RockfordStone

sound on sound would be a good place to start, think they even have a book on it

my band currently struggle to get shows, we havent done one in 6 months. every time we play we bring people AND people come in when they hear us, the promoters says the love us, as do the punters, the local radio stations have had us on and like us. we are all seasoned veterens in the scene and know who to talk to, but apparently, we have hit a niche, and our brand of blues rock does not fit the indie/acoustic scene around here so we are really struggling to get shows.

[quote name='urbanx' timestamp='1424770496' post='2700126'] It's pretty dire here in Cambridge. 7 Years ago we had:[list] [*]The Barfly [*]The Man on The Moon [*]The Haymakers [*]The Corner House [*]The Boat Race [*]The Portland Arms [/list] (This ignores the larger venues like CornEx (2,000 cap) and the Junction (1,000 Cap) That most bands cant afford to book) Six venues all putting on 3/4 bands a night, EVERY night. Giving the city around 200 bands slots a week. Four of those venues have now closed, leaving us with The Cornerhouse and The Portland. While they both have pros and cons, I think it's pretty pathetic of our 'creative' city of 150,000 people to have just two pubs for bands. So yeah, pretty dire out here for an originals band... [/quote] lets not forget that the portland is pretty much impossible to get a good gig at now as the local promoters block book it. a lot of local pubs and bars have live music, but only for covers bands or acoustic acts

[quote name='Wooks79' timestamp='1424693985' post='2699159'] I can't imagine I would very nice to live with if I had no chance to get out a bit and let off some steam... [/quote] My wife has actually told me that i'm hard to live with if i'm not in a band or playing shows.... apparently i get moody and boring

[quote name='LayDownThaFunk' timestamp='1424614853' post='2698275'] JMB is a waste of time. I've been through every singer and or guitarist in my area and found one good 'un. That's it. One of my bands actually folded a few months ago because we couldn't find anyone decent to front the band. The idiots we got at auditions... [/quote] i find that when i advertise myself, i get approached by bands that only seem to have read the "bassist available" bit i get asked to join covers bands, blues trios, metal bands, despite making it clear thats not what i am looking for

nickelback use guitar heads for bass too... not sure if that is a ringing endorsement tho

my wife accepted from the beginning that i will be out a couple of times a week doing music, and have been on tours and it hasn't caused us any issues. we both have our hobbies, so we are not reliant on being together all the time. we accept any money we spend on our hobbies as long as they don't come ahead of paying our bills. its probably easier that we don't have kids, but even if we did, she recognises that music is my escape and stopping me from doing it is worse

i tend to run my bass direct and then add amp impulses, which are effectively cab sims taken from cabs directly. i think combining the two gives a good tone. i also run through my sansamp pedal which gives a real nice tone. bizarely, i spend more time mixing the bass and being unhappy with it than i do other instruments

playing devils advocate, maybe these guys have been looking for months, and would rather have someone play bass to allow them to create their music, rather than looking for a bass player. ive been in situations where ive taken bass players who can play guitar just to get music out there, and in fairness, i would rather have a guitarist who is totally into what im playing play bass than a bass player who is doing just because...

i've seen some god awful relic jobs and generally i'm not a fan of fake relic's. that said, a friend of mine had a light relic custom shop strat and it was lush.

try a different browser if the website doesn't work. line 6 monkey will allow you to authorise the gx and podfarm to work as well as giving the latest updates

Kanye West is quite high up on my list of people that i would like to punch... not quite as high as bono... but getting there

i like my strings a little duller, so i usually keep mine on for about 6 months maybe unless i feel they need to be changed

i saw these pop up on my facebook feed, didn't twig that it was you, hope it works out well mate

i'd have left too, sounds like the singer likes the idea of a band but doesnt actually have a clue or the desire to work for it

i put the kettle on during the first one, then make the tea during the second

as long as our mortgage and bills are paid, i buy what i want and the wife buys what she wants.. works well that way

some good tracks here, liked what skol did with his, but i went with Old_Ben this month

[quote name='Billy Apple' timestamp='1422131761' post='2669142'] Bad toilets, bad food, theft from tents, flying bottles of piss, etc. etc. I think they've always been a bit ropey and a rip off. [/quote] they have changed a lot since then, you still get the rogue bottle of piss, but generally it is frowned upon and efforts are made to stop it. from my experience of last years download festival, the toilets are much improved and the food is better, still expensive mind, but not gut destroying

this isn't the first time they have cancelled sonisphere, they are saying this year that it is due to not being able to get a good enough lineup. there is still a passion for festivals otherwise they wouldn't happen as often as they do. the thing is with sonisphere, it has to compete with download/donington which has been around for years, and unless sonisphere can out do it then it wont work, unfortunately it comes in as the annoying little brother rather than a big time competitor. IMO, there simply isn't enough people in this country to make 2 big rock/metal festivals in the space of 2 months a viable option. knebworth would be better adopting the hyde park model, and run a series of big band shows over the course of the summer rather than one big festival.

regardless of whether people are buying or not, it is the businesses responsibility to make their product sellable. you say they invest their own money, yes, but that is their choice, they chose to sell things and as such, their business must revolve around selling things. if i was selling a car and it was covered in mud and the tyres were worn, it wouldn't sell... the only way it would sell is if i put new tyres on and gave it a wash. lets be honest, the first thing you look for when you go in a music shop is the "oo that bass looks nice" factor. no one is saying they have to be perfectly set up, but clean and with non rusty strings is a basic requirement in my book. buying instruments and allowing them to lose their shine and become unplayable is just a poor business model

bump

i have a pair of these, they have come down in price since i got them about 5 years ago, but they serve me well. https://www.studiospares.com/Headphones-and-Speakers/Studio-Monitors/M-Audio-AV40-Pair-Monitors_373120.htm?ne=AQAAAAMAAAAEB00tQXVkaW8= the thing is with monitors, is a lot of it depends on the person listening, you ear for example may be tuned to hear more mid frequencies than mine, which is why a lot of people will say different things. it will also depend on your studio space, you could buy the most expensive monitors in the world, but an untreated room will make them sound cack. if they are your first set of monitors, for the price they will probably do the job, best way to find out is suck it and see. They will be better than headphones.

i believe it has been found that the computer runs better when drawing files from a drive that is not the same as the system drive. i have all my samples and project files on a different drive to my main drive

So after about a year or so of saying I am going to do it, i have finally done it. I have released my first solo EP under the name [url="https://www.facebook.com/blackholesummer"]Black Hole Summer[/url]. The EP is a 4 song effort, with most of the tracks having been worked on, on and off, for 2 years. Some parts are done in one DAW, others in another, some with amp sims, some with real amps, but all totally done by me in my spare bedroom. They are by no means perfect, but a big learning curve to get me ready for doing another. So please check it out [url="https://blackholesummer.bandcamp.com/"]here[/url] and let me know what you think, Its free but the option to donate is also there if you like it Cheers