TimR

The secret is knowing what you want, telling them what you are after and asking the right questions before even agreeing to audition. Walk away if it doesn't feel right as you are wasting everybody's time. I don't like to discuss auditions via email you need to speak to someone to get a real feel of them. I may use mail to get a number then phone. Pay as you go Sims are £10, get a sim specifically for auditioning. Then if you get crank calls or problems you're not tied to a contract. I called a number on an ad in a music shop. Got answer machines for two days before getting through to a person. I didn't leave any messages, I just kept trying. Some simple questions I asked 1. how often they practiced and on what nights. (If I can't make the practices what's the point.) 2. What age range they were (30s-60s!) 3. what songs were in their setlist. (all the usual suspects) 4. how often and what they generally got paid for gigs. (all sorts of gigs all sorts of pay, sounds like they know the score) 5. when their next gig was. (nothing planned as no bass player. Can't do anything about that so let's at least audition) 6. What happened to their last bass player. (He went to University. Left for a good reason) From the answers and tone of voice I got a fairly good feel for what they were about and because I was talking on a phone I got a feel whether they were being honest or not. I met the two guitarists for an informal jam in a hall at low volumes and they asked me to join there and then. The next week I met the drummer and singer. We played a gig 3 weeks after that and now have a new years eve gig and will be looking for gigs in the new year. Last week I found out that they auditioned 6 bass players. Wow, that gave me a boost.

Thanks for your replies, some good comments from all. The MySapce pages I've seen seem to have every Tom, Dick and Harry as friends. I'm hoping to keep my friends list low to people I'm realistically going to network with in real life or have played with. For instance, I know a lot of musicians and would like to link to their pages so that if they are approached and asked if they know a bass player (or need one themselves), they don't need to remember any of my contact details, they just say "Oh yes hes a freind of mine on myspace." and give out their address. Simple. Hopefully?

Thanks, I have customised my page and know lots of musicians in lots of bands. I'm not about to add anyone until I have the page ready to lauch so to speak. I am intending to use this as just another tool. The question is more "What musical content should I use" than anything else.

I have a MySpace account. No pictures and no sounds - Yet. I'm looking to use it only for myself to get dep gigs and interface with other musicians. I play with a band at the moment but they have no demo and I don't think they are likely to get one. I have some (cover) demos from my previous band, but I would have to check if they are OK with me using them. I'm not sure 100% what the rule is posting covers either - anyone ever been caught? One of my options is to get a few musician mates into a studio and record a bunch of different style songs direct to a mixer. I can get hold of a very good drummer and a guitarist and get a good mix from the board into a Zoom H4 and post process it. I don't think I need a singer, I only want a minute or two to show the standard I play at. Writing good specific tunes might be a hassle though (see comment re covers above). I could trawl through loads of sig lines to see who has MySpace accounts and see what they do but that would take me ages. So. Show us a link of your individual MySpace pages. What do you do? Why did you do it. Thanks, Tim

Even with Mysapce you need to upload your file to another server. As Geoff says Soundclick is probably the best bet. Here is the solution centre (help) page [url="http://www.soundclick.com/solutioncenter/default.cfm?subOf=13"]http://www.soundclick.com/solutioncenter/d...lt.cfm?subOf=13[/url]

[quote name='bilbo230763' post='651575' date='Nov 11 2009, 01:12 PM']Sorry, peeps, its my autism (although these are all really big names in jazz - or is that an oxymoron ) Staying with Katy Lied, I love the vocal harmonies on Dr. Wu....[/quote] That's a good track. I've just downloaded The Very Best of Steely Dan CDI and CDII, its on there. Nice! Thanks guys.

I'm 40 and the only Steely Dan I've heard is via friends in their 50's. I've just had a quick YouTube of some stuff and reconise a lot of it, some of it sounds good, some of it a little busy bass wise. What's the best album for me to download, or should I just download some classic tracks? I think the whole good/bad music debate needs to be taken into context. I don't really like Motown,The Beatles or The Rolling Stones but I don't think this is because the music is bad or good. People strongly associate memories and emotion with music. I wasn't born in the 60's so I have no emotional attachment with the music, they are just tunes to me. How many of you Dan fans are 45+? There are some tunes from the 80's when I was a teenager that are absolutely dire musically wise, but I like to listen to them and they seem to be popular at the moment. Possibly because the producers of shows are 40-50 years old now?

I keep plugging my bass lead into the headphone socket on my Warwick amp. I never use the headphone socket so keep thinking I should cover it with some tape. But never have....

[quote name='AM1' post='643519' date='Nov 2 2009, 04:04 PM']I saw some reports today of contestants saying they couldn't hear themselves on stage.[/quote] I suppose as its live they can rehearse all they want but things will still go wrong. I thought the twins did well to pick up from their mistake, no matter what else anyone thinks of them.

I'm happy to lend my bass to someone who is just passing sees its a jam night and pops in. As soon as they pick it up you can tell if they know what they are dong. If in doubt ask them to show you some licks before agreeing to let them use it for a song. The same goes for my amp. I've lent both out for one or two songs but none of my gear would be lent to someone to take out of my sight unless I knew them or trusted them very well. Other members of this forum have played my gear and I've offered my amp for one of them to borrow for a gig. I've used other people's amps at charity gigs where I had turned up having been told that I could but I had to trust the guy who told me there would be gear there. If I asked to borrow equipment from a stranger at an event. I'd first introduce myself tell them how long and in what contexts I'd been playing and I would preface it with something like "I understand if you say no but..." I certainly wouldn't feel guilty about not lending someone my bass just becuase they expected it. In one of the bands I played with one of the other musicians was supposed to be a good drummer, bass player and guitarist. He picked up my bass without asking one practice and demonstrated that he couldn't actaully play bass. I didn't let him do that again, my ears are more valuable than my bass.

[quote name='cheddatom' post='643302' date='Nov 2 2009, 12:24 PM']I heard that every year the production team pick someone who they think will win, and then put loads of effort into making them win and this year it's Olly. They've been right every year so far. Is that total boll*cks?[/quote] That doesn't suprise me. Some of the singers you can hardly hear because the backing vocals and effects are so prominent, others are very exposed. Who is the executive producer of the show again?

[quote name='lowdown' post='642607' date='Nov 1 2009, 04:36 PM']... So sitting in the dark for up to three hours, with no verbal contact, can be very lonely and intimidating for the first few shows or even worse if you are depping for the first time. ... Garry[/quote] That's what the PSP was invented for.

See if you can get a look at the keyboard part. As a very general rule; if your sight reading is not brilliant and the keys are doubling the bass line make sure you hit the first beat of the bar and don't worry too much about the fancy stuff. As you do more shows and get more confident/more practice you can embellish it a bit. No one except the MD will know you're not playing the full part, and if he is also (usually in Am dram) the keys player you're sorted. If you hit bum notes trying to play the complex stuff everyone will know. Watch out for them having already rehearsed and then changed keys when you get there. The pencil is your friend - Just go for the root notes.

I don't usually look at the neck at all. I do have a habit of looking at my music though, even when I know the song inside out and its something I've been working on getting away from. Even on a stage where you can't see the audience, I look out. If I'm watching my music I look out once I've got a verse and a chorus under my belt. This was a point I highlighted to my latest band after our first gig together. Interestingly the drummer sings lead in a few songs and a couple of his friends pointed out 2 things. 1. They couldn't see him because his cymbals were in the way. 2. When they moved so that they could see him, he was looking at his hi-hat.

What are your music qualifications? In my opinion any full time course worth doing will expect you to have a prerequisite level of music before you start. [url="http://www.mdx.ac.uk/study/undergrad/courses/az.asp"]Middlesex University[/url]do a number of music courses including Jazz and Performance., but you need the equivalent of an A level in music to enter. There are other universities well known for their Arts courses too. You would have Bass as your first instrument and have to be able to play Piano to some standard too. Otherwise its the likes of what others have said above which do Saturday courses too.

