scalpy

Hey Yahs back up and running after a month. Retirement do at a working man’s club type affair, no horns so tracks used. We fire up the desk and the intermittent fault we’ve been having rears its ugly head at a gig- 7 channels have this weird distorted clock running through them. No clue from the X32 community why it happens. There is a plan be in we could repatch the routing and use spare DIs etc but it’s hassle we don’t need. Fortunately the usual turn it off, unplug, leave it off and hope the best play works. 😅 After that, nice crowd, all into it and our favourite dep keys player is getting more and more comfortable, really good player and locking in nicely.

Did another of these back in the summer. Must admit I flinched when I heard the song choice but went with it. Lovely bunch of people, great studio and spent most of the day sat next to a songwriter with 7 billion streams on Spotify- George Astasio, quite a big deal in some quarters. Kit was my G&L LB100 with flats and a nordymute split into my Markbass vintage pre and a neve preamp. Sounds nice and fat. Then it was a nice Mexican meal as payment, sat next to Teena who had a million Van Morrison stories, most entertaining.

We’re a function band and medleys have become a blessing and curse for us as a) we’re pretty good at them, they keep people on the dance floor and most people at these things have the attention span of a toddler so they’re a useful tool but b) you don’t half crunch through material which just widens the search for songs and you need players that can handle the changes. We mostly book musos who have done a lot of orchestra pit work so that helps. I do the arrangements, so I start with the selection of songs, research the keys and tempos and put mini groups of songs together, then look for possible overlaps like a DJ doing a fade from one song to the next. I try not to shift keys by more than a semitone. Some modulations I’ll use some tricks to make it. Then I have a book I’ll score out all the bars, work out the structure, put double bars in and rehearsal marks. I then start a Sibelius file, put a piano in, then without putting a note in type out the form, so the file matches my book. Keys transcription comes next, followed by trumpet and sax at the same time. The file gets re-saved and I’ll add another trumpet, bari sax and trombone for our larger gigs. This file gets exported to logic, where I have a routine of putting in the click and rehearsal marks again, then I’ll add any sweeps/ risers/ additional keys or guitars, percussion. Four files get exported from that- guide, click, additional instruments and horns for smaller gigs with them on track. They go to MainStage for playback. After that it’s another computer for MainStage keys sounds. Once those are decided it’s back to Sibelius to add the changes to the chart then those can get exported to pdf for players. I’ll do a crib sheet for guitar and drums too, then sit down with my wife so her lyric book has the same rehearsal marks. That’s about it 😬 Most of the medleys have between 5 to 15 songs in, some have taken a week to sort, but the prep means actually rehearsing/ performing them isn’t that tricky.

Further to recent posts about preparing for this week’s run of shows, a quick update. The pit, having dried out for the time being is fully operational but a tad dark. Using the iPad for the part means I’m not getting the same view of the fretboard so have made some rudimentary fret markers…. Meanwhile the md’s tempos continue to be excitable- the indicated bpm for the last song in the first act is 144, the guitarist measured it as 178. The dancers on stage must exhausted.

Bit of a dull gig last night. 40th birthday party, again, in an echo-y barn (again again again) and no one listened to us the first set at all. Everyone went outside to watch the rodeo bull shenanigans they put on the same time. Bit of a crowd the second half, but the venue is a cider factory and it was quite clear birthday boy was only interested in getting absolutely plastered, and his speech at the start of the 2nd set clearly indicated he was doing a good job in that respect. Then on to today’s adventure, band call 2 for footloose. Starting to manage to rein in the md and excitable drummer with the tempos. Not playing my finest but too tired from day job. A couple of notable moments, after the rehearsal we head down to the pit, being a former municipal swimming pool is was formerly the deep end. The recent weather meant it was trying to return to its former role. And our beloved md, forever tinkering with the drum part, adding triangle here, cowbell there, (yes we all said it) asked the drummer to do a suspended cymbal roll and a fill at the same time. When the drummer replied he wouldn’t for the same effect with regular sticks the md asked- ‘do you have any double enders?’ Many double entendres followed.

Not a gig as such but done the band call for Footloose. MD is a classical/ musicals kind of guy and has got the tempos right up, crazy fast. Better do some work between now and the show run…

AKA Linda McCartney mixing

40th birthday party at Red Barn just outside Hereford. Lots of families with lots of children running round, and whilst the venue is stunning in an amazing location a) it sounds like a barn, all boomy and chaotic and b) everyone sits outside as it’s so pleasant. Was hoping it would shed it down again. We had sections of the crowd dancing all night but it didn’t turn into a properly mad night. On the plus side- free Beefy Boys burgers for all (I had the blue cheese, delicious if messy) and the easiest ape sticks set up- just stick ‘em to the wall. Was doing the obligatory shot of my first wife under said lights when my second wife photo bombed it.

That is supposedly Son Of A Preacher Man. I had to just use another transcription I found online for that one which lead to a minor iPad calamity swopping charts, but that ☝️is gobbledygook.

Can you tell what it is yet though? One of my favourites by an all time great bassist.

Long day doing a fundraiser for a theatre company I’ve played loads with. It was a pick up band, so one rehearsal on the day, matinee gig and then evening. It was a community do so the musical calibre was of variable calibre and the inexperienced md, despite working very hard on the charts doesn’t have the technical chops to write with the correct musical grammar, which is a proper headache when songs in Bb minor are written in A# for example. The occasion was a 60s singalong- let’s see if any takers can recognise these two groovy classics. Anyways, lots of discussion and teamwork and we managed to put a show together, did about as well as I could do gluing tempos together between a lower section brass band drummer and an enthusiast dancer with a tambourine, off for a lie down and looking forward to a regular gig next weekend.

Another wedding for the Hey Yahs at the Haybarn, Dulas in Herefordshire’s Golden Valley. The 8 piece line-up only just fits on the stage there but the team has gotten really good at setting up quickly and tidily, so we all squeezed on. We struggle to understand why wedding planners think cake cutting takes 15 minutes and then it’s the first dance, it’s three most of the time, so we’ve learnt to be ready when they slice away, but they called that early too making it bit of a scramble to get on stage. Some sound issues in the first half, not quite enough vocals but second half was spot on. I was much happier with my pedal settings last night, particularly the drive from the Stomp. I bought the bright onions extension switches so I can change between banks of presets much more easily- then we choose a set where I only had to use it once! It’ll be great for the future!

Almost forgot we had a gig Saturday! Stupidly local, less than half a mile from the house for a marquee wedding. Bit of an epic load in and we had the B guitarist- A guitarist is also a sound engineer and was working a local festival so muggins here had to do the knobs and faders. We were in 6 piece configuration so horns on track. Just goes to show how much the audience are hearing what they want to hear- we have a 15 minute country medley and for some reason Mainstage dropped the basic and horn track completely, leaving gaping holes in the arrangement. Did the audience care? Nope, on the chairs singing along at the top of their voices to the bare minimum of a tune, no clue stuff was missing. Rest of the gig no problems, knackered them all out so by the end of set no one wanted us to DJ (part of the contract) so chill out tunes went on, packed up and was home in record time, all of 5 minutes driving.

Funny how some years a venue becomes one you’re at loads and the next it drops off the gig list completely. So for the nth time this year we were at Lyde Court, all the usual perks, park the van right by the stage, big area to play in, loads of plugs and an enormous flown house FBT PA. The happy couple wanted 3 40 minute sets which made the evening a bit stop start and the whole band was one click off the pace after holidays etc, but the clients were happy. Finally started to get some good sounds out my Stomp too, definitely a learning curve that toy.

Yes when it comes to effects. I love my basic sound, G&L ASAT and Markbass set up, got a good octave sound too, but drive and filters I can’t quite dial in. I’ve got a Stomp now and am edging closer but home experimentation and in context with band are two very separate things.