Marky L

Wotcha Quick question about PA monitoring again. We have a fairly mediocre PA amp/mixer that we use and need to sort out some monitors. We're not going for in ear stuff so no info on that please. We have a couple of 8ohm slave monitors, about 100W each and need to power them (I’ve given up on finding cheap powered wedges). So I reckon on getting a low cost power amp to run the slaves like the Carlsbro spec unit below – [url="http://www.carlsbro.com/Moreinfo.php?code=PA1760"]http://www.carlsbro.com/Moreinfo.php?code=PA1760[/url] What I think will work is to run the power amp out of the PA amp/mixer via it’s monitor out connectors to give us the tonal control for the monitors and the power amp will deal with the monitor volumes. Does this sound right? What do I need to look at? I just want a simple alternative to powered monitors. Ta M

Oh poo. Don't fancy moving down towards Bournemouth do ya?

I use the age old, highly cheesy option of a strip of gaffa tape on my mic stand and attach a line of a few picks on to the part of the tape still showing. It's like rock n roll man and it works for me. Either that or lick it and spit stick it to your forehead before the start of the song??

I use a pick to play generally and have the same issue. I tried wristbands, but I didn't like the extra bulk that it creates on my wrist and how my hand then sat on the bass. So, I now use some of that tubular bandage stuff you can get from chemists. Nice and thin, elastic so it stays in place and you can dye it black to make it look less like your a wrist slasher. Works a bloomin' treat for me.

Hey thanks for all the love Yeah, I need to find something else but a full time job leeches my own time away from me. I've been in a few bands in the past and had some awesome drummers, and it's true it's like a revelation to play with one. You know the beat is going to be sound and you can slip your own sexy little run in and know it wont throw him. Am I allowed to say I'd love to play drums?

[quote name='51m0n' post='443977' date='Mar 24 2009, 05:12 PM']... but if you like driving the cahoonies of a tube poweramp into an 8x10 you have to mic up the thunder.....[/quote] Oh yeah!!!!

[quote name='51m0n' post='443964' date='Mar 24 2009, 05:01 PM']err get rid of him then....... good drummers make my life really easy, bad drummers make it intolerable.[/quote] It's his and the singer's band I was hoping a nasty arm break type accident might come his way! I should move my talents elsewhere but I've put a load of effort in this band and don't like to walk away.

In a recording situation, what does mic'ing your cab up actually give you? I have it in mind to do this as well as DIing when we do some demos in the next few weeks. My head tells me it will give me a better 'live' sound.

Oh man, our drummer.. please never let me near a gun when he is in the same room. He can not keep a regular time. When we play live he seems to get worse and songs begin to get faster and faster. We had a gig at the weekend and I start Mustang Sally (yeah.. yawn) and by the end of the first verse I swear we had taken it up by 20bpm at least. Had to turn round and shout to him to slow down. That and he drums like a granny doing her knitting. Tippy tap tippy tap with no guts. And he can't play slowly loud and equally can't play fast softly. Has no idea about dynamics and I don't think he can count past 1. It is such a hard job to play with him, you can see and hear when he has forgotten where he is in a song, head up, dear caught in head lights look and he plays all quietly so he can try to cover his mistakes. Oh and he can't do fills in time. Has a frightful taste in music. Has no imagination. He insists on counting in EVERY song (even when he starts one on hs own!) but really quietly so you can't hear. And it's always him that gets up from behind his kit in rehearsal to tell others how to sing a song with some long rambling nonsense!! ARRGHH!! I get angry sometimes!!

Out of interest, what does a bass re-fret cost?

I've got an ABM Classic head that I run with mini 4x8 & 1x15 (mini cabs due to my feeble back and lack of storage space) and I'm very happy with the sound. I use a P bass and I get the agressive bite that I want. I usually rehearse with just the 1x15 but gig with both cabs and it is brighter like that. I find that I can sit in the overall live mix very well and when I on my own, doing an intro or just making a bloody annoying racket to p'off the guitard then it's very "out there". Knobs and sliders? Don't bother me in the slightest. I quite like the oddness of having the both. Overall, I love my Ashdown and am unlikely to change for some time to come. Oh and no reliability issues (touches wood, spits into the wind, sacrifices black cockrel etc etc).

Some of the gear in the Italia range looks soooooooo cool. If I had some wadge spare, didn't have a list of other stuff to get first, I'd love something from their range, just for fun.

I'm sure when I was at college 79-80 one of the teachers (not for my subjects)was Paul Gardiner's brother. Unfortunately I was a bit of a dick and thought all other music apart from punk was trash and so never spoke to the guy.

