mike257

It was getting into the wedding/function circuit that enabled me to quit my day job and "go pro", for want of a much less w***y phrase. I earn my living from a mix of playing and sound engineering, but work with a couple of regular bands and am a go-to dep for a couple of other so get to do a reasonable amount of playing, although never as much as I'd like! I really enjoy it, for me the pros far outweigh the cons - yes, there's a ton of waiting around to do, but I work with a nice bunch of players whose company I enjoy so it's rarely a chore to spend an evening hanging around with them, or I use the time to get other work done rather than losing out on time with my family to sit and do my admin/invoicing and other such nonsense. It brought my playing on a load when I jumped from playing bass in odd time signatures for noisy rock bands to having to learn and absorb a bunch of different styles of music from the last six or seven decades, many of which it would never have occurred to me to play. It's not always the same old stuff, although there's a few songs I'd rather skip I just get on with it because I'm spending the night playing music, it's all fun! I worked for a "sensible" day job for a big company for seven years, it was a culture of distrust, performance management was bearing down on everyone, constantly expected to do more with less and do it quicker. I couldn’t go back to that world now. I always remind myself that the worst gig is still always going to be better than the best day at the office! So, in short... Wedding gigs are sound, go for it!

I got my rivet gun for a fiver in Aldi, plenty functional cheap ones about. I honestly think replacing the strip would probably be an easier job than trying to make new square holes in your existing strip.

[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1455994233' post='2984427'] Some of the places Mrs ET and I enjoyed while in Liverpool and environs ... [url="http://www.everymanplayhouse.com/whats-on/i-am-thomas-a-brutal-comedy-with-songs"]http://www.everymanp...medy-with-songs[/url] [url="http://www.saltdogslims.com/"]http://www.saltdogslims.com/[/url] [url="http://www.thegrapesliverpool.co.uk/"]http://www.thegrapesliverpool.co.uk/[/url] [url="http://www.maray.co.uk/"]http://www.maray.co.uk/[/url] [url="http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/walker/"]http://www.liverpool....org.uk/walker/[/url] [url="http://liverpool.gov.uk/libraries/find-a-library/central-library/"]http://liverpool.gov...entral-library/[/url] [url="http://www.salthousetapas.co.uk/"]http://www.salthousetapas.co.uk/[/url] [url="http://www.johnlewis.com/our-shops/liverpool"]http://www.johnlewis...shops/liverpool[/url] [url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilbre_Island"]https://en.wikipedia...i/Hilbre_Island[/url] [/quote] Maray is bloody lovely. There's a bunch of great food places sprung up on and around Bold St the last few years. Rookwood round the corner does a great burger. If you're up again and venture further afield to the "Baltic Triangle" area, a drumming mate of mine is the chef at The Baltic Social and cooks some stunning food. Glad you guys had a good trip!

The interface and features of the Soundcraft Ui series are great but the on-board WiFi has issues. Pair it with a decent external router and you'll be fine. Within the stagebox WiFi mixer world, I probably prefer the feature set of the Behringer XR series, but Soundcraft have the edge on price and also by not having a dedicated app - it's actually a web page hosted within the unit and you can access it from any device with a web browser. Means you'll never wake up to find your iPad has updated overnight and none of your apps work any more!

[quote name='mentalextra' timestamp='1455394939' post='2978837'] I'm talking about radio stations taking relatively modern chart singles and remixing. Just listen to kiss FM. Interestingly we have been out in the car and when they play their remixed version of "what do you mean" my daughter turns it off! lol [/quote] Remixes can be authorised by the label, or keen producers can get stuck in unofficially themselves, but I doubt it's the radio station that's responsible for them. It wasn't uncommon when CD singles were a thing to find a raft of remixes in lieu of a proper B side. Obviously it's more common in pop, dance, R&B etc than with bands.

It does vary. The artist may have terms in their contract relating to control/sign-off on remixes, or it may be out of their hands. As far as the extent it can be changed, sometimes a producer may be given stems, or a full multitrack to play with, on other occasions it may just be the main vocal parts that are made available.

