Dad3353

Indeed, there's the drums, guitar and bass riff, then two synth lines which themselves should be enough for any keys player to be getting on with. Why the need, or even the idea, of wanting to do the bass part as well..? It's an odd request. Why not the drums whilst they're at it..?

I can't hear anything in that track that makes me think of keys playing the bass riff. It sounds to my cloth ears like a bass player, and can't really think what a synth/keys bass would add. It's a simple enough 'lick', deftly played; why anyone would want to alter that beats me, unless there's an underlying motive. I'd ignore the 'suggestion', play the bass line as you know how, and let the keys player do what they want. If the song improves : great. If not, either the BL stops it from happening again or the troop starts looking for another bass player, I'd say.

Our Fête de la Musique passed off rather better than we had feared, given the level of information and organisation experienced beforehand. The town square parking, just in front of the Mairie had been cordoned off; we learned that we should show up at 14h00. I collected the Trafic we'd been lent, we loaded up at 13h00 and were well on time, to find that the 'stage' (a curtain-side trailer...) was due at 15h00. In the end, and in view of other timing issues, we decided to set up on the pavement, and leave the 'stage' to the other group, supposed to arrive at 17h00. Meanwhile, a 'boom-boom' disco DJ was set up in front of us, on his own little trailer, and spend the next couple of hours blasting out '1...1...1...1...' Big Beat disco stuff, more appropriate (if ever such stuff could be so called...) for a midnight 'after-rave' party for sozzled ado's on the beach. Once the noise came to an end, the other group arrived, loaded into the 'stage', and spent half an hour doing a sound check, from a tablet. That finished, we were asked to start; it was now 20h00, and the bright, almost hot, sun had become overcast, with even a slight chill. Never mind, we played our set (cut down to be under an hour, as we no longer have a second guitar...). Well received and applauded, all were happy with our prestation, but I found that 'in-ears' are fine for hearing my own drums (e-kit through a laptop running Superior Drummer 3...), but the acoustic isolation removed 'live' feedback from my fellow musicians. Next time, I'll either use 'open' 'phones, or set up a drum monitor fixed to the rack. Lesson learned. With our shorter set, I had energy enough to get through (the repertoire is made up of 'energy' numbers, followed by 'recovery' ones...). We finished, and packed away the gear into the van whilst the other group roared into life. I was able to carefully edge the van through the crowd (lots of kids running around, having a great time...) and got a passage though the barriers to drive home. We unloaded just in time before it started to rain; the lads went back to continue the fête and I made myself comfortable back in my armchair. Altogether positive; could have been better, but I'll take the modest win. It was heartening to see the townsfolk enjoying the occasion, helping out with erecting the marquees for the barbecues, filling the pavements with customers for the bars and cafés, the whole town enjoying a simple village fête. That's what makes it worthwhile.

I suppose it rather depends on whether tutoring is to please you, or to get your son off to a Good Start with the instrument. I would certainly suggest that, if he, (not you...) takes to it, it would be the best way forward. It wouldn't hurt to give him the option, at least, no..?

How much electricity would your studio need..? I might suggest that 500W might be quite sufficient, and that an autonomous solar system could quite easily do the job. Rough cost : between 300-600€ Have you got any photos of the barn..? It might give some inspiration as to how to make it useful, without either breaking the bank or breaking your back. Can you get sand and gravel delivered, for laying a floor..? I've done three, here, in our 'ruin' of a cottage, and it's not that hard, really. I could come down with Our Boys and lend a hand. So, pics, please..?

Grateful Dead..? It's hard to find any two renditions of any of their songs, original or covers, that are even similar, let alone the same. That's one of their charms; 'never the same twice'. Here's just an example amongst many : Dark Star...

Saturday afternoon saw the last practice session before our outing next Friday. still no real news on logistics, other than 'we play first, probably...', nor what, if any, PA, lights, backline... might be found. Apparently there'll be a semi-trailer as stage; not ideal, but... Whatever. More of an issue may be the weather. It's a bit early to pronounce, but it's not looking promising. No back-up plan, and if it pours down, there'll be no audience, either, so we may end up not even unpacking the truck I'll be borrowing. Rehearsal went well, and we sorted out the order for the set; for the rest... Que sera sera.

