Nail Soup

I'm listening to some Beefheart as I am currently reading Drumbo's book about Beefheart and being in the Magic Band. Here's Big Eyed Beans From Venus... great song and relatively accessable.

Phew, thought it was going to be Springsteen for a minute.

If this was some idea she had dreamed up herself, then it might be OK. But I don't think it's something you should influence her towards.

String tension and stuff aside, I think it would be good time for her to learn a new tuning. It's part and parcel of moving between instruments.

Yes, I play 5 string... mainly clawhammer style which really features the 5th 'drone' string. I tend to take the 'embrace the default tuning' approach to other stringed instruments, as I want it to be different from guitar/bass. I'd maybetune to a familiar tuning for practical purposes if I need to for a particular occasion. However whilst banjo does have it's conventional tuning, a lot of pieces are played in an alternate tuning (such as 'mountain modal'). "What tuning is this in" is a much more common question in banjo world than guitar world.

I fancy a mandolin too, but I'm currently trying to get into banjo and don't want to dilute any further! From what I see at folk sessions I attend the mandolin always seems to be played with a pick. It seems to have short sustain, so a tendency towards frequent picks. I could see myself going for a bowl-back or an octave mandolin, just to be different.

Good stuff, I liked it. My feedback/pointers for the remix: basically leave the instrumental track as it is, but up a bit in the mix. Leave that second 'ethereal' vocal as it is. Push the foreground vocal back a bit by lowering the volume and adding some reverb or something. This song/sound doesn't suit the vocal so far in the foreground.

Good stuff! I like the guitar sound in particular.

Maybe it's just me, but I don't find those particularly weird or amusing. Those tributes are like a show or business that takes a lot of managing, organising, musical directing and so on.... none of which is necessarily done by the 'star'. The Bowie/Freddie is just a (albeit key) performance that goes on top - acting. Similar to if a lead actor leaves a theatrical production, they'll just be replaced and the show will go on. It's not like they need to be like the real David/Freddie who where adding creativity and invention.

I haven't heard about Porky for ages, then we have this thread and I listedneted t olast nights MArc Riley show on 6music and he was talking about Porky. Marc has had roles as a musician, A/R and label owner and spoke very highly of Porky, especially the run out grooves. The Fall had particularly good run out groove comment IIRC. He also mentioned that Porky was responsible for cutting Hey Jude to 7".... apparently the longest song on 7" at that time (don't know about since).

Memphis Minnie

In my experience monitoring is important.... helps the singer sing well and in tune if they can hear themselves. Even more so if there are backing vocals.

Yeah, probably the French 😉!

Cool story, but leads me to a question... sorry! Is the mastering done as part of the 'cutting' (i.e. you hand Porky the final un-mastered mix and he sets the controls to give the best master and then makes the cut)? Or you make a new mix made for vinyl and hand that over to Porky?

I didn't fully understand the difference between mixing and mastering until late. Mastering, as someone said, is optimising the mix for a particular medium. In that sense I don't master, just create one final mix and that's it. For a start, I'm not really putting my music out in different mediums (Soundcloud and Youtube maybe) , and second I would know what to do differently for any given medium. Interesting thread.

Nothing special about the music (sorry), but great title!

Reggae only recycles as much as any other genre. As with many genres, if you are not into it it may sound the same to you. (Note: I did see the joking emojis 👍)

Just not any good for abstract music.

Sorry forgot to say: Good luck whatever way you go!

This new-ish bunch are on my radar at the moment - Sniffany and the Nits. Here's a new song by them.

Surprised in a bass forum no-one has mentioned Roger Glower.

I'm not a Eurovision fan and won't be watching, but if others like it then OK. I'd like to see it hosted in physically in the UK, but nominally by Ukraine... with Ukrainian presenters or whatever it is the host country does. A bit like when a football team plays their 'home' matches at a different stadium during an upgrade to their ground.

Sometimes one figures out the issue oneself as a by-product of asking for help. And BC is an idiot-friendly zone, so welcome 🙂 !

Are you being unrealistic? Short answer is Yes. You cannot expect people to change to how you want them to be, even if what you want is perfectly reasonable to you. Their attitude is perfectly acceptable. So is yours. They just may not mix well in the same band. If you are in the majority, then maybe the other person should leave. If you are in the minority, then maybe look for a different band..... and be sure to look for like-minded people.

Herewith my entry to the July comp. Didn't have lot of time due to work, a weekend musical festival and a holiday all in, but just about managed it! Blurb: The picture evoked care-free playtime between parent and child (with my parents and also myself with my kids when they were younger), so the lyrics are from there. The music came from a quick mess-around with some jangly C86 ideas. Technical notes: Drums: library beats from MT Power Kit plus live tambourine. Bass - vantage avenger. Guitar: Squier Tele though Fender amp sims, Keys are Studio one Farfisa, Vox though a cheapo condensor. Lyrics in spoiler: