jimmyb625

Check out this thread as well, there's a lot of useful suggestions:

2 hours ago, Silvia Bluejay said:

We always had our laptop physically connected to the XR18 (Ethernet port), ready for emergencies, but that obviously implied me getting on stage and fiddling with a mouse, which we prefer to avoid. This is what we have as an external router in our Soundcraft Ui. We have its correspondent older model in the XR18. We wanted something reliable that uses two channels. No point replacing the crap internal router in a PA system with another crap, external, router. Hence the price tag.

Yep, I have the predecessor to that one. Like you say, there's no point using something unreliable, given it's a pretty critical component.

I'm not sure if we're in the category, although we've got a violin player and I wear a hat...

Anyway, here's one of ours:

50 minutes ago, Dad3353 said:

 

Hmm... It seems that, in France, there are exactly six practitioners. The nearest is Paris, 300 kms away. Hmm... 

 

France practitioners, centred on our cottage...

 

But it's really handy for the Kangaroo Gardens!

I don't consider myself to be a particularly "good" bass player. My music theory is pretty poor and if you give me a bass clef score, I'll stare vacantly at it for a while and then ask my 11 year old daughter to tell me what the notes are.

The thought of going to a bass bash and playing in front of other bass players makes my blood run cold.

That said, I like to think I have a fairly musical ear and the ability to not ruin a track. I also practice the songs we play, a lot. The band leader/songwriter likes the parts I play and even the drummer sometimes says they're not cr4p.

As an aside and a full-on "humble brag" the drummer invited one of his work colleagues (who also plays bass) to our recent support gig in Manchester. I've mentioned him before, not often by name, but our drummer is Mark Radcliffe and his colleague was the producer on one of his radio shows. Anyway, after we'd played, he said that his producer said (and I quote) "That bass player's pretty handy". Of course, when I asked him to repeat it for the benefit of the tape he said the comment was "The band was really good, but let down by the terrible bass playing".

Having that sort of compliment (and the associated disparaging remark) gives you both a confidence boost and keeps you grounded.

I suppose the TLDR takeaway is:

I'm ok at what I do, but there's always room to do better.

Last one of the year for us, at our second home and sometime recording venue. We're 60% sold already, which is nice and we'll be showcasing some of the new stuff as well.

That would work. You wouldn't have the tuner functionality but it should be ok (could possibly be volume differences).

Fine Lines, Tuesday night at Rebellion, Manchester, supporting "The Long Ryders".

There was some initial trepidation, concerning the number of people willing to make the trip in to town to see both acts, but as it turned out, a relatively healthy showing managed to make the evening an enjoyable one.

We were faced with the usual arms-folded audience members, somewhat determined not to enjoy us for the crime of not being the headline act, but we managed to overcome most of them by the time our set was complete.

We went on 10 minutes later than scheduled, due to the late arrival of tue audience, but we still managed to clear the stage in under 5 minutes, proving once again that we may be rubbish, but we're easy to accomodate.

Gratuitous shots:

2 hours ago, gjones said:

I was just watching a video of Billy Sheehan (the bass player in The Winery Dogs) giving a rundown of his rig. He says the rig is not very loud onstage because he monitors his bass via in ear monitors. So it appears he wasn't the one responsible for the rotten sound. I was there with a drummer who said the band's drummer, Mike Portnoy, is not a heavy hitter and Richie Kotzen who played guitar and sings, was also wearing in ear monitors, so didn't need his amp particularly loud in order to hear it.

 

The sound engineer is starting to look, more and more like the guilty party.

But, it's likely the sound engineer is touring with the band, so they probably like what it is they're doing.

We're supporting The Long Ryders on Tuesday 17th in Manchester, if that's your sort of thing.

30 minutes ago, Jakester said:

 

 

The problem is I don’t want or need a mic stand - I don’t sing or have any vocal interaction whatsoever, so it’s really overkill.

Everyone needs a mic stand! 🤣

6 hours ago, JapanAxe said:

Thanks, that's very helpful! Did you click on 'Buy UK Mic Licence' in the main menu? It opens the page seen in the other screenshot. I don't want to spend £75 on the wrong thing.

 

I'm not going to need this until my next theatre gig in December but I wanted to get my ducks in a row.

Yep, that was the one.

2 hours ago, JapanAxe said:

@jimmyb625 what is the lead time once you have paid? Do you get a pdf to download or by email, or do they post out a paper licence?

I'm fairly sure you can download it instantly, certainly they'll email a copy within a day or so, but as long as you have the licence number, you're set.

