Franticsmurf

My current board has the Digbeth at the end of the signal chain and I use it with one of my bands, as everything goes through FOH. I was trying out a new compressor pedal the other day (first in the chain) and no matter how I adjusted the ratio, there was no discernible difference to my ears. Assuming there was an issue with the pedal, I ended up taking everything else out of the chain and connecting it directly to my bass amp. No problems, plenty of variation. So in the great tradition of fault finding, I started to try combinations of pedals and the compressor. It turns out the when connected to the Digbeth input (active or passive), adjusting the compression ration has no apparent effect on the output (although the volume can be adjusted as I would expect). I tried a second compressor pedal just in case it was something specific to the original, with the same result. I assume there must be some additional compression at work in the Digbeth pedal but I can't find any further info. Any ideas? Am I missing the obvious? (I have been known to in the past).

Probably less 'fortune' and more 'ability and effort'. The challenging gigs that go well 'despite...' are so rewarding in the end (though perhaps not as they are taking place 😃).

Dammit! I could have been the guy who broke that old saying. 😀

I played a pub in Mountain Ash a few years ago with a separate room for the band to play in. The pub was full of your average punter mix but the room filled with a younger crowd. We kicked off with our usual opener to test the audience reactions (I think it was 'Walk of Life') after which they were calling for more modern stuff, so we played a few contemporary songs. The reaction was 'play some oldies' and one guy yelled 'play Apache'. It felt like they were taking the urine. We were playing to around 50 people for most of the night and this back and forth went on for a while - we play an old song ("play something we can dance to"), we play a 'dancey song' ("play some oldies"), play some pub classic ("play something modern"). We didn't lose the crowd and there was always clapping and cheering in appreciation, but then the inevitable call for old or new. And always in the gap between songs there was the lone voice shouting 'play Apache'. In the end we went into stubborn mode and they got our favourite songs at our favourite volume with minimal gaps in between. But still there was the lone voice calling for Apache. We were glad to finish and as we were packing up we had the usual 'great band, lads' from some of the punters as they left. And one guy came up to us and said 'you're rubbish, you can't play Apache.

When I'm practicing I have a small digital dictaphone on hand and any riffs, chord sequences, rhythms etc that pop up are recorded. I trawl through these every so often and anything that still inspires gets transferred onto my laptop, where my copy of Studio One 5 lives. I'll play around with the ideas I have, see where it goes and usually end up with something vaguely song-like which I will work on over a few days until I have something more solid. I will usually record a basic drum pattern and add guitar and bass as guides, with the intention of replacing them later. If it's still working, I will start to re-record parts and this often results in changes to arrangements and structure. Only at this stage am I starting to think about specific sounds, little fills and riffs and all the other details that make up the final song. Lyrics appear at almost any stage. I write lyrics independently of the music and I have several dozen pages of scribbles, phrases and lines that provide a starting point. I try and leave gaps of several days between major stages of recording so that I can come back to the project with some freshness and objectivity. Like other have said, sometimes I find that what I thought was the next no.1 when I was working non-stop on it is actually fairly non-descript when I return after a short break. Once I have a 'finished' item complete with rough mixdown, I'll put it to one side for a week or so and then put it on my iPod and listen to it a few times when out walking, or in the car. Final mixdown is done after making notes based on the listening experience. As I am usually recording solo, these are largely for my own pleasure and not intended for general release. I think if I were considering a commercial release I'd get a more experienced pair of ears in to listen and help with the mixing and mastering.

I'm quite new to this IEM lark and rather than shell out for a complete system I thought I'd try out the concept to see if it worked for me using budget kit. The last few gigs I've played I've used a feed from the mixer's headphone out into a Behringer Headphone amp (to split the signal for the drummer) into a Behringer P1 into a pair of Sony earbuds. Only the drummer and I use IEM (he's using slightly more expensive ear buds. The guitarist/singer and the lead guitar use on stage amps. If I'm using an amp rather DI then I run a line from the pedalboard to the second input on the P1. Because the earbuds aren't 100% noise cancelling, I can hear enough ambient stage sound to keep me grounded. I've always had problems hearing my own vocals but with this set up that is no longer an issue. My ears no longer ring after a gig, which is the main reason I wanted to go down the IEM route. This set up is working for the drummer and me at the moment and for the level and frequency we play, I'm not looking to upgrade in the near future.

