Silvia Bluejay

When we use the DSLR we connect it to a camera micro-mixer (2 channels) and to a Røde shotgun mic, but undoubtedly the best results come through our feed from the XR18. I think @Happy Jack uses either the headphone socket or two dedicated AUX outputs into our Zoom H4n. He then mixes the H4n direct input recording and its stereo mic recording with the room noise from one or more of the Zoom Q2ns, depending on the position of each with respect to the band.

Oh, forgot to mention the audio: DSLR audio is usually dreadful, while mini-video-camera audio can be all right if the camera is designed with music recording capabilities in the first place (do not use a Go Pro for that). However, what we now do is record from the desk (manned by me, so usually carrying good mix and EQ) and then mix in the drums when we only mic the kick, and the audience noise, usually taking it from the mini-camera at the front. That gives us the best results.

DSLRs have a max recording time of 29 mins 59 secs, to avoid being classed as video cameras (which are allowed to record over 30 mins) and having to pay additional duty (in the US or worldwide, IDK). Unless you have a person manning the camera throughout the entire gig, I wouldn't recommend using one of those, except occasionally. It is true that the bigger the sensor, the better the image, as it can catch more light. However, we find that the lack of flexibility (recording time, size, weight) of the DSLR is more of a problem than the slightly grainier output we get from small, lightweight, dedicated video cameras. We tend to use a DSLR only to record outdoors footage in addition to our four Zoom Q2n 4Ks which we place at the front, back and both sides of the band. To sum up our experience: - Record the whole gig, don't choose in advance. Something weird and possibly wonderful may happen at any time during the performance. - Therefore, you need something that can record 3-4 hours uninterruptedly. - Use more than one camera, place them at different angles, learn how to video edit on the computer. - If low light is a problem, try to increase the light, not decrease the number of cameras or use unsuitable devices. Anything else, ask away!

Be in a tight, sh!t-hot band. Create a setlist that's well thought out and representative of the product you want to sell - party covers, original indie, punk, jazz, metal, whatever. Then gig, gig and gig some more. And more. And MORE. Have some good quality flyers with contacts and social links to give to punters/scouters/visiting landlords/club managers at said gigs. Have a well maintained, up to date Facebook page, a Youtube channel with good quality (i.e not crappy hand-held mobile) footage, a Lemonrock (or similar) account with a public, up to date availability diary and a gig list. Reply to any enquiries promptly and satisfactorily.

LOL! No such views at our local Waitrose today.... On a slightly more serious note, I saw that image on FB earlier and thought, imagine the sh*tstorm if that had been a naked woman as opposed to a guy. I'm all for admiring beauty, but I feel a tiny bit awkward at the double standard. End of diversion. On a thoroughly serious note – my, is Waitrose expensive these days.

That's what I thought this thread was about at first! And I was ready to use the Moderation Tools to move it to Off Topic... To add my opinion to the OP's question, I am with the majority here. I have replaced chrome hardware with black hardware before - I bought all the black hardware brand new from Thomann. I can't see how a properly chromed bridge could ever be stripped satisfactorily enough not to make a mess when re-sprayed. Also, even the black-from-factory, brand new bits I bought had some small defects in the spraying, in that you could see small areas of unsprayed metal in hard-to-reach spots. Imagine having to first strip, then re-spray, at home or in a small shop! An absolute no-no.

They also played a Guild Starfire, although possibly a little later, in the 70s. And in the 80s they went headless (Hohner I think?), and then later turned to synths, which IMO ruined their sound. 🤷‍♀️

Violin basses and Steinberger Spirit basses - both dreadful, in different ways. I've got one of both and I keep them because they're so distinctive and look good in my collection, but I don't play them. So if @Damnthatlazlo would like his other half to learn to play bass and not dump the instrument within weeks, he should buy one that's a joy to play, if an inexpensive one. In my opinion that rules out anything by Fender/Squier (big, horrible, heavy, non-ergonomic pieces of cr@p) but leaves a choice of alternatives that don't break the bank.

Also, violin basses are terrible. Buy her a cheap Ibanez instead, she'll probably keep playing that.

No. Buy a cheapo proper lefty, then sell it here if it's unused. @Happy Jack is risking divorce for his eminently silly advice.

