flyfisher

Good question. It's mainly so we have a decent quality record (see what I did there ) of our original songs, though I guess we'll also put them on the web somewhere and use them for a demo CD for prospective gigs. We're not trying to break into the music business but friends have asked if we have any recordings and all we have are fairly poor, badly balanced, one-mic recordings, so it would be nice to have something rather better.

I'm not thnking about the technical stuff, more the procedural things. I've been doing some home recording (using a DAW) of one band I play in as follows: - a DI output from each of the two guitar amps and my bass. - vocal mic - drum machine as a simple click Set up all inputs at max levels into the DAW Play the song fairly quietly, to minimise spill into the vocal mic Do a rough mix (not a mixdown!) Overdub the drums; drummer using headphones, 2 overhead mics plus kick mic Mute out the drum machine track Do a rough mix Overdub any backing vocals Overdub any other instrumental bits I now have all the parts of the songs recorded separately and can then do all the mixing/eq/effects stuff before mixing down to a stereo track. My main issue is the drums and I wonder if I should really be recording them in the first 'live' take? The reason I don't is to minimise overspill into the mics. Since I'm only in a home environment it's not practical to set up a 'drum booth' to isolate the drummer. I do have a reflection filter for the vocal mic, which almost eliminates spill from the other instruments if we play fairly quietly. Should I just not bother with the 'live' playing (albeit without drums) and just record the song track by track? Any suggestions about how I could improve this process?

All good replies above. All I would add it that it's worth paying a few quid extra for a well-made mains cable, with 'heavy-duty cable, proper strain-relief and a well-made, solid mains plug. It won't transform your sound (no mains cable will) but it'll be mechanically robust and therefore more suited to 'life on the road' and will last longer. But anything more than an extra few quid and you're buying snake oil.

[quote name='lowdown' timestamp='1320695250' post='1430239'] Glad to see that they have done away with Bigamy then. [/quote] Ah, I see your point. I apologise for my rather clumsy English. I meant, of course, that the wife and her (only) husband are friends of mine.

At least he'll be working every day. The wife of some friends of mine has plugged into the cruise ship lecture circuit. Her last trip was a two week cruise somewhere in south America. She was flown out & back business class, put up in a 5* hotel before boarding the ship, put up in an outside cabin and had to give two, yes just two, 45 minute illustrated talks. The rest of the time was hers! Her husband is now joining her and is going to do "port talks" where he gives an illustrated 30-40 minute presentation of the next stop on the cruise. This is obviously far more taxing as he has to present two or three talks each week. So far they're booked onto four cruises in 2012 from the Carribean to the Med to the Norwegian fiords. Who says retirement is dull!?

Smoke on the water

Did the audience pay to get into the venue? In one pub we've played a few times, about half the 'audience' were just regulars who are out for a drink and a chat and would probably have been happier if we weren't playing at at all. At least the other half were appreciative though. The can't-clap-while-holding-a-pint thing can be a problem but in my limited experience that doesn't stop people cheering or making some sort of apreciative noise.

Well there's a coincidence. I was just updating my gig record only this afternoon, though I wasn't planning to share it - but what the heck. All I can say is that you're clearly in a different league to me Bilbo! 2009 : 10 gigs (one band) 2010 : 18 gigs (two bands) 2011 : 15 gigs so far (two bands), with a few more to go. So, looks like I'm fairly consistently just bumping along the bottom! Incidentally, my rehearsal sessions look like this: 2009 : 25 (one band) 2010 : 50 (two bands) 2011 : 34 far (two bands), with a few more to go Which means my rehearsal to: gig ratio is 2.5 : 1

[quote name='Dr.Dave' timestamp='1320331696' post='1425422'] All I can say is I wonder how many of us would get clapped and cheered if we did a solo - and if anyone ever said they were learning bass and reply was 'What - like Dr Dave' I'd be well happy. Good luck to the lass - however thin we experts deem her talent to be. Maybe if a few more of us stopped skulking around in the shadows and got up front and performed then the general public might know a few more of us. [/quote] That's a very fair point and I entirely agree with the sentiment. Encouraging bedroom bassists to get out to their local pubs and clubs for a bit of live play is one thing, but getting all dewey-eyed over Suzi-Q's bass virtuosity as an example of what chart-topping popular music combos should aspire to is quite another. Yes, the general public may know a few more of us but, on the basis of that video, would that be a good thing? And, let's be brutally honest, could anyone except a petite blond lady dressed in tight black leather get away with such a starring role these days?

[quote name='neepheid' timestamp='1320251542' post='1424397'] I didn't know there were so many varieties of canned worms! [/quote] Well, you open Pandora's Box and out jump the Trojan Horses.

She's giving bass solos a bad name. I used to think I couldn't slap but now I'm not so sure.

Indeed. Just replace "basslines" with "works of art" and you have a general purpose statement for any subjective matter.

[quote name='toneknob' timestamp='1320064836' post='1421721'] The [s]world's best[/s] favourite bassline [s]ever[/s] of some magazine readers is Muse's "Hysteria". In other news, the favourite song of some other magazine readers is Vera Lynn's "White Cliffs Of Dover". [/quote] Fixed.

