TimR

Yes when I joined my most recent band I made the conscious descision to not play any part in suggesting or avoiding playing anything. So far I have only thrown my toys out of the pram once, when the guys spent half an hour discussing what tunes to play. Every song the singer suggested was turned down by the guitarist and drummer and every song the drummer or guitarist suggested was turned down by the singer. An absolute waste of my time. Tell me what to play - I'll play it. Let the audience decide.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1465429438' post='3068236'] Hmm... that IS a terrible song, though. [/quote] This is the primary reason that cover bands' setlists are so bland and why we all complain everyone is playing the same tunes. Finding a group of musicians who can pick good tunes that the audience like is very very hard. I'm not afraid to try anything but I usually say if a tune hasn't gone down well after three outings it's time to bin it. I guess the big problem is band members who refuse to even try suggestions. It's only a bunch of notes and a few words. Learn them, play them a few times - keep/bin as required. It's not rocket science, people are too narrow minded. .

[quote name='Leonard Smalls' timestamp='1465217530' post='3066175'] That doesn't really tell us anything about transmission frequency balance, or more importantly, how something is mixed for transmission whether it's music or drama or docs... Bear in mind that the mixing for transmission, as opposed to the sound in the studio, is done in a (mostly!) soundproofed room with (relatively!) full-range monitors. So frequency extremes aren't going to feature very much on a 2" speaker on your telly - unless the mix has been compressed in a frequency-dependent way. And the audio in the mixing room will be full-range and not (digitally) - compressed. So it may sound perfect to them - after all they want max quality - but after being MPEG encoded then compressed to between 128 and 320kbps (depending on what else is going on in the transmission multiplex), who knows what the balance is going to be like! [/quote] Isn't the broadcast mix done outside the venue in a trailer and completely different from the PA and monitor mix? I agree it doesn't tell us much but if you start to mix in bass and drums you elevate the level of the mix quite a bit and they mention not wanting an overly compressed sound for TV in the article. Which is different to what they do for radio and CD.

I think the problem with listening to music on the TV is it is always going to be a compromise. http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/internet/entries/c99c3fd4-708b-3632-8c33-13abe97ec557

[quote name='hiram.k.hackenbacker' timestamp='1465147770' post='3065601'] No. It's a criminal matter now it has been reported. If they recover the bass, presumably from a premises search, the Police may retain it until the matter has been disposed of. When and if the case is proven, the aggrieved party should be reunited with their instrument. If not proven, the loser may choose to take it along the civil route where the burden of proof is less than in the criminal courts. [/quote] What if there us no money and no bass?

[quote name='Boanerges' timestamp='1465141999' post='3065559'] With Staffs police, awaiting developments. [/quote] Good move. I think you should at least be able to track fhe bass down. I think it may be unlikely you'll get your money. I think the problem here is that the police can arrest him for theft (it's a criminal offence) but presumably he is known to them and they're continually aresting him. What happens after that I wouldn't like to guess. It'll go to court and he'll get some kind of fine/sentence. Getting your property back or money is presumably then a civil matter and more difficult.

I have bass soloed happy birthday at a pub gig. It's one minute tops and no one is listening to the band. It went down a storm. Odd. Next time I'll try the Flea bass solo version although I'm not sure all our audiences are quite ready for that.

[quote name='tauzero' timestamp='1464980064' post='3064433'] That's the exact opposite of the truth. Valve amps contribute even-order harmonics which sound good (as they're octaves), transistor amps produce odd-order harmonics as they go into clipping - a square wave is the product of an odd-order series f + 3f/3 + 5f/5 + 7f/7... (the multiplier is the frequency, the divisor is the volume, hence 3f/3 is a third the volume and three times the frequency) which is why the odd-order harmonics are produced. [/quote] Ah thanks. I knew it was one way round. Seems we both may be wrong. It's the A vs AB amplifier design that causes the difference. The push-pull cancels the unpleasant harmonics. Anyway. You can push one further into distortion than the other and it will not sound harsh.

I'd make some very short patch leads 1/4" plug to 1/4" socket with an inline resistor in each to drop the volume of each bass to the lowest one. Use a variable resistor and a multimeter to determine the value of each resistor. Then you can just leave the patch lead in each bass and plug in and out of that as you need.

It's a 5.1 mix.

All my lights are in the big cardboard box they came in but the edges are reinforced with gaffa tape. Not sure if that's semi-pro?

[quote name='Twincam' timestamp='1464789033' post='3062550'] The thing is this. Companies launch brand new products they are not trying to copy the original models, they evolve naturally. Where a band with only so many original members doing the old songs is trying to be pretty much like the original as that is what people want. So that argument doesn't not apply. You could apply it to fender etc whom are doing original models but are different ownership but even then they are keeping to pretty much the exact formula and trying to keep the tradition and history close to there hearts. The product hasn't changed even though manufacturing techniques are totally different. Again in music this can not apply people have more variables if they sounded pretty much the same it might be better or ok but they don't, they but there own stamp on it changing the original to much that in the end they sound a covers band. [/quote] But surely that's exactly what any band does whether they're a cover band or the original artist. Once you've released the record - the song has been designed and manufactured - after that you're just recreating the original using the plans and whatever manufacturing methods you have to hand. The plans aren't even carved in stone, they're constantly changing to make a slightly different version of the original.

[quote name='r16ktx' timestamp='1464786839' post='3062509'] The band name is a brand name, so is Apple not Apple without Jobs (and/or Wozniak), in which case it would have had to flip from Apple to Not Apple and back over time. As regards sounding different that is something that happens over time anyway as in the first time the original Big Country lineup played together would not sound like the last [/quote] Precisely. It's a financial entity. It's the Music Business. Many companies change over time, some diversify into other products. If they have customers who have brand loyalty it would be odd to throw away your most valuable asset. .