Yes, we have had contacts on social media that probably originated on LR, plus we've had a reasonable number of proper gig offers via LR through the years. Some people who have seen us at a gig and later decided to book us have gone on LR to find our details and send us emails, as opposed to looking us up on FB etc. Since £42 is a small sum, we're happy to keep our subscriptions up no matter what, but we've long done away with a website proper, as we decided it really isn't worth the candle for any of our covers bands (original bands are a totally different matter).

With one of our bands, when we had a website for it as opposed to LR and FB, we originally had the LR calendar embedded, then we moved to a Google calendar in Agenda mode (any other view looked horrid). We eventually got rid of the website altogether, so the problem disappeared. At the time, I did some research about embedding band calendars on web pages and my conclusion was that anything outside LR or Google isn't worth bothering with (YMMV etc.) The advantage of using the LR calendar is that it will show not just your gigs but also your available and not available dates - if you bother keeping it up to date, which you really should do. When you say that you think all you get from your subscription is the calendar, you worry me! Are you using Lemonrock to its full potential? A fully up to date calendar plus three Youtube videos, three Soundcloud tracks (if you have any originals), an engaging band blurb/bio with clickable links to all the band's social media, the option to search for venues according to different criteria, and for venues and bookers to search for your band according to several different criteria, plus automatic mailings of gig lists to your area every Tuesday do get results if you use the system properly.

Absolutely. And the accident was purely down to the strong breeze - the Bass Bar was solid, the ground was flat(-ish), nobody kicked the DB by mistake (or even intentionally!)... 🤷‍♀️ What made the bass unplayable was mainly the detachment of the fingerboard from the neck. Thankfully the damage was repairable.

Always take either a spare stick EUB or a Precision. Don't ask us how we know.

Recent videos (I wasn't on sound for any of these, the festivals had their own sound team)

Specifications to be listed by @Happy Jack when he comes back home - they've changed a bit since he originally got his Ali DB. In the meantime, photos and videos Edit to remind you - click/press on the photos and they will display at full resolution.

No, it includes gain, volume, compression or lack of them, EQ work and a by now quite well trained pair of ears.

Regarding feedback, as per @Happy Jack's question above, I can only remember us having trouble once in a pub in WGC, when we set up with our powerful MarkAudio PA and a complete set of floor wedges for monitoring. One of the wedges necessarily had to be pointing directly at the oildrum ali DB. 🙄 We don't set up like that now - Jack's monitoring is a lot subtler and, cleverly, a lot higher (on a tripod, behind him, at head height!). Also, I'm now pretty good at fighting feedback by throwing the full sound-engineering bag of tricks at it. 😉

https://bassclef141.wordpress.com/2014/08/05/visit-to-foderas-workshop-brooklyn/

My guess is no bass show. BPM has moved online, Joel McIver has moved on and opted for a full-time writing career as opposed to also editing magazines, and the country's in recession...

That photo was taken in a parallel universe.

That sounds like a decent fee for a non-London location. Encouraging.

I live in London, so no point in listing music opportunities here, and the OP correctly excludes big towns from this thread. To me, however, at this stage in the thread, the next question is - how many of those pubs and clubs in the lively/healthy music scenes you mention pay the band a reasonable fee? As we, as a country, descend into austerity/recession/downright poverty, I'm noticing that even successful venues are absolutely penny pinching and some are offering bands what we consider a ridiculously low fee. We have turned down a few offers because they were well below our minimum fee, and we've received enquiries that quickly faded away as soon as we mentioned our minimum fee. That's all right by us - we're not desperate and there are still plenty of venues who recognise the quality of the band and are willing to pay more to have us. We're not the kind of band who don't get out of bed for less than $10,000. We set our minimum fee so that we can pay for the petrol and end up with a little money to justify the whole exercise, but nobody's getting rich. And of course, a band's minimum fee for London and the Home Counties will probably have to be higher than elsewhere in the country due to higher costs all around (that's why I'm not mentioning actual numbers). However, I find the trend very worrying. So what's the situation in your thriving areas? Are bands undercutting each other in order to play? Is the scene healthy enough to pay every band acceptably for a gig?