ironside1966

There is nothing wrong with the odd gig not working out and going home or vetting gigs so you only do the ones you enjoy. The problem I have with some bands /musicians is they think they are doing a venue a favour by playing it and their music is such a precious thing that it should never be compromised in any way. I also hate working with musicians who will ruin the performance by not willing or are capable at playing at a volume required for the situation. IE guitarist who won't turn down, drummers who will thrash the hell out of a kit no matter what. Some band just want to play at rock starts for the night. Fortunately most musicians/ bands are adult about things.

[quote name='Blademan_98' timestamp='1317411627' post='1390585'] What does everyone mean by integrity in this thread? I [/quote] It is word that musicians use when the don't want to do something.

[size=5][font=Calibri][color=#000000]IMHO integrity is having pride in what you do, my pride was knowing that I could do the jobs I was asked to do to and the fact that people trusted me enough to pay me time and time again. If I needed to play or engineer quiet I had the skills to do it and I could also do the opposite infact I had the skills to do both.[/color][/font][/size] [size=5][font=Calibri][color=#000000]I worked with many DJ's while doing live sound. I would give them plenty of head room, go for something to eat and when I come back most DJ's would be full blast regardless of a full or empty room. It didn't take long to realize that all DJ'S can't be trusted until proved otherwise if you give them an inch they will take a mile. I suspect many landlords have the same attitude with bands for the same reason.[/color][/font][/size]

It depends on what you want from the band, if you are planning on getting somewhere with the band it will be difficult with people who don’t put the work in.

[size=5][font=Calibri][color=#000000]The point about why doesn't the landlord not listening to the advice of the professionals, it is the landlord who is the professional he is the one who runs the pub for a living, the majority of pub bands are people indulging in hobby or making a bit of extra cash and the truth is a compromise will spoil their fun. [/color][/font][/size]

[size=5][font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif][color=#333333]Playing a semitone down or what brushers he users is just daft you don't care how he does it just so long has the painter does a good job, respects your property and doesn't P off the neighbours.[/color][/font][/size][color=#333333][size=5][font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif] [/font][/size][/color] [font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif][color=#333333][size=3]All I am saying is the landlord is paying you to entertain his customers and he has a right to expect that you do not upset them or put his business in jeopardy by playing too loud.[/size][/color][/font] [font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif][color=#333333][size=3]In my experience what a musician says his acceptable volume and what Joe public says is acceptable volume are poles apart. [/size][/color][/font][color=#333333][/color] [font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif][size="3"][color="#000000"]I[size=5] agree that some landlords are unreasonable with that but there are quite a few musicians and bands that are prima donnas. every sound engineer you talk too meets musicians on a regular who play far too loud and refuse to turn down to the detriment of the sound of the band.[/size][/color][/size][/font] [color=#333333] [/color] [color=#333333]if a venues has bands regularly then surly the landlords knows what to expect.[/color]

I worked has a pro sound engineer for a long time and the reasons I worked a lot were because I could get good sound at a reasonable volumes, this pleased the venue's, management and the punters , so that pleased the bands because they had a good night and often got a return booking. It is that simple. I have seen quite a few venues pack in having bands because the are sick of the hassle from band playing too loud although I accept too loud is a subjective. It is not up to a professional to offer advice to a landlord unless he asks for it, all the pros I know would offer the same advice work with them to get a compromise that everyone can live with but at the end of the day it is down to, He who pays the piper. One cadet is if you are a band that fill a venue with people who are only there because you are one then you can get away with a lot more.

I am not talking about the use of high pass filters to create sonic space or even remove background noise, these are best approached on an individual basis but removing frequencies that speakers can't handle. Here are a few pros and cons I have come up with so far. Pros Relatively quick and easy. Less chance of one getting through the net You can use a good quality lin- phase EQ which is more transparent and avoids phase distortion but has a higher latency and cpu load Cons There is no going back but I always keep a copy of the raw files anyway.

Has anyone any thoughts of rendering files with a subsonic hi-pass filter before mixing. in some ways it makes since, not driving the possessors with unwanted low frequencies and most things end up with a HPF any way.

The Less you do the better, just give them the raw files.

I think he people who say funk can’t be taught just don’t understand what good lessons are. A good teacher will help you developed a groove and musical ideas, examples in books are just that the ideas, once you have learnt a few you develop your own, in the same way you do when you hear a good bass line. Funk is about the groove but it is also about he musical arrangements the band. If you understand how the music is arranged this will help you develop better bass lines Most of the great players started life in reading bands.

I think most people understand that funk is not a rapid succession of slapped sixtieth notes and triplets, that can easily be taught by repartition. One the student fully understands the mechanics of rhythm it unravels the mysteries of a lot of music including Latin, African. You can give the student exercises to improve timing, playing on, in front and behind the beat. But I would not rule out the importance of listening to other players.