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1464695823' post='3061479'] And as I keep saying, song writing is a skill that has to be learnt just like playing a musical instrument. I bet it took a while before you were happy with your standard of bass playing and you had to do a fair bit of practicing to get there. Songwriting is no different - the more songs you write the better you become. [/quote] I totally agree. You need to be in the right environment though. At the moment I'm in a covers band and I think they'd be up for playing a couple more originals. We play two already, people just assume they're less well known rock tunes. But really I'm too busy with other stuff.

Yeah but all my songs just sound like I've nicked a load of stuff from other people and fitted it together. A bit like a sonic collage.

[quote name='Marc S' timestamp='1464681648' post='3061297'] Another bassist from south Wales here, echoing what FuNkShUi has said. Although lately in Cardiff, pubs are now edging toward the trend of NOT paying in cash Instead, they want you to submit an invoice. This usually means one band member who has his own business submitting the invoice, and he ends up paying tax on it. Of course, we all should be paying tax -but that rather reduces the £200 fee between 4 or 5 band members.. And, given certain politicians' history on paying tax - one feels that £200, which was the going rate around 15 years ago seems rather paltry Especially as Cardiff city centre gigs usually mean you have to pay to park too Oddly enough, we seem to get paid more in the Valleys of South Wales, where you also get paid cash, often get a free drink or 2. And I have to say it, but they seem to prefer their live music [/quote] Set the band up as a company. As a micro entity you only have to do a company return (£13) and submit simple accounts every year. It's really very simple.

Valve amps will distort with odd order harmonics which sound pleasant to the human ear. Transistor amps distort with even order harmonics which aren't. You can only therefore compare valve-valve and transistor-transistor amps, And as there's no standard, one amp manufacturer can claim 1000 watts at 10% THD at 1kHz but the amp may not develop any more power than 1000watts. Whilst another manufacturer could claim 500 watts at 1% THD at 1kHz. But the 500watt amp could be louder because it might operate well above 1000 watts. .

[quote name='Meddle' timestamp='1464439110' post='3059469'] I've just realised I effectively quit another band. They wanted to move to Berlin, and I didn't. [/quote] That's kind of constructive dismissal.

[quote name='ivansc' timestamp='1464534890' post='3060148'] I do find it a little disturbing that most of you guys seem to regard a covers gig as requiring a slavish, note perfect, feel-perfect version of The Original Record. Really hope I am reading this one wrong. In any case, when I play covers, I try to sort of pay hommage to the original, but never follow anything note for note. In 99 cases out of 100, the guy who did the original recording has never played it twice the same. For me, that is where the fun is on any gig. [/quote] Not so much disturbing as frustrating. I've only ever had one person tell me I was playing a bass line wrong. Another bass player. I depped with an originals band. I learned the bass lines the original bass player wrote. I altered most of them slightly in some way as I didn't like some of the note choices and they weren't what I would have played. After the gig I got lots of comments about 'really nailing' it. It's funny. I've heard loads of players who've copied originals note for note but have missed the feel and I've heard loads of players who captured the feel but the line has been different. I know what I preferred. It's extremely rare that I've heard anyone play the original notes with the original feel.

Whenever I've played in originals band the actual songwriting has varied in the methods employed. Sometimes the guitarist would come up with a riff and we'd jam it and it would morph. From a decent verse we would create a chorus and then assemble it all. Occasionally the guitarist would come up with a fully formed song and we would just add our parts to it. Really a song only consists of a melody line and a form. Everything else is pretty fluid. The melody/riff can be created by one person or it can be an idea that is shaped by everyone. This is something I struggle to get across to a lot of cover band musicians who want everything the same as the original. It puts songs originally played on piano out of reach of guitar bands. Unless you have a creative guitarist with vision.

I was the same for a few years. The one thing I couldn't understand was how a band of relatively inept musicians could get a place leaping about. 1. Have a frontman who welcomes the audience. Forget if he can sing or not. He needs to be larger than life and ooze confidence. 2. Play songs with confidence. Spend longer getting tight and ignore whether the guitarist should be playing with a Fender or a Gibson etc. That is only important to the guitarist and his obsessive mate at the bar at the back of the room. 3. Be polite to everyone and behave like a professional. That's it really. If one of those things are missing you're going to find it hard to get gigs. Everything else is window dressing.

Pete. You've been seriously ill and spent a lot of time in hospital. You will have lost a lot of muscle mass. You can't expect to get up and do a 3 hour gig just like that. Ask to be referred to a physio. Get some weight bearing excersie routines. Good luck and be patient.

[quote name='RockfordStone' timestamp='1464178416' post='3057243'] is it an established working band doing 4 hours gigs? if not, it is probably going to fold.... the majority of bands do [/quote] I think so. They play a few Beatles numbers as well which are quite popular with the older generation.

I think 'established' doesn't nessecarily mean the band. If the band leader is well known by promoters and known to be able to put a decent project together then that holds a lot more sway. A group of unknown musicians trying to get a foot in the door is nigh on impossible.

[quote name='solo4652' timestamp='1464176896' post='3057216'] 20 years later!? [/quote] That was in response to Rockford's question about not being any established bands without start up bands. The reason start up bands have so much trouble is because a lot of the established bands aren't actually full of people who have been there from day one. So you find a band can get the same gigs and play similar music being effectively an 'established band' but actually have only been playing together for a few months in its current line up. The band I started has no members newer than 4 years ago and the newest member joined last week.