Unknown_User

Thank you @EBS_freak. I think I mostly follow that. I've no idea how the correct solution would be implemented on a PA as I have little to no experience with using them. The closest I normally get is to stand there looking on and tutting as the singer struggles to control the feedback by twiddling with the dials. I found this earlier which I think explains the less elegant solution. I have a passive DI box and one of the guitarists has a headphone preamp, so hopefully we can get it working after some sort of a fashion! Cheers for your advice.

Or would it make sense to do this? iPad > DI box > homebrew splitter cable > PA/Headphones

Thanks for the heads up! Unfortunately I'm not quite sure I follow properly. I have a passive DI box. If I plugged the XLR output into that and then went from that into the PA would that suffice? The only place I can think phantom power might come from is the PA as nothing else would be plugged in to the mains, but I may be misunderstanding this. Would I have to do anything to isolate the DI? Sorry if this is basic stuff. I'm pretty new to electronics so my reach extends my grasp a bit with all this! EDIT: My DI box only has an XLR output, not an XLR input. So I guess I can't use that?

Brilliant. Thank you for the explanation! Now I know if it goes wrong I only have myself to blame!

So the wiring of the cable could need to be different depending on which PA you use?

Hoping to get my soldering iron out tonight and I just wanted to run my daft plans by the electrics wizards on here. I've got some backing tracks for some songs which I've put a click track to. The click is panned over to the right and the backing track to the left. My plan is to put this stereo track from an iPad into a 3.5mm headphone jack and have the left output (the backing) route to an XLR socket (for plugging into a PA) and the right run to a 6.35mm headphone socket for the drummer's headphones. Looking at wiring diagrams I think I need to wire the left lug of the input socket to pin 2 of the XLR socket and ground pins 1 & 3. Then the right lug of the input socket to the left and right lugs of the output jack socket. Then connect all the ground lugs. Is this as sensible as it sounds or are there any obvious pitfalls that I'm missing? Just wondering if I should spare myself a few hours of looking perplexedly at a load of sockets and wire whilst swearing! Thanks in advance!

I'm pretty bad at learning songs by ear I'm not great at plucking with my fingers so use a plectrum I can't play slap bass at all (and have very minimal desire to learn) I'm not great at improvising My musical knowledge is pretty thin in that I can't read staves and there's probably gaping fundamental gaps in my knowledge of theory On the plus side, apart from slap bass I'm markedly better now at the rest of them than I was a year ago.

😄 I didn't take it too much to heart! The good news is that I managed to increase the tempo, add a sample from an old song and was subsequently able to release it as a dance single. *little fishes, big fishes, then cardboard boxes*

Don't laugh at me, @Ricky 4000 & @Teebs. I'm trying my best, you heartless monsters! 😀

Could you please expand on this bit for a total novice at this sort of thing? After a few goes of trying it for myself I mostly managed to make a song I am trying to learn sound like aliens were landing behind a partition wall.

We need to get VAR* on the case. *Video Assistant Retailer

I'm not a guitarist (I can knock out a few chords like) but as someone who can't read music at all I wouldn't know what the hell all that would be about! If I was writing something like that for myself I'd just write out the names of the chords. If there was a particularly weird chord in there then I'd draw a diagram like this:

Who was it who used to play slide guitar with a can of Special Brew? I doubt you'd get the same timbre with a steak bake!

Me too! With my mouth wide open to act as a speaker. If I want a wah-wah effect I just wiggle my lips back and forth.

I think there's something to this. A lot of things seem more professional these days than they were. Perhaps with better technology, processes becoming more mature, etc.. Which can mean things get tied down a bit more which may leave less room for maverick creativity. You definitely have a point about the biggest rock acts being people who were around 20/30 years ago. Which is a shame. There's always been that but if you look at festivals and the like, they seem to be full of these heritage acts whereas 20/30 years ago it was mostly new bands with the odd golden oldie thrown in. Perhaps promoters are now playing more safely with acts they know will bring in the punters rather than helping bring new artists into the fold? Rock music does have a population problem. So many bands writing so many rock songs over so many decades, there's only so much room left for manoeuvrer and reinvention. There are still numerous good new rock acts, just don't expect them to be radically different from something you haven't heard before! I'm similar. I only really got into music when I was around 14 and most of the albums I go back to now are the ones I got into when I was around 17 to 22. Until then it was stuff I was passing through on the way to finding something I really enjoyed.

I don't know what it is, but it's something that just kind of gets to you in the end.

Dairy me!

D'oh! I get you now. I missed that you were going to relic it back to bare wood. So you're going to relic it first and then put the gloss on? Personally I think it would be hard to cover up the wood as it is, but it should look really unique with what you have planned. I guess it will need a light touch with the relicing to not go through the stain and gold rub and buff too?

It sounds like you already know the answer as to which direction you want to take it! Are you going to spray a nitro gloss over it?

That's beautifully stained and the gold looks great.

You're just trying to bait me now.

Reelly? You should float some fishing threads. I'd be hooked.

I was pretty disappointed with this too. I signed up hoping to talk about cans of shandy, not all this music palaver!

This seems like the best advice. I have a Squire bass and after a setup it plays really well and sounds nice. You can get well built instruments for not much money these days. Then if you like the bass you can always look to upgrade the hardware (pickups, etc.) later if you want to.

Sounds like, asides from putting one song in the wrong key, you probably did pretty well. I've never depped myself but would be interested to try. Even if they don't call you back it sounds like you've learned lots from it. I think playing with people at a higher standard makes you raise your game too. So that should stand you in good stead. Plus you have £150 in your back pocket. So win-win!