Earbrass

Spent all day in the office with a light workload - hence plenty of time on basschat. My bass is sat at home on its stand, all plugged in and waiting for me to come home and record some bass parts for the track I am working on (only for the best part of a year so far, so quite rapid progress for me). Whether I will still have the energy and enthusiasm to do said recording once I've watched University Challenge and Only Connect remains to be seen. Can't do it before, as that's my slot for practising the squeezebox ready for a Halloween gig tomorrow night.

With digital pianos, I think it comes down to the feel of the keyboard more than anything else; the piano sounds are all pretty good these days, and you always have the option of using other sounds via MIDI. Feel is a very personal matter, so I would urge you to try and get to play a few keyboards from the leading brands and see which suits you best.

Wow, that sounds really cool. I love magic tricks. I had a mate who was seriously into it who taught me a couple of simple things once, but as you say you have to spend a lot of time practising to get good. It must be a real buzz to be able to do it well and be appreciated for it.

I voted a while back. I think Bilbo deserves a separate award for the best title. What is it with jazzers and weak puns? I recall an album by my erstwhile jazz-piano teacher Janette Mason called "[url="http://www.jazzcds.co.uk/artist_id_611/cd_id_493"]Din and Tonic[/url]", which seems to be part of the same tradition. Hats off to everyone who got it together to produce something. I find my main musical projects take all my spare time - if I tried to join in with this too, everything else would grind to a halt!

[quote name='oggiesnr' timestamp='1351281369' post='1849779'] When it works like that it's great isn't it? All these people who would run a mile at the thought of "Morris Dancing" actually watching and enjoying it. At a recent Freaks danceout we ended up at the same pub as the local football team and persuaded some of them to have a go. Steve [/quote] Yeah, it's weird - as a nation we love to mock our own traditions, and few people will admit to being interested in the Morris, but we find that if you go out and do it, people gather and watch, and are interested and ask questions: we're very rarely short of an audience. Such a change from being in an originals band and begging your mates to come to every gig (we weren't very good)! Perhaps it's because it's one of the very few traditional English pastimes that doesn't involve persecuting wildlife . Good luck with the RackaBack. Hope to see you at a festival someday.

I’ve been meaning to start this thread for a while, as non-bass gigs are the only kind I am doing at the moment. On Saturday, the [url="http://www.wildhunt.org.uk/"]Wild Hunt Bedlam Morris[/url] performed at Cecil Sharp House (the English Folk Dance and Song Society's HQ in Camden) as part of their “Dance Around The World” festival, which involves performances and workshops from folk-dance troupes from, errrm, around the world. It’s a nice venue to perform in, and there was a decent crowd as we performed our three dances in the early afternoon. The band consisted of two box players and two drummers, which is our standard “core” configuration. Damned hot in there, though – we wear masks as well as tattered coats, and by the third dance I was struggling to see what was going on through steamed-up glasses. I don’t know how the dancers coped. About 40 minutes later, after a couple of large teas to replace the lost fluids, we held our workshop, which involved teaching a version of one of our dances to anyone (including some small children) who wanted a go. That all went well, and that would have been the end of a pleasant and successful day had not one of our number arranged with a local pub to go on there afterwards and have a bit of a dance outside. We set off in a ragged group for The Engineer, just a couple of hundred yards away up Gloucester Avenue, with some of the dancers still wearing their bells. As we approached the bridge over the Regent’s Canal, we were hailed by a chap on the other side of the road asking us whether we’d just finished or were just about to start performing. When we told him we would shortly be dancing just a few yards away, he replied that he was just waiting to see a steam train, and then would come and watch. “Steam train???” several of us replied as one. Where Gloucester Ave crosses the canal it runs next to the railway bridge carrying the main line over the same canal, affording good views of the line. A steam-hauled special was apparently due to leave Euston very shortly, and would pass right in front of us. Some of us decided to wait. Within ten minutes we were rewarded with the sight of the [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1tSZhUI1qU"]Duchess of Sutherland[/url] blasting away up the incline hauling a long rake of sixties(?) maroon coaching stock. Fabulous sight and sound. And so to the pub. Half the band had to go home straight after our workshop, so we were down to me on box and one drummer. After a quick drink we went out into the street and began. It wasn’t a promising looking spot – there was nowhere obvious to dance; the pub is on a corner, and we ended up with the band, such as it was, on the pavement and the dancers in the side street. There was nobody about when we started, apart from the steam-train chap, but by the time we finished our first dance there were a dozen or so spectators, and we got a good round of applause. A couple of cars had to wait for a dance to finish before getting out of the side road, but they didn’t seem to mind- they just filmed us on their phones. Cars on Gloucester Ave stopped, and again the occupants began to film us on their phones. People in flats overlooking the street opened their windows wide and looked out – and more phone filming. I muffed a couple of tunes a bit, but it didn’t matter, and I didn’t let it put me off. The crowd grew little by little. We did four dances in all – about 20-25 minutes performing. At the end, people cheered, people came up to thank us, and ask us about what we do – we handed out quite a few of our leaflets. One lady asked “so, it’s a bit like morris then?” and we explained that it was morris, just not the “whites and hankies” kind that most people know. Another lady thrust a five pound note into the hand of the guy doing our announcing – we weren’t collecting, but it was a nice gesture. All in all we felt thoroughly appreciated, and what had been planned as a bit of an after thought turned out to be the best part of the day. I left the rest of them to continue investigating the local pubs, and got the tube and train home (one small squeezebox and a small bag for ‘kit’ makes for easy transport). Back home with my feet up by the fire by 6.30pm. Bloomin’ marvellous.

