EdwardHimself

The Shepard's Bush Empire is a rather amazing venue. This welsh band called "funeral for a friend" played there in july last year (my birthday) and it was a rather good gig, although someone nearly killed themselves by jumping off the balcony into the crowd below

[quote name='amnesia' post='1088143' date='Jan 13 2011, 03:20 PM']Ah good old fashioned audiophile BS. Gotta love it. My home audio cable buying guide... Mains leads - use the one that comes with the piece of kit. Unless you already have one plugged in the right socket. Or you have one with a nicer shaped plug. Speaker leads - rule of thumb - the bigger the cross section, the more likely your amp will love you. If they are on show, pick a sleeve colour that you like. Co-ax - OEM co-ax's look a bit weedy but I am sure will work fine. I normally replace them - Does it look a bit chunky and cost less than a few quid? Deal done. Optical - Shine a light in one end. If it comes out of the other then its good enough. £1.99 delivered from eBay HDMI - buy as short as possible because its tidier. Gold connectors. A £70 Monster cable WILL NOT out-perform my sub £10 leads when measured with my ears and my eyes. While it is true that some expensive leads do outperform cheaper ones in theory or lab tests, they are installed in my house. The limitations of domestic layouts and human senses means that if someone tells you they can 'hear' that your CD to amp co-ax is fitted the wrong way round they are lying.[/quote] This is pretty much it really. If you have top of the line EVERYTHING else then by all means you might notice some improvement if you are a real officionado but for 99% of audio or a/v setups and environments it's really just not going to be noticed. [quote name='lemmywinks' post='1088150' date='Jan 13 2011, 03:23 PM']Still, good idea for a company. Make 300 sales, buy two or three houses, retire![/quote] it's a bit like those episodes of the apprentice where if you make one sale of a really ridiculously expensive item then you win and are a buisiness genius but if you fail to sell then you are totally incompetent and should be fired... [quote]They're for real. They got hauled over the coals recently by the advertising standards people for talking crap See [url="http://asa.org.uk/ASA-action/Adjudications..._ADJ_49597.aspx"]http://asa.org.uk/ASA-action/Adjudications..._ADJ_49597.aspx[/url][/quote] Lol nice.

Lol. Actually I remember a guitar magazine said that some expensive power cable made their amps sound a bit "louder" and "livelier". That was about it really. Also that was talking about a power lead that was about £100. I very much doubt it makes much difference, especially since it's already had to travel a good few miles from the power station to where you live through the power company's cables. [quote name='thepurpleblob' post='1087975' date='Jan 13 2011, 01:51 PM']We all know, and (worse) so do the sellers, it won't make the slightest difference over a 4 quid example from Maplins.[/quote] The ones at maplins in manchester oxford road are nearly a tenner each here was me thinking they were a rip-off... [quote][url="http://www.russandrews.com/product.asp?lookup=1&region=UK&currency=GBP&pf_id=3378&customer_id=PAA1237014111701KYWGGSXPYLGKRJPJ"]http://www.russandrews.com/product.asp?loo...YWGGSXPYLGKRJPJ[/url][/quote] look on the bright side, they were reduced from £20 grand- bargain!!! for f***'s sake. These are clearly very expensive cables aimed at incredibly rich and brainless individuals.

I know exactly what you mean. With bands it's never a case of "sorry, we didn't like you" or "we thought you were good, just not us" type of thing. No-one even attempts to be polite. As soon as they decide they don't want you then that's it: no more contact, no nothing. At all. Makes me sick really. Would it kill you just to say "sorry, but we don't think you're right for our band" or something like that?

[quote name='casapete' post='1082993' date='Jan 9 2011, 11:13 AM']I love it. £8k though? Mmm, not sure myself. If I had the dosh then I'd probably go for it, knowing that I could get my money back or even a profit if/when I came to sell.[/quote] +1. I mean we spend a lot more money on a car knowing it's going to lose at least half it's value in 3 years time. It's an investment really.

That's quite something. You should take it to the antiques roadshow or something lol.

That guy needs a metronome.

I suppose EH might as well have a go with his 5 strings, from first to last: Cheapo shine SCG nanyo copy type bass. Peavey millenium AC BXP Peavey international series (modded, EMG preamp) The 2nd peavey is the only one I have now.