Yes, me too. My experience is that most times the audience don't spot it unless it's a particularly spectacular fail. Watching a recent video of us playing, I squirmed my way through the version of 'I'm a Believer' I sang (for the first time) as my vocal was not quite a semitone flat. But on the night I was told by several people, friends and strangers, that I had a great voice and sang well. I suspect the time of day plays a part. Towards the end of a gig, as the alcohol has flowed, most of the audience are no state to discern mistakes. 😃

Namaste Manish. Welcome on board.

I used to share the ride to and from gigs with the singer and sometimes the other guitarist in my old band. Inevitably after a bad gig there would be arguments. Never anything that resulted in a long walk home, but there's be 'lively discussions' about the night's performance. The most common topic revolved around the singer's total lack of preparation which usually resulted in missed lyrics, random arrangements and random song choice deviating wildly from the set list (we played a mix of heavier blues and modern rocky pop - Born To Be Wild, Dakota, Psychokiller, Walking By Myself, Heartache Tonight to give you a flavour of the set - and then he'd throw in 'Leaving on a Jet Plane'). My point is that it's never good to get into that kind of discussion immediately after a gig as emotions are running high - and this applies to positive emotions as well as the negative ones. 😃 The cold light of a Monday morning sobers everyone up and the real decisions are made then.

Hi Funkyjsp.

Its good when it all comes together. 😃

Thanks Dave. In a way I cheated - I'd been playing with the singer/guitarist for years, although not in this line-up. I knew pretty much what he would do (although as I said he can be unpredictable). I spoke to the girl singer (whom I also know) and she gave me a list of songs that could be done on the night along with keys. I'd say 50% of the set I'd played before in some form, perhaps 30% I was able to go through in the afternoon and make notes and 20% was 'wtf?'😀 I only failed on 'American Pie' and one of today's chores is to familiarise myself with in just in case. (I may be depping for the same line-up in two weeks). The hardest part was on the songs where backing tracks weren't being used - the singer/guitarist tends to play his own arrangements which vary each time. In the past it has sometimes felt as if he's doing it deliberately as challenge to those playing with him - albeit without any malice. (Certainly the last second key change for Hotel California was definitely to test me - when I asked after why he'd done it, his reply was mainly bull). The drummer in my band once commented that when the singer was with us in the band, we played Hotel California a lot but never the same way twice. Pre-lockdown I would never have had the confidence to do the gig but I spent some of that time trying to learn the fretboard, playing along to songs other than those in the band set list and generally practising technique. Two other things helped on the night - I had decent monitoring (another thing I worked on during and just after lockdown), and I took the attitude that I was just there to make up numbers and had no responsibility other than to be professional. I have so much respect for those who can get up on stage and play a range of songs in a range of styles with no preparation at all and I see that as a worthy goal to aim for myself.

This was my lineup for last night's gig. Still in the development stage but I think I'm edging closer to 'nearly there'. Signal path is Tuner>MS60B>Octave>Soul Food>Bass Clone>Delay (the pale blue pedal)>Tube Amp Sim>DI box. The MS60B provides a compressor (Dcomp) with a clean patch, a slightly filtered patch, a deeply flanged patch and an uncompressed acoustic amp simulator. The octave was there to thicken the sound as we were a duo last night. The Soul Food gives a bit of bite or grit to cut through the inevitable guitars and the Tube amp sim is set up to just colour the sound nicely for the older tunes in the set. The delay is set to slap-back, which at £10 new is what it does best, but it will be replaced by something with more options in the coming weeks. The DI was a late addition (as you can see by the jaunty angle). It may well be relegated to the underside of the board to free up space for another pedal (because you can't have too many pedals 😀). Incidentally, the board is home made from off-cuts of plastic fascia board covered with black gaffa tape. It's slightly angled so that there is room for a powerblock under the top row of pedals.

