TimR

[quote name='Woodinblack' timestamp='1474106983' post='3135636'] Possibly true. Although every group I have been in has insisted on doing some slow songs, which I never understood, seems indulgent for the band but I suppose it gives the audience time to go for a piss and a beer! [/quote] I think it gives the audience a chance to calm down a bit. Music is all about light and shade. Too many bands just play at an audience, assaulting them with a wall of noise.

[quote name='Woodinblack' timestamp='1474105968' post='3135616'] Seen several cover groups do spirit of radio, would hardly think its niche. Can't just play blues all the time! [/quote] It's not either/or is it? Just think there are some unusual songs. I'm guessing the keyboard player might have a big say on the tunes. There's an interesting video of Toto - Africa. They do fit into my category of "getting the tune exactly like the original" though, I'm not always keen on that approach as you can easily miss a lot of the feel concentrating too hard on the notes. A band to listen to rather than move about to?

[quote name='steve-bbb' timestamp='1474101088' post='3135576'] im inclined to agree with several others above that both these are just being thrown in there to massage the guitards ego aside... what widdly bits are you referring to ? TJH does a lot of rush vids on the youtubes and this one shows all the positions and fingering nice and clear https://youtu.be/p2XpKFGPUG0 [/quote] Have a look at some of the bands YouTube clips, they're not playing run of the mill tunes.

Where was he trained? Lots of people get 'bass' and 'bass guitar' confused. Maybe he can hear the bass quite well and doesn't realise that must of the mid range prescence is missing. Playing on a stage with FOH can cause problems if the bassist has a huge rig. There's no need to put it through the FOH so recordings won't be very representative.

[quote name='Daz39' timestamp='1474024192' post='3135022'] Spirit of Radio is a bit 'what?!' for a pub crowd - they should stick to rocker tracks that sound cool without obviously showing off: i.e. half the stuff from Test for Echo or something older like Vital Signs or Limelight. [/quote] I'm not sure any Rush songs are that well known amongst non-rush listeners. They're a bit of a marmite band. Looking through YouTube, this band are pretty brave with their song choices. I wonder how they're received in general. I'd like to hear a studio recording of them, I think it would be good. .

[quote name='Coilte' timestamp='1473930537' post='3134182'] While I salute your generosity, it seems wrong to me that simply because you happen to to have a "proper" job, that you should be the one to fork out the cash on a P.A. If people can't afford the equipment needed to run a band, then they are in the wrong "job" IMO. It also begs the question as to what happens if no none has a proper job ? [/quote] That's why I suggest 'hiring' it back to the band. If no one has a 'proper' job then the band has to go to the bank with a business plan for a loan. Or find a mate willing to lend them some money. Second hand PAs don't cost the earth as already said above.

[quote name='spectoremg' timestamp='1473870956' post='3133737'] Some great update comments on this one. For the record I came clean and said that I wouldn't be able to achieve that standard any time soon - which was totally honest. I'm never afraid of a challenge - that's how I got to my current standard. As someone has already said I personally wouldn't want to see or be in a band who bored the pants of a pub crowd with Wayward Son. I was also suspicious of Bohemian Rhapsody aspirations. I've seen this band in one form or another for nearly 20 years now and they've steadily become more um... self absorbed - playing three or four songs that no-one recognises is a cardinal sin IMO. I did find a video of them doing Spirit of Radio with their last-but-one bass player and actually they pretty much nailed the doodly bits - not bad for a six piece! [/quote] It depends what those songs are. Some songs have a powerful hook that holds people's attention from the start. All Rush songs fit into my category of "Everyone in the band loves them, most of the audience have never heard of them." Unless you're playing in Canada. The problem with Queen songs is there are only a few that don't rely on loads of production. What tends to happen is the band gets bogged down in trying to nail parts that are only part of the production instead of stripping the tune back to the lyrics, melody and chord structure and building it back up. The audience will sing most of it anyway. I guess they dropped Spirit of Radio when the new bass player couldn't do it and want to have another go at it. I suspect it needs a certain audience.

