TimR

[quote name='White Cloud' timestamp='1392929368' post='2374444'] Or she! Careful, there are lots of great female players here. Well, never mind chinese fare...some consider MIM Fenders to be cheap copies when compared to the golden oldies [/quote] Edited I think the point is the subject is being fooled into thinking they're playing a great instrument, when they're not.

Isn't the placebo effect where a player is given a cheap Chinese copy and told it's a '63 Fender and plays better with it because they believe it's a real Fender. EDIT: For gender equality

That's a control issue. It happens in every industry. I'll give my boss a perfect excel spreadsheet. He'll look over it and ask for changes. The changes make absolutely no difference except they say to me he is the boss.

[quote name='waynepunkdude' timestamp='1392909708' post='2374070'] James Corden isn't funny no matter what the space, ... [/quote] Regardless of the celebrity hosting it. I don't think I've seen one where the host hasn't looked incredibly nervous. Even And and Dec or Chis Evans who should have been in their element. No one seems to know what's going on or exactly what the role of the host seems to be. Could be a lot slicker when you see what other awards ceremonies do.

I didn't see any screaming fans. So it may seem that they're talking only to the TV cameras and no one else in their eye line is listening. Very rude. Chuck them all out.

James Cordon was on radio 2 yesterday morning saying he wasn't going to do it again. He essentially said the space has no atmosphere. It doesn't really matter how funny you try to be everything just falls flat. I think the fear showed in his face. He knew the burning arm thing wouldn't work. The whole thing is stage managed very poorly, no one seems to know what's going on. I suspect half the floor is full of celebs on their best behaviour but trying to be edgy and the other half is full of their yes men.

My only issue with bands doing sets longer than an hour is the noise. They get louder and louder and as they get more tired the music gets sloppier and sloppier. The audience's ears get tired. Really you owe it to yourselves and the audience to put on a professional performance.

Active or passive? Seems a lot of people are concerned about running power all over the stage, which is a problem with both setups if you're using stage lights. I've made some 4way black extension leads with 1m leads. Then I have a bunch of 1, 3 and 5m 2way extension leads which mean we can set up in pretty much any way in any space and keep the mains leads as short and tidy as possible.

I found the manual for the behringer wasn't particularly clear. Took about three or four gigs to work out what it was capable of doing then it worked like a dream.

Two 45min sets and an hour set with two 15min breaks.

[quote name='dannybuoy' timestamp='1392737565' post='2372147'] Not seen the programme yet, but hopefully they just pointed her towards the homeopathic remedies! [/quote] Lol. She went to the natural remedy shop and asked for placebo pills. They thought she was mad. The ethics committe would only allow the trail to run for three weeks. After that her symptoms came back. Mad.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1392729059' post='2371993'] It's complex enough in theory, thanks... [size=4] [/size] [/quote] Ok. Well the noise appears on both lines but is equal and opposite on each so cancells out. You probably don't need to know in much more detail how.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1392688335' post='2371702'] Woosh! Right over me 'ead. [/quote] Noise would add to both signals. If the signals were +1 and -1 and the noise was +0.1. At the mixer you would see +1.1 and -0.9. Invert -0.9 gives +0.9; 1.1 + 0.9 = 2. Without noise; 1 + 1 = 2. Obviously it's a lot more complex in real life because we're taking about frequencies and phases etc.

[quote name='MoonBassAlpha' timestamp='1392676241' post='2371595'] It makes you think about the ritualistic element of "healers" of various ilks. Is it all about releasing the inner healing abilities of the body? The more ritual, the more buy-in. Probably includes church and prayer too... [/quote] I think there's a lot more to this than meets the eye, as it were. Even your subconscious can't be fooled by your concious? Subconsciously, you know you've taken medicine. I think this is similar to athletes at the elite end who don't understand that they can fail, it doesn't even enter their thoughts that they won't win. While some of us are doubting whether we will complete 26.2 miles, there are others who are wondering how they will get even faster than they did last time and beat their rivals by a bigger margin. And those that doubt whether they can run 26.2 generally end up walking at some point. I wonder about the woman who was taking a placebo and then tried to buy one at the health food shop. Did she actually understand what a placebo is? Optimists generally do better in life than pessimists. Self fulfilling prophesy? Your mental in physical wellbeing are completely interlinked.