[quote name='Huge Hands' timestamp='1350400549' post='1838296'] About a year ago, I left my double bass in the dining room with my 2 year old son......the neck is no longer attached to the body.... [/quote] Harsh but fair. ...oh, you mean the [b]bass[/b]'s neck...

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1350475152' post='1839320'] ..and the little gems tend to be the best kept secret to the few.... [/quote] .. shhh!... don't tell everyone, they'll all want some. [attachment=121373:lettuce.jpg]

Same for me. After years of being a soundtrack-composer working on my own with a stack of MIDI synths, sequencers and wot-not, I returned to the bass precisely because I wanted to get out and play with other people again. Bass is a great instrument for that.

Not sure how "nasty" the room is - but the player is very good and she has some nice instruments, so if it comes out sounding horrid it's going to be all my fault. If it doesn't work out, I've still got the options to go into a local studio for a half-day, or as a last resort use the fake MIDI recorder sound that is currently acting as a "place-holder" (actually it's not at all bad - but the real thing would be better if I can capture it successfully). A new mic is a possibility - I was looking at the Shure SM81, but the CM3 is certainly much cheaper, though supply seems to be intermittent.

Wow. Thanks so much for all of that guys, very helpful.

Hi all, I need to record a friend playing the recorder (soprano and tenor) for a piece I'm working on. I don't have a lot of experience mic'ing acoustic instruments, and any advice from more experienced basschatters would be appreciated as to mic position etc. I have 2 AKG C1000s at my disposal, though I'd only expect to use one. The recordings will form part of a wind quartet section, probably with a fair amount of reverb on, so I'm not too fussed about picking up room ambience. Any thoughts?

[quote name='The Dark Lord' timestamp='1350043182' post='1833883'] That's just his opinion. You can feel free to disagree, but when you start making rude statements, you lower the general tone and do yourself down. [/quote] I find the suggestions that I should feel guilty for playing for free, or that playing for free means I don't value myself, both of which have been made in this thread, to be rude and patronising, so I don't think I started any downward trend in this thread, I have merely responded to being lectured to and insulted. [quote name='The Dark Lord' timestamp='1350043945' post='1833909'] See, he's nice really. [/quote] I'm sure we all are.....really.

[quote name='The Dark Lord' timestamp='1350042722' post='1833877'] I actually thought it was a bit rude. He's only putting a point across. No need to mock him. [/quote] But you don't think "If you play for free, it means you don't value yourself" is more than a little arrogant and patronising?

[quote name='gjones' timestamp='1350042228' post='1833867'] I hope your boss doesn't use that line when your next months salary doesn't get paid into your bank account. [/quote] I wouldn't out it past them. But that's a job - I only do that for the money. Music I do for the love of it. That means I value it more, not less.

[quote name='gjones' timestamp='1350039416' post='1833813'] If you play for free, it means you don't value yourself. [/quote] What a sad little life you must lead if you can only feel valued when being paid.

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1349974546' post='1833017'] Just trying to see what sort of people these 'play for free type musicians' are. [/quote] When I was last in a band (originals) we played gigs for free because we were ermm...ahead of our time, yeah, that's it, we were way ahead of our time , and it was a case of playing for free or not at all. Just being in it for fun, I thought we got quite a good deal actually, as we were always provided with a stage, PA, back-line amps and basic drum kit, and were given the chance to play to a handful of our mates and (sometimes) the other bands on the bill. I can't believe we were ever a threat to any professional musicians worthy of the name. Talking to my mate whose son is now in an originals band who are quite serious about their future in music, they seem to accept pay-to-play as the norm . I'd draw the line at that, not because I object to subsidising my fun, but because I'd feel taken advantage of. These days, with the morris, we do a mixture of paid and unpaid shows. When performing at festivals such as the recent Wallingford Bunkfest, we get free access to events and free camping for those who want it, but no fee. Most of the events are free anyway, and quite a few of us older and less hardy types patronised the local inns and hotels, and all of us spent money in the pubs and on food in the town. These are the very businesses who co-fund the festival, as I understand it, so all of us free performers, by providing some of the spectacle that attracts people to the festival and by spending money in the town, were actually helping to fund the pros like the fabulous Oyster Band who headlined on the Saturday night (I assume it was a paid gig for them and the other main performers - but I have no inside knowledge on the matter).