I really didn't get why those basses only had 15 frets. It's as if mr. Fender decided that basses should only have x amount of notes in which case he might as well just have stuck with 4 string basses with 5 frets surely?

[quote name='TheRockinRoadie' post='1076657' date='Jan 3 2011, 07:14 PM']Today i made my 2003/4 MiM abit blacker![/quote] is that a black tailpiece as well? If so very black indeed

[quote name='bassatnight' post='1067027' date='Dec 22 2010, 05:58 PM']You have a picture of my wife on your musicpage!? ;-)[/quote] Just keep dreaming mate 7 string bass, i mean really

The stock indications on gak mean nothing. I ordered an "in stock" cymbal off them, turns out it wasn't actually in stock for a month! Certainly not the only story I've heard of that either...

[quote name='phil.mcglassup' post='1071159' date='Dec 28 2010, 06:40 PM']You've got me thinking about taking up drumming....but then we might struggle to find a bass player!! As a semi-competent bass player in cover bands would I find it easy to learn? How long might it take to master the basics, to gigging standard, after a few initial lessons? Decisions, decisions!![/quote] I think having musical skills on the bass can help on the drums. What I think would transfer the best is being able to play along tight to a click. That's a very important skill on the drums as you can imagine. Of course because of the mechanics of playing the drums it is a bit different and some timing practice would still not go amiss on the drums either. Really it's not something you can pick up straight away and the amount of time it will take to be able to play simple songs to a gigging standard widely depends on your natural ability and also how much practice time you put in. Obviously if you could hold a candle to buddy rich you would probably pick it up very quickly or it might take a long time. It could be a few weeks, it could be a few years. I'm sure i'm once again pointing out the obvious here but all I'm saying is don't expect to be able to do it straight away or you'll feel like you're not any good and give up. The important thing is to keep at it. You might have problems to find a bass player, there always seems to be a shortage of both. Having said that, if you can be prepared to play either then you're more likely to get a band job or find someone for a band. Personally I view myself as a musician who plays x amount of instruments rather than being a bass player or guitarist or drummer so it's not really massively bothered me. As long as I'm making music then it's cool. So really whether you pick up the sticks I reckon depends on how you view your role in music, either someone who enjoys specifically playing the bass, or someone who plays music and the instrument is a tool to get the music out there...

[quote name='flyfisher' post='1070859' date='Dec 28 2010, 11:46 AM']That's certainly a decent solution for storing and playing music, but if all your music is on a single, external "backup" drive then it's not actually backed-up at all is it? You need to have copies of all your stuff on more than one physical device to be safe.[/quote] Sorry. I forgot to mention that it's all copied off my main PC up in my room.

[quote name='flyfisher' post='1070707' date='Dec 28 2010, 01:33 AM']A 500GB external hard drive costs about £50 these days, so there's no real excuse not to keep a backup copy of all your music, except laziness. And if you're illegally downloading music then you'll be saving loads of money anyway, so you might as well buy a backup hard drive . . . unless you can steal one from somewhere. [/quote] +1. I don't even have any music on my laptop but I just listen to music on it off my 1tb backup drive which i got in a maplin special offer for £60...

Very nice advice. We have a lot of these kinds of threads though. Maybe we should make it a sticky?

[quote name='icastle' post='1070213' date='Dec 27 2010, 03:55 PM']As I said at the very beginning, I believe the PRS started out with good intentions but that they have lost their way.[/quote] "The road to hell is paved with good intentions"

[quote name='phil.mcglassup' post='1070091' date='Dec 27 2010, 01:17 PM']I didn't know drumming was such a pain...physically and financially!! Long winded answers are fine Thanks for the replies. I only did simple drum tracks on my old Korg with bass/snare and high-hats..no fills etc!!If you could explain the basics of creating a drum track as I haven't got much idea (read that as no idea) regarding: MIDI files MIDI commands sequencing loops sampler plugin Would it be OK to run the end product, whether it be drum machine or laptop through my old bass combo? -And not through the PA? We will only end up with vocals through the PA. I'm old school regarding my performing skills and a lot of this new technology confuses me a bit!! TIA.[/quote] About composing drum parts, really you've just got to be sensible. Imagine yourself playing the drums at that point and ask yourself whether it is in the relms of physical possibility. Try not to overplay on fills (don't imagine there being much danger of that) and really just try to keep things simple if you're just starting out. I find it helps to try and tab out songs that you like listening to, or listen to what other people have done (as long as it's accurate) to get an idea of what drum fills are composed of. I've run vocals through my old bass combo before. I think you should be ok really. They're not strictly designed to run them but I find you're pretty much ok with it.

