TimR

[quote name='Norris' timestamp='1466252313' post='3074425'] Well that's another thing - weeding out the sh*tty gigs by making phone calls and asking questions i.e. making sure they are expecting you a few days before the gig, checking "suppied" equipment has been provided and is suitable, etc. [/quote] Unfortunately, the guy who was in charge of this aspect (call him a promoter if you like) didn't...

I think you've got a problem there with your experience with age vs their eagerness of youth. You may need to steer them a bit and 'sense check' the gigs they're getting offered beforehand for them. It's very easy to take everything and anything in desperation for exposure.

It depends what the songs are. The whole cover band thing fascinates me. You're playing a song originally written by another artist. Unless your singer is doing impressions of the original artist, you're going to sound completely different from the original anyway. You may get some narrow minded audience members being picky about what artists they'll listen to, but I doubt it. .

I'm still fighting with the software. My PC doesn't like it. I'm going to try some different software.

Every single Beatles tune. And actually quite a lot of the songs we play that I liked before we played them but can't bear to listen to. Maybe because I've heard us play then so many times. But that's not really what you asked. I suspect what happens is you're creating the music you're hearing it from a different position and you're also able to put some spin on the bits you don't particularly like. Depending on who is playing it; Mustang Sally can be a hell on earth boring drag-fest, or it can be a lively bouncing great tune. .

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1465827490' post='3071314'] ... Personally, I find the apostrophe more shocking than anything else, but there you go... [/quote] Quite. Seems very common though...

[quote name='PaulGibsonBass' timestamp='1465811081' post='3071087'] A few developments... We contacted the band in question and very politely suggested they consider changing their name on the basis that we're the more established band, we had the name before they formed etc... We then received a very terse response which basically amounted to a verbal middle finger. We were willing to take a deep breath, move on and leave it be. Then one of us got a phone call over the weekend from one of their fathers apologising for his daughters bands immaturity and rude response! Hilarious. [/quote] That is brilliant. You should always remember that there are an awful lot of kids on the web posing as adults. Maybe adults should go on a course to learn the opposite of the lessons our kids are taught about adults posing as kids.

Try http://www.bandmix.co.uk It's pretty good.

The (English) Beat were known as The English Beat in the US and The Beat in Europe. While The (US) Beat where known as The Paul Collins Beat in Europe and The Beat in the US. Even though The English Beat were established before The Paul Collins Beat. An interesting solution. Maybe add another word in front of yours as well to eliminate the confusion?

Lost Prophets with elements of Muse. Nice.

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.