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scalpy

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Everything posted by scalpy

  1. That's some quality gear right there.
  2. The day job is classroom teacher and I used to run a 18 piece soul band with the school. We got asked play to a village fete, so did all the necessary admin- book minibus, parental consent forms etc and schlepped all the way out to the back of beyond. The kids arrived as I was working out where we were playing. The space was an open fronted marquee with rain coming in sideways. The power had been run from a single socket in the church 50m away, whereby the catering got it first, running 4 vats of tea/ coffee, the cable itself being held up off the ground directly above the water vapour by the sopping tent frame. They had then daisy chained an extension cable for me to use, which was just sitting in a clump of wet grass. We ran a 2k PA, monitors, the works and it was all meant to go into this single socket. The kids had worked really hard on their performance and there was bank of parents who'd given up their Saturday afternoon, but after 15 minutes of discussion and questions I couldn't justify the risk and sent them all home. One dad tapped me on the shoulder and whispered "thank you' so I guess it was the correct decision.
  3. LB100 with flats for the function band. ASAT for singer/songwriter gig, deps and other odd jobs. 5 string Sire Jazz for pit work. Doesn't stop me wanting more though!
  4. It's pretty embarrassing to admit but it was my Mum who pointed it out. She's a pretty accomplished wildlife photographer. Once I got my head round it I couldn't stop seeing it. Especially Freddie Mercury. He must have been a gift to cameramen. Every pose is a gift, stance, mic stand, gesturing arm- (teeth!) really energetic.
  5. It's pretty easy when you have a bass! The instrument in all of these creates an angle- but there's extra ones as well. Macca's hand position, Flea's body position and Mike's arm all create that line which helps give the image some interest and character.
  6. 2 diagonals- head position, bass neck.
  7. I totally agree with stewblack. The quickest way to look like a plonker is to try not to look like a plonker. The best photos or videos show something interesting so do something interesting. For ages i didn't know what that meant but a photographer friend gave me a tip- just make sure there's a diagonal somewhere. What does that mean? Look at a photo of any great performer, Jimi Hendrix or Freddie Mercury- the body position, or gesture, or instrument will be creating a diagonal line across the image. The London Calling cover is great example, the leg position- 2 diagonals, the bass itself creates another. It doesn't have to be that dramatic, you can just drop a shoulder or move your arm away from the bass, or lift a heel and you'll look ten times better.
  8. 20 feet from stardom.
  9. Don't want your Noble, eh????!
  10. Number 1, saying he's happy to help whenever. The only way forward that doesn't get him a bad rep is to time it right and start a new band himself. Personally I'd book a gig for the dep band on a date the regular singer couldn't do and hope they had the same reaction to the new vocalist as they did to him!
  11. Go and see which local band has a good front person. Steal them.
  12. Totally agree, not helped by my recently acquired habit of singing the bassline at the same time! Need to break that habit fast.
  13. Good shout. We put music on for most events, but if there is a DJ we give then the setlist- which they promptly ignore most of the time. Really grips my proverbial. Us doing the music also helps with the volume war, i haven't met a wedding DJ yet that doesn't make a point of blasting the band out of the water. On a more positive note, the band being in charge of the music allows the initial volume to be set at conversation levels, then gradually increased to reduce the 'live drum kit' shock when we start playing. Still not DJ volume either!
  14. Nice to see the love for Power Windows on this thread- a friend of mine was the engineer on that record (AIR Montserrat sessions). He recalls using a tape machine for each of the band, plus a slave, each! And 32 mics on the kit, as you do...
  15. The suggestion is very close to my own thoughts, however I'd suggest like the earlier post you have to couple live and recording technology. Both have been stretched and the next musical innovation has been driven by people who have maximised the potential of the resource, that stayed on the edge of a theoretical financial threshold. 90s rave culture couldn't have happened with the resources available in the 70s for instance. Synths on first issue were ridiculously expensive, but digital tech made them 'obsolete' and viable to young musicians. Live sound remained heavy and cumbersome but serious power was becoming available that wasn't astronomical in price. You get exceptions like punk for example, but it could be argued even they were maximising the technology available cheaply (not forgetting never mind the b******* was recorded at AIR studios) Today we have people rinsing every available bit of processing power out of their laptops, and this has happily in my opinion given rise to groups like Snarky Puppy and Vulfpeck who couple it with a video editing aesthetic as well. You also have to factor in the people that sell mainstream music want to pay as few people as possible, but that's probably a different thread entirely!
  16. That's a shame, I'm thinking of trying to do pre/ power/ pedals all on one board as my next amp solution. These sumos are top of my list to try.
  17. Damaged and unsafe how? More unsafe than a cheapo Chinese knock off? I'd have gladly risked it as a music head of department and used them as decoration if they really were that bad.
  18. Another flats and clean amp user here. It gives a lovely woody sound and sits against a good fat kick drum sound like a marriage made in heaven.
  19. Again, not my story so apologies but a friend has had a slash next to Slash.
  20. I had that model for my first bass in the early 90s, never seen another. I believe its a PB3.
  21. Unfortunately not my story but my Dad's. He started work at a new school as a physics teacher, with one other guy in the department. This guy is every cliché in the book, smoking roll ups in the classroom, Tweed jacket with elbow patches and unruly beard. Struggling for conversation Dad asks this guy knows if the music department ever needed any help as he'd be happy to help. The guy replies he often helps out himself. So the first rehearsal comes along and this guy turns out to be shi£ hot saxophonist, so Dad asks him where he learnt - the guy replies 'I picked some stuff up off King Curtis.' Naturally dad assumed that meant lessons but the guy went, 'No, when I worked at Atlantic in New York in the 60s.' Turns out he quit to raise a family, but only after he produced Bette Midler, The Velvet Underground and mixed Louis Armstrong's 'What a Wonderful World.'
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