[quote name='far0n' post='1069995' date='Dec 27 2010, 11:10 AM']Anyway, I've recently bought the latest Jamiroquai CD without listening to it first... it's great in my opinion and well worth the £9.99 I paid for it. Don't understand why people buy mp3s though? Surely if your ipod or PC crashed and you lost the lot... at least you've got your CDs to fall back on right ??[/quote] This is why it's important to back up your data! I've not really seen the point in spotify. I mean lady gaga made less than 200 quid off one of her hit songs. It's hardly much better than torrenting really. But i guess if it makes people feel better about themselves...

I remember once I didn't want to ship a guitar to anyone outside of europe who had less than 5 feedback in case it was a scammer. Eventually after pretty much begging me to let him bid, I let a man in Austrailia with 0 feedback buy it, for over twice as much as i bought it for. Unfortunately I didn't quite calculate the shipping cost right and ended up paying about 20 quid more than I'd charged but i still made a good bit of money on it lol.

[quote name='phil.mcglassup' post='1069933' date='Dec 27 2010, 08:30 AM']Thanks everyone! Why is there such a shortage of drummers? Or is it just in my area? Guitarists are ten-a penny, is it not cool to play drums anymore?[/quote] We're entering into a whole new subject with this. There are a couple of reasons, the first being (as always) lack of space/understanding neighbours (although it has never been easier to buy a quieter practice or electronic kit these days). There is also the fact that it is bloody difficult to maintain, think about all the expenses required to keep bass going and all the resulting blisters and injuries. You can multiply them by 10 if you're a loud drummer, at least. Even seasoned pros still get blisters from too much playing, blisters in blisters, the things are nasty. A set of drum heads is about 5x as expensive as a new set of bass strings. 2 pairs of sticks are about the same price as a set of bass strings and some pro drummers can go through 3 or more pairs in one gig! One cymbal can cost more than a bass and if you're not careful with how you play them you can crack them within a matter of months. As i say though many of these problems can be rectified by just following the right techniques and not playing like an idiot but it is too much of a problem for many. Plus there is the fact I think about how you are viewed as a drummer. Apart from all the "drummer jokes", people just don't really see playing the drums as being as good as being a guitarist or a singer and would rather do that (pointing out the obvious now, aren't i?) but yeah I think there is definetly something attached to being a drummer that a lot of people would just shy away from. Sorry for the long winded answer. As for your OP, you've got a few options which have pretty much been mostly explained already but I would say for the best results you want some song authoring software to input the notes, then export as a midi file into some sequencing software which you can then insert a virtual instrument into (again for best results, a small outlay may be required. Or TPB, depending on whether you're that way inclined.) and use that for the drum sounds. Also I think cubase does both the authoring and sequencing side of things, not really used it though. The best option in my opinion though is to pick up the sticks if you can't find anyone else, "if you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself..." that's what I did

I think that EddieHimself is a pretty terrible bass player. He's also always talking about himself in the 3rd person (much to WPDs annoyance )

[quote name='greyparrot' post='1069513' date='Dec 26 2010, 11:16 AM']i still dont get it, sorry. :-([/quote] That was in reply to HJ who was using the grouping brackets in order to negate the effect of using square brackets. But if you want to post a youtube video or anything you need square brackets like this: [code][youtube]SzETi665ViA[/youtube][/code] The code tags are there so it doesn't come up as a video.

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='1069486' date='Dec 26 2010, 10:19 AM']Your YouTube video has the address {http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzETi665ViA} ... those curly brackets are just there to stop that address from being "clickable". Take the bit after the "=" sign (SzETi665ViA) and put it between some YouTube bookends like this: {youtube}SzETi665ViA{/youtube} ... again, the curly brackets replace straight "[]" brackets just so that you can see what I've done. Take away the curly brackets and use straight ones, and you get this: [/quote] [code]or you could have used code tags so it doesn't post up as a link;)[/code]