mrtcat

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.

Just traded a synth pedal with Fraser. Super smooth transaction with great coms. Would be more than happy to buy / sell with him again.

2 basses and 1 acoustic guitar. Can't say I have any urge to own more than that. I regularly consider selling a bass but I do about 100 gigs a year so owning a backup is probably wise.

I ordered new PA gear back in August. 2x RCF 745a tops and two RCF 905as ii subs. The tops arrived the following day and I'm still waiting for the subs. With all that's happening in the world and the UK at the moment and a global shortage of silicone chips, RCF (and many other brands) are completely out of stock and it doesn't look like they will be back in stock anytime soon. As a result the price and availability of used kit is also affected. I've seen countless people selling tatty looking RCF905's for more than new ones because they know that the demand is there. I'm looking into hiring subs in the short term but even finding hire equipment is proving tough around here. Anyone else waiting for stuff?

There's agents and agents. Our agency usually comes really high on any search engine as it's one of the biggest. They absolutely do not allow bands to dep multiple members unless its an absolute emergency and they always speak with the client if the front person is unavailable. Yes they have the contract side of things absolutely sewn up but they aren't the band's enemy by any means. Our relationship with them is excellent and they really look after us. In the event of a client breaching the contract they will take over and have been excellent at making sure we get what we're owed. I don't doubt they would come after us if we were to breach an agreement but they have been extremely supportive throughout my time working with them. I am currently in my second band under the same agent and between the two bands have been with them for a total of 6 years now.

That really is pretty terrible. Depping one or, at a push, two members due to illness or unavoidable issues is one thing but depping whole bands is just misrepresentation. If our front man is ill or suddenly unavailable for a genuine reason then our agent will always notify the client and offer either a dep, a different band or a refund. The band has to look and sound as close as possible to what is advertised.

It's a real wild west out there and there are endless scratch bands with naff gear like you say. I couldn't work like that and I also couldn't work with musicians who mess the band around and ditch bookings they're already committed to for better paid gigs. Weddings are definitely very formulaic and are more about earning than a love of the music you are playing. They can however be fun if you all get along well and can be philosophical about the bad ones. For me, the worst thing is being in a band with a solid lineup who can perform a good set and own a quality PA system (we no longer own that massive old LD Systems rig thankfully) but then have to plug into a venue's system that makes it all sound terrible. I'd like to think our promo material is generally pretty honest and we do post quite a lot of live stuff too. My biggest ssue with our promo material is that it is produced by the agency who churn out endless carbon copy videos so all the bands look the same.

I think this is very true. The pub / club / theatre scene is probably suffering more whereas the wedding / function scene is busy. People aren't going out as much so people getting married are splashing the cash on bands, especially if that band has a good online presence with plenty of quality media. People can sit behind a PC and choose their wedding suppliers easily without having to leave the house.

Got 62 weddings and 3 corporates in the diary for 2023 at present. That should go up to around 90 gigs by the end of the year. We have put prices up a touch but the problem is that people tend to book us up to 2 years in advance so it can take a long time before we see that price increase take effect. Not complaining though. Just signed all the contracts for a NYE gig on a beach in the Maldives.

Been amp free for 4 years. Full Band all on iems even in rehearsals. Have probably done 400 gigs (mostly weddings or corporate events) without any backline now. Can't really see any benefit in going back to using an amp. The biggest benefit comes at smaller gigs where its so much easier to get a full fat sounding mix out front without any amps or monitor speakers on stage. We do have a decent PA system though and bigger gigs usually involve PA hire with an engineer.

Karaoke version is good for cheap backing tracks. You can pick and choose which instruments you want and change key etc. £1.99 per song.

Can someone lend you a digital mixer (behringer xr18 or similar)? That would be way more simple than using 2 desks to track live.

My experience with demo material is that video is way more likely to get you bookings than audio. If you have a digital mixer you can do a live video where you connect a laptop to the mixer and multitrack record whilst simultaneously filming from various angles. The music can then be mixed nicely and synced to the video edit. You could record a whole set and then just cut together clips of loads of your songs. People rarely listen to a whole song as a demo so a short burst of clips can have a much better impact. Edit to say that this approach only works if you are good live. If you do video and look bored / nervous / awkward etc it can do more harm than good.

At the time when I left school, becoming a musician seemed a complete impossibility. I was a fairly average bass player who seriously lacked self confidence. My mother was pretty unpleasant and criticised me at pretty much every opportunity and that just made me less confident. After uni I took a rubbish job just to keep her off my back. After 2 years I was so sick of it that I jacked it in and followed my then girlfriend out to Greece where she had found a job with one of the big tour operators for the summer. She hated her job and we fell out so she left for home. I took her job, which i had been helping her with anyway and stayed for the rest of the summer. I loved it and at the end of the summer I was offered promotion and winter work in ski resorts which turned into full time year round work eventually working as a snowboard instructor in Europe and then the USA. I did it for 11 years and saw the world, meeting my wife along the way. By this point my confidence was sky high and, when we returned to the UK in 2008, I quickly picked up music again. I now earn half of my income from music and set up my own pest control business that allows me to make up the rest of my income whilst being flexible enough to gig multiple times a week. I couldn't care less whether anyone thinks music is a valid form of income. It works well for me and my family and I'm happy. I know plenty of people with "proper" jobs who can't honestly say they are happy.

That is really poor. For a shop that specialises in basses not to spot that and describe it properly is pretty shocking.

Haha good call. I'm in Whittlebury so it's good to hear there are other basschat members in the shire.

Turns out @Muppetis in my neighbouring village. Small world as it says he lives in the pub which is where my band played just a few weeks back.

I use fusion urban (both single and double) gig bags. Used to use Mono M80 but the fusion just feels like a step up in terms of protection. 35 inch scale is no problem at all and fusion customer service is top notch.

Marcus was working there when I visited 3 weeks ago so was almost certainly him that emailed you.