Yeah, the X32 causes some divided opinion and heated debate! I think for what it is (in it's price range/market positioning) it's excellent. I'm not on board with the evangelists who claim that it's up there with the higher end stuff, but given a choice of the major players in immediate competition with it (Allen & Heath QU, Soundcraft Si series, Yamaha TF, those Presonus monstrosities) it'd be my first choice from the list. Have probably used them on a few hundred shows by now, including stints as an in-house in a 300 cap rock venue, function gigs, corporate work and for me it aces the opposition on it's feature set and routing flexibility. Obviously, given the budget I'd take something tastier, but I won't grumble if I've got to mix a gig on one. Does everything you need. The M32 is ace too - it's the same software, more or less the same physical layout, but better build quality and souped up internals. Replaced an LS-9 with one in one of my regular venues last year, much much more pleasant to mix on!

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1455205396' post='2977040'] Many people seem to use domestic white cables these days, which looks a bit Micky Mouse, IMO. Waitrose do a 5mtr, 13amp, 4 way, roll up casing, with a trip switch for £9.99. It has some red on the casing but everything else is black. [/quote] I've still got the odd one hanging on in my cable trunk, we probably all have! Most of my stage power cable for my PA stuff is on 16a ceeform now, I'm replacing all the tacky stuff as and when there's a few quid spare!

I'll have to fish out a pic of my Fender. Early 90's Champ 25 - was only around for a couple of years, a bit of an oddity as it's a solid state preamp, but a valve PI and valve power section (25w from a pair of 6L6) into a 1x12. It's REALLY bloody loud and very clean. Seen people describe it as a "mini Twin". As per usual, the drive channel is a bit iffy. It's got tons too much gain on tap, with the gain right off I get some nice breakup tones with a Tele, but anything with humbuckers is just too much. Clean channel is ace though.

If cowboy chords is the extent of your singer's guitar playing contribution, I'd suggest getting him to hold off, play less and save him for dynamic inpact. Using less full and less heavy guitar tones will help leave sonic space for you all too. Dial down the gain and the bottom end etc. Arrangement is the key - you don't all have to play all the time! Have a listen to some Oceansize, they used three guitars brilliantly, melodic and atmospheric parts darting around each other, and when they do all pile in on a massive riff, it sounds enormous. If you're looking at the Foos as an influence, worth noting that Pat Smear plays a baritone on a lot of the Wasting Light tunes that were written with the three-guitar line up. Gives a bit of space between what they're all doing and makes the low end extra chunky. Worth having in your arsenal as another option.

Masterplug 4 gang trailing sockets are a fiver on Amazon with free delivery if you're on Prime, proper rugged hardwearing ones. A couple of them, a couple of 13a plugs and as much 2.5mm mains cable as you need will give you some top quality, repairable mains extensions for buttons. [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0085HXFXY?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00"]http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0085HXFXY?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00[/url]

God, when I was at college back then, I'd have killed for a Soundblaster Live, with that front panel that sat in one of your drive bays! I definitely don't miss MOST of doing it the old fashioned way, I certainly wouldn't ditch a DAW for countless hours twiddling that Akai, but I don't think I'll ever be happy mixing on a mouse. I don't do much recording these days but I'm in the process of doing promo stuff for three or four function bands I work with, I'm probably going to pinch an X32 from a bloke I do some work for and bounce it all out to mix on that. Guarantee I'll have something I'm happy with in half the time that I'd spend dicking about doing it solely on the computer screen.

We eventually ditched the DA88s for a Tascam MX2424, which had it's own set of interesting quirks and issues - I spent a lot of time on the phone to Tascam! It's a different world now, makes me feel a right dinosaur. If we wanted to edit the structure of a song, I used to sample bar or four bar long chunks of tracks into our trusty Akai S6000 and rebuild a whole song in bits like that, triggered from MIDI running off the steam-powered PC we had. Five minute Pro Tools job now. Oh, the early 2000s!!

That's pretty much the setup we had - a cascaded pair, but with TDIF cards and a rack of Tascam DA88/DA38. How I learned to mix! Oh the joys of making endless locate points and programming punch-ins on digital tape and waiting for the three of them to all sync up! Kids these days don't know how easy they've got it, haha!

What Chris said. It's expensive stuff to move internationally. Players who have endorsement deals will often have gear supplied in country through the dealer network. When Vic Wooten was in the UK a couple of years ago, Hartke dropped off a nice fresh rig for him and it travelled with the rest of the backline that was supplied by a local hire company. Band were just carrying guitars, pedals, cymbals. Just the bits you can throw in an overhead locker!