21 minutes ago, JapanAxe said:

I've just bought a Sennheiser XSW IEM setup that operates in the 823-832MHz band. I've signed up with OfCom as a PMSE casual user and looked at buying a licence before I venture out to use it live. Unhelpfully, there is no mention of this band alongside the UHF Channel 38 licence, except they say 'Channel 69: the band 790 - 862 MHz (including Channel 69) was cleared of PMSE use from 1st January 2013.' As I understand it, 823-832MHz was added in 2015. Is the OfCome website really that out-of-date or am I missing something? I think I'll give them a call!

It does appear on the licence when they send it you. The website isn't the easiest place to find information though.

No help from me I'm afraid, as I use the K&M one. I don't find it much of a problem to take an extra mic stand for it, but I know everyone has a different setup.

3 hours ago, TimR said:

 

I've not used this particular mixer but the manual refers to 2 modes.

 

FOH mode in which case the 6 outputs are G1 - G4, L and R.

And

Mix mode in which case the 6 outputs are Aux 1 - 6.

 

That implies to me you can have L&R for front of house and 1-4 for monitors.

 

Or 1-6 for monitors. In which case you're using it as a monitor mixer and need another mixer to deal with FOH. 

 

Anyway, it's Allen and Heath, that's a high end mixer as already pointed out nearly £1600 new and with 14+ channels a tad overkill for a pub band. 

 

Most pub bands are going to be using a Soundcraft Spirit at most expensive or behringer/Yammah equivalent. 

 

 

Not quite.

As Dane says, switching between monitor and FOH mode changes the outputs that the aux's are presented on. There's a couple of reasons for this. First of all, it puts all of the send levels onto faders, which makes it slightly easier for a monitor engineer, as opposed to moving the rotary pots. It also gives you the option to use inserts on the aux sends, which isn't available on the trs outputs. You also get +4dBu on the aux outputs (xlr) in monitor mode, as opposed to -2dBu from the trs outputs you get when you use it in FOH mode.

If you are using it FOH mode (which I think is the one most of us would use) you still have all 6 aux's available, but on the trs outputs which are controlled by the pots. Your normal mix to FOH would be via the main L&R (xlr) outputs. You could also "cheat" a bit and use groups 1-4 to get another 4 outputs, but you don't get as much flexibility, as you're limited to post fade sends from the channel and you can only assign individual channels to paired groups (i.e. channel 1 sends to group 1&2 3&4 etc.).

As I said, it's a really good desk. I used one for around 10 years at the theatre, before we made the move to an xr18.

The MixWizard is a great desk. Although it's not cheap by any stretch of the imagination and certainly when compared to an xr18, or CQ, you'd wonder why anyone would bother buying a new one. 

Here you go, all the aux outs you'll need for less than £600!!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/175929527200?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=WBXQdsVTRGO&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=ZHVO_SrYQeO&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

4 hours ago, TimR said:

 

That's still a 4:2. If you're using the 2 as mains, it's 4 aux. 

It's 6 aux. The 4 refers to 4 groups.

33 minutes ago, Jack said:

Didn't post my gig from a few weeks ago for a couple of reasons.

 

Number one was that I'm convinced the venue (which shall remain nameless) has something weird going on. Now, I'm not saying that it's a money laundering front. Just to clarify, I do not suspect at all that it's a front for laundering money. However, about 5 years ago somebody bought one of the best loved live music pubs in a particular town, changed all the staff pretty much over night to a load of people who still, after 5 years, have NO IDEA how to run a bar or speak English, and who spend all the time on their phones. There is no promotion of bands, no trying of any kind to get people in at all. Some nights, not every night, a group of men will walk straight in, go behind the bar and go upstairs. They will not come back down. About 4 people to show up to any gig. After the gig a burly man with a thick accent will tell you that you're brilliant, hand you £350 cash and book in you in for several more times.

 

Secondly, I had to run home, catch about 2 hours sleep, and then be up at 4am for the North East Skinny Dip on the Sunday morning. I normally don't gig the night before, but there are only 5 gigs left with this band, so I didn't ask for the dep. Wish I had. The water is so much colder when you're sleep deprived.

That's certainly an odd one.

8 minutes ago, Pirellithecat said:

That's interesting.  If I'm successful in reducing our stage volume, won't the Drummer find it (even more) difficult to hear the guitars and bass especially if he uses IEM's?   Whilst i wasn't thinking of putting the guitars, drums and bass through the Vocal monitors, my trials with IEM's, so far, indicate I need vocals, guitars, bass (.... and might even be tempted with a little drum to improve the "lock-in" between bass and drums) via my monitor feed.   
Am I missing something?     

If you're using IEM's, you can still take all of the instruments into the PA, but you'd only put them into the aux mixes, not the mains feeding l&r. Think of it as the same way of using a click, where you'd only want it going into the monitor feed.

Looking through various posts and topics, I thought it might be interesting to get some feedback on what people look for in their monitor mixes.

Do you want a CD quality version, complete with 20hz to 20khz audio reproduction, or are you happy enough just to have a vaguely intelligible noise?