If its just started in the last four weeks it might be your central heating. Try it in another room or even in another building.

It is my understanding that to show a loss and reclaim Tax against your day job (ie what you paid via PAYE), you have to demonstarate that you have actually tried to make a profit from your music otherwise the IR will just treat it as a hobby. When people say all reciepts, I am assuming this would include, everything you paid for your gear (I think you get an allowance on capitol of 40% in the first year and 25% in subsequent years), strings, batteries, and anything you get paid from pubs, studios etc., anything you pay out for rehearsal space, I'm not sure about computers but if you use one I think you can claim something on them, milegae for car or other travel receipts, lessons given or received. There used to be something strange about working from home where you could claim heating and electricity for one room (office) but when you sell your house you had to pay capitol gains on that room, I don't really know that may have been old wives tales. Pretty soon you will either show a huge loss every year, or a very small profit not worth paying tax on. Chat with your Citizens Advice Bureau its free.

How, if at all, do different grills affect the sound of the speaker? Does a cloth cover have any advantage over a grill with holes? What about circular or square holes? Large or small holes? In the case of a grill is there a point at which the hole to material ratio affects the sound?

[quote name='TimR' post='616098' date='Oct 3 2009, 10:11 PM']Superb! This thread has just got me checking the Decmber dates at jazz Cafe. In all probablility I will be there.[/quote] I've just purchased tickets for the 18th December. Nice.

45 degrees Diagonally across a corner? The W on my Warwick 211pro is oriented so when I stand it on end it looks like an E or a 3 depending on which end I stand it on. No one from the audience has ever complained, but then I was thinking of respraying the grill to obscure it.

Looking at the specs, I think that they probably are usefull if you are using low voltage powered effects units. They usually come with fairly cheap 9v power supplies which don't always have good filtering on them.

We've had issues playing outside with very long extension leads 200m+. We always use a generator now. I can see that there are LEDs on the Furman which would tell you that the line voltage was too low in those situations. They would help with any disagreements with the organisers of any event about not enough power.

Industry line conditioners are not usually the sort of thing you can get into the back of a van. In the UK the supply voltage is must be above 220v to be in line with Europe, but usually it will be still 240v. Pro level amps will have electronics built into their power supplies to stop the spikes the power. The problem is that mains is dirty and full of spikes, not a nice clean sine wave. These spikes constantly hammer the electronics in your amp. Eventually your amp's power supply will die. Toss up betwwen replacing your power conditioner every few thousand hours or replace your amps supply every few thousand hours. Depends on how much you gig I suppose. You can't stop the interferance from strip lights etc, that's airborourne RF and is picked up by your -erm- pickups. I think some power conditioers will stage the outputs on slowly after a power cut so would protect your gear if the power is suddenly switched back on, before you get to turn your volumes back down.

[quote name='Linus27' post='627197' date='Oct 15 2009, 06:27 PM']HEHE well put, thats exactly what I have been feeling. To me, I am getting the impression, especially from the singer that he thinks the only work you have to do is make the songs good. In reality, that is a very small. The business side of the band, the networking, the communication, the admin, the planning etc is far more important yet they do not get this.[/quote] Meet with them. Tell them that it's now 3 months into your 6 month plan. Write down what you have achieved and what you should have achieved. Work out a plan to get you back on target by the end of November, meet again then. If things haven't improved tell them you can't do anymore for them and will leave when the six months is up if you're not all rich and famous. Take a back seat while looking for a new band and then leave.

[quote name='Linus27' post='626933' date='Oct 15 2009, 02:09 PM'].. I joined the band in March 09. They wanted somebody committed and who could dedicate time to the band as they wanted to move forward. Also, because I had been signed previously, I knew some of the things that needed to be done to move forward and they wanted to use my experience to do this. ...[/quote] Is this code for "We can't be bothered to do the hard work and want someone else with connections to do it all for us."? They are just another band who think that fame comes in an overnight success package.