pietruszka

That sounds tight! I was once in an 8 piece band playing on a stage comfortable for 4 people! That was, erm, cosy. As for knocking a stingray off stuff, I got over that ages ago, it happens all too frequently for me. Dan

[quote name='WalMan' timestamp='1330256616' post='1554608'] Yup. Perhaps it's me. "Remove the mote from your eye" etc etc Ain't that the truth!! So last night I stuck to plan bass & treble rolled back, 600hx mids boosted. inputs rolled back, master a micrometre from completely off, and spent most of the night managing not to dig in. IMO the bass sounded cr@p and barely audible to me, but everyone else was happy with their nice full fat sounds and the rowd were enjoying themselves....so that's OK Still I haven't listened back to the recording so perhaps that'll prove it's me all along............................meanwhile over in the Depression thread Anyone want my rig? 'cos I think I might as well save some money and swap it for the cheapest, cr@piest one available. The Wal into the pedalboard with the Microbass II run into the effects return (the only input I can get to work) in the rubbish Trace combo in the studio at the prog r/h in the morning sounded great. Think I'l take the Orange 15 to r/h on Wednesday MrsW said "are you happier tonight, Max said you weren't last night" before we started last night, so it was noticed but probably just put down to my hormones [/quote] IME, that will be because the bass was rolled off. Iv said it before in this thread, the bass end of things should belong to the BASS PLAYER, not the guitarist, tell them to roll the bass right off and you roll yours back on. The overall sound will be full, weighty, punchy and everyone should be closer to where they should be. I absolutely can't stand it when guitarists have an absolutely brilliant sound, who gives a flying sh*t? Just because the guitar sounds great on its own doesn't mean it will be great in the mix. I have a home setting and a gig setting; the home has a little more top and the live setting doesn't, I have a decent amount of bass, some reasonable lower mid and some upper mid. But thats what works for me. It sounds dreadful on its own but in the band it sounds great. Thats generally the rule of thumb I follow, if it sounds nice on its own, it won't in the band. Just my 2p. Dan

[quote name='thisnameistaken' timestamp='1330162880' post='1553470'] Why would the guitars feed back when they turn the bass knob down? I guess because they're turning up the volume to compensate? They shouldn't need to add more volume if nothing is competing with them for those higher frequencies. It will be impossible to get any kind of clear sound on stage until they fix their EQ. [/quote] [quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1330164274' post='1553504'] Your guys need a bit of education about layering sound. They can't just turn up and play what to them is a great sound and be oblivious to what space everyone else needs...plus there are two of them...!! You all need to dial in your preferred sounds and then compromise that to suit the band sound. Most bands run a wall of sound and then wonder why something isn't coming through.. it becomes a fight as to who has the most powerful sound/frequency forced through the wall. The drums need to be tuned ... to sound good, and to sit in their defined layer. The bass will likely sit just below this..but when running both bass and drums, you should easily have it running nice and simply and sounding good. Now..hand it over the the gtrs and 'challenge' them to play and not destroy the mix. If they can alter their outputs and styles and it all sounds good, you have educated them, if they can't, then you'll need to book time with a studio and teach them layered dynamics. Of course, you also need them to stick to these lessons and that will be just as hard a job. Most gtrs run waaaay too much bass end which just swamps everyone else and it becomes a volume fight rather than a mix. Plan C ..is not to play with such f***wits ..as they don't understand the concept of a band..only their part in it and you'll never sound good, let alone great, IMO. [/quote] Exactly! When I play in a band I roll a little bit of top off, because the guitarist is there, and I have them roll off their bass 'cos thats where I am. And turn them down! Theres fewer things worse than a guitarist thats waaaayy too loud. If things are sounding muddy and mushy, its your guitarists fault if thats their settings. A sneaky plan is to get someone from the audience, a stranger (ie friend) to give you some feedback on the sound. Have them tell the band what you think needs to be done. If it comes from someone outside of the band they should be more likely to listen. Dan

[quote name='NJE' timestamp='1330158497' post='1553393'] My three best friends are guitarists and two of them are obsessed with massively scooped guitar sounds. They crank the treble and bass at home when practicing as it sounds good but they never think what sounds good live and what mixes with the band. When I played with them it was always a battle and you get an incredibly muddy sound especially if they are using 12" speakers I found. The third friend is a studio musician and does a smaller ammount of live work but he LOVES mids, and realised a long time ago that scooping the sh*t out of your guitar is not the way to get good tone. I hate scooped guitar sounds and dont think they work live so always discuss this with whoever I am playing with. Guitarists dont need a lot of bass, there is someone else in tthe band who covers that, the name gives it away BASS PLAYER!!! but I realise guitarists are not easy individuals and if you make a comment about their tone you may as well call their child/wife ugly. As has been mentioned, Mids are your friend if your guitarists are scooped, that will be your sonic space, if however they love their mids, then you can get away with a bit more of a scopped sound but some low mids will always help you feel and hear the bass a bit more on stage in my experience. [/quote] Absolutely bang on. Exactly what I was going to say. I also find guitarists, not all, so wrapped up in how their guitar sounds that they neglect what it will sound like in with every one else. The result? A muddy, wallowy and undefined sound for everyone. I'd be inclined to get the guitarists to roll their bass off A LOT, get some mids in their sound and leave you to fill he bottom end in. You are the BASS player after all. Dan

