BigRedX

[quote name='Roland Rock' timestamp='1423139648' post='2681227'] Thanks folks. He has just called me in a happier mood - he decided to try a fix from a link that I sent him, and it seems to have alleviated the problem a lot. He simply loosened then retightened the neck bolts (shouldn't they be called neck screws??) and a lot of sustain has come back to that area, to the extent that he's happy enough to not buy a Fatfinger or change the strings. [/quote] That's a trick that I've heard a lot of guitarists/guitar techs use, especially with Strats. Loosen the neck screws very slightly and then restring and tune the guitar to pitch. Only then tighten up the screws. The tension of the strings pulls the neck snugly into the pocket and provides far better mechanical contact than previously.

Yes it's all about balance. A well-balanced bass that is comfortable will always seem lighter than one of the same weight that doesn't balance as well or is less comfortable to play.

But there are so many jobs, especially "creative" ones where experience and proven ability far trump any qualifications (professional or not).

The skills that posters who've played with "pros" are mentioning seem to me to be the skills you need as a musician if you are going to anything more than simply learn how to play covers by rote from Guitar Pro. Maybe those skills are more developed and refined in a "pro Musician", but I wouldn't dream of getting involved in any kind of creative musical project if I was able to listen, react and play and subsequently modify what I was doing as a result of feedback from my fellow musicians both in terms of the notes I played and the sound(s) I used.

I wouldn't be surprised if some of the big name artists expect their hired musicians to actually work for less due to the prestige of being involved with the project. It certainly worked like that in advertising/graphic design where prestigious companies/brands would expect the design agency I worked for to reduce their usual fees because of the kudos working for them would bring. In return we found that we could get all our suppliers (models, photographers, printers etc.) to work at similarly reduced rates simply because being part of the project would look good on their CV or displayed in the reception area of their offices.

What's wrong with the tone controls on your amp?

Having just read the compression thread, from what was left of his contributions it appears to me, that particular pro didn't appear to have anything to teach other than how to be a dick on an internet forum. He might have had an opinion, buts that all it was: an opinion. Not the hard facts he tried to present it as. I don't care how impressive his musical CV was he still came over as a complete dick.

I would image that what the pros would say is pick gear that is robust and reliable, comfortable to play and has the right image for when you are on stage. When you are playing to audiences larger than a couple of hundred people, it doesn't really matter if you are mixing driver sizes in your cabs or that they aren't vertically stacked for the best dispersion if your on stage sound is being delivered through IEMs and the audience only hears what comes out of the PA. Similarly in the studio the bass sound that ends up on the recording is as much a product of the studio equipment as it is of the gear the band bring with them.

[quote name='Mattpt85' timestamp='1423043128' post='2679814'] someone please destroy it [/quote] Why? Other than a possible less than optimally constructed graphite neck, that's a fairly interesting instrument,

If you've never seen a bass like that before, then you need to spend some time reading [url=http://basschat.co.uk/topic/5525-weird-wonderful-basses/]this thread[/url]. Back to the item in the OP, it's somewhat overpriced IMO despite having the original Q-Tuner pickups. Moses basses also have a poor reputation when it comes to the structural quality of their carbon fibre necks.

[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1423012104' post='2679673'] Janek Gwizdala used to, same thing though, I haven't seen him for ages. [/quote] IIRC Janek spent most of his on here (when he wasn't pointlessly arguing with people who didn't like his music) posting about recordings he had to sell. IMO that's mainly take and little give, in the end he didn't really have anything to contribute. If he hadn't already made a bit of name for himself as a player he would have most likely been either completely ignored or given an even shorter shrift for his antics.

Stick them on an external host like [url="http://s114.photobucket.com"]Photobucket[/url] and then use the IMG tag to show them in you post. It's much better. Uploading photos to the Basschat server uses up server space and they always get downscaled to small sizes which most of the time isn't at all what you want.

[quote name='ubit' timestamp='1422974409' post='2679024'] I second that, but still think punters and puntettes don't seem to notice the old bass, or realise that the beefy sound they are hearing is down to the bass player. They just think it's part of the guitar sound. [/quote] It shouldn't matter what instrument is doing what, it's part of the overall band sound. The band as a whole should sound good. Playing music in a band is about all the musicians doing what's best for the band. If you can't do that then you're probably best off sticking to making YouTube videos in your bedroom.

I don't really get this - you only notice the bass when it isn't there. I would imagine most of us play in bands with guitar drums vocals and perhaps one other instrument (probably second guitar or keyboards). In bands like this if the the arrangements are properly orchestrated and the sounds have been chosen appropriately so that each instrument has its own sonic space, then all the instruments are of equal importance and any one instrument dropping out when it shouldn't would be massively noticeable.

KingBollock's posts exactly illustrate the point I was making earlier. It's called the [b]COMPOSITION[/b] Challenge, and yet he (and probably many others) are hung up on the recording aspect. And please don't ask us to make a video. Get the audio sorted is time consuming enough. I definitely wouldn't be entering again if some sort of visual element was required as well.

[quote name='ead' timestamp='1422818158' post='2677169'] Are these any good? Weirdly attracted to it. [/quote] Not a very accurate copy - long scale and bolt-on neck.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1422718514' post='2676008'] Any quest for new music by whatever means is positive, given that the average age of members on this forum represents people who, in other walks of life, probably haven't listened to anything new in thirty years. And why would they? When music is cynically packaged and promoted like it is, you really have to go out of your way to find any that isn't produced entirely as a commodity. [/quote] Music has always been cynically packaged and promoted. It's no different today to how it was in the 1950s.

