ironside1966

Cubase 5 already they have not sorted out 4 yet.

I have backed Cubase and Pc all the way especially in the old Mac, Logic, Vs PC Cubase debate.
But with vista and Cubase 4 I am starting to think I may be wrong.

Its horses for courses.

If you want a professional recording go to the professionals with a proven track record, it cost money but you get what you pay for.
There are a lot of crap smaller studios and cowboys about who promise abbey road quality recordings, done in their garage or your rehearsal room.

I know what can be achieved on a home pc or Mac with today’s software, a set half decent monitors and a bit of acoustic treatment. and the results a very good but not as good as a experienced professionals with quality gear and great acoustic spaces.


Home studio guys can in many cases do you more fevers then a bad small studio,
Plenty of time to record in a relaxed fun environment, no need to clock watch no need to hurry the mix.
And like I said you can get some good result,

When I have done front of house sound, I never cared or bothered what kind of bass it was as most of the time the bass sounded ok in the context of the music in the hands of a decent player.
I am sure many Squiers MiA , CiJ and MiM have all came in this category at some point.
I don’t think many people would care either except other Mia owners with a chip on their shoulder.

On the odd occasion the bass sound stands out to me is if the bass sounded was partially IMHO good or bad,

A few things I would like to know is, In peoples opinion
Is a Squier standard or Affinity much behind a Vintage mod once you have changed the bridge and the pickups?

Is the MiM worth e extra money when compared to from a Vintage mod?

Are there better low priced Jazz Basses then squires?

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFM-ZX5Trro&eurl=http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=22377&hl=honk"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFM-ZX5Trro...377&hl=honk[/url]
That to me is a good jazz bass sound.

How about the Focusrite Saffire and Cubase studio 4.
[url="http://www.imuso.co.uk/ProductDetail.asp?StockCode=ST00615"]http://www.imuso.co.uk/ProductDetail.asp?StockCode=ST00615[/url]

Good pre amps and a good quality sound card, 8 analog inputs enough to record a small drum kit.

[quote name='bubinga5' post='241376' date='Jul 16 2008, 11:22 PM']Hey people..Im im shortly going to buy some recording equipment, and was thinking a Yamaha N8, this is in a package deal with cubase. I dont have alot of experience using this program(or any for that matter) is it easy to use/learn.....am i better off starting with something more simple. I have tried to find a demo but to no avale..To be honest im new to recording..Have come into some money so i thought i would set myself up..

Then again i dont want to buy equipment i dont know how to use!!!

Any advice???[/quote]

IMHO I think it is one of the easiest audio software to use, and it will grow with you.

Great for Midi, and basic multi track recording is quite easy too, has its quarks but all the major sequences do they all do.
Cuebase 4 is still a bit unstable at the minute though.

Glad you had the good sense not to play, many would and it is not worth risking your lives.

[quote name='charic' post='240465' date='Jul 15 2008, 11:12 PM']What you say is totally true.

Quick question tho, what if a band cant afford a GREAT recording.. recording. ?[/quote]


The record company won’t release it, and or radio stations won’t play it, people won’t buy it.
Tough but true.

If it’s for official release it need to be at least on par quality wise with other releases of the same type of Music.

Why spend a lot of good money on mastering and spend nothing on the recording.
In the tough world of rock and roll.
If you future depends on it why take any chances to save a few pounds.

It is such a long time ago that I have used Peavey amps, so I am not 100% sure.

I think how it works is this.
Plug the desk into jack inputs above the hi and low outs, place a barrel like filter or crossover in the big socket, then patch the low output to the High z input.
If you want to use both sides, patch the spare High z input of channel A to the High z input of channel B,
Connect to bass bin.

Patch the high output to the High z input of channel B or another amp ,
Connect to tops.

This setup is not a stereo setup but duel mono.

I agree DAT,s and mini disks will not stand up to years of abuse and will need looking after.