I'm not sure it I'm missing something or not without this here 'Facebook' thingie. If I am, I'm quite happy to.

Pack away several shorter cables, then. Have a set, long enough together for your longest anticipated runs, plus one extra. Dmx can be daisy-chained, one cable after another. 300m is a very long run; most of the stages I play on would not need more than a 50m, long enough to go from stage Front Left, around behind the drums, then forward to stage Front Right. I could easily do that with two 20m and a 10m, with a 10m spare. For smaller stages, I wouldn't need to unpack even those lengths. We have all cables (mic runs, foldback runs, FOH runs, lights, power...) always running around the back of stage.as much as possible (we need a short run for the floor monitors from the sides...). Just sayin'.

Lee... You've seen our cottage (albeit briefly...); Our Eldest's micro-studio is in the attic of what we call the 'quatrième', as it's the small 'house' at the end. A typical 'attic' shape, ancient wooden plank flooring, and rudimentary slab-foam insulation behind horizontal planking. No special measures have been taken as regards either sound-proofing nor sound transmission; we have used it in the past for full band rehearsal (bass, drums, two guitars, voix...). The sound outside is not at all loud (it's true I have no neighbours, but Our Eldest does play loud guitar, or recordings, often enough...), and transmission through the floor is minimal. It all depends, then, on exactly what material and technique was used in your current quarters. If you're not going crazy with hard-rock acoustic drums, I'd suggest that, for most purposes, decently dense floor covering (one or two layers of carpet or rugs..?) would suffice; maybe a block of foam under any bass amp..? I'd do something similar for the attic 'walls', using textiles, and see how it goes. The acoustics of odd-shaped rooms is a great advantage when recording with mics; it's easy to place mics and dial in the sound for most uses (not, maybe, for vocals needing that 'tiled bathroom' effect, of course...), so there's little need, usually, for bass traps and such. All of this is assuming that the house is not a modern 'pavillon'-type construction, made from plasterboard and matchsticks, though. Any help..? Give my regards to Ingrid, please, with my best wishes..? Douglas

Dmx signals are square-wave, at 125kHz. It would be a very good wireless system that could handle that , flawlessly. I would recommend rather that you extend your current cable and pass it around the back of the stage instead. Up to 300m is fine; it would be a very large stage indeed to need more than that. Use Dmx-approved cable, though; mic cables are not ideal for these frequencies. Hope this helps.

I would assume that, for such an ensemble, there would be someone on the PA console; that person would be best judge of what the mix should be, and maybe adjust it if required, perhaps for the song, or the venue filling up or emptying etc. He/she will EQ and treat all the feeds to the console, including bass, and make sure that each instrument and mic is 'at its place' in the mix, including bass. I'd recommend a neutral setting at sound-check, and do whatever the sound person asks for; the event will be all the more successful if all do things that way, I would expect. Enjoy the gig.

The creator of ...

Soooooo, you're not on Spotify, then. Oh, wait...

We've been asked to play in the town square for the fast-approaching Fête de la Musique, 21st June. We've done a couple of rehearsals, working out a cut-down repertoire for a 45 minutes set (no second guitar, so just the four of us...). We've been trying to find out what logistics are in place, and finally got some sort of answer last night. Apparently there will be another group (presumably pop/rock like us, but not sure...), plus a couple of local singer-guitarist or small choral ensembles. All good fun, but the 'organiser' informed us that he will install a PA. 'Good', we're thinking. 'Yes, it's 250w', he continues. What..? 250w, for an outdoor town square multi-band 'do'..? We have more than that for rehearsing, at home..! It's not important, really, for us, as we are basically autonomous, with an adequate FOH, retour, mics'n'stands etc for our modest needs, but goodness knows what the other group and participants will require. Any foldback/aux sends..? How many console channels..? Will there be lights..? It's more a sense of foreboding, that if that's what the bloke thinks will do the trick, what else will/could go wrong..? Another rehearsal next Saturday, and we'll find out 'on the day' what conditions are like. What's the weather like for end of June, and what's the back-up plan if it pours down rain in bucket-loads..? Dunno; we'll find out..!

