but... [/quote] +1 to this - I have spent far too much of my life explaining to moron guitarists how physics works and that the reason they cannot hear their guitar is not because their amp is too quiet but because they have set up too close to the speaker which is pointing at their ankles and the rest of us can all hear it just fine. Guitarist reluctantly moves five feet further away from his amp, concedes that he can hear his guitar now...next week sets up in the old spot and stands six inches away from his speaker...

[quote name='MacDaddy' timestamp='1481115237' post='3189790'] tbf some guitar amps do need to cranked up to hit the sweet spot. But if that's the case maybe a power brake could be used at rehearsals? [/quote] this misunderstands the purpose of a rehearsal - it's for the band to learn how to play the songs better, which does not require the guitarist to have his ideal amp sound. One advantage I have found of using a studio that provides the amps is that as long as the gear is working and you get a reasonable enough sound, nobody tends to worry too much about the guitar/bass/drum sound because it's not the sound we'll have when playing live.

also, "solo" In my experience most punters notice the singer first and can put up with some pretty ropy performances from the rest of the band without noticing, but in the rock/metal world whoever does the guitar solos, as long as they sound reasonably competent, gets a disproportionate amount of attention even if they are at best very average musicians. No awareness that often solos can be pretty simple compared to what the other musicians are doing. Hence the massive egos attached to all singers and lead guitarists.

My last lot had an ongoing issue - the studio had 4 x 12s for guitars on each side and an 8 x 10's for bass, so everybody could hear the bass easily as it was at head height, could hear the guitars on the other side of the room, but struggled to hear their guitars because they were standing too close to their cabs (and also had ear plugs) so up the guitar volumes. We finally agreed that we set the volume by what the singer needed to hear, and that was driven by the volume of the drums and vocals. The guitarists started off quite grumpy about not being able to hear themselves but quickly got used to it, or rather, quickly got worn down by everybody shouting at them each time they tried to turn their amps up.

my head hurts too much to wade through all of this but it's perhaps worth having a look at this and seeing if you can register to get paid as and when they get out of receivership http://uk.practicallaw.com/1-501-6905?service=crossborder#a946618

I think there's enough in there that sounds like he does want you to come back, but maybe with a different (*quieter*) set up. Would that work from your end? No point asking us to speculate, better to go and get it from the horses mouth, but I'd suggest a friendly "sounds like there are some issues, how can we make it work?" approach

I have no idea how it works in France but is it worth asking for details of their administrator and registering a claim as a creditor? Or take your van and help yourself to whatever isn't nailed down..

my main technique is to hit the strings really hard with my finger tips - sort of a less proficient John Entwistle typewriter style (I understand that he had one finger per string, I use two, sometimes three fingers, more like traditional finger style) - but depending on the music, the tempo, and mostly the dynamics of the song I can switch between softer finger style, slapping, using a pick, strumming chords, even tapping if I'm really showing off (rarely ends well) and sometimes two or three switches per song depending on the arrangement. What I have found is that if I don't practice a technique for a while it can take me a while to get back up to speed, which sounds reasonable if it's something like slapping and popping, but recently, after years of largely playing without a pick I switched back for some very fast thrash metal and I was extremely shaky - no fluidity or uniformity in hitting the strings. Cue a week of sitting down and playing with a pick to save myself future embarrassment...

[quote name='T-Bay' timestamp='1480776386' post='3187058'] I love Therapy? and saw them a load of times when I was at Uni. The last time was Leicester students union and they were stunning. I think they went a bit off the rails when they signed the new deal and headed down the more commercial route but a few hundred people chanting James Joyce is ********* my sister at the top of their voices was a hell of a thing to behold. The first two EPs that they merged to become Caucasian psychosis is still on my regular play list over 25 years later. [/quote] Potato Junkie was on the set list on Thursday night too - a few hundred people singing about what James Joyce was doing to their sister in the Union Chapel was a highlight of the set. It was recorded so fingers crossed for a release, although I'm not sure it'll sound as good on tape as it did in the room

Therapy? Doing an acoustic show at the Union Chapel on Thursday night. Absolutely brilliant show...oddly, not especially for the music. More the intimate setting and relaxed between song banter, every song a sing along, a lot of story telling, etc Sadly the bass was a bit anonymous. Also, no booze inside the venue because God objects. Just one more reason to be an atheist

Never noticed much difference in sound, but my through neck Warwicks have a much slimmer neck profile and are much faster to play, especially at the dusty end with the reduced heel. Similar on my Ricky 4001 - body and neck are fantastically slim