I have never used a iPod so I don’t know, will the jack socket of the I pod still be working and reliable after 12 months on the road and practices?
As a guess I would say the iPod socket gives up before the DAT or mini disk does.
Also as huge ands says there is the impedance issue as well.

I think it is all down to how often you use them as well if you gig regularly then spend money and get a good quality Dat and rack it up well.
If you are happy with a iPod, use a iPod.
Just make sure you have something to fall back on at a gig on a gig.

Sound good.
Listening with headphones at the mo, sounds good, also good drum sound to say it was recorded in some ones attic.

[quote name='Muppet' post='238297' date='Jul 13 2008, 01:32 AM']In my band we are planning to run some recorded keys and or brass but are unsure of how exactly to do it or indeed whether we could get it right.

Having no previous experience here's what I'm planning.

Record the backing track at the correct tempo in mono and place on one channel of a stereo signal.

Record a click at the correct tempo and put on the other channel.

Somehow send one channel to the PA and the other channel to the drummer, then get the drummer to start it off.


So my challenge is - what do I need for playback? A computer or a MP3 player maybe or what and does anyone have any tips for getting it right? I have visions of it all going horribly wrong and us all blaming the drummer.....[/quote]


It seems as if you have got this pretty much spot on.

I have worked with a few bands who have done exactly this, ,in most cases used mini disk or DAT, but it was a few years ago.

Both mini disk and mp3 use are below CD quality and use compression but INHO I don’t think it will matter too much.
Dat is also an option is slightly above CD quality and does not use any compression.

The thing to watch out for is the quality if the signal going to the desk, a RCA out put on the back of a Mini disk will be more suitable then a headphone output of a small mp3 player but use your ears.
Also small headphone sockets can get unreliable after constant plugging in and outs of their sockets, can come out quit easily and are also easy to nick.

If it sounds good do it.
Maybe use a mp3 for practices then by a secondhand DAT or mini disk when you are happy that the way to go.

Dat or iPod, Left and Right Desk.
Left click for drummer, channel volume down spare Aux to headphone amp, drummer.
Right FOH + fold back if required.
If it works there is nothing stopping you going straight to the headphone amp from the left out of the player.

[quote name='Mikey D' post='237955' date='Jul 12 2008, 02:40 PM']To go along with my Sky music rant, I have one more that relates to music...playing it live to be precise.

"Semi-professionals" who seriously undermine and devalue live music by playing gigs (I'm predominantly talking function type gigs or background music etc, not originals) for £20-£30 each as of course they can afford to do this as they are well paid in their careers.

I did a gig the other week and the bar manager says he can get a 6 piece for the money we did as a trio (£150) £50 each for 1h 30 mins straight through, which should have been two 45 min sets (never mind the cost of getting to and from the gig) and they are ""much better". Well, everyone I played with knows that isn't true, they aren't "much better" because they can't really play very well, but yes they have amazing gear, but this is about it when it comes to their set.

It's hard enough making it as a working musician, but to be expected to do a gig for £15 and a meal is a joke to be honest.

Does this bother anyone else? Are you somebody that does this? Is it actually just bar managers that are idiots!?

Generally interested in peoples opinions from both sides of the fence.[/quote]


I worked as a sound engineer for quite a few years. I found that there are a lot of hobbyist willing to work for very little and universality grads either expecting unrealistic wages or willing to work cheap or for free to gain experience.
This didn’t really affect me, as pro units need pro people and can’t take chances, I would expect it is the same with musicians as well.

I like to see talented people, whether in a film, play, original or covers band.
A good band is a good band.

A cover band as a rule tends to play songs that are popular, to eight a song that is popular takes a lot of talent, whether musicians think its naff or not.

With covers band you generally get what you pay for.
You have to give people what they want and do it well, it has to be run and promoted like a business and be entertaining.

It is not always the managers, it’s also the breweries and bar owners.