[quote name='KingBollock' timestamp='1349880547' post='1831725'] Money causes too many problems that I wouldn't want to have to deal with in the hobby I do for FUN. I don't want to have to worry that we're not charging enough, making us look crap, or charging too much, making us look arrogant. I don't want to have to worry about the singer wanting 2 cuts because he also plays a guitar, or a drummer wanting more because he has to carry so much, or because he has further to travel. I don't want to stress about being stiffed by the venue at the end of every gig. And I don't want to have to cope with paying tax and stuff. And if I leave all this to another band member, I don't want to have to worry that he or she is doing it properly. I have a few hobbies that I enjoy and have to pay for and don't expect anything back from. There are hobbies I would like to do but they're expensive, so I can't, I just have to accept that. I am far from well off and having to travel to gigs and rehearsals and replace strings and leads and such, would have to come out of my own pocket and I would have to go without other things to pay for them, but that's the price of a hobby. Not being bothered about making money at it does not make me evil or a lesser musician than you. And implying as much is just snide and smacks of bitterness. [/quote] Great post.

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1349809096' post='1830887'] Just remember you get better in tiny increments and a little and often is better than 4 hours one day and nothing for a week. It's surprising how easy it is to find a few minutes here and there. [/quote] Good point. A tip I heard a while back was to commit to spending at least one minute every day playing your instrument. It's too easy to put it off until you've got time to "do it properly". One minute may sound too little to be of any real use, but the value lies in the commitment to play at least a few notes every day - I think the idea is that once this becomes a habit, you find you are practising more overall than if you try to make time for longer practice sessions less often. [quote name='silddx' timestamp='1349809411' post='1830895'] I don't practice really, very rarely at least. I only play when I need too. If I need to play something I can't, I know how to practice to get me playing it (not Portrait of bloody Tracy of course). [/quote] I also have a lot of sympathy for this approach. Not being content with being a just a mediocre bassist, I spread my meagre talents accross several instruments and am also mediocre on the keys, guitar, melodeon and piano accordion. Generally, I only practise the instrument I am currently gigging with - so that's the melodeon at the moment. The other instruments only get any serious use on my recording projects, which being classic "underdeveloped hobby music", take ages for me to complete. So it might be a year or more between me playing, say, guitar on one track, and the next. I do a bit of practice in advance of the recording sessions, but it's usually pretty focused on the parts I'll need to play for the track, so, like Nigel, it's more of a "learn what I need in order to play the parts I have to play" approach rather than practice aimed at generally improving technique.

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1349861433' post='1831331'] Guy in the audience spends half the first set staring at the headstock of my bass. Comes up to me at the break ...[i] "'Ere mate, is that a Peavey?".[/i] [/quote] Don't feel down, your bass may not be a Peavey, but it's probably [i]nearly[/i] as good. E (happy Milestone III owner)

Think of practising as one of the things I can't put off till later.

26 and 28 for me. That rubbish "piano(?)" sound starts to grate pretty quickly though - surely they could have found something better?

[quote name='The Dark Lord' timestamp='1349707656' post='1829374'] That sounds very selfish to me. But, as you say, you are free to be as selfish as you wish ..... unfortunately. [/quote] I don't see why it's any more selfish than "pro" musicians expecting the rest of us to abstain from doing what we enjoy so as to leave the field clear for them.

[quote name='mushers' timestamp='1342878319' post='1742270'] i shall be playing for free this year at least 2 gigs sorry if it pisses some people off but i dont care [/quote] [quote name='The Dark Lord' timestamp='1349703496' post='1829285'] Well, you should care. There are musicians who perform for a living and depend upon being paid for gigs. These are generally the higher-quality acts who provide pro entertainment. Every time some of us play for free ....... we spoil the market for other who need to be paid. [/quote] I will never feel guilty about playing for free. I made my career choices and "pro" musicians have made theirs. One of the benefits of my choice is having enough money to subsidise my hobbies - and that has included playing gigs in bands for free. If that causes issues for those "needing" to get paid for doing the same, it's up to them to provide something so much better than what's on offer for free that people will pay the extra for it. If they can't do that, they are in the wrong business.

[quote name='Dr.Dave' timestamp='1349096867' post='1821683'] If the state of the economy means that we're all more likely to get on with making music with what we have rather than continually seeking to blame our tools and hankering after something 'better' - I think that's no bad thing. [/quote] The voice of reason.