TimR

[quote name='bubinga5' post='965750' date='Sep 23 2010, 04:06 PM']... the drummer was bashing the sh*t out of the drums, the guitarist had a Gibson and was used to playing rock, so his rythm playing was anything but...The male singer didnt have a good voice, and was just belting them out...they told me there used to playing in rough pubs, not that that has anything to do with it...ok there may be a trained ear in the crowd but most are pissed of high and dont care...the only one i thought was good was the organist but he was lost in the mix.. on top of this they were pissed...i never play drunk...i have too much respect for the music...that and i cant play drunk. ....[/quote] What you have here is a group of selfish people who want to show off to their mates. NOT a band of musicians. Learn - you will meet hundreds like them in your life. [quote name='chris_b' post='965921' date='Sep 23 2010, 06:24 PM']No, but these days it mostly seems to be the oldies who really understand about dynamics.[/quote] It's from years of getting mixed up with the type of people mentioned above.

Isn't this just another example of "It doesn't matter what I do to my onstage sound, the soundman always makes it sound like ....."

[quote name='bassface2k10' post='961386' date='Sep 19 2010, 06:20 PM']Thanks, looks like i lost the bet with a guy at work then [/quote] You'll be amazed how long it took me to get that accent right and overdub it. The scream took alone took me 20 takes.

I spent a morning exchanging emails with Old Git. In that morning he transformed our website from an invisible, hard to navigate, and complicated site to a site that featured on the first page of a search and was easier and more intuitive to navigate. It looked professional and we got business from it. The rest of the band didn't see the importance of even having a website other than having a site with a few songs and pics that we could put on our business cards for people to show their friends. After I left another member took over running the site - he re-built it using a template provided by the webspace provider. His version is here - [url="http://www.revival.cd2.com"]www.revival.cd2.com[/url] There is so much wrong with it from a design point of view - spelling only being one of them. (Hope the new bass player's not reading this ) But if bands can't see what is wrong with it and think that this is acceptable I'm not sure that they will pay for a good web site. Really you need to ask them how much they were expecting to pay. I think £250 max is likely to be the answer (not a lot more than a reasonable demo or photoshoot would cost) So work out how much work you are willing to do for that. Maybe you should have several packages ready, with examples, for when you are next asked £250, £500, £1000, and bespoke?

I've just got back from watching your average pub band. Maybe not so average... The bass player was a bit busy - all over the neck like a rash, could have done with laying down a few solid riffs, but then he was playing and I wasn't.... BUT the drummer had really good feel, control and dynamics. I spoke to him after the gig. He also plays guitar. Maybe it should be law that drummers learn a musical instrument. Maybe it should be law that musicians spend some time behind a drum kit. Bit like the car drivers v motorcyclists argument.

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='960797' date='Sep 18 2010, 10:03 PM']Bridge adjustments.[/quote] The only time I've ever had to adjust the bridge saddles on a bass is when I've adjusted the truss rod or changed the tuning pegs. [quote name='thisnameistaken' post='960809' date='Sep 18 2010, 10:16 PM']I used to have a USA Jazz bass. Trust me if you'd ever owned one of those you'd be in the habit of taking a set of allen keys to every gig.[/quote] That will be why then. It goes out that much between practicing the night before and sound-check? Wow.

[quote name='JTUK' post='960714' date='Sep 18 2010, 07:57 PM']I don't know why people keep going back to a none existant issue in that regard.[/quote] Because you said you have a loud drummer on a thread where people are discussing situations where a loud drummer who can't play quietly is a problem. If your loud drummer can play quietly then its not a problem for you. What is your point?

What I would do is chose an already cheap do-it yourself web design service. As others have said there are loads out there. Maybe buy into a sub-domain of one of those. Set up the web-space with their band name and then "sub-let" the web-space to the band for £x. They can then upload their own graphics chose a layout and do the basic stuff that anyone can do themselves. As you say most people have JPGs of logos and photos. Once they've done that then you work your magic to correct all the basic errors that everyone makes; photoshop their images, smarten up logo, adjust the page layout, pick a decent font, add meta tags and do all the specialist stuff that makes their site stand out and for google to find it. Charge them half a day labour to do that bit. Job done.