Here's a bargain if anyone is expecting JT's Allstars along and needs d&b monitors. Six wedges, cases and amps, second hand. The price? A mere 27,000 euros. [url="http://www.solarisnetwork.com/used/max15-package/40978"]http://www.solarisnetwork.com/used/max15-package/40978[/url] Is that what you're ringing venues up and requesting?

[quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1454796294' post='2973144'] At last. Some sensible talk in this thread. Right. What about the lighting rig? [/quote] Nothing less than a full Kanye will do. [IMG]http://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/40f9cba349989a39e28ab7ae54035758ccc2e4d8/c=220-0-2880-2000&r=x408&c=540x405/local/-/media/2015/09/28/Phoenix/Phoenix/635790435636337010-KanyeWest-melissafossum-3.jpg[/IMG] The landlord's eleccy bill goes through the roof, but if they don't want to pay for a proper show then we'll just take it elsewhere. Got standards to maintain.

[quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1454795478' post='2973140'] Ok so that's the monitors sorted, what about foh? [/quote] This. Because apparently you can do whatever the hell you want with your stage levels, regardless of how it affects FOH, so there's no point bringing anything decent.

No, he's getting a Heritage 3000 in to sub to the occasional touring band and use down at the Cock & Bull on the nights it's not hired out.

God, that's going back. Pretty sure we had one in the studio 02R back in my days as a teenage studio assistant but couldn't tell you with any confidence how it would stand up now. Teenage me wasn't discerning enough to know and a decade-and-a-bit gap won't do wonders for accurate recollection of it either. I wouldn't blame you for taking an extra Yamaha over the Soundcraft though, if nothing else for the per-channel dynamics processing that the Spirit lacks.

[quote name='dave74200' timestamp='1454657719' post='2971664'] Buy an Ashdown ABM 810. They normally go for really good prices, 200-300 and are awesome cabs. [/quote] This, if you've got the means to transport it. I've seen some unreal bargains on used Ashdown 8x10 cabs in the last couple of years.

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1454787304' post='2973036'] All joking aside, go and read my posts and find out where I mentioned pubs gigs for this gear... [/quote] You rarely give a straight answer to a question mate, unless you're dispensing your no doubt hard-earned wisdom on something. You never said "I'm going to buy d&b wedges to play down the Dog & Duck", but you've posted plenty on here over the years about the kind of gigs you play. You're apparently very discerning about what you'll take, so it's good pub gigs no doubt, but it's still pub and function world that you're operating in, from what I can gather, just like lots of us on here. You have been asked by a couple of posters in this thread to show some links to your band but you're nowhere near as forthcoming with that as you are with your definitive advice about how things should be done. I'm not pretending to be daddy big balls here, my gig today was putting a pair of JBL Eons on sticks for a poetry recital in a library, that kind of thing very much puts you in your place! Yesterday I took a booking for a festival where I'll be looking after an audio crew throwing up a couple of big hangs of d&b J series for 40,000 people to watch Primal Scream, but that's (sadly) not my typical everyday job. My average gig is probably somewhere in the lower middle of those two extremes. I've done some Academy level touring as a musician for a brief period but all my gigging is in wedding/corporate world now, so I'm not pretending to be a rock star or saying I know it all. My point is that I'm happy to contextualise my input by relating it to my real world experience so people can see where I'm coming from and listen to/ignore what I'm saying as they see fit based on that. If you're buying a d&b monitor rig with a view to hiring it out, I'd do some due dilligence on how much of a sound investment that is. Lots of PA hire companies stock it and can afford to be competitive. They'll also have established relationships with other suppliers for cross-hires to augment their inventory. A man with a decent function level FOH setup and one eighth of an arena-level monitor rig isn't likely to figure on their radar unless you've got a strong personal relationship with somebody there, and even then you're depending on them having a very specific requirement that matches the kit that you're carrying. Don't expect to make your dough back in a hurry like that. There's certainly wiser ways of investing that kind of cash if being a one-man hire operation is your game. If you're buying it for personal use, then good luck to you, enjoy it. It's a bit like the audio equivalent of the mid-life crisis sports car though. Way way way overkill unless you're in LARGE professional venues, where that kind of thing will likely be well taken care of before you're anywhere near the place.