I had a last minute dep gig last night in a working men's club in the Welsh mining valleys. My mate, (ex-singer of the current band) has his own trio with him and a female singer fronting, and usually a second guitarist. No drums, 75% backing tracks and from previous experience I knew it would be largely busking with random songs and arrangements - it's why he was 'allowed' to leave the band (😀) as he could never stick to the set list and would change songs around on the fly, or even announce completely new ones to the consternation of the rest of us. It was a long drive in the rain but with the help of the lovely lady in the sat nav box, I arrived outside the club to recognise it as somewhere I'd played around 20 years ago with the same singer in a three piece band. Easy load in straight onto a large, well lit stage but the changing room had no lighting. The stage lighting for the acts was great - they even had some kind of laser projector (or a simulated one) which painted little red dots onto the stage. Several times during the gig I noticed that the other two had red dots on their foreheads as if they were being targeted by a sniper. It would have been amazing if they'd had a fog machine to highlight the light beams. I decided to use the gig to try out a couple of new pedals and my small TCE BAM200 head - I've used the head in rehearsals but not at gig volumes and as it's my spare for gigs, I thought I ought to make sure it was up to the job. I used my TE 1x12 and Warwick 1x12 cabs. I knew I'd be having to cut through some pretty full backing tracks so I had a recently acquired EHX Bass Soul Food pedal set to give a bit of grit. I was playing my Stingray 34HH and the combination worked as I had hoped. I also had IEM so I could hear the tracks and my singing (the bass wasn't going through the PA, by choice). The gig itself was ok. Right from the off there was a horrible rumbling buzz from the PA just low enough that we could get away it with once we'd found we couldn't identify the source. A few songs in I realised it wasn't in my IEM so it wasn't us. (It was a loose connection from the laptop the DJ had been using going through the house PA which hadn't been turned off - we got it fixed). I knew most of the songs, managed to busk most of the rest and managed to cope with the strange versions of songs the guitarist played (he tends to simplify some songs and for some reason changed the key of Hotel California on a whim). The only one that really threw me was 'American Pie' so rather than make pathetic off key noises as I tried to find the roots, I turned the volume down and did my best TOTP mime act. 😀 The audience were enjoying and interacting with us but there were only a few dancers, although there was a lot of singing along to the Eagles songs we played. As an aside, I used to love playing the working men's clubs in the Welsh valleys years ago as they were usually lovely old buildings with the original decor and fittings, nice changing rooms and polite audiences who appreciated (if not liked) what we were doing. Sadly a lot of these clubs have closed over the years, some not surviving Covid, and those that made it have been 'renovated' and had their charm removed or covered over with suspended ceilings. Last night's venue still had hints of its past but only if you looked hard. In the first photo below there's an ornate frame on the far wall. I suspect it once surrounded a large mirror which, along with others along both walls, would have made the place look larger.

....'and tell me where you are'! 😀 Yessongs is one of my favourite Yes albums. Thanks for this.

As above. Initially, do whatever to develop a basic technique that becomes second nature. I've heard of people practising scales and arpeggios along to a metronome to get a sense of timing, which is an important part of the bassist's role. That's your 'get out of jail' fall back if everything goes pear shaped during a gig. Learn to dampen the non-playing strings (one of the things I had to work hard at as a former guitarist now identifying as a bassist - but it paid of in clarity and punch). Once you have the basics, try other things. Take the same things you've been doing but play them with a pick. See how it feels and note the differences so that you are able to choose the appropriate technique for the song. I'd suggest varying genres you are listening to so that you widen your playing style. Once you have a basic technique you're happy with try and play with other musicians - ideally who are better than you. You learn more quickly and you develop confidence in what you are playing.

Hi Barrister - another Stingray fan here.

Hi Peter.

How many times have I been put to shame by a singer coming on stage to help me out with my backing vocals, or to make constructive criticism of the band's set? 😃 We sometimes benefit from the wisdom of punters who know exactly what the next song should be. I was fortunate enough to have a punter step up to adjust the sound of the PA so he could hear himself scream through the mic. So sad that he actually mistook the catches of my metal leads case for the volume controls and completely missed the off switch on the mic. Must have been the lighting because I'm sure it wasn't the alcohol he'd been consuming (and spilling on the dancefloor).

On Saturday I have a last minute dep role in a trio fronted by a mate and ex-band member. No drums, 50% backing tracks and 2 vocalist guitarists plus me on the bass. I have some idea of what the set will look like but my experience with my mate is that it will be largely busking with random arrangements - it's why he was allowed to leave the band. 😀 It was annoying and inappropriate in the band setting but this is his own project and I'm approaching it as a favour (which I'm happy to do) and in the role of paid sideman (which helps me cope with the less professional elements).

Yes - Going For the One. Peter Gabriel - So. Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon. Edit @Yango you beat me to it! 😀

Welcome Tyler.

Hi Rav, welcome to the site.

Hi Royle. Step away from the for sale posts. No good will come of it. Well, maybe a little bit of bass/amp/cab/effects shaped good. 😃

You're right that the 1x12 cab doesn't have a tweeter. My non-scientific experience is that while working on sounds from my pedal board, I had to adjust the EQ to remove excessive pick clicking and occasional fret buzz. I understand that's in the 2khz range. Gigging, I use it with a Warwick 1x12 with a tweeter so it's hard to separate the two at volume. But at home practice volumes, the Warwick is brighter (as you would expect). I wouldn't describe the TE as dark, though. It's all subjective so the best thing you could do is try one out.