The term 'buzz' could refer to many things, concerning a bass. Mechanical (something loose inside vibrating..?), playing technique (strings too close to the frets..?), electrical problems (buzz from the amp/speakers..?) and much more. Two options, really... - Film yourself playing, making sure that the buzz is captured on the video, and post it here, so that we may see/hear what's going on, or... - Meet up with a fellow bass player (from this Forum..?), and show him/her the issue. Of course, a visit to a reputable technicien would do the trick, too, but the solution may be simple, if only 'we' (the Bass Hive...) knew precisely what you mean by 'buzz'. Any help..?

My Alfawise U20 printer is driven by Octoprint through a very modest Raspberry Pi, connected by RJ45 to my Livebox. This enables me to watch a print in progress from my armchair, through a little webcam, also plugged into the Pi. I's very practical, as there's a flight of stairs to climb from our 'salon' to the 'den'; every effort saved is appreciated by my slovenly legs. It works very well as a system; I call up the Pi on my Chrome browser and watch. It's saved my bacon on several occasions when the printer started 'bird-nesting' for whatever reason.

Convert to mp4..? 3D_Print.mp4

I had to look up 'soz'.

In Trowbridge, there's ... Wilts Guitar Repairs... ... or Salisbury ... Guitar Repairs UK ... Both mention bass set-up, at £40 or so.

Adjusting the truss rod, and getting the 'action' right for one's playing style, is quite easy, and should be something that every bassist (and guitarist...) should know how to do. It's easy, once you know, but just as easy to mess the bass up completely, or even, in the worst instance, destroy it, if you don't know. My advice would be to find, in your local area, either a fellow bass player, or a reliable technicien, and ask them to do the job, whilst showing you how it's done. Don't try doing this yourself without tutoring. No special tools are needed, and, as I say, it's easy enough for anyone to do, once they're shown. Maybe give your location; there is probably a fellow BC member not too far from you that could help, or recommend a technicien..? Hope this helps. Douglas

The City awakes from its torpor, seemingly unaware or the approaching menace. Just across the horizon, gathering pace, intent on who knows what unspeakable havoc and destruction. Where is It from..? Why now..? What to do to ward off the inevitable..? Once Seen, It can never be Unseen. The City awakes... A too vivid dream last night provoked playing around with a few scraps from my cutting room floor, snippets for which I can no longer find the original (Reaper...) source files. Messy, untidy, rather like the soon-to-be razed residences in its path, to be watched rather than listened to. Once Seen It can never be Unseen. Edit : I uploaded the wrong video; sorry. This is the correct one. It's not better; just (a bit...) different soundtrack.

I can't speak for 'Logic', as I don't use a Mac, or any Apple stuff, but Reaper, even after paying the one-off licence cost, has, bundled, one heck of a lot of plug-ins, and any that one acquires after, either free, low-cost or paid-for, depends entirely on one's needs. I use Superior Drummer a lot (I'm a drummer...), and it costs what it costs. Maybe Logic has the same stuff for free; I doubt it (but could be wrong...). I use Reaper for direct recording 'real' instruments, recording with virtual instruments, treatment and production, and MIDI plays a large part in what I do. There are things it doesn't offer, certainly, but they are probably at the more esoteric end of the User scale; I've never found anything it can't do to my satisfaction after a coupe of decades of almost daily use. Is it better than sliced bread..? Maybe not. Is it rubbish..? Certainly not. It would, in my opinion, be hard to out-grow it, for all but intensive professional use, and even then it's hard to see how. (There now follows, below, a long litany of stuff that [whatever] is better at, at a bargain price...). Do I recommend Reaper..? Yes, I do. Does it suit everyone..? Maybe not, but it's certainly a contender for 'best value for money'.