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Leonard Smalls

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Posts posted by Leonard Smalls

    Starting a band without a gigging audience in mind

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    [quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1452064821' post='2945948']
    The few long term pro musicians I know are all so jaded by the whole thing that they no longer play any music for enjoyment or as a hobby. If they've got any time off the last thing they want to do is play.
    [/quote]

    It's always said that the dream is to make money out of doing something you really enjoy doing...
    However, I know quite a few people who do their "hobby" as a job; in the case of climbers, frinstance, many no longer go out for a climb with their mates because they're too busy teaching numpties how not to tangle their ropes, or trying to stop unruly kids dropping rocks off a cliff. So they basically equate climbing with money making - and no longer enjoy it for what it is.
    Which is why I never became a climbing instructor!
    Similarly, I did a bit of session work many years ago. I hated being told what to play, or having to be part of music I actively hated. I stopped before I was asked to play in (the horror!) a [i]musical[/i], and music stopped being fun for me...
    Now I only play music that I like, with people I like being with. As we all have other jobs we're able to do that - just for fun, same as I go climbing just for fun. Doesn't mean I'm more or less competent than many "pros" just because I'm only a "hobbyist"! It just means I want different things from them...

    January Composition Challenge - GET WRITING

    in Recording

    Posted

    [quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1451925996' post='2944657']


    [i]I hate the colour[/i]

    [i]...[/i]

    [i]...[/i]
    [/quote]

    Not a Ken Nordine fan?
    Or perhaps you are and this is removing the micturition from the great man?
    Or, and this would be most bizarre, you've been listening to my old band's My Space page and have discovered the song "Curtains" which has the chorus "I hate the colour"? Freaky, man!

    Starting a band without a gigging audience in mind

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    For me, making music is most certainly not about making money.
    It's about playing stuff that I like and had a hand in inventing.
    If I get paid as well that's a bonus - though most folks wouldn't fork out to hear my racket!
    Back in the early 90s we spent years both headlining places like the Marquee, supporting Carter and Gaye Bykers (usually for pay of around £50[i] between us -[/i] the van and roadie cost that!) to audiences of 2000, or playing gigs where virtually no-one turned up. All because we loved it. Shame we didn't make it, but we had a great time - here's a review (contains swearing!) from the Melody Maker:
    http://www.pushstuff.co.uk/mmlives/barfroco110591.html

    I'm not saying if we'd been doing covers for functions etc we wouldn't have had such a good time (we wouldn't have lost so much money!) - it's a question of each to their own, what you actually want out of music...

    Band photo shoots...

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    [quote name='MacDaddy' timestamp='1451745845' post='2943025']
    Take a look at what The 'Stones, U2, Cold Play, etc. did for their last photo shots. If you see something they did that you like do something similar.
    [/quote]

    That's exactly what we did for a photo shoot many years ago...

    January Composition Challenge - GET WRITING

    in Recording

    Posted

    You won't be laughing when you hear it! It'll be like when a dog eats a rotting rabbit, then sits beside you, slowly leaking.
    There'll be gagging and choking, a stampede for the exits, and the Government's COBRA committee will have to have a special sitting...
    Though it's possible I may take pity on the world, and produce some clavinet-based funk with an ear-splitting fake-guitar solo at the end as a nod to modernism!

    Starting a band without a gigging audience in mind

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    [quote name='blue' timestamp='1451672856' post='2942336']
    I think putting this together if you don't plan on gigging is cool. But, for me if your gigging it's always about what the audience wants to hear.

    Blue
    [/quote]

    For me, playing in a band is [i]only[/i] about producing new music, or if we do a cover, putting and interesting new spin on it.
    As a result, the audience will only come if they want to hear our music. It's much more risky than being a glorified jukebox, but for me, far more satisfying!
    This means that I can't (yet - but who knows when pigs will fly!) make a living playing music. But, I'm in 2 bands; the first got back together after 30 years -
    2 of the members had succesful careers in that time with chart singles and even supports of u2 (eek!) - and plays good time funk-rock of our own devising
    involving the wearing of very silly clothing. We gig 1-5 times a year and are recording an album at the end of the month.
    The other band plays no gigs - mainly because we haven't found a venue for our type of racket - but jam completely improvised free jazz/noise. And we're happy with that!
    However, it takes all sorts... Some are very happy with playing (or listening to) covers - look at the success of the X Factor! It's about enjoying and playing music.
    If you're just going through the motions and it's no longer enjoyable, that's the time to give up!

    January Composition Challenge - GET WRITING

    in Recording

    Posted

    [quote name='lurksalot' timestamp='1451728920' post='2942752']

    As per normal I reserve the right to completley miss my own brief by a country mile :blush:
    [/quote]

    For some reason I see the inside of a large music shop; there's a drummer, fiddling about, a keybord player or 2 testing attack and intonation, and 2 bass players noodling.
    All are oblivious to each other, or the pained looks of the shop staff or other customers... But then it is raining outside!

    January Composition Challenge - GET WRITING

    in Recording

    Posted

    [quote name='Skol303' timestamp='1451650663' post='2942048']
    You always are, Len. You always are :D
    [/quote]

    :P
    I'm off to see how many notes I can squeeze into a "song" where every single one of them sounds not only wrong, but such that even Steve Lacy would consider it to be a tuneless cacophony!

    Considering my home stereo as my studio monitor

    in Recording

    Posted

    It depends entirely on how your stereo is "voiced"...
    Most speakers, and even some amplifiers, don't have a flat frequency response as they're meant to sound "nice", or to make up for other shortcomings.
    So in practice they'd tend to have a hump in the 50-100Hz range to make them sound more bassy, and some now have a hump above 10KHz in order to make them sound more "hifi".
    So using your hifi for monitoring is perfectly possible, so long as you're aware of what the relative sound of your stereo is.
    I use my stereo for monitoring, but the amp's a Bryston (like the BBC use at Maida Vale) and the speakers are Leema - built by an ex-BBC sound mixer who also used to work at Air Studios and are designed to be pretty well flat from around 30Hz to 20kHz... However, it doesn't mean my mixes are any good - it's all down to practice and having a better ear than mine!

    December Composition Challenge - GET WRITING!

    in Recording

    Posted

    [quote name='Skol303' timestamp='1450799352' post='2935990']
    Ok, I'm done.

    A short and hopefully sweet number. [/quote]

    That's cheating, that!
    I think we should make a rule that all singing should be at least as bad as, if not worse than, mine!
    Tis the thin end of the wedge, I tell you. It'll be real musicians as well next!
    :D

    December Composition Challenge - GET WRITING!

    in Recording

    Posted

    [quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1450716395' post='2935165']
    Not while Lenny's in the House..! :rolleyes:
    [/quote]

    Aye!
    I have an aversion to most things that are at all sensible or serious. But I realise that some of our older members have delicate sensitivities, so I've held off from producing my Fanfare For Four Flatulent Fellows and their Fetid Four-Legged Friend...

    December Composition Challenge - GET WRITING!

    in Recording

    Posted

    [quote name='the boy' timestamp='1449664196' post='2925687']

    its playing now, Ive no idea what Dad is talking about. Its a marvel to the ears. Excellence as usual Mr Smalls. Dad, you can stick your apostrophes up your semicolon. :laugh1:
    [/quote]

    Ta!
    And BangBangRomeo were remarking on my Star Wars theme; Figrin D'an and the modal notes were a band in an early Star Wars movie - they were masters of the Jizz and Jatz musical forms. Max Rebo was the leader of a rival band (in Return of the Jedi), hence the 2-fingered salute to Figrin!

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