A few points worth noting Volume is like having sugar in you tea, when you have less it is hard but you soon get used to it. The next thing to look at is the band arrangements, if all the instruments are playing around the same frequency range and then each individual instrument can get lost in a sea of sound, then everyone will try to compensate by tuning the volume up. Try getting one of the guitarists to play different inversions of the chords, not play as loud on the lower strings, play 5th and octave on power chords rather than root and 5th, just basely be aware to leave space for the other instruments Monckyman made a good point about lifting the guitar amps of the floor for more than just the obvious reasons. When a cab is on the floor the microphone in front of it can pick up the reflections of the floor changing the sound FOH, also if the cab is on the floor facing forward some of the higher frequencies get lost to the player so they more top to compensate.

Everyones volume knob and turn them down.

Don’t get obsessed with the 40 Hz the most important part to get right is the mid range. Tony Visconti stated that to get a good bass sound in a mix it is important to understand the harmonic series of the instrument as well as the fundamental of the note. To put that in English concentrate on the midrange of the instrument not just the bass. Microphones like the D112 have a lot of the mid range scooped out so they might sound good in isolation but in a mix no real detail. I am not a big fan of you need to do this or that with the EQ or you need to use this or that microphone sound is all down to having good educated ears not a list of rules, don’t EQ anything unless it needs it but high pass filters are an engineer’s friend. In moderate to small venues the bass sound coming of stage often is ample and all that is needed is a little bit of clarity put back into the sound.

Good headphones are no substitute for good monitors but they are the best solution for any one on a budget. Even if you can afford good monitors you may need to sort out the acoustic environment. Over the last year I have spent allot of time sorting out other peoples recordings. All the tracks have the same problem far too much EQ and compression, every track seem to be the same they sound good in isolation (I say that with my Tongue in my cheek) but not in a mix. Compare you mixes to similar commercial tracks don’t expect the same polish but listing to the comparative volume of each instrument and depth of the track, if you play your tracks through speakers go out of the room and have a listen has this can reveal problems in you mix epically the vocals or the lead instrument Last bit of advice whatever monitors, speakers, headphones you use get to know them and how they sound

One of the problems with budget interfaces is the quality of the pre amps, Focusrite are great for the money. I use a Motu Traveler in the studio and a Focusrite Safire Pr 40 + Octo pre, when working mobile. The week points on the DAWS I have used (Cubase, Protools, Logic and Sonor are EQ, compressors. It is not that they are bad but it is worth investing in other better plug-ins. Also the reverbs not up too much unless you use a convolution reverb but that is CPU intensive. If I were to start over again I would definitely try Reaper and spend my money on a better interface. Don’t trust anybody who says on DAW is better than the major ones a roughly the same and it is all down to a preferred way of working. If one has a great new feature this year it won’t be long before they all have it. Good Luck

If you do what I call gorilla type gigs where it just a quick sound check then off there is one simple answer, just let the sound man do their job. I know quite a few professional sound engineers who are involved with live sound day after day and all the pros all say the same thing just let the sound man do their job. If you are working with a regular sound man there is nothing wrong with developing the band’s sound over time that a different matter

The batteries fine. my instinct tells me the sound is not there in the first place but not triad the new strings yet, It doesn't sound too bad and I have read some great reviews on the Squire Jazz 5 Deluxe, seen videos on you tube where they sound much better than mine. I prefer 4 string and only got this bass for a project but has it stands

I will play the devils advocate here but you are in a band that can't pull in more than a dozen people then the band has no financial value and many venues are doing bands a favour by letting them play, it doesn't matter how good you are if you can't sell the tickets. BOTB are a good way of getting your music to different people.

I will answer this before it hijacked by the it is not real music brigade and somebody suggests you use a kazoo instead. (someone did say that in a similar thread) I do track for bands and singers but generally program my own but good results can be had by using midi files from the internet if you edit them to how you want, but I would say it is worth paying the extra for pro files because alot of the free ones are not very good. you would need a good sound module or better still good sample libbers to get the best out of them though. What songs do you want to do because some are easier than others.

[quote name='famstd' post='1232061' date='May 15 2011, 03:02 PM']Do you use a pick?[/quote] No

Thank's to everyone for the help. Just ordered a set of Warwick reds. See f that helps I also own MIJ jazz, Status Empathy, and Yamaha BBG 11 all of them much bright I also own Peavey Zephyr and that has quit a dull sounds even after replacing the pickups with Kent Armstrong’s.

[quote name='kerley' post='1229645' date='May 13 2011, 09:09 AM']Could be a faulty tone pot? What difference do you get between tone fully open and fully closed. Does it sound like the tone has been completely rolled off all the time? Although that doesn't help with acoustic dullness. I don't put much weight behind acoustic sound as I use Nylon tapewounds so can't hear a thing acoustically![/quote] Hi Tha bass is active it is a squier 5 Deluxe Jazz