Let the man tell you himself. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwpGXfHmY-A&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwpGXfHmY-A...feature=related[/url]

[quote name='Truckstop' post='960329' date='Sep 18 2010, 12:39 PM']Isn't it funny how we all seem to have a thousand sizes of Allen key... but almost every gig I ever go to I hear "Aw, sh*t. I've not got the right size key! Can I borrow yours?" and then that's how I lose mine! Truckstop[/quote] In 25 years I've never needed an Allen key at a gig. What on earth do you use them for?

[quote name='hillbilly deluxe' post='960272' date='Sep 18 2010, 11:26 AM']"Why do we call them kettle leads?"..........we can if we want,why do people call vacum cleaners Hoovers ?[/quote] Different argument. A hoover and a vacuum cleaner both do exactly the same thing. An amp lead will not work on a kettle.

[quote name='Marvin' post='960114' date='Sep 18 2010, 05:53 AM']Great thinking from all 5 of you. Nothing like a brew after some hard work, but do remember to pack the tea bags and chocolate digestives. [/quote] Which, being pedantic, is quite funny. Why do we call them kettle leads? They're IEC leads, kettle leads are keyed and rated for high temperatures - although they will fit amps, amp leads will not fit kettles. As you were.....

[quote name='Lozz196' post='959441' date='Sep 17 2010, 01:56 PM'].... And when gigging, couple of Mars Bars[/quote] Good call. I used to take cereal bars. I keep meaning to buy spare nail clippers but keep forgetting.

Music folder, music stand, clip on reading light, pencil, A4 lined pad. Spare strings, 9v battery, screwdriver. Fuses, spare leads one of each. Cheap DI box.

How would many bass players react to a drummer telling them they should be using pick not fingers or vice versa? In the end I left my last band due to the drummers attitude. He could keep excellent time and was solid, wasn't too loud but he thought he should be louder. I tried to explain that if the crowd were dancing at the far side of the dance floor or pinned against the far wall, we were probably already too loud, but that fell on deaf ears. He didn't know what a triplet was, couldn't play 16th notes for longer than two bars and had no idea what a shuffle was. If we started at the wrong speed there was no adjustment it would continue to the end of the song at the wrong speed. He had no feel whatsoever at whatever volume he played. I can usually lock in with a drummer as soon as we start playing but I was having to do all the work to make the songs groove and there was never any lock. All of that I could cope with if it wasn't for his attitude. He had been drumming for 20years so who was I to suggest he tried things differently? Every one should be able to make a song work played at low volume or slowly. It's called the "Amateurs Disease" - play it louder and faster and it will sound better. Often it does, but that is because you can't play it properly in the first place and the imperfections are hidden in the resulting noise. Before blaming the drummer for not sounding right at low volumes check that your other musicians know what they are really doing in the space between the drum hits

I'll add some info here that I got from my guitarist friend who saw a tinnitus specialist last year. It's second hand so I hope it is as accurate as can be: Your hearing slowly degrades over time. The hair follicles in your ears get worn. The brain is very clever and as the follicles get worn, it 'turns up' the amplification to compensate. This is why you don't notice it and why it is so dangerous. Eventually the follicles are so worn and it can't turn up the amplification any more and all you are left with is the hissing. The problem is in a quiet environment you are left listening to the hissing/ringing, it becomes more noticeable and you focus on it and so it gets louder. You can learn to tune it out by not worrying about it, the brain will then 'turn down' the amplification, forget about trying to listen for it and the hissing/ringing will become less. The more you worry over it the worse it will become. It's a bit like living next to a train track or a busy road. When you first move in your brain recognises the trains/cars as a new and alien sound, after a while your brain learns that its just normal background noise and you don't hear it. Its still there but you don't hear it because you're not listening for it. By playing other sounds you are not 'drowning out' the tinnitus, you are giving your brain something else to focus on. Your hearing is the first sense to get dulled by Alcohol, your hearing is affected even well before your balance, both are centred around your ear follicles. Ever wondered why people shout when they are drunk? Another reason why drinking and playing is not a good idea.

