leftybassman392

[quote name='Geek99' timestamp='1472559353' post='3122077'] Sure - she's not a sticker at tricky things so what "really works well" is more important than cosmetics [/quote] If you can manage to, it would be a good idea to take her to a shop to try them out. I've taught lots of 7/8 year olds, and IME a full size board is invariably too big for small hands (and as a 'by the way', causes more kids to quit than any other single reason). Sounds like a 1/2 size will be too small; most likely a 3/4 will be the one to go for. Don't worry about quality issues either; think of it as a stepping stone - if she takes to it then you can move up to a full size when she's grown a bit, and if she doesn't then the school or the tutor should have no trouble helping you to sell it on and get a fair chunk of your money back. Sorry to press the point but buying a full size guitar that she can 'grow into' is just wrong I'm afraid - it may work once in a while but generally speaking it causes more problems than it solves. If the tutor works for the local music service (very likely), then there will often be a policy in place that dictates the type of instrument they recommend. If in doubt ask the school; if they can't help then they should be able to put you in touch with the music service for your area.

You'll quite likely find that the school and/or the tutor will insist on a nylon strung instrument for a child that age. I could bore you with a whole bunch of technical reasons why if you like, but it's your money I guess. It will be a 3/4 size at best, possibly even a 1/2 size if the child is small for their age. AFAIK the Ed Sheeran and others of it's ilk are small-bodied parlour guitars; the necks will most likely be pretty much standard dimensions. Not suitable at all IMHPO unless the landscape has changed dramatically in the few years since I quit teaching guitar.. A good question to ask in this situation is this: do you want your child to look cool with a swish guitar to show off to the other 7-year olds, or do you want to give them the best chance of learning to play it properly?

With no offence intended to anybody posting on this thread, there's one or two slightly fanciful notions of what constitutes a professional musician around these parts. At the risk of looking like Mr. Pedant of Pedant's Lane Pedanton, try this (lifted verbatim from Chambers' 21st Century dictionary): [quote][b][i]professional[/i][/b]: (noun) [b]1[/b] someone who belongs to one of the skilled professions. [b]2[/b] someone who makes their living in an activity, etc that is also carried on at an amateur level.[/quote] This is what I did for around 15 years (on both counts). I always considered myself a professional musician during that time. It might also help to clarify what the term 'professional musician' actually covers. Whilst earning a living solely through performance would certainly fit the definition, the work of a professional musican frequently involves any of a range of related but different activities (teaching being perhaps the most common - but by no means the only - example). Being a professional musician is not the same as having a professional approach (whatever that might mean) to your music making. Being a professional musician is earning a living through one's expertise and skill in the field of music. To address the OP's question as written, anybody who plays music on anything like a regular basis has a right to call him/herself a musician. I rather suspect though that this isn't quite what the OP had in mind when asking the question. I could be wrong of course... [i][size=2]{[b]Note[/b]: the first part of the definition in the quote above is normally associated with having a relevant specialist-level qualification. In many skilled professions this would be a valid premise; I tend to think of music as a slightly special case since there have been countless people who earned most if not all of their income from making music but who had no specialist qualifications to speak of (honorary degrees and lifetime-achievement awards don't count ). In this case the professional status derives from activity rather than educational attainment.}[/size][/i]

If you're in a rock band the bottom and mid of the guitar sound will generally drown out most of the harmonics (which is where differences in tone make themselves known) of the bass. There'll be exceptions, but for yer average pub/covers band it's unlikely to make much difference what you're holding - as long as it's a bass of course! How it feels in your hands is another matter though...

[quote name='gjones' timestamp='1471300505' post='3112037'] I play with pro musicians and do pro level gigs but have to have a day job to keep my head above water. The fully pro musicians I know manage to scratch a living but only just. Most are guitarists/vocalists and make the majority of their money doing solo gigs. Some also teach. A band gig is a luxury for them, as although a band will get a bigger fee, it has to be split 4/5 ways. [/quote] Cocktail music (it's a generic term and covers quite a wide range of situations) can be a good income stream. I did it as a guitarist but a talented young keyboard player I used to know was making a fairly decent living from it too. In truth it is pretty dull but if you're any good it pays pretty well (I was getting ballpark £125/hour), minimal gear so you're portable, and best of all you don't have to share it with anybody. On the down side you usually need to sit down AND use a music stand. I think a lot of pro musicians teach, even if they don't strictly need to. I used to know quite a lot of people who did it in the local County Music Service. Attitudes to what they do were typically different from yer average Basschatter too. It was a job like any other, often with predetermined work conditions and pay rates. You turn up, play the notes in front of you and go home afterwards (maybe stopping off for a beer on the way). End of evening. I was quite friendly with a Woodwind player who did exactly this despite having had numerous prestige residencies at places like the London Palladium. To him it was just a job. His main passion was skiing IIRC, and he would spend the entire summer holiday period on a ski slope somewhere working as an instructor for a lot less money than he got as a muso. In my book this man and others like him were the ultimate professionals.