If a place is full and as good bands on every week do they leave it, no they try to squeeze every penny last out of the night they use cheaper bands then a duo then a disco.
Then the place is empty. How many times as that happened.

We also have to pay tax out of out earnings, most semi pros don’t.

If I can remember correctly, the Peavey amps use detachable barrel like plug-ins that act as filters or crossovers.

If there is nothing attached to the back of the amps, use the XLR input if there is a XLR output on the desk. Use one of the two jack inputs at the top of the XLR if the desk output is Jack.

Anybody have any experience or comments with Indie Jazz basses.

A crossover is a device that split the signal in to different frequencies.
Some speakers have passive crossovers built in.

Can you give more details of the make and model of the desk, amp plus speakers and any controllers that you use, then I might be able to advise you on how to correctly wire the system.

At this moment in time I would say use male XLR for speaker input, but not 100%
Female XLR always gives the signal, male XLR takes.

I think Bose speakers use a controller such as

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Bose-802-c-system-controller_W0QQitemZ260260013946QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item260260013946&_trksid=p3286.m14.l1318"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Bose-802-c-system-co...p3286.m14.l1318[/url]

I would check all cables.

Where to start.
It sound as if you could be feeding the signal back in on its self so it may be just incorrect wiring , also Make sure the amps are not bridged.

Is the amp a Peavey Cs800x, what is the crossover

Is it wired
Desk XLR outs to crossover inputs
Cross over high XLR output to top amp XLR input. To Bose tops.
Cross over low XLR output to bottom amp XLR input. To Bose bins.


If still not working try taking the crossover out and connect one side of the desk to one side of the amp connected to a speaker at a time to try and eliminate the problem.

If the amp the Peavey CS800,s
If so do you use the daft filters that plug in the back.

Ps
XLR 3 pin is balanced line not DI.
Hope that helps

[quote name='BigAlonBass' date='Jul 8 2008, 09:25 AM' post='234733']
This is one of the main reasons I bought a wireless setup in the first place. That way, I can wander across to the desk during sound checks, and have a word with the sound guy.

A lot of engineers use the sound check just to sort out fold back and levels.

Be careful what you wish for, do you really want to play with a bunch of idiots?

At least the venue has had the courtesy to inform you in advance.
If you can’t play quiet , turn the gig down and politely suggest the find something more suitable.

If You have a good sound engineer he will be in the best position to advise you on how to downsize the pa.
Maybe just take in one bass bin and use the fold back wedges for tops for tops.
Or borrow hire a small sub satellite system, don’t mic the drums up.

If there is two bands playing you might get the tendency to compete for volume, don’t .
I also would also suggest you contact the other band playing and try to work something out between you.

One last thought, playing quiet once in a while is often a good way of finding out how good your band really is because you can’t hide behind volume.

Go along with it or cancel.

Work with the venue and the bride and groom give them options, chances are the venue is a P+++ of about the complaining neighbors also.
If you go ahead with it e very disciplined and professional.

Take along minimal gear maybe use practice amps if you have them. Take a small vocal PA or turn the monitors to audience, only put vocals through them.
If your drummer can’t play quiet use towels to mute the kit.
Keep backline to a minimum.
A crowed will mute some of the volume.

Playing very quit will not show the band at its best, causing a load of trouble or having the police come will show you at your worst.

Not many bands can or will play with the restrictions, I bet they have had trouble with bands in the past so the management are bound to a bit couscous and funny.
Crack this one it could lead to more work from the hotel

[quote name='andy67' post='232491' date='Jul 4 2008, 10:00 AM']mimimalism is definitely the way to go.


Ironside, hope you are feeling much fitter and well now. My father (rip) was dogged by heart attacks and strokes, not a nice place to be and a fear of mine as I get older. His first attack was in his mid 40's. The closer I get to this age the more worried I become...

andy[/quote]

Thanks I’m fine now thanks, it has left me with very little mobility but I am happy and content.