This is a sticky! [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?s=&showtopic=533&view=findpost&p=4287"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?s=&sho...post&p=4287[/url]

I have a pair of these. I depped for a loud thrash band and had 10 rehearsals with them. They frowned on them at first saying that they've never played with anyone who wore earplugs before. Not very Rock'n'roll. I told them not to worry I wouldn't wear them at the gigs. One of the guitarists now has tinitus and had to take a year break from playing. He's back now and has the custom plugs that he always wears at practice AND now at gigs. They're invisible from the audience. [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Elacin-ER20S-musicians-hearing-protection/dp/B002W7VNCI/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1284676908&sr=8-3"]Elacin ER20[/url] Of all the drummers I know only four drummers can play the drums properly at all volumes but they also play piano and (coincidently)brass so that might go some way to explain it.

I call this being "in the zone". As you play more gigs you realise that sometimes it just isn't going to happen. You can't make it happen. There are a load of factors. Have you eaten? Has the sound check gone well? You suddenly remembered that you didn't put fresh batteries in. Do you know the songs inside out? +a million other things. Sometimes they all click in and sometimes they don't. Sometimes you make a mistake and then worry about it into the next song and the next song goes wrong and from then on nothing that night seems to go right. The problem is that if you only gig rarely the times that it works are very few and far between so when it doesn't work you feel worse. If you gig often they happen enough times that the bad ones don't bother you.

boss graphic EQ pedal.

Its amazing what you find on the Web. The 1981 event was an accident! Some of the early ones were specially prepared or swapped with cheap ones (which is what I must have heard). I would guess that at some stage they had enough money to be able to afford to smash one a gig. "I used to break a guitar every performance — if not two sometimes — and they would always cost around $150. They would always cost me an incredible amount of money to find — they’d cost, like, road manager’s time and my time to look through pawn shops, local music stores and things like that." BUT That was $150 in 1967! [url="http://www.thewho.net/whotabs/gear/guitar/smashed.html"]http://www.thewho.net/whotabs/gear/guitar/smashed.html[/url]

I agree that destroying a PLAYABLE instrument is bad. If its an old one that's fallen down the stairs or has a warped neck and is beyond economical repair and would only get binned whats the problem. I have a bass that's sat in it's case for over 5 years. I may have played it 3 times. It's not worth anything to sell, I'm not going to bin it and it would break my heart to give it away. Am I any worse for keeping it in captivity? As for the WHO, I think that as bands go they were different in that the Bass was the instrument everything sat on. The drumming was wild and didn't carry the band solidly. Moon played the drums as you would play another instrument, almost a solo instrument. Listen to some of the OX's isolated bass tracks, the bass carries the whole band and the guitar fills the gaps in the rhythm. There was method in that final smashing up madness. Drums, guitar and singing could stop but the song didn't end until the bass stopped. There's only so many times you can kick drums over and hit a guitar on the ground. I think keeping the bass going helped keep the interest and lengthened the smashing up process.

[quote name='Lozz196' post='950058' date='Sep 8 2010, 11:02 PM']Could never understand why The Who (and countless others) felt the need to smash some great instruments. Even when I was younger, I thought it rather stupid and very un-cool. To me, its not about the money, its almost sacreligeous (hope I spelt that right, tho prob not) to smash a musical instrument. Am not fussed if my basses get dings, thats character & road-wear, but I`d never deliberately damage them.[/quote] The big secret is that Townsend used to swap his guitar for the last song with one that had been glued back together from the previous show. The things you hear on Radio 2 late at night eh.... PS Good to see you here Lozz. You know me. I'm friends with the guys from Nadir Rising.

[quote name='tauzero' post='949282' date='Sep 8 2010, 11:31 AM']I'd have thought that 200W through one speaker would be louder than 100W through two speakers. I can see where the OP's coming from, but I see the information as nice to have rather than essential.[/quote] Assuming that each speaker is only getting 50W then each one is producing 6dB less than the 200W single speaker. But two speakers added together gives a 3dB increase and by stacking them closely you could get another 3dB so they would effectively be the same volume. BUT you don't halve the power just because you double the impedance and you might get 133watts instead of 100watts. There's loads of other factors but I wouldn't necessarily expect them to be quieter. All I'm saying is that you wouldn't buy a car off the web based solely on its colour, what size the boot is and what the engine size is. Certainly you wouldn't buy it without driving it first or contacting the seller to find out how many miles it had on the clock. Is a 1.6 always faster than a 1.4. What does "faster " mean?

So a week later.... Seems one of the guys had relatives at the gig. They told him we need to work on our intros and endings. Saved me the bother.