Excellent stuff! Some of my favourite gigs were really simple female singer/acoustic guitar duets - music at its simplest. I used to enjoy setting up the P.A. (such as it was) on these gigs too. Dead simple, but fun all the same.

Retired now (early) so none of the above. On the whole I'm happy, but I still get occasional moments when I miss it horribly. C'est la vie. Previously, 100% earnings from musical activities (playing, teaching, P.A. hire, project studio hire, etc.) Not as much live work as I would have liked (at least not the properly paid kind), but if I had my time over again the only thing I'd do differently would be to take more of the opportunities I was offered. These days I don't even pick up an instrument that often (although I still enjoy it when I do and won't be getting rid any time soon). I do still nurture faint hopes of a return, but I'm not sure my prematurely geriatric back would be up to it now. Ho hum.

In answer to the OP, no, but I do remember once attending a gig by a local band in Newcastle-on-Tyne at which the provided piano had been tuned a full tone flat. (No, I don't understand why either. ) The pianist, undeterred, played the entire gig as per the dots. Actually it was quite an achievement in it's own way.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1469569212' post='3099513'] Betamax was the superior format. [/quote] ...and in widespread use in the broadcasting industry IIRC.

I had to switch the tape off after around 40 seconds. It was either that or drop-kicking the laptop through the window. Something about the guy's presentation style touched a nerve.... As to cassettes, well if a new generation is willing to pay silly money for them then I might just have to dig out my old [s]crap[/s] tapes and stick them on eBay. I don't know if anybody's mentioned it yet, but as I recall most tapes on most machines were short on top end due to the tiny 1/32" track widths (although this isn't so much of an issue for me these days ) - and they degraded over time too. I tried pretty much every tape formulation known to man in a very expensive (and big - oh, and heavy ) Yamaha jobbie. Never liked them as much as vinyl. For me the main benefit was that they were very portable with an acceptable-if-you're-not-too-fussy sound quality. Perfect for moving songs to & fro with students. TL;DR Been there, done that; if people are [s]dumb enough[/s] prepared to shell out for tape cassettes then good luck to 'em.

Meh!

[quote name='HowieBass' timestamp='1469102247' post='3095731'] I don't see too many personalised plates on cars in my neighbourhood but one that stood out (on a black Bentley Continental) was K1CKR - I assumed it'd be some wealthy footballer or rugby player. Fast forward a few months and I heard a car coming up the road behind me... and you know from an engine note that it's something different... turned out to be a black McLaren (a 12C I think) and now that's got K1CKR on it! I later spotted it in the car park of a small MMA and fitness gym that's just round the corner from my house... so I'm now wondering if the owner is actually a well-off kick boxer? [/quote] Is there not a brand of footwear called Kickers?

[quote name='Bobthedog' timestamp='1469096631' post='3095649'] Why not have both? [/quote] See above.

[quote name='Rich' timestamp='1469093541' post='3095617'] I see no difference between blowing money on a private plate and blowing money on something like a holiday or a few exotic meals. [/quote] Not sure I'd agree with that one as it happens. However... you presumably would see the difference between spending, say, £1000 on a private plate and spending a roughly similar amount on, say, a decent climate control system or whatever it might be (which is the point I'm making)? [spoiler] For the record, a couple of years ago I spent a little under £3000 on a hand built guitar from Rob Williams - it's listed in the 'guitar porn' section I believe. [/spoiler] I do get the argument; I just wouldn't spend money on a personal plate for a car. This is actually all I'm saying. No, really.

[quote name='Bobthedog' timestamp='1469086237' post='3095559'] To me vanity is an excessive pride in one's appearance. I do not see that here. Is it any different to paying extra for a specific colour on a car because one likes that colour (not all choices are for resale value)? Re useage, I think there also is a big difference between intrinsic and aesthetic value. Some people get "use" of an item by the visual pleasure it brings them rather than the practicality or monetary value. I do agree re vanity and plates that spell someone's name like the Colin example above, that is self promotion and in my view; vain or at least conceited. [/quote] I think the best thing here is to agree to disagree amicably. It's not important enough to fall out over, and as I keep saying I don't have a problem with it; I'd just sooner spend the money on something that impacts the function of the vehicle more directly. Different strokes for different folks.

[quote name='Bobthedog' timestamp='1469080839' post='3095537'] I am not convinced a number plate such as the OP's can be classed as vanity. Unless you know the person and their initials, it just looks like a 55 plate registration to the public eye. [/quote] Any number plate that you've paid extra for is by definition a vanity item. I had a chance to buy the plate BX15 GTS for my car. On one level it looks like a normal plate, but it would have cost me around £400 from a company that sells such plates. How many other people notice it is not really the point. If it's just the next plate out of the box, then fine. But it isn't. To reiterate though, I don't have a problem with people spending their disposable on such things. It just seems odd after going to the trouble of getting the best deal for your new car is all. At least with a £400 bass you have the chance to get some use out of it...