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1391111810' post='2353490'] We often refer to electricity as being a 'positive' and 'negative'. We have two wires. Often the screening (or 'earth'...) is used as one of these wires. Ordinary guitar jack cables are like this; the signal goes through the centre wire, and flows back via the screening (also called 'ground'...). All well and good, and inexpensive, but when we need to use longer cable runs, such a s a 'snake' multipair from stage to console at back of hall, these inexpensive cables pick up interferences (hum, transient spikes...). To reduce this pollution, the signals goes through two distinct wires, which have a common screening. Neither of the signal wires go to earth; they are seperate. Where two pins sufficed for 'unbalanced' jacks, three are required for 'balanced' signals. Microphone XLR cables are an example. The material using balanced signals will typically be designed for receiving low-level signals, independant from the earth screening. The pins, impedance etc are designed to cater for this. That's the role of the DI. Any clearer..? [/quote] Not quite. The signal flows equally down the + and the - wires and back through the ground wire. But in the - wire it is an inverted or a mirrored version of the signal in the + wire. At the mixer the signal in the - wire is inverted so now becomes a positive signal. This is 'added' to the positive signal in the + wire. So now you have twice the signal. BUT any interference on the cable will affect both signals in the same sense. So, at the mixer, the positive interference on the - wire becomes negative interference and when added to the equal but positive interference on the + wire, the noise is cancelled.

[quote name='jgmh315' timestamp='1392583493' post='2370396'] Parcelforce don't cover musical instruments. [/quote] Well spotted. Their enhanced compensation won't cover only their included compensation. Which isn't £3k.

Royal Mail parcelforce cover to £2500. You could risk the £500?

[quote name='flyfisher' timestamp='1392570322' post='2370154'] One aspect of placebo research is the ethical implications. So, for example, it would be unlikely to be deemed ethical to conduct a clinical trial of a cancer drug versus a placebo because it would require the withdrawal of treatment from the placebo group. ... [/quote] I don't know but would expect that you wouldn't use a placebo in that instance. You'd keep one set on the tried and tested drugs and the other set on the new drug.

When comparing an amplifier or bass you need to have someone else play the two while you look away and are not told which one is which. Otherwise you will always use as much information as is available to you. There's another link somewhere that demonstrates someone ab-ing two amps, one with no insides but made up to look like a tube amp with glowing tubes etc. The ab switch does nothing. The tube afficianodos all say it sounds better when the switch is 'switched' to the tube amp.

[quote name='White Cloud' timestamp='1392569789' post='2370145'] Thanks for sharing Tim. It is a very interesting video...and I don't doubt it's validity & it proves the point you are making well, however very often [i]seeing is not believing[/i]. For example whilst undertaking the test...all you have to do is close your eyes and[i] really listen [/i]to remove any ambiguity. It's simply a case of trusting all of your senses... [/quote] That's exactly my point. You HAVE to close your eyes otherwise your brain overrides the other information with the information provided by your eyes.

Take the McGurk effect test. Posted on another thread, I'm not taking the credit for it. http://youtu.be/G-lN8vWm3m0

I've watched some of his films. Once... A tormented man.

Yes. All very frustrating. Then you'll set up in an acoustically awful venue and start all over again I've found the first thing to check when I'm not happy with my sound is my finger nails, then the battery in my active bass. After that it's where I'm standing in relation to my cab and where the cab is in the room. Maybe I add a bit of high mid on the amp. I'm using Bass Centre Stadium strings, I don't even know how long they've been on, or if they sell them anymore. Maybe worst case scenario I'll change them. Other than that, shrug my shoulders and just play the notes...

Yes. 7 years old?! It's pretty much accepted that humans rely on our sight more than any other sense. Our brain will override anything we hear, smell, feel, taste in favour of what we see. Placebo effect is mainly because most of our illnesses are made worse by our negative emotions. If you are in pain for a long time, you will become depressed and end up needing far more painkillers to dull the pain than if you take a small amount early on. Many of us can cure headaches and other minor aches and pains just by disassociation. Placebo works in a similar way.

[quote name='The Admiral' timestamp='1392512682' post='2369646'] Mrs A and I were invited to see a band at a local venue tonight - a fundraiser for a cancer charity, free entry, money in the bucket for the charity. ... Tonight was their first big gig (250 plus punters), following the departure of the second guitarist and bass player, so the new guys they had recruited were under a bit of pressure. ... [/quote] Reading these two parts in more detail. The band were doing a free relaxed gig to punters who weren't paying, possibly with the aim of giving the new guys an airing. But mainly with the aim of raising some money for charity in a fun relaxed atmosphere with friends and fans.