mrtcat
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Everything posted by mrtcat
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Bass, small pedal board, mic and iems. 100+ function / wedding gigs a year. Really couldn't cope with having to lug amps about. Soundcheck is a breeze and my monitor mix sounds pretty much identical no matter where we play. We have a really decent pa and therefore absolutely nothing is lacking so it doesn't feel like a compromise at all. Our guitarists don't use amps either and with them both using top end modelling fx units (Neural Quad Cortex) the guitars sound massive but without blowing the mix.
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You won't go wrong with a sansamp. There's a good reason they've been around for years and they do the Ampeg thing very well. -
New live studio video. Quite happy with this one and the Sire is sounding nice.
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It depends how busy you want to be. If you aren't after more than a gig a week in pubs in your local area then i wouldn't worry about a website. Phoning around or speaking to landlords face to face will yield greater results as most pub landlords don't go actively seeking new bands. Landlords can be notoriously slow or flakey when it comes to commiting to a booking and you have more chance of getting in their diary if theyve met you or spoken to you. If you want loads of gigs, I'd be more inclined to use a decent agent who will add you to their website and do a lot of the leg work for you. It'll come at a price but a decent agent can make a huge difference. A website for a pub band won't make much difference at all.
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How you learn can vary from band to band. In ours we agree a tune, singer let's us know the key, we learn it and then either in rehearsal or sound check we make sure all the wrinkles are ironed out and we gig it. Everyone is up to speed before we enter a rehearsal studio / venue and it's very rare that it takes more than a couple of runs through to make it work. We do over 100 gigs a year and charge £100 per song for requests (usually a first dance) so regularly have to add songs quickly and don't really want to go through tha hassle of hiring rehearsal space when we don't need to.
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Depends how popular you want to be. Play whatever the punters want and do it well with enthusiasm if you want a full diary. Play only the songs that the band members want to play if you're less concerned about it. By all means try new stuff, its really important to keep the set list fresh and relevant, but be objective about what is working and what isn't. Don't flog a dead horse because someone in the band loves it and don't dismiss anything that an individual hates until youve tried it. Be aware that singers may struggle with the odd song and, if changing the key doesn't help, there will definitely be some limitations there and you'll have to respect that. If I'm in a covers band, which I am, I'm more concerned about what goes down well than what I love playing. I've heard loads of bands say "we want to do some slightly more obscure songs" but they rarely work that well imo. If you have band members rejecting suggestions just on personal preference then you're on a hiding to nothing. If they're rejecting songs because they're not well known bangers then they might have a point.
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Knowles are an American manufacturer and their drivers are the industry standard for hearing aids around the world.
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I think the thing to remember about having non custom iems reshelled is that the components don't necessarily dictate the sound. They may well limit the quality of sound and reliability but the person / persons doing the reshelling, if competent, will be able to tune the finished product so it gives a pleasing sound. KZ's use industry standard balanced armature drivers from Knowles (as used in many of the high end iems) whereas mee use Chinese parts. If I was spending £250 for the reshelling and £50 for ear impressions, I'd be reluctant to use cheaper Chinese parts in the finished product. My personal experience of KZ10 's is far from them being harsh or flat sounding. They have an inherently scooped sound with heaps of low end headroom due to the use of dual dynamic drivers. I'd liken them to the kind of "boom and sparkle" sound you get from the low midrange stereo offerings from Bose or B&W. I guess that's where sound becomes really subjective though.
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Proper custom fit iems aren't going to be cheap however you do it. Probably the most cost effective way in is to buy decent non custom in ear monitors (UE900s or similar) and have them reshelled by a company like lugs. You are unlikely to see any change from £500 but, personally, I'd rather spend that kind of money on in ears than on an amp and cab. If you could get some kz10s reshelled it may be a good value option because they use decent components. I wouldn't bother getting mee's reshelled. I had a pair and they were OK but definitely not the same quality as the kz10s.
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I've had some cracking nights out in Newcastle-Under-Lyme. It's where our agents are based and we go up at least once a year to shoot new promo material and always get a hotel so we can have a few beers. There are some great ale pubs.
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I married a Geordie. She's the embodiment of everything I love about Newcastle and its people. Beautiful, warm personality, hilarious sense of humour and can drink me under the table. I absolutely love Newcastle and love it when we get to go up there.
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It's a big step up in terms of isolation and comfort.
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Essentially the shape of my ears changed slightly and that meant the ue6s started to sound way worse because I wasn't getting a decent seal. I also absolutely hated the UE cable design, that was one of the most pi** poor pieces of design ever. The cable failed twice in 2 years and UE wanted £180 for a replacement which is criminal imo. The fit is now way better than when UE first produced them and the lugs cable and socket is infinitely better.
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Just had my UE6 pros reshelled by Robert at Lugs. Really pleased with the result. The isolation is better than when I first got the UE6s and they sound fat and detailed.
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Yeah it was definitely a highlight. It wasn't completely stress free because the General Manager of the hotel chain was an absolute pain in the derrière. He wasn't involved in booking us and it turns out he wanted a band with pretty girls in it rather than an all male act. After soundcheck he told us that, if we didn't perform well, he would fire the agent and the events manager who booked us. It was completely unnecessary nonsense and just added a ton of pressure which left a sour taste. All went well though and nobody got sacked. Day in the sun today then home tomorrow.
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Nice little gig in The Maldives. They flew us out here from the UK, put us up on full board in a swanky water villa for 3 days and then decided that they only wanted us to play for 1hr. Highlight was looking out across the dancefloor and seeing Peter Crouch and Jack Whitehall dancing together. Nice big sound system too. 20221231_150612.mp4 VID-20230101-WA0012.mp4
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Wedding in Stoke. Thankfully many of the guests didn't want to stay too late, what with today being Christmas. Two sets, nice venue, average food and decent crowd that started leaving straight after last set so we could pack down and get on the rd by 11.30. Groom was a bit self obsessed and insisted on getting up to play a song, of his choosing, with us which we were reluctant to learn so we just winged it a bit. Luckily he didn't suck.......unlike the in house sound system which was shocking. VID-20221223-WA0004.mp4
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Yes plenty.
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There is a fair chance that someone at BD may have a slightly deeper issue with spelling than just being a little careless. Maybe mocking it on here is a little unnecessary if we don't know the full story.
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That's the plan. They are currently with Robert at Lugs waiting for me to have new impressions done.
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I literally couldn't think of anything worse than going back to the old days without in ear monitors. I hear everything I want, I don't lug an amp, I don't ever get home with my ears ringing and I just feel so much more in touch with the drummer. Some gigs everything is mic'd up. Others we just have an overhead and kick mic on the kit but guitars / bass / keys are always DI'd and it always sounds killer in my head. I have a pair of UE6s and a pair of KZ10s but my UE6s are now completely unusable because it seems my ear shape has changed a bit and now they just sound muffled and distorted. The KZ10s are great as long as you can keep stage noise down.
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We live stream via the OSB platform using a digital mixing desk and a video camera. We essentailly do everything like a full gig and monitor with in ear monitors. ElGato Cam Link is used to connect a decent camera to a PC and it all syncs up with a little tinkering. Allows us to stream fully live with decent sound. Here's one we did a few years ago from my back garden.
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We do probably 80 weddings a year. We'll learn as many tunes as they want as long as we have time and the client is happy to pay the £100 per song that we charge for learning requests.
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Winter Gardens in Blackpool for a corporate do. Lots of fun and a big sound system to play with.
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I love gigging. Yeah there's a world of poo to deal with at many of them but they're still always fun and the occasional special one makes all the nonsense pail into insignificance. 10 years ago I was playing pubs for naff money. These days it's all weddings and private functions. The money is decent and from time to time we get to play some special places. Last Friday was a corporate do at the Winter Gardens ballroom for 900 people. This new year's eve gig we are being flown to the Maldives to play on the beach. I think the thing that has kept it exciting is the constant push for something a little bit better. The thing that makes it fun is the guys I play with.
