EliasMooseblaster

[quote name='flyfisher' timestamp='1389356354' post='2333184'] I'm not convinced about 'right and proper' but it is consistent, which is why I find it curious that we're generally happy to slag off bankers' bonuses while admiring Noddy Holder for making half a million, or whatever, every Christmas on the back of something he did 30 odd years ago. [/quote] Aren't their motives a bit different, though? The general assumption - correct or not - seems to be that the bankers who receive these huge bonuses are simply making money-for-the-sake-of-money, and that they are driven by greed, and the knowledge that if they make the bank richer, the bank will make them richer. Much as I can't stand Slade, most people might assume that Noddy, on the other hand, wrote that song more for the love of the music he was making, and probably didn't envision that people would still be singing along to it at the office christmas party 30 or 40 years later. I'm sure that both assumptions are gross oversimplifications, but it might explain that particular quirk of popular opinion.

Jolly good - as I say, hopefully we'll finish at a vaguely sensible time so I won't be rushing down in time to catch your last song! In the real world I'm know as Ralph; I'll probably be recognisable as the tall, shaggy-haired fellow struggling down the stairs with a Gibson hard case.

How definite is the 10pm stage time tomorrow night? I'm going to be in Farringdon all day tomorrow so the Spice would be quite convenient for me to get to, assuming we don't finish recording at stupid o'clock! If I can get away on time, I'll aim to get there a bit before 10.

Re: that Geordie accent. Imagine if he [i]had [/i]kept it... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaI3WEEnMkQ

Cheers, Andy - I shall give that a go. (Good to know it's not just a problem with my cheap guitar!)

[quote name='Skybone' timestamp='1389091961' post='2329694'] Surely one signature bass that should exist would have to be a Lakland Geezer Butler [/quote] [quote name='Conan' timestamp='1389102131' post='2329891'] Good call! [/quote] I'll second this - especially if it were to look anywhere near as cool as Iommi's signature SG.

[quote name='tedmanzie' timestamp='1389000702' post='2328491'] I couldn't sell my [b]mint[/b] white/maple JV Precision on here for £650, and someone will pay £400 for this! Maybe I need to drag mine around the garden and leave it in the rain for a few days... [/quote] Or maybe you need to get in touch with Raygun Relics... (Am I still allowed to mention them...?)

'afternoon all, Apologies if this one's been covered before, but if I'm honest, it was hard to know what to search for! Is there likely to be any discernible difference in output between a wound and an unwound electric guitar string of the same (or comparable) thickness? I only ask because my guitar's "G" seems to be quiet in comparison to the rest of the strings, most noticeably when playing clean. I recently upgraded the pickups, and although everything sounds better generally, I can still hear the difference in volume. I can't say for certain, but I'm sure I only noticed this problem after moving up a gauge to playing 12s, which typically come with a wound 3rd string, whereas the 11s I was on before were always unwound. (And daft secondary question: presumably I can fix this simply by moving the "G" polepiece up a notch?)

I'm particularly tickled by "Will post to United Kingdom" - can you imagine how much bubble wrap and packing tape you'd need to get that thing onto the front doorstep safely?

[quote name='4-string-thing' timestamp='1388745654' post='2325439'] I'd like to see my own signature bass, the 4-string-thing 4-string-thing! It would be a Squier butterscotch CV 50's P with a neck from the Squier CV Tele Bass. [/quote] Likewise, I look forward to Gibson offering to build a customised SG/T-bird hybrid to my own ridiculous specifications. Though I expect I might have to throw a considerable sum of money at them before anything like that happens...

What are the chances of that? Well done, fellers!

Bugger me, and I thought it was a difficult choice last month! (And apologies for my non-participation this month - I barely had time to sit down and play around with any ideas, let alone to get any inspiration.) Dad: daft as a brush, in the most entertaining possible way. I love the march feel on the drums. Al: gorgeous bass playing - I would expect nothing less from you! Lurksalot: this is a damn site better than the usual barrage of Slade/Wizzard/Cliff Richard/etc that forms the background of every winter. Really nice vibe. Leonard: I love this. I started listening through the final entries yesterday before I got interrupted, and that chorus has been going round my head ever since. Theboy: lovely. Really lovely. As everyone else has said, you could have stretched that one out for a lot longer - but maybe best to leave 'em wanting more, eh? Skol: sinister. Really sinister. I think I might be sleeping with the light on tonight. (If I'm sober enough to find the light switch in the small hours) I still can't decide who to give my vote to...

