Ian Savage

[quote name='Grant' timestamp='1317985489' post='1396913'] "Can we do "2 4 6 8 Motorway?" No, f*** off. [/quote] My last covers band did that one...and 500 Miles...and summer of 69...what is it about songs with numbers in the title?

[quote name='arthurhenry' timestamp='1317978602' post='1396794'] "I haven't played my guitar/[b]drums[/b]/keyboards since the last rehearsal." [/quote] I've been guilty of this on many an occasion, as living circumstances meant I couldn't drum at home.

[quote name='chrismuzz' timestamp='1317845913' post='1395436'] The only experience I've had similar to this, was then the sound engineer asked us all to turn our amps down... But this was only so that he could turn the monitors up! We were still loud as f*ck... Just sounded abslutely crap [/quote] If the engineer can do it (and the PA/monitors can cope) though, this is absolutely the best way of getting a good out-front sound. The way I tend to do it when I'm engineering is to get the drum kit going at full pelt (without any mics active), then get other players to turn amps up so that they can hear enough of THEMSELVES to work with (never mind the rest of the band at this stage, just enough to hear what they're doing over the drums). You then bring in the vocals in monitors only, get the balance right on THOSE so that everyone can hear what they need, then feed in any other instruments into people's monitors as required. Note the front-of-house system isn't even running yet, but the band should already have a mix that everyone can work with and which isn't ungodly-loud, so then the engineer can pretty much run the out-front sound as he/she sees fit, without affecting the onstage mix. 'course, this requires at least three monitor sends, everything mic'ed, and a decent amount of power in the wedges, but by Crikey it works. Totally unnecessary for a pub gig and hence pretty much irrelevant to this discussion, but thought I'd share

Magic, nice one chief!

Nice one Yorick, beat me to it! So if we can get a couple of dozen of us only a couple of quid or so each, I could live with that - would we get use of the PA with that too? I'd assume not, but I could lash something together myself if needs be (oh, and I haz teh limited drumming skillz also )

[quote name='Machines' timestamp='1317734903' post='1393859'] Good idea. Had my band's first gig there and the size of the room is suitable for the numbers we're thinking of - plus I imagine they don't book it out much on a Sunday afternoon ?! [/quote] I'd imagine not - actually, I'm at the Asylum next door reviewing a gig on Thursday so I'll pop in then and do it in person. I'd be able to provide drum kit and at least one guitar amp as well, should we want the option to jam some (and I see no reason why we shouldn't ).

Spoken to Alex at Arkham and have a number for the upstairs bar at the Madhouse Rehearsal studios, shall ring up and enquire price-wise if that location suits (B19 3LS, five minute walk from Birmingham Snow Hill station and about another ten from New Street, parking right outside which (IIRC) is free or at least very cheap at the weekend). The bar'd hold a few dozen with gear easily, so should suit us if people are up for it.

[quote name='Monckyman' timestamp='1317336206' post='1389756'] The question was simple, When the guy with the cash says please turn down do you do it or do you look for other work. No brainer. [/quote] Can't argue with that, UNLESS (and there's something of a circular argument developing here) the person booking you has done so with no regard to what type of band you are. As I said earlier, as a drummer I went to the extremes of making my acoustic kit as 'pub-friendly' as possible (i.e. damped to the point of affecting the tone of it), and to go any further (using rods/brushes etc) would have compromised my performance, so if anyone had been insistant on me going any quieter than I was (and, ipso facto, making the band any more quiet, as you're generally limited in downward volume movement by your drummer) I'd have happily made a fuss if I could afford to walk out on the gig. For my money, as I said before, if your pub can't cope with levels of around 100dBA inside (outside of course depends on sound isolation, generally next to nothing with the smoking ban and doors being opened all the time), don't book a rock band with an acoustic drummer. I've seen some drummers who could REALLY play their whatsits off and still not punch out major levels from the kit, but these were pros with totally sublime control over their playing - and even then they'd have been knocking on 85dBA on their own. Acoustic drum kit played for pop/rock = not neighbour-friendly/can't have a conversation within 10 metres of it, IMO, incontravenable fact.