Absolutely! Self motivation, organisational skills, cash handling, speaking to groups of people, working with others (this CV claim is easily backed up in this case!). If you're a song writer you think of everything as a whole; what will this sound like in a band environment? How will this work with that etc. When ever I have applied for jobs I use this a lot. Dan

Nothing, but the mistakes sound nice! Dan

The natural finish on that basic looks lovely! Iv just taken the scratch plate off mine for a bit doesnt look too shabby either. Dan

I had a local rare wood merchant to machine me a rosewood one for my stingray. Looks top notch, but didn't come cheap! Dan

Here you are lads, I started a sandberg thread in the gear porn bit. Hope you don't mind TRBoy, i called it sandberg love after this thread. Dan

As followed on from TRBoy's thread in the bass guitar bit. Lets see your Sandbergs! My fretless Basic;[attachment=100723:IMG_6465.jpg] Dan

We had this in Soul Technique many times. one promotor had told us we had to bring 50 people in by selling 50 tickets (we would get £1 for every £4 ticket we sold!), promote the night were playing and not gig a week either side of the particular date. All this for a 30 minute support? Our singer was a bit put off by this and asked for advise; "Tell him we've been asked to play a support slot, not promote the night and sell tickets for a band our fans don't want to see. He can give us £50 or we won't play." Guess which option he went for? Yep, the latter. I hate pay to play venues and that bloke has the argument nailed. Dan

I also had the misfortune to watch that 'performance'. Dont get me wrong, I like Blur, we do Boys and Girls in the function band, but that 'performance' was gash at best. Parklife was appaling, out of time, and it looked like they were clinging onto a past glory. I don't care if its labelled as a 'punk-ish' performance, it was still dreadful. As Mum would say, ''Im not angry, Im dissapointed.'' Like I say, I am a Blur fan though. Dan

My first gig was at college, it was great! First few tracks you will sweat buckets but after those you'll relax a little and really start to enjoy it. Have fun! Dan

Doesn't look too bad, If you consider who plays it! I reckon it'll cost you your first born. In all seriousness, about the same as the Zender bass. Dan

[quote name='TRBboy' timestamp='1329782646' post='1547458'] Thanks for the kind offer Dan, but I'm in Hereford so quite a long way away! If I'm ever in your area I'll give you a shout. I made the clear pickguard, and it's not quite perfect up close, and the original one was black and a bit worn. [/quote] Nonsense! Iv got fuel in the car, I'll see you in 10 minutes! I can still post it to you if you want to see what it looks like anyway, its not bother, just drop me a pm. Dan

TRBoy, where are you based? If you're ever in the north east you are more than welcome to have a blast and a cuppa. It kind of is and isn't my main bass, I use it in the country/rock/blues band Im in and the stringray for the club band. I may be convinced to swap scratch plates with you if you'd like. Dan

Trb

Yes! I agree! More pics! My fretless basic; [attachment=100478:IMG_6465.jpg][attachment=100479:IMG_6466.jpg] It has a custom made truss rod cover made from rosewood and Im after another rosewood scratch plate like the one on my stingray. Is there a Sandberg thread in the gear porn? Dan

Sandberg fan here to! I have the Basic fretless and it's excellent, and I know what you mean about the necks. They're so lovely and thin. Good to hear you like them so much! Dan

+1 on the Trace gear. The rehearsal rooms around mine use Hartke and Warwick combos. Both sound great and are affordable. Dan

This is exactly why Im not on TB. Every opportunity to rip in to someone. As for the 'knowledge' on old Fenders? Iv heard theres a wonderful world outside! Come on, who cares. These are the kind of players that probably stress over the affect the head stock laquer has on the bass' tone. Just play the bloody thing, thats what its there for! Dan

[quote name='Quest_bikerider' timestamp='1329420171' post='1542310'] I went to school with Zak Starkey Ringo Stars Son currently playing with The Who, he was a year below me at school but I saw him play drums many times in the local pub The Cannon near Ascot. I didnt play bass then but if I did 'Who' knows. [/quote] Do you know Dylan How(e) then? Dan

I was in a funk/hip hop band, the best band Iv ever been in. I largely wrote the material which was finished and tweaked by the rest of the band. Eventually different methods of approach resulted in me leaving. The band dissolved not too long after. The singers BF had once told me "if you leave the band, the band is f**cked". I soon joined a club band afterwards and we gigged after 1 rehearsal I think it was. A line up change later and we had to get a dep in for me. The band after that gig said they really noticed a difference and would rather I didn't need a dep again! It's nice to be in demand! Dan

[quote name='woodyratm' timestamp='1329348648' post='1541269'] I think you should teach her YYZ. [/quote] Haha!! Id start with something simple so she can get playing to some music asap. After all thats what we wanted to do when we started right? And good call on finding out what she likes first. If you're just going over for a chat with the basses, use that as a starting point to find out what she wants from playing bass and what she wants to play. Including YYZ. Dan

Ha! Just looked at that link, the sax player is Rob Townsend. A really good friend of my Dad. Awesome player to. Dan