A lot of my old albums are only on vinyl too but I recorded them onto my PC and converted them to MP3s many years ago. Makes them so much more accessible.

[quote name='JohnFitzgerald' timestamp='1319992140' post='1420952'] Well, it's what we've been sold as the concept of how to comapre, hasn't it ? It's almost like the things you get now with cars nowadays. "Yeah, I bought the 170bhp version." OK, where does it make 170bhp, at what RPM ? "Haven't a clue, I just know it's the 170bhp version." Right, but I've been in the car with you and you change up at 2000rpm, you're probably using about 100 of those 170bhp. "Ah, ok. But mine's the 170bhp version." Right.... [/quote] Good analogy. The numbers game always does it for the marketing suits.

[quote name='yorks5stringer' timestamp='1319932102' post='1420360'] We had one at school and the Science Teacher used to get us to shock ourselves with it.... [/quote] Now you mention it, so did we. Our favourite trick was to stand on an insulated stool, charge ourselves us and then light a bunsen burner with the spark. Happy days. I s'pose "H&S" has put an end to such things for schoolkids today.

[size=5][font="Verdana"]"There isn't another one anywhere.....!"[/font][/size] . . . . thank goodness. Was probably worth more before it was customised. Oh well, eye of the beholder and all that guff.

[quote name='JohnFitzgerald' timestamp='1319968072' post='1420519'] A watt is a watt is a watt. [/quote] That's correct. But you then go on to talk about differences in volume, even though the two things are not the same thing. Watts are not the same as volume. There are a whole bunch of other variables. Might as well say a cat is a cat is a cat but then start asking about the differences in their bark. Cats are not dogs, so it wouldn;t make much sense.

I've got one of these and it's fine for our amateur purposes: http://www.studiospares.com/headphone-amps+splitters/behringer-microamp-ha400/invt/380280/?htxt=CqRsbJu%2FutV8PO2VUe7M5tbw0eF0%2BgiZGsyhRiL%2FA7J%2FD5ckTwx4gGk9NGxRQ2HoBcTxJmxJa8Ar%0AIS49VztZhg%3D%3D Probably not ideal for mastering and the like but for basic foldback while recording it seems fine. Loads more similar products on that website as well.

Ha! I've just posted an identical thread for Van de Graff Generator. Looks like that Hawkwind topic has stirred up some old memories.

The Hawkwind topic got me listening to my old In Search Of Space album, which led me onto revisiting some my other 1970s stuff including a few VdGG albums, which I've been greatly enjoying this evening. Similar in their spacey/cosmic/sci-fi aspects to Hawkwind, but generally not as 'heavy', which to be honest I prefer. probably not as commercially successful as Hawkwind (no 'Silver Machine' moment) but they are still recording and touring in various lineups with Peter Hammill still in the key role. Anyone else a fan? "Darkness 11/11" is from their 1969 album "The Least We Can Do Is Wave To Each Other" and features Nic Potter on bass. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDmhP6YiN6s[/media]

Never argue with an idiot. People find it hard to know the difference. And the old favourite . . . you can't polish a turd.

[quote name='vsmith1' timestamp='1319707567' post='1417405'] Leads and sockets: to help my mainly ignorant band members help with the PA set up, I got some little coloured stickers - the sort from office suppliers - stuck the colours on the plus and sockets then it is largely saying red to red, etc. Thankfully you cannot plug a jack into an XLR and vice versa. Also I use velcro cable ties in various colours to signify which leads are mine and then to tie them up. Now I only have to teach them about coiling leads! [/quote] Good luck with that - I've tried but have given up. Watching people in the two bands I play with pulling out piles of knotted cable spaghetti from their carrier bags is now a source of wry amusement rather than angst. A particular favourite seems to be winding a cable into a big loop and then tying it into a knot to prevent it uncoiling! Plugging into amps on full volume is another common trait. I also used to be astonished at the mind process that could result in a 1/4-inch jack just being plugged into any suitable socket without any idea if it was the right one but, having tried and failed to teach people the error of their ways, now I just smile my inner smile and realised that old cliche about the bass player being the only one in a band with any technical nous to be true. Anyway, all my cables are clearly labelled and everyone knows to leave them well alone!

The almost unanimously supportive partners mentioned in all these posts makes this a very heartwarming topic, though I'm beginning to wonder if the posters are a bit of a self-selected bunch and that the warm feeling may not be truly justified. I'm thinking of all those hateful, domineering, bass-hating partners who are so fierce that their bass-loving partners don't even get a chance to post about their strife. Their bass love and urges are rendered voiceless in the face of such harridans. I propose a minute's silence for all our comrades-in-bass who may never be heard.

Comms cabinets are often wired with a 'star earth' arrangement, for all the equipment, metalwork and the cabinet itself, hence the earth stud on the PDU. But in this application, all the equipment in the rack case is effectively earthed to a single point anyway . . . in the single 3-pin plug. Just make sure all the power cables are properly earthed and you should be OK. The metal strips of the ABS case will be earthed via the metal screws and cases of the equipment in the rack anyway.