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1454089471' post='2966395'] Yep... but I'd probably be glad about it as well...tbh. If I quote a price and someone comes back way off that price... then you walk away, surely. There will always be someone cheaper anyway... so to me, it is the same thing. As for gear at an event, I'd bill for that. There is minimum spec and I get the point about gear that has had a hard life, but this is all about having dealings with people who are on the same page, IMO...and what is required/desired on the gig As it happens, I'm looking for some high quality monitors..and by that I mean better than QSC.. so Martin, Turbosound or DB etc and I'll use them for vox out front or stage monitors I'll either hire them to the band or I'll sub them to a P.A company as there are never enough quality monitors to go around,I've found, and the local venue can't afford to have more than 6 of them. I'd sub to them when a touring act comes through because their riders always specify DB model or Equivalent.. [/quote] I've got to ask, are you talking about d&b audioteknik, or dB Technologies, because there's two different worlds there. dB is decent-for-the-price kit, no doubt about it. d&b is a different world, being one of the top live audio brands in the world and on most high end touring riders. To buy a d&b monitor setup (even just for a four way band mix) would set you back about the price of a brand new family car and require specific dedicated amps with onboard processing. I'm lucky enough to get to play with this stuff on some of the gigs I work on, but I'd never be self indulgent or financially irresponsible enough to spec a pile of M4s and a rack of D6 for a pub band. You talk a good fight mate, but that's just ridiculous. More power to you if you want to spend five figure sums on stage monitoring for pub gigs and the odd private function, but you must have more money than sense. [quote name='DiMarco' timestamp='1454107994' post='2966651'] Short answer to "Could you turn your backline down a bit?" is NO. Band runs the show, not the soundguy. He will not get sub lows coming off the stage. We can haz shelving EQ cutting off any subs from the bass stack on stage. Why do we need a 250w all valve head? Because we can and it sounds dope. Next. [/quote] As for you, you're just a wally. The band doesn't run the show. The sound guy doesn't run the show. We're on the same damn team. You want a great gig that sounds as good as possible. Believe it or not, so does your sound guy. I like to do a good job. It means my phone keeps ringing so I can afford to pay the bills and feed my kids. Near enough every sound engineer I know loves their work, takes pride in it, and feels lucky to be able to make a living out of something they enjoy. When we ask you to turn your backline down, it's not because we like screwing with you, are on a power trip, or just don't like bass players. It's because the massive low end off your amp that you aren't hearing because it hasn't developed by the time it hits the back of your knees is swamping the mix in the house, or the massive mid-range energy you're belting out at high volume is destroying any hope of us getting any real clarity in the crucial bit of the frequency spectrum where bass, guitar, vocals and keys are all fighting for sonic space to be heard. We want you to sound great. That's easier if you work with us. Lots of us are musicians too, we get it. I'd love every gig to be sonically perfect on stage and in the audience, but when it's me with a bass round my neck, I'd sure as hell rather compromise on my own on-stage mix to benefit what the audience get to hear, because without them, there's no gig. This us-vs-them attitude I see on here all the time is bollocks. I don't see it in the real world when I'm out as a tech or as a musician.

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1442217721' post='2865127'] For this reason, I was thinking about buying in an LS9 for hire. There are plenty of engrs with access to kit but a good digital board is quite rare. [/quote] The LS9 is the desk that engineers love to moan about. Used values are taking a dive now that there's a load of low cost options on the market. Great if you want a cheap LS9 for yourself but hire companies are generally phasing them out in favour of newer kit now. I'd take an X32 over an LS9 these days to be honest, it's much quicker to get around on. As for the raft of stage box mixers, a company I freelance for have picked up a Ui16. Great on paper, but I've had MASSIVE issues with the on-board WiFi and have refused to use it until there's an external router in the package. WiFi issues aside, they're great pieces of kit for budget gigging. For any professional work, I'd suggest having two tablets with it, so you've always got one on charge that you can pick up and grab when your battery gets low. For extra belt and braces, a laptop on a hardwired ethernet connection as a "just in case" is a sensible move too.

That's one thing that puts me off shopping for second hand Shure and (to a lesser extent) Sennheiser stuff. Never seen a fake AKG!