Each to their own (and it is mostly just a bit of fun after all), but I don't follow the logic of personalised plates: after working hard to get the best possible deal on the car you're buying or have just bought, you then blow who knows how much on a personal plate (the cheapest I've seen recently was £250 IIRC, with prices rising pretty sharpishly from there). Why not either pocket the money or else spend it on something that might actually serve some purpose beyond vanity? Baffling. Then again this is a forum largely populated by people who go through large quantities of both anguish and money so they can own more basses than they actually need to play their music... [spoiler]Yes I know they're transferable thanks for mentioning it. Doesn't invalidate the argument though. [/spoiler]

[quote name='Leonard Smalls' timestamp='1468764702' post='3093158'] Talking of clunky multi-track set-ups, when I was in Sound Transfer I was once given a 2" 24 track tape and a roll of 16mm film. The tape contained 8 different mixes (i.e. final, music and FX, dialogue etc), and the customer wanted 18x16mm magnetic film copies of mixes, plus 4 DAT and 5 1/4" tape copies of the final, plus 2 D3, a Beta SP and 10 VHS copies copies of the film and final mix... It took us 1/2 a day to set up and plug, but we ran it all in one with everything slaved to one of the Nagra T 1/4" recorders (due to their excellent time code generator and syncing properties). So when I pressed play/record on the Nagra, 4 other Nagras, plus 2x Sony and 2x Fostex DATs, an Otari 2", 19 Albrecht 16/35mm film recorders, 2 x Panasonic D3s and a Sony Beta Sp chugged into action automatically. The VHSs we had to start by hand! We were so pleased we permitted ourselves a number of pints of Fullers ESB that evening... (as we did most evenings!) [/quote] Crikey! That has to count as some kind of record, surely? On the other hand, you probably wouldn't keep any records of recording records...

My first studio setup was based on ADATs. They were 8-track recorders, and could indeed be sync'd up in banks. I had 2, but you could have up to 16 IIRC. The downside was that because they used S-VHS tapes they took a while to sync up (making them a bit laborious to use). Oh, and they were big, expensive, heavy and generated quite a lot of heat - the HD24 hard disc recorder that replaced them was a whole lot easier to use from every perspective. I actually still have some of my old S-VHS studio tapes (just for posterity these days of course since I have no way of being able to play them). ETA: The optical interface (commonly called a lightpipe) was invented by Alesis specifically for use with their ADAT machines. It is now the industry standard for optical interfacing. Although time code was embedded in the lightpipe signal (allowing machines to sync easily), transport syncing had to be done via a separate D-connector. Here's a link: [url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADAT_Lightpipe"]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADAT_Lightpipe[/url]

[quote name='Lord Sausage' timestamp='1468670602' post='3092526'] Yeah mate, I'll help. I live in the North West, near Wigan. I do like beer but prefer bourbon haha. You don't have to give me anything! [/quote] Top man! Much appreciated. I did put a bit more info in the previous post - long story short it may not actually be needed but I'm just making sure I have a way of getting it done if I need to. Thanks muchly for the offer: I'll get back to you if I need to take it up.

[quote name='Lord Sausage' timestamp='1468669531' post='3092517'] Yeah, I have a DAT player then! [/quote] Well in that case... Would you be willing to help out? If so, where do you live? Oh, and can you confirm that you like beer? ETA: I should add that this is by way of insurance and may not actually be needed - the DAT is an old demo master tape that we did around 20 years ago and is with an old bandmate of mine who's trying to get a copy for posterity. He has terminal bowel cancer so I feel I owe it to him to get the job done if he has any problems with it.

[quote name='tonyquipment' timestamp='1468667727' post='3092504'] Know anyone with a DAT player? Throw him a beer and play around with tapes �� [/quote] That would be the plan, except that if I did then the job would probably already be done. Some kind of remuneration in cash or kind is pretty much a given - perhaps I should have made that a bit clearer... [quote name='Lord Sausage' timestamp='1468668534' post='3092508'] What kind of DAT, the ones like VHS or the smaller ones? [/quote] You're thinking of ADAT I suspect. It's the smaller one that looks (and works) a bit like a miniature cassette tape.

Thanks for that. If I have to pay for it then this does indeed look reasonably priced, and having a banker is always handy. I guess I'm hoping that somebody still has an old DAT player they've never got round to selling...

I have a feeling something like this has been asked before, but does anybody know where I can get an old DAT master tape copied to CD? Doesn't need to be archive quality. TIA