[quote name='Coilte' timestamp='1473875603' post='3133802'] I agree, a speaker on it's own isn't worth anything, but neither is it worth anything being in a band where a little honesty and common sense does not prevail. It worked a treat in that band I was in. If you can't trust your band mates .....!!! Just to be clear...when I talk about splitting the P.A., I mean for transport purposes only...not selling. [/quote] I thought you meant that the band split and everyone went off with different bits of kit!

[quote name='Coilte' timestamp='1473872720' post='3133763'] Depending on the size of the P.A. (the speaker stands alone can take up a lot of room, both on stage, and in the car), it could be split up among the band. A previous band I was in split it up....I took the speaker stands, and each guitarist took a speaker (with one opting to also take the mixing desk). Granted, we all shared the vocals, but in the end it boils down to people adopting some common sense. [/quote] That sounds like a rubbish solution. A speaker on its own isn't worth anything. The space in a car thing is a pertinent point. I played with a drummer who bought a two door sports hatch. He had to dismantle his bass drum to get it into the back seats. I have always owned large hatchbacks or estates. Wen I left the band I think he had problems transporting drums and PA. Some people don't think about that kind of thing when buying a car I guess.

[quote name='Coilte' timestamp='1473868195' post='3133710'] That was my initial thought, but [i]WHO[/i] is the one who is going to buy it ? By your own admission ( with which I agree makes sense), it's not a good idea for everyone to own the P.A. I suppose it depends on the situation (how many singers, D.I. users etc). [/quote] Hire until someone gets fed up with going to pick it up etc and buys one themselves. That's what I did. It was £50 to hire it, but I was spending Sat afternoon going to pick it up and Sunday morning taking it back. So I just bought one and hired it out to the band. .

There are as many ways of doing it as there are bands. That's just ridiculous looking for a bass player with PA. They need to buy one. I think the best way is for one person to own the PA, and take a bit extra (or not) from the gig money for storage, upkeep and lugging it around everywhere. I'd always advise against everyone owning a share in the PA, it gets complicated when the band split or someone leaves and some one else joins. You end up effectively agreeing a 'membership' fee.

I put this together from a very static single DSLR 4K camera. There's only one dynamic zoom and pan done by the operator at about 0:53. The rest is all done in iMovie. I think there is other software would let you add dynamic zoom and pan. http://youtu.be/T_qERv4vDog

If you get a video of the whole width of the stage you can zoom in using software afterwards. This will give a multi-camera type impression. Any decent camera will do this. Then give a hand held video to any old monkey with no skills and tell them to get close up footage from different angles. Cut it all together with the soundtrack from the first camera and you'll get something fairly impressive.

We did a gig a long time ago that we managed to get into because the singer was married to one of the senior officers. While we were waiting to go on I tried to engage the agent, who dealt with all the entertainment, in some conversation. She wasn't interested in even talking to me. I think it's a closed shop. A pro drummer friend of mine played in a band that gigged regularly for the RAF. They flew the band all over the world for gigs. Maybe other posters have different experiences. You'd certainly need to be vetted if you were regularly visiting bases.

Don't do the doodly bits then. Do the best that you can. They're auditioning you, not Geddy Lee. If you're not good enough, they'll go with one of the hundreds of bass players lined up ready to play who can do the doodly bits

[quote name='spike' timestamp='1473420463' post='3130046'] To be fair, we're talking Harrow and most of our gigs are Saturdays but Friday night in Bedford is a regular for us. We do have a couple regular gigs in Watford and Ruislip which will be fine for him but everything else is north of Harpenden and Stevenage [/quote] Google maps is giving me 1h20 on a Friday lunchtime avoiding current minor congestion on M1. If he can do that inside 2 hours at 5-6pm he's doing well. Maybe meet him for a beer in Bedford one Friday night first to see what he thinks. .