Do you need a full mix of every instrument, including the singer's badly judged mongolian nose flute, or are you just after one or two key instruments?

Should your monitor volume be capable of siesmic damage to the building and "moving some air" (pro-tip, a fan is far more efficient at moving air), or would your stage volume need turning up in a library?

Maybe the collective hive mind of basschat could come to a general consensus, which might be of use to others? Obviously, I've been around long enough to know how improbable that's likely to be, but still...

2 hours ago, Boodang said:

Aaaaahhh, what a painful Oktoberfest gig! Used our trusty xr18 and my trusty tablet, but as the gig was just around from where I live I didn't bring any backup. All setup, great sound, muted the main outputs before taking a break... then as we're announced the tablet decides it wants to do an update, I press 'not yet', it loses sync with the xr never to return. Now we have no sound! 

We had a small old desk with us, so a quick repatch, awful mix, half the monitors not working and that was the first set. My wife went and grabbed my laptop from home so all restored for sets 2 & 3, but still very stressful. 

So, lesson learnt, always have a backup but after tonight I can feel an x touch coming on so we're not dependent on software. 

Ouch!

A little late now, but I carry two tablets when I do the tech stuff for the electronic duo I work with. It used to be an ipad air and a galaxy tab, but I've recently upgraded to a Galaxy Tab S8 ultra for a larger work surface, so I now take 2 Andriods. They both run mixing station, so the interface is about the same, although I've set a custom layer one the S8.

It might be cheaper than buying an X-touch (although I do like those).

1 hour ago, Phil Starr said:

 

The useless bloke is absolutely not useless, he's working hard to solve problems he's not causing himself and approaching things systematically.

 

Those sound levels are scary if accurate. 

 

Female voices aren't usually as loud as male voices and few female singers in my experience have the confidence to pull the mic in closer and really belt it out. Quite apart from which the SM58 has a marked proximity effect which will make her voice sound unnatural as she is singing and instinct will make her push it away. The Laney is rather dull sounding in the crucial mid-range so she won't be getting the detail she needs to pitch and at the mic I suspect the band is more or less at the same level as her voice so turning her up amplifies the mud instead of lifting her out of it.

 

I'm off to a gig in a couple of hours so I'll have a think and get back to you tomorrow. The proper solution for her is definitely in-ears and for the band to turn down but there are a few marginal gains to be had.

I agree with all of this, especially with regard to her using in-ears. I used to struggle with our female vocalist, as she had excessive levels in the monitor, so much so, that no one else on stage ever needed any of her vocals in their monitors.

As soon as I managed to move her over to in-ears, the rest of the monitoring became far more manageable.

@Pirellithecat Have you looked at any eq'ing for the monitors to identify if there are frequencies that are particularly susceptible to feedback? Obviously, it's going to be tricky to do if you're pushed for time on a get-in and it can be a bit anti-social if you're "ringing" out the monitors to eq them. I've just seen that you're on an analogue desk, which is going to make it a little trickier when compared to a new fangled digital one with eq's just about everywhere, however you could put something in-line and used analogue output gear is very affordable nowadays. 

There are also "feedback destroyers" which are either heaven sent, or the work of the devil, depending on your experiences with them.

We (Fine Lines) played at the Leek Blues and Americana festival on Wednesday.

At first we were a little worried, as we hadn't heard anything about ticket sales and there didn't seem to be much advertising. There was also the looming threat of storm Edna, or whatever the current one is known as, so much of the pre-show conversation was taken up with speculation as to how many would show up.

As it turned out, our fears were misguided and we found a well full audience awaiting us. They were all seated at the front, with more standing at the back of the room (which wasn't a problem, as we don't usually get people dancing, unless they're really drunk).

I thought we played really well, although I'll admit to being somewhat biased and there was only one fleeting wrong note, which I managed to style out by looking bemused at the drummer.

The only downside was that there was a group of cared for adults on the front row, who wanted to engage in some vocal audience participation and commentary during the breaks between songs. We didn't realise this at the time, which led to an "interesting" bit of stage "banter", which went approximately as follows:

Person 1: "That's a really great sounding guitar"

Person 2: "What about the bass guitar?"

Person 1: "It's not bad"

Bass Player: "Fcuk off! This is an amazing bass! It sounds brilliant, maybe not when I play it, but still..."

Guitar player: "one, two, three, four.."

In my defence, I tried to be as jovial as possible and I didn't know the particular circumstances of the person I was "talking" to. Still, I do feel a bit of a git.

No photo's yet of us playing, but there is one of us at the chippy, which serves as a reminder to get a hair cut.

15 minutes ago, TimR said:

 

As someone who hires a space, PRS won't talk to us. They say tbe responsibility for the Music Licence lies with the owner of the venue. 

Maybe they just decided we weren't worth the trouble?