[quote name='Hamster' post='436812' date='Mar 17 2009, 12:31 AM']Thing is, if in a fit of madness you did buy it, and found it actually plays/sounds worse than your 2001 USA Jazz would you keep it or sell it straight on? [/quote] Smash it on stage in a fit childish rage.

How do you get that lovely lovely so '80's fretless sound that Karn does on Music For Chameleons, the Alan Partridge track?? What effects are going on there??

Hey chaps. Don't forget this is in Canada and not the US. Significant difference there! Though saying that.. Quebec.. means you're adding in the "French" factor.. so triple the ass pain potential.

[quote name='benwhiteuk' post='432273' date='Mar 12 2009, 11:37 AM']Mastering is what you do to the final 2ch stereo mix - [url="http://www.bluelizardstudio.com/mixing-mastering.htm"]http://www.bluelizardstudio.com/mixing-mastering.htm[/url] or [url="http://musicians.about.com/od/musiciansfaq/f/mixingormaster.htm"]http://musicians.about.com/od/musiciansfaq...ingormaster.htm[/url] - they can explain it better than me [/quote] Excellent!! It makes sense now Ta muchly.

[quote name='johnnylager' post='432291' date='Mar 12 2009, 12:08 PM']You've made the classic mistake of asking him to chip in for it haven't you? Remember, all he can see is his next bottle of White Lightning.[/quote] Huh yeah.. he knows nothing about everything.

Hey now!! C'mon!! At least the bass looks happy about it.. check out that lovely little smile it's giving and with wibbly eyes too

Give everyone a listen when we're done eh?? Well, it depends on what the results are like! The studio - Active Sounds - in Bournemouth have been around for years and do still have a load of analogue gear which would be sweet to use but I don't think this time. As I recal they do have proper seperation for drums etc and are very experienced and so can hand hold us to a degree. We'll def do the main chunk as all the band playing "live" and then do vox and over dubs after to hopefully save time. I am very aware we are pushing the limits on what we can do, but a couple of the songs we can bash through with little effort and so shouldn't take too long and will maybe act as warm ups for the others. I totally understand that the results will not be of a professional standard, but.. well.. you can't polish a turd! (Just make it look a bit nicer!!) One thing I don't understand is, what is the difference between mixing and mastering? I just really want us to come out of the studio with some tracks that are lively and viberant and have energy. I'm stressing that we could end up with a bunch of flat lifeless cobblers. Cheers M.

Thanks guys I'll start using the feedback section properly now!

I must get used to doing feedback! Apols for being slow. Thanks v much for the Gripmaster, arrived safe and sound in excellent condition. You're a star! Happy to do biz with you again Mark

[quote name='Prosebass' post='429176' date='Mar 9 2009, 11:24 AM']Very much so +1 Commando , my personal favorite, very apt at the moment. I saw them in 77 / 78 Free Trade Hall Manchester, 1 hour of solid sound with just the 1,2,3,4 between songs, classic.[/quote] I'd like to blame them for my ear damage. Saw them at a similar time at the Village Bowl in Bournemouth. (What a fantastic venue.. sadly very long gone). Low ceilings, all black and scuzzy and the 'Mones hammering it out. I have read that in those dats they played at the same volume what ever the venue. The fact that it was my own fault that I stood for a while of it with my head in some stupidly big '70s bass bin is purely coincidental.. m'lud!

Just going through this now with my band. I think a very definite YES. You have to provide something to a prospective venue - myspace link, CD or something that demos your skills/sounds. If I had a venue I wouldn't book anyone without a demo (or if I hadn't seen them play).

Thanks It's the idiot drummer that is conviced we can get the 5 tracks done in the 8 hours, he just can not see further than his nose. I think we are likely to play the basis of the tracks "live" and then over dub the vox, lead guitars and other stuff. I do understand that these songs are by no means going to be rated as a high quality job, but I really really want to get life, bounce and passion into them. I don't mind a bit of raw! I have made a list for each song of the parts that I think we need to do and will ask each band member to note down their settings and other info to make them think about what they are aiming for. My sound? I would like to DI from my amp and may also look at micing up the cab to get that volatile live edge (only cos I read JJ Burnel did that!!). I have suggested we take two days or at least a second half day to work on finalising the mixes, you know, fresh ears. I'll tell ya, if it turns out to be a time and money waste due to that idiot's misunderstanding, then I may end up off of the board for a while as I languish in jail for murder!