[quote name='spike' timestamp='1473418972' post='3130019'] I used to live south of Dunstable and a previous band I was in rehearsed weekly in Bedford. Like you, 40 mins + to get there and it did my head in. My present band only rehearses to learn new songs or rehearse new members and I reckon if we went with this drummer it would only take a couple rehearsals to get him up to speed. My main worry is how keen he will be to drive from north London to Luton or Bedford on a Friday after work once he's done it a few times [/quote] Wow! That depends on where in North London he is and what time you're expecting him to be at gigs. Doesn't matter how keen he is, that's a serious undertaking for a Friday night.

I'm near Stevenage so lots of gigs with an hour. Even as far as Cambridge. The thing is though for a drummer it's a hell of a load in and out on top of that hour so he'll end up doing 4 hours of 'driving duties' for each outing. I used to be 40mins+ from rehearsal space. On top of my daily cummute. It did my head in and I'm now 15mins from my current band. .

Put everything through the PA and use an 80 band EQ to ring out the venue. Search for booming and natural resonance. Drums need to be dampened if the room adds its own reverb. Good luck with that, drummers are even more precious about 'their sound' than guitarists.

I have a loose plan. It won't be a function. Probably more a Jules Holland style thing where I sit in with various different musicians playing different styles. A bit of jazz, some pop, classic rock, heavy metal... Some disco music on the iPod for in between sets. A bar. It takes no real planning other than booking the hall and sending out invites, asking people to play and booking a buffet.

[quote name='EliasMooseblaster' timestamp='1473165751' post='3127552'] . Even with an original artist playing something incredibly twiddly and technical, there will be some innate fascination in watching them execute these feats of noodly technicality, and so if you have to choose between two such groups, then the group who can apply a little more showmanship to their technoodlesome execution is more likely to be the one that gets your ticket money. (Though conversely, I often wonder if the one thing worse than a shy band is a band that's too arrogant and just gets on the crowd's nerves. Is a hostile atmosphere worse than no atmosphere?) [/quote] I went to see a friend play at an originals night. They were second on of three. The first band were excellent the venue was full. They pitched it perfectly. Musically and showmanship. My friend's band were also superb. Musically and showmanship. However about half the audience left as soon as the first band had finished. Once my friend had finished the audience halved again but we stayed to watch the last band. Musically they were competent, they could play their instrument, but the tunes were terribly written. People started leaving. The singer/guitarist was getting more and more agitated as more people left. Eventually launching a tirade of abuse at the audience about not recognising good music. We left after that. Aside: I once went for a meal at a restaurant's opening night. Halfway through the meal a band started up. It was a small restaurant and the band were loud, people were there to eat. They were playing original songs. We complained to the restaurant several times about the volume level. Eventually the singer came over and told us we didn't know anything about music and it had to be loud when playing live. All 10 of us looked at her and burst out laughing. We were having a band night out with the 10 piece function band.

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1473153265' post='3127343'] For lots of people the music is all the "interaction" they need from a band, they don't want or need any more "entertainment" than that. I'm one of them. [/quote] Certainly. However, people come to see a band, not necessarily to listen to a band. I suspect that people who are not interested in being entertained will come back whether or not te band are entertaining, whereas those who do want to be entertained will not come back if you don't entertain them. So you will lose part of your audience by only playing and not performing the songs. If, as in the OPs case, you actually like playing to an audience, the performance part of the music is quite important.

It have 4 LED par cans. They're DMX but as mentioned above set them to sound to light. I think mine are the DJled ones and 2 are 48 and 2 are 64. Stuck on two small tripods behind the PA speakers light the band really well.

It's difficult to know without actually having been there. Know the area. Know what the rooms are like. Know what kind of bands he lets rehearse. I'd not be too worried about power off an locking up. I'm not sure I'd be totally happy with checking lifts are empty. Depends what the 'lifts' actually are. I've been left in charge of all sorts of buildings. It's not really a big deal.

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1473097878' post='3126922'] This very much depends on the genre. I wouldn't expect to go & see a death metal band, or somebody like Steven Wilson, & have them smiling & throwing cheeky winks at the crowd, or telling crap one-liners in between songs. [/quote] Indeed. I'm still not convinced a death metal band who stare at their shoes all night would be a particularly enteraining act. Presumably they interact with the crowd in some way.