[quote name='lowlandtrees' timestamp='1387446385' post='2311947'] I think that over the years there has been a slow drive to compress everything to the max and remove headroom. Current pop is not only compressed to death in the recording but the use of dynamics. space and silence in the mix has all but disappeared. Don't get me wrong I love that up front compressed vocal in its place but it is only part of a whole canvass. I can also appreciate a good pop song but I think the mistake that is being made is that they all use the same (probably) digital tools and ......all sound very similar......do I sound like ma da? [/quote] This is a potential issue - you say it was a remaster from 2011? I'm no expert, but you have to remember that it will have been rehashed by a more modern ear, with more modern media in mind. I recently had the pleasure of listening to an original 1970s copy, and comparing this with a recently remastered version. Being unable to get a hot enough signal out of the turntable, my friend decided to switch to the new CD version so that we could at least crank the volume and have our hair blown back by Gilmour's guitar solos. In doing so, we found the remaster really quite unsatisfying - the whole bottom end of it seemed to be too booming, even woolly, and EQing his stereo did little to help. We went back to the turntable and decided that the clarity of the mix/master would outweigh the modest volume we were limited to. So I've gone off on one a bit there, but my point is: does the recording sound dated, or does this attempt to remaster it make it sound dated? I'll freely admit, it does sound "very '70s," as do many other LPs of that era ([i]Who's Next, Paranoid, [/i][i]Zeppelin I-IV[/i])...but then I rather like that sound!

Cheers, fellers! (Sausage, whereabouts are you based?)

(And not an especially novel idea, but I thought I'd give it a shot!) Now that my band (Cherry White) has appointed a new singer, we're very keen to make the best of 2014, and part of that will include trying to perform in every little nook and cranny of the country that will host us for a gig. Of course, not knowing all these places ourselves, we've found that a little local knowledge can go a long way, especially in terms of liaising with decent venues, and promoting the gig to the local populace. Of course, one of the great things about this forum is being able to talk to musicians from all over the UK (and beyond). So, I suggest a simple trade: if your band is happy to invite us to come and open for them at a gig in your hometown, we'd be happy to return the favour down in London. Any takers? (To avoid any unpleasant incidents with clashing genres, you can check what we sound like at https://cherrywhite.bandcamp.com/album/129 )

[quote name='Leonard Smalls' timestamp='1387198406' post='2309188'] Now we're talking... Could be like Total Wipeout, except they'd have to do a good job despite the famous musician they're forced to play with. Like the aforesaid Jools and his insistent boogie oogie woogie, or with Bootsy doing backing bass(!), Hayseed Dixie on backing vox... [/quote] Or, for those of a more orchestral inclination, they'd have to conduct this lot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpJ6anurfuw

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1387212843' post='2309466'] But if like us you sell directly from your web site then an even larger percentage of the price you pay goes directly to the artists. I can see the benefit of Bandcamp for those that don't have (or have access) to the skills required to set up their own selling page on their site, but if even someone with minimal HTML skills like me can do it, then pretty much anyone can. [url=http://www.dickvenom.com/merchandise.html]Our merchandise page[url] took me about a day to set up and most of that was spent generating the relevant PayPal code! [/quote] A very good point - and the reason we've tried to disguise our Bandcamp page to make it look as much like part of our website as we could! I guess the difference is that your merch page is essentially an online order form for physical goods - if people want digital downloads, they are redirected to iTunes or Amazon. I'm sure most people would be fine with that, of course! On the physical front, you're quite right, you keep everything except the Paypal fee; I think the main reason for using Bandcamp was that it was another way to offer downloads to people, and we could do it a bit more "on our own terms" than most other outlets allow us to. When we get round to flogging physical merch online, I'd be tempted to follow your lead and create our own page for that.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1386936089' post='2306562'] LeftyJ, Can you please explain the advantages of Bandcamp because the site themselves seem to be so rubbish at doing it. As a consumer why would I want to buy a download from them when iTMS integrates so perfectly with iTunes and the various mobile music services do the same with whatever mobile device/phone I have? [/quote] There's another advantage which I don't think has been covered here: Bandcamp has a certain "audiophile" appeal. Obviously it gives the impression that you're dealing more