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Yes, there are a lot of cameras... sure, if there was a raging fire it would be obvious, but I guess if cameras made good smoke detectors, we would have cameras instead of smoke detectors?

I've started a 3 piece electronica band (me on synths/controllers/bass, a chap on edrums/synth, & a female vocalist). Our first song to complete is more EDM than our other creations so far, but I'm not happy with my parts. Just the overall sound/production to my ears sounds like it was mixed by someone who doesn't even know what a DAW is. Would anyone be able to take a listen and let me know how to improve it, or recommend a good production course? I've looked at a few courses, but not sure what I need to focus on. This is the instrumental version with just my parts. Vocals and another drum part are to be added. https://on.soundcloud.com/TUX5bz62RXZmPCO1U2

Is it just me that can't see jery978's first post from 24/7/25?

I'm always polite to AI because I'm worried that one day they'll be in charge and may remember who said "thank you Alexa" and "please Siri can you set an alarm. etc" Seriosly though it's really not great for Pirate to do this and they need to work on the balance between keeping the business lean and using as few paid staff as possible, and ensuring that the users and staff are safe at all times. I use a few of their studios around London and I've had mixed experiences, though on the whole they've been good. If there's a problem e.g. kit not working or air con not functional then it can be really hard to resolve. On the other hand they've been quick to sort things like dodgy xlr cables or broken drum stool by giving me the code to the storeroom. It can be infuriating trying to sort a problem by whasapp text though. The updside is that they've got a lot of locations with different levels of practise space and it's really easy to book and unbook and... it's cheap. I've also had some piss-poor experiencs in other rehearsal spaces - recently the guy who ran one didn't make eye contact with our drummer or speak to her, he'd only talk to me and the other guy there. She found that creepy as f*cK and I agree.

Indeed, and the few times I needed anything from them they responded quickly. I hope the OP's is not a sign of changes to come.

Oh gosh, Scott has really struggled with it, Victor must have a great coping mechanism

Thanks for the replies, guys. Nice to know I have an early model rather than a home custom job. BTW my Electra sounds great and is really well made - I really can't see how a California series would be much of an upgrade?

I'm wondering how many more strawmen / whataboutery / false equivalence comments that could be made. The proposed law is nothing to do with any of your post. It is to stop people moving / building / developing within earshot of a venue knowing or should have known that it is a noisy venue and then being able to complain and have it shut down. That's it. Nothing else. Land within ear shot of noisy venues often gets bought by developers very cheaply. They then build homes on the land and don't mention the venue nearby. The buyer of the new home doesn't do adequate searches about the location when they should have done as part of a survey, or does them and decides to buy the home in the anticipation of complaining enough to shut the venue. The developers know this will happen - in fact they are probably banking on it and it will likely make the venue fail and be up for sale too. Venues are often on the brink financially so they don't have the ability of say, an airport, to tell the new resident to sod off. And generally nobody can claim they didn't know an airport was there. All this law will do will make developers tell the truth about the properties they are selling, and it will stop new residents moving into a noisy area and then complaining about the noise they were already aware of. It will stop new residents lying that they didn't know about the venue / noise / etc. That's it. Nothing like any of your post at all - all of which can be avoided by not buying a home in earshot: "Your neighbours" made their own decision to move next to a live music venue. That is their choice and for them to move there, and for them to then try to change the behaviour of the people who were there first is the selfish act.

I've used backline a couple of times of late (not my idea), and both times it's reminded me of how hard it can be to get a decent stage sound without over- or under-whelming the room with bass; I've been spoiled by a mixable feed to my inears, where I can hear exactly what's going on at a reasonable volume, something that's often elusive with backline. Oh, and the ability to turn the guitarist down cannot be overstated... I should add here that for 90% of my gigs I don't care what the FOH sounds like: I tried for a while, going out front to call it, but the singist/guitard didn't listen and just turned up anyway, because from where he was standing behind the mains (without his inears in, so no monitoring at all at that point) he 'wasn't loud enough'. So I gave up. I just get the drums and me to a level, after that, whatever...

Tragically, the last time I went to see the Stranglers (admittedly a couple of years ago, the first tour with inears, so they may have got it sorted now) at the Manchester Apollo, the soundman did exactly that to JJ Burnel...

I know we've drifted a little off topic but it seems as though the soundguy in @YellowLedBetterBass's post is actually up for pretty much any other preamp? They have even offered a house Sansamp if a bassist doesn't have one of their own. Being told "any preamp you like, or I've got one here if you want" is probably more than most us get at most gigs? Can't say I understand the hatred. Although some of you are relating some other horror stories. I guess I do understand the general hatred!

The best soundguy I ever had was for a village fete / beer festival type thing. The stage was used for a variety of acts during the day. There was a kit share with a bring-your-own-snare option and they did prefer that every body used the same bass rig. It was an actually very nice sounding Laney combo and extension cab. FOH took the di out of the amp. I used my little board (preamp / octave / tuner / little bit of dirt for richness). I plugged into the Laney and it was horribly bright - not great for big band jazz, but nice and rocky for the guys on before us. The sound guy just said - change whatever you want, every setting, I'll make sure it sounds good out front. So in the quick soundcheck I did change everything on the amp and also experimented with going into the FX return instead. I had a wireless on my board so I played a bit from out front as well during the SC. FOH insisted that I used the octave a bit in the SC just to make sure there wasn't a sudden explosion of low end. The guy did a great job. Sounded just how I wanted it out front. Thick and chewy with no flub and no excessive treble. Still left enough room for the trombones and the bari saxes. In 30 years of gigging I've never had anyone that good. I do wonder if he was also a bassist. Some of the band thought the bass was too loud - but you know, f*** 'em.

I think if we listened to all the complaints and moans from disgruntled folk and acted on them we would live in a very boring sterile non human kind of existence! The fact is so many things happen now in society that are far more horrific and offensive compared to occasional noise issues Some folk have forgotten what it’s like to have fun !!

Yeah a sound man did similar to my sound, I gave him JJ Burnel and he changed it to J Jamerson. I didn’t have the heart to be angry with him as he genuinely thought he’d worked hard to do me a big favour.

What ? All of them? It doesn't help your arguement if you just make stuff up and then claim it as a fact. Next thing you'll be saying that everyone eats their neighbour's pets.

Somewhat of an overreaction. Resetting the fire alarm won't result in any liability. It shouldn't allow you to reset it if a break glass or smoke head has been activated.

Okay, yes, I likely deserve to be banned for life. I'm certainly not perfect. I might be a bad person, or even on the spectrum. My dad regularly yelled at me when I was a small boy and so deep down maybe that has something to do with it. BUT my interactions were with an AI chatbot, and to be totally honest with you I suspect the chatbot initiated the ban automatically based on keywords. I probably shouldn't be abusive to AI chatbots, but they have no feelings or emotions. A human only came on to the chat after the ban was announced, and at that point they clearly identified themselves. I did sincerely apologize to the human, and I have now also formally reported Pirate Studios for disregarding the fire alarm and for providing a customer with details for switching it off. The way that I see it, I am completely obliged to report this... they could ultimately kill people.

Sold Mark a pickguard, very easy going sale and some good chat along the way 👍

Yep, I live next to a licensed establishment, a bit of (always good natured) noise at closing time, and a bit of difficulty parking between 7pm & 11pm, but nothing to really moan about, though I’m sure some would try very hard to.