TimR

[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.

This was discussed on another bass forum recently. Nickel is a dark silvery grey and leaves deposits on your fingers. Nothing to worry about. It should wash off.

Lots of chromatics and the keyboard parts tend to use inversions of major chords. So while the bass may be playing the root B of a B major chord, the keys may have a G# or E as the bottom note.

[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='616066' date='Oct 3 2009, 09:18 PM']Andrew Mckinney is a member of Basschat and in JTQ's band. If you need any tips on playing the lines, I'm sure he'd be very approachable.[/quote] Superb! This thread has just got me checking the Decmber dates at jazz Cafe. In all probablility I will be there. Maybe I will shake his hand and steal some funkiness I stole some of James' funkiness at Milfield, and now my bass lines all sound like I'm playing a hammond organ.

Not from the original film, but obviously inspired by the original soundtracks I would recommend The James Taylor Quartet. They're playing lots of gigs usually to <2000 people. I saw them at The Jazz Cafe and Milfield Theatre a couple of years ago. Here's their "Theme From Dirty Harry" also check out their "Starsky and Hutch Theme" Several good albums - In The Hand of the Inevitable, is a good one, containing an incredible version of Whole Lotta Love - Led Zep

If there is a buffet we always get a plate. If its a dinner dance we sometimes get a hot meal in another room while people are eating or at least sandwiches. At one club we played regularly we got free soft drinks all night and staff price for a meal if we wanted one.

I was thinking the same thing, and we need to do it gain. We went into a studio and recorded 2 four hour sessions (£90) each. The engineer set the mics up in about an hour then just left the levels and we played while the hard disk recorded everything we played. We only stopped if anyone made a major mistake and, depending how far into the take we were, we either started again or left it and move to the next song. We ended up with about 20 tunes worth selecting from. We chose the best tunes and I went back in and sat while the engineer mixed them. I then cut them down to a verse and a chorus. Next time we will do the same, but only one 4 hour session, record with electronic drums, re-do all the vocals and sax and overdub any mistakes at a later date. The problem with recording live is that once the 'tape' starts rolling people clam up and make mistakes that they wouldn't usually make. It can get very tense, its bad enough when you're paying for studio time, when you have to ALL get it right its even harder.

Too many. and if you include Mustang Sally... FAR too many!

[quote name='bilbo230763' post='606706' date='Sep 23 2009, 03:02 PM']At the risk of making myself unpopular (like a give a rat's...), I don't do it for 'fun' either. I think 'fun' is overated. That doesn't mean I don't get an awful lot out of it,; pleasure, satisfaction, an opportunity to express myself yadda yadda - but to compare playing music to knobbing about with a wii, sea-fishing or snowboarding devalues its potential massively. I don't do it for 'fun' either. I may occasionally have fun whilst doing it, but that is entirely peripheral. They'll be calling it a hobby next [/quote] I've been trying for 3 days to word something like this. +1

[quote name='LukeFRC' post='603264' date='Sep 20 2009, 12:51 AM']While bass straight from a DI sounds fine I don't think I would for electric guitar. I find mic the cab will sound better, you can use some kind of power soak to get the volume down yet still push the valves.[/quote] Normally I would agree, but our guitarist uses a very clean Vox amp. All of his modelling effects are from a digitech multi FX unit and we get an amazing sound just from that set up. I've even done some recording direct from his fx out.

If your PA has subs fine, otherwise don't bother. Learn to use the EQ on your amp and work out best positioning for your cab. ie In a corner as close to a back wall as possible. Depending on what type of music and the size of venue 180 watts should be ok for less than 100 people, any more than that and I think you will struggle. You can take a line out from your amp to the PA, just make sure you plug into a line-in input on the PA as opposed to a mic level input. If you have a PA with balanced mic inputs ie 3pin XLR then use the DI. We always put our guitarist through the PA by taking an output from his amp effects send jack to a line in on the PA. This means we can control his stage level and room level much better.