[quote name='lurksalot' timestamp='1422657460' post='2675433'] I am with you on most of this , but I see it as a massive learning tool , when I don't get any better after a lot of effort , I may feel the same , but at the moment I keep finding things to improve on and these things are still fun , I am not producing commercially granted , but surely you having learnt what you have, gives you an insight to how you want the Terrortones to sound ? [/quote] I've been recording the bands I've been in, as long as I've been in bands - since the mid 70s. Up until the late 90s I could blame the sonic shortcomings of the output on the quality of the equipment being used, but since then my "home studio" has been using pretty much the same standard of equipment as most other mid-range commercial studios. For my last serious band before the Terrortones I spent several hundred hours at home working on recording and mixing 4 songs for our second single/EP. No matter how much time I spent I could never lift the recordings above what I considered to be good demo standard. When compared with recordings from similar signed bands there was always something lacking, and no matter how much I fiddled with our tracks they never had the same punch or sparkle - those things that make a good sounding track a great one. The when the Terrortones started working with the two engineers who recorded our EPs and they were able to achieve the results I had been struggling to get in a matter of hours, I realised that I simply didn't have what it takes to be able to make my own recordings to the standard where I would be truly happy with them. Being able to speak the language as it were does have some advantages when it comes to communicating with the people who are actually making the recordings of your band, but I find that Mr Venom does just as well as me at articulating what he wants sound-wise despite having very little experience of being on the "other side of the glass" in a recording situation.

[quote name='lurksalot' timestamp='1422645402' post='2675180'] most people on here have access to a computer or tablet that can host a digital audio workstation, the skills are not particularly difficult, but do need the will to want to learn [/quote] No the skills aren't difficult to learn, but they are difficult to master well. After years of being a dedicated home-recordist, I've pretty much given up because I've recently worked with people who are so much better than me at getting stuff sounding good in a fraction of the time it would take me to get far less satisfactory results. Also I'm a terrible singer and lyricist, so anything that wasn't purely instrumental would have to be done in collaboration with someone who is. I much prefer songs to instrumentals and I'm sure I'm not alone in this regard. To do something in the time frame allowed it's much easier if I do it all myself which means an instrumental only composition. As a voter I'm nearly always inclined to vote for a track with a decent vocal on it rather than an instrumental, so long as it meets the challenge brief.

A couple more observations from my days of being in bands using electronic kits. The damped shells method was not only visually reassuring for the audience (although as the band sound was fairly "hi-tech" IMO the pads fitted the look at least as well) but provided an extra level of on-stage "drum" sound which mean purely for timing purposes we didn't need to have the drum sounds as loud in the monitors. IME higher technical spec doesn't always mean better or more realistic drum sounds. As I said previously much of getting convincing drums from electronic kits is down to the skill of the drummer in programming the "brain" of the kit to respond to their style of playing. Of the various kits I was working with 15 years ago the most "realistic" sounding was the Clavia D-Drum which on paper had the lowest spec, but because of the way it reacted to the person playing it had far more "life" in the sounds - especially the hi-hat and cymbals - than systems with higher quality drum sounds.

I think that is part of the problem. The challenge is billed as composition, but it's just as much a recording one, which I think puts off people who don't have the facilities or skills to make a recording they believe can compete with what has been produced before.

Why is Traynor gear so sought after these days? When I first encountered them back in the 70s they were being sold by my local musical instrument shop that catered mainly for the home organ market, but had a small selection of "group gear" mostly Kimbara and Grant copies and Traynor amps. They never seemed to be very popular no matter how cheaply they were priced - ratty looking second hand British amps they also had in stock had a higher turn over. When they started phasing out the home organs in favour of electric guitars and basses the Traynor stuff was replaced with Fender and Acoustic. I hired one of their Traynor 6 channel PA mixer amps on a couple of occasions. Can't recall it being anything special.

[quote name='Monckyman' timestamp='1422623332' post='2674725'] However.... : 0 They look a bit crap. scaffold rubber and cable isn't very sexy.(Yes Discreet,except you..) What I'm angling for now, is a hybrid kit, with basic kick snare rack floor, with a couple of mesh head pads, and a couple of triggers for the kick and snare. This would give you a full acoustic kit, with all the skin dynamics you get with that and enough pads and triggers for an electronic/urban kit. Bit more fiddly etc but it would only be used at weddings and parties where the cash and setup time was adequate. [/quote] In a previous band that used a lot of technology live we had a drummer who had what looked like a traditional acoustic kit, except all the shells were completely damped and fitted with bugs to trigger the drum sounds and samples we used. Interestingly of the three drummers that band had, all of whom used an electronic kit of some description, he was the one that audiences though that the best drum sound despite the fact that all of them were triggering exactly the same sounds - the other 2 just had kits that were far more obviously pads rather than "real" drums. Just goes to prove that 15 years ago people were still mostly listening with their eyes.

IME the drummers that get the best out of electronic kits are the ones who take the time to adjust the pad response and the sounds to match their playing style. They will always sound great. The ones who don't end up sounding like a cheap poorly quantised drum machine.

[quote name='ikay' timestamp='1422605339' post='2674443'] What you need is one of these - [url="http://www.simscustom.com/pickups/4string.html"]http://www.simscusto...ps/4string.html[/url] [/quote] My thoughts exactly!