[quote name='ironside1966' timestamp='1317210281' post='1388054'] The way is look at is this, the landlord pays you to do a job just like you would pay someone to paint your house. you wouldn't expect them do what they want. you pay them to paint it how you want it. [/quote] On the flipside of that, were I to pay an electrician to rewire my house I'd be doing so because he knows how it's done better than me, so I'd have no business telling him to wire the 13A sockets with doorbell wire or install lightbulb sockets made of cheese, and would expect to be told to flip off if I insisted. FWIW I CAN see both sides of this, as I've done promotion, venue handling and sound engineering as well as the gigging band side. With the only covers band I was in (hence the only band playing pubs regularly) I was playing drums, and very deliberately had as my main kit a heavily-damped 20x8" kick drum, fairly damped 10" and 13" toms and quite lightweight cymbals (incidentally, very old Zildjians which I wouldn't thrape anyway as they cost me a fortune ). If I was STILL too loud (and it did happen once), we politely explained that there wasn't a volume control on an acoustic drumkit and that to play it any quieter would throughly alter the sound (really, you either use rods/brushes, which have a TOTALLY different rebound and 'feel' to sticks, or you hit very lightly, which again can throw your rebound all to cock). IIRC we bluffed through that one, but I'm firmly of the opinion that if you hire a band with acoustic drums you need to be SURE that your venue/clientele/neighbours will be alright with SPLs of 100dBA +. If you're not sure, book an acoustic act, one of those hideous 'bloke + backing track' acts, or put on a quiz or something.

[quote name='yorick' timestamp='1317028456' post='1385506'] The upstairs bar at The Asylum might be a good place. Just outside the city centre, adequate parking nearby. I can enquire if there's enough interest. Howabout a sunday afternoon 1-5pm ish? [/quote] That's a good call actually, I know Alex who runs the Arkham recording studio over there so might be able to swing a bit of a deal...

I'm moving back towards Central Brum next week (Moseley), could look around for a boozer that'd have us if people fancy it, say, in November (no point being to close to tomorrow's Stratford get-together!)? The famed Jug of Ale is apparently still going, could enquire if they'd have us for an afternoon pre-gig (I also promote, so could do a one-two punch of a BassChat get-together followed by a gig...)

[quote name='Monckyman' timestamp='1316701638' post='1381690'] SM58 yes. Beyer stand if you can afford it. Great quality. [/quote] Seconded, although with the caveat that personally I find Sennheiser's E840 / 845 better than the SM58 these days (certainly in terms of feedback rejection, and subjectively in sound quality terms as well), and IIRC Beyer's stands are made by K&M, so look at them too.

[quote name='Ross' post='1375425' date='Sep 16 2011, 12:54 PM']But I mean, who brings a torch to set up with?[/quote] I've always got a mini-Maglite on my keys, incredibly handy.

[quote name='51m0n' post='1374671' date='Sep 15 2011, 05:14 PM']#11 Stay sober[/quote] Oh...

[quote name='Dom in Somerset' post='1374506' date='Sep 15 2011, 02:59 PM']most of it was (IMO) on a par with "Remember to breath while you're on stage" The bit about taking keys to adjust intonation seems a little odd- as if you'd do that on stage?[/quote] I thought that, the point I thought was going to be that action-adjuctment grub screws can sometimes shake themselves loose (particularly if they're set low), but then he started talking about adjusting intonation...no!? [quote]Cheap cables introduce noise, [b]reduce the lower frequency response [/b]and are prone to breaking down.[/quote] No they don't, it's the treble end which is likely to be affected as the capacitance between signal and screen becomes significant in cheaper cables. [quote]Number 2 is a great idea, because dragging your amp head off the top of an 8x10" is so much more desirable than getting unplugged. Don't ask me how I know. :|[/quote] Agreed, absolutely! [quote]Many a sound engineer has suffered near heart failure when an open circuit is plugged into.[/quote] Not sure what meaning he's trying to convey with 'open circuit', it's certainly not the general engineering meaning of the term... And yeah, the tilting-back/lifting-up thing...can be useful in some circumstances, for sure. Not totally convinced, Mr Newell...C-, could do better.

There's a guitar on eBay I'm thinking of taking a punt on, but the seller won't post and it'd be a huge trip for me - anyone in that kind of area fancy making a few quid picking it up and packaging it for a courier? It's an acoustic so might want a bit of bubblewrapping and probably a proper guitar box, but I'd happily make sure you're not out of pocket...

[quote name='ThomBassmonkey' post='1365987' date='Sep 8 2011, 02:03 AM']Fact is that it's not always the case, the machines that make these things are pretty standard and there's some eastern manufacturers that take pride in what they make and some western manufacturers that churn out rubbish.[/quote] There's a very persistent rumour that Stagg cymbals are made using manufacturing machines which Zildjian sold on some years ago, which re-surfaced in China being run by folk on very low wages using cheaper (but still quality) bronze. How true that is I don't know, but Stagg cymbals are DEFINITELY quality these days, if maybe not as consistent as Zildjian/Sabian/Paiste etc. And at about a third of the price, you can see why people go for them (I get 'round my morals by tracking them down secondhand )