EBS_freak

As the title says... Everybody talks about gear and the like... but I wonder what other useful bits of information that people could pass on to make gigging life easier. For me, it's quite a simple one. It's footwear - I wear a particular type of shoe pre and post gigging. And that is a Sanuk. https://www.sanuk.com/ This isn't a sponsored post or anything like that, in fact, I've only ever bought one pair that have lasted 10 years... and just today, I've ordered a replacement pair after the soles are showing a little too much wear. So why these shoes? Well, the soles are made from yoga mats.... and there's nothing more comfortable to wear when you've been on your feet. So whilst all my bands mates are struggling with sore feet after standing for around 2 hours, it feels like I'm walking on air. Maybe not the coolest look at a gig - but Im the only one that wakes up with fresh feet! So that's one of my tips. What's yours? EDIT - looking for things not necessarily immediately music related.

Joe Dart signature was an interesting one for sure. I guess all the people buying those pretty limited basses, was doing so because they believed it would help cop that Joe Dart sound and their ability to play Dean Town... or something like that. How many JD do you reckon were sold... and how many are just in the hands of the, as you say, "Blues Lawyers". You are bang on right with regard to that second statement. It's very much a "I turn up at a workshop, club gig, stadium gig, I want a familiar, working rig there rather than have to sort it out myself".

Heritage brands. Fender was around in an era where there was an abundance of other manufacturers. Coca-Cola - unlikely to be able to do the same now if they were a start up as the market has completely changed.

Everything that Flea plays is assembled out the box... and wasn't specifically designed for Flea... with the exception of the Fleabass... which was a failure. Go figure. It easy to manufacture "signature" basses, when they are basically assembled out the parts bin... and then just given a different finish/decal. To do that is not a significant investment. Think about every bass player that you know...who has bought something purely on the fact that their favourite bass player uses it? I mean, look at Dave Swift. He's a list of as long as he is tall. Who has ever bought anything that he has used because he does?

The Flea bass didn't do so hot. The Fender Flea from what I can see (so may be wrong) - sold mostly because of it's pricepoint. The players I've seen had them don't seem to care for Flea or RHCP. Musicman? I dare say they've sold a hell of a lot more Stingrays to people not in RHCP than are. I'll stand by this - when I was looking closely at this with a marketing head on, I still say Mark King is the only person that can shift basses. If Status Rob and Mark announced a new King bass, there would be a load of people who would order one there and then, sight unseen.

64 Audio TC Electronic Kala He did have a couple of string endorsements too. Thing is, unlike most bass players, Nathan East is a multi-millionaire, so I guess he doesn't really give a hoot about such things... and he doesn't strike me as a musician with an ego that feels that he should go out and force such arrangements with manufacturers to somehow elevate their standing.

Endorsement is mostly a nonsense. I think the only person who really translates equipment use to sales is Mark King... and I would say that's mostly because of the fans being the doctors and lawyers etc who have money to burn on trying to live out their fantasy of being Mark King.

For me, this is more of a case of what don't I bring? Gigging was never meant to be this hard!

I used to really want a Hofner violin bass... kinda still do... cos you know... Hofner. If I could get a 5er, I'd have one. I keep toying with the idea of getting something commissioned but I've never gone as far... But... the other day, I realised, that when it comes to violin guitars/basses... nobody has done it quite as well as this luthier.

"Hi, I'm Lobster" Grow up.

So the above didn't work... try this.

banjo.mov

Just trying to figure out how you can maximise your system. Being analogue with only 2 auxes, you are quite limited in terms of what you can do IEM wise. You've probably figured out that you can only have two mono mixes - or one stereo IEM (albeit a bit difficult to set up due to there being two gains as opposed to two gains and a pan for each channel sending to that pseudo stereo aux bus). You are pretty much at the limits of your system unless you change your desk. Ideally, if you change your desk, you'd get access to EQ on a stereo bus, with compressor. Being able to roll off the bottom end is would tighten up your mix for sure. Upgrading your IEMs are always a good move (if you are keen about this, invest in good customs). Wireless/Wireless - stick with wired unless you can get a good wireless system. XVive will do you OK with an analogue desk - but obviously are limited to mono. Being able to run stereo IEMs is a MASSIVE upgrade. So if you are looking at spending money, don't go down the high latency, mono route if ultimately you are going to have a digital desk and want to run stereo IEMs (unless you are prepared to lose the money on the XVives) In order for your band to sound better in smaller venues, it's best to get everybody on IEMs and drop those volumes. In order to do that, you'll want everybody to be on IEMs and not on a shared mix. So if you wanted my "next steps" thing, it's to get everybody to buy into the IEM route and get the desk upgraded to something digitial with more auxes. You'll have access to much much better DSP - giving you a lot more scope for notching out reverb, more options in terms of compression and fx... and of course, the opportunity to mix everything remotely. Get talking to your band mates!

@warwickhunt- what desk are you using?

Its not really a looker is it?

Nup. Usually requires an old school key to open and inside you'll find some rotary pots.

You'll be amazed how far sound travels when there is nothing to absorb the soundwaves. Having nothing but open fields surrounding a wedding venue can actually be a nightmare for surrounding villages.

And this ladies and gentlemen, is how you commit commercial suicide.

Do you just want to slam your man meat on the table now? Jeez.

You’ve got this wrong. I don’t have to build anything to have an objective view on your bridge. I’m your target market. Maybe listen a bit more and you’ll have more people on board with your product. For example, I don’t have to to build cars to say that a Fiat Mulitpla looks fricken awful.

“I’m out”

Good stuff. If you are using a QU16, you may want to consider a ME500 - it only copes with 16 channels but it will save you some cash if you don't need access to 40 channels.

California you say? You've got to power the hydroponic lights somehow.

Either that, or sharpen your strings.

I can well imagine. Lots of bands play at a volume where you'd think that they were playing Wembley without any front of house support. Keeping the onstage volume low cleans up the mix incredibly... and then you let the FoH do the heavy lifting. ... but for lots of people, that's not rock and roll. They will still want to use a Marshall stack when a little 15w combo and a mic, or a modelling processor would sound infinitely better.