TimR

Try a search for cleaning or restoring open pore or untreated wood. http://canada.pch.gc.ca/eng/1439925170289

Just to clarify on the guide track; IME The guide track will be everyone playing together and then relevant tracks dropped out during the re-recording of each part. Sometimes (usually) the original drum track is used. Assuming there is no bass bleed into the drum mikes this will give a more authentic feel to the recording. If the bass is then good on that first take there may only be a requirement to drop in parts.

[quote name='steve-bbb' timestamp='1491839061' post='3275772'] in my humble experience most established covers bands do not win gigs on the strength of their website or demo recordings alone 99.999% of your gig bookings will come from people who have been to see you live in the flesh and were impressed enough to shake their booty or tap their foot accordingly ... [/quote] Whilst I agree with this 100%, if the band are looking for high end gigs where they're booked by committee, one member of the committe will say they have seen or know a really good band but they'll often need a way to convince the rest of the committee.

You'll put down a guide track first that will be to a click track. Then the drumer will play along to that, so all willl be good. You'll have a vocal track to guide you. There will be no problem with reading off a pad as there's no audience. If you mess up, you can just re-record the part you messed up. Relax.

[quote name='arthurhenry' timestamp='1491739755' post='3275086'] Both, but I would say mostly freeholds. Perhaps LLs of these places have more of a vision of exactly what they want, whereas Managers for a chain don't really care if they like the band or not. [/quote] Yes. They're also sometimes trying to create a brand. People like to know what they're getting and a classic rock pub, originals club or a jazz club will get a different audience. I'm not sure how successful pubs that put on different styles of music each week are. People often tend to be pretty fixed in their ideas. I can't see many checking to see what band is on before heading out to their local.

[quote name='dlloyd' timestamp='1491683507' post='3274825'] Are these freeholds or managed pubs? Managers working for a chain draw a salary. It makes no difference to them if they are making steady business or if they are packing the place out... [/quote] It makes quite a bit of difference. If they make a lot of money, their rent increases. It's a weird business model.

Yes. My local tried an open mic night midweek. The pub is 100m from my house. I knew nothing about it until I just happened to walk in one night and see the PA. He knows who I am and didn't even ask if I'd ask my friends to come down.

Modern bass cavities are painted with what looks like a black paint. It's graphite shielding paint.

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1491671869' post='3274710'] Again, must be cultural. Over here the LLs I know, their personal taste is a genre known as "Money". Blue [/quote] Yes. In the UK people put a lot of stock in doing things they like over making money. We have a long history of a socialist society compared to the US. We don't need money as much as you guys do. A lot of the things we need are provided by the state from the taxes of rich people. It's a fairly unique society. You should visit.

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1491671240' post='3274705'] That's complicated. Over here they generally don't book rock bands in restaurants where people are sitting down eating. The landlords don't listen to anything except the sound of the cash register opening and closing. Blue [/quote] No. We have clubs with background music quite a lot. I went to a wine bar last week they had a jazz band. A rock band would not have worked. People were there to socialise. It's a cultural thing.

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1491653498' post='3274584'] Interesting how some of these managers and owners would rather not answers calls, voice mail messages or text instead of answering and just telling you "No". Blue [/quote] I've found a lot of managers are too busy doing whatever they do to be replying to emails explaining why they don't want you. They may be getting masses of enquiries and you're just another one cluttering up their inbox. We also had a landlord who I'd emailed lots of times and had no reply. I popped in, he said he'd been meaning to contact me but had lost my details. Gave me his card and asked me to email him. By the time I'd got home he had emailed me asking for some dates. Who knows how their heads work?

[quote name='FinnDave' timestamp='1491643681' post='3274484'] Yep, place we've played on 8-10 times over the last 3 or 4 years, new people running it and they have told me the place isn't suitable for live music. The previous managers had live music at least once a week for years. Shame, it was a good gig, good crowd used to be in there. I expect they've moved somewhere else now. [/quote] Yes. Same with us. The landlord gave us two two stories. 1) "I didn't know how to contact you." - "Ah Ok, There's a website called Lemonrock, all your future gigs are still up on it, I'll give you the details", "Oh yes, I know about that.", "?". 2) "Thanks for playing, it's not what the regulars like though." - despite the 'regulars' being up and dancing most of the night? I think some landlords have an image of what their pub should be and if your style of music doesn't fit with their 'brand' then you're on to a loser regardless of how many people you draw. That's their choice and it may be that a pub full of people leaping about and drinking beer is more hassle, hard work and less money than people sitting quietly eating food and drink red wine by the bottle while listening to smooth jazz. Which is what the landlord wants to listen to anyway.

I'm sure they have paid someone to do some SEO on their videos. I wouldn't blame them for everything. There's a few sites I used that were very good but are now so full of junk articles designed to grab people's attention while recycling old content, or even having so little content, that they're unusable now. This has got so prevalent and is making the web so cluttered that even Google have changed their algorithm so that sites working like that are now being penalised in search results.

[quote name='MoonBassAlpha' timestamp='1491255691' post='3271672'] The Guild of Stranglers. [/quote] Very close to their original name. The Guildford Stranglers.

[quote name='Kevin Dean' timestamp='1491250831' post='3271630'] His first suggestion was "Tank" He said there is nothing wishy washy about that name .......But there is a band with that name I think . His second was "The Wranglers" & "No More Zeroes" [/quote] Hmmmm. Personally I think The Gosport Stranglers has a ring to it.

Where do all the locked threads go? I've noticed that they start to bunch together as they can't be replied to. As more of the threads between them get replies and move back up to the top the locked threads end up stuck together forever. Is there a pile of them at the bottom of the canal? .

Do they do key cutting?

A local electrician will PAT test your gear for less than 50p an item.

Watching the same band playing the same tunes over and over again? Who would want to do that?

[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1490735223' post='3267589'] I could agree, I suppose. But I'd still think the guy telling his wife to stop moaning about the time he spends away with his music endeavours because "it's work" is being pretty ridiculous [1]. That is completely separated from whether his wife has a point or not, which depends entirely on each situation. [1] in that 2-gig a month band that rehearses weekly. [/quote] It depends how much he makes from those two gigs and how much of it he gives to her. Assuming she is sat at home alone on the Saturdays when he is out working. When I worked New Years eves, and they were hard work that paid reasonably well, on New Year's Day I'd take the family out for a meal to compensate. They wouldn't have gone out on NYE partying anyway and we'd all have been home watching TV, so it was only compensation in the loosest of terms.

Being in a band is work. Whether you get paid for it or not. You are producing a service with your labour. No discussion. Whether you see it as difficult or hard work is another thing entirely. But it is work.

Yes. I wouldn't want my wife to come to a gig out of a sense of duty, there would be no point. I like an appreciative audience who want to be there to see the band. My wife doesn't like the type of music the band, I'm currently in, plays.

[quote name='Telebass' timestamp='1490603899' post='3266221'] Remember that part of the question is that people seem to EXPECT my wife to attend every gig, regardless, for whatever reason...that's what neither of us understand! [/quote] Firstly. I wouldn't even attend one of our gigs, I'm only there cause I'm playing the bass. Secondly, some people have very close marriages. I don't understand it myself, but I know people who work in the same office, do the weekly shop, go on holiday together. They're never apart. Ever. I only see my wife for an hour a day tops. Any longer than that and I risk a fate worse than death. I suppose there's a happy medium between the two somewhere. With the emphasis on 'happy'. Anyway, I suppose it depends to an extent who these people are that are expecting you to be together at all possible hours of the day. What their experiences are etc. It may only be a few of your friends who remark on it and that's colouring your perception of how many people are expecting it.

I just don't see a musician joining your band as the same as getting married or getting a tattoo. You're going to be trialling them for a period anyway. If it doesn't work out over the next few weeks for either of you then you start auditioning again.

[quote name='T-Bay' timestamp='1490469217' post='3265382'] A lot of it comes down to age. I loved both of them when I was about 10-12 and they were at their height, then I found metal and alternative stuff and never looked at anything with a synth again. I still like it though, nostalgia I guess. If you look through the years there are always a few acts that are 'big', some stand the test of time better than others and even the most popular will split opinion, I still can't see the Beatles as anything better than a pop act with a couple of ok songs, some people would have me hanged for that sentiment. [/quote] It had a richness back then. I think we've got used to a much richer sound and listening back, a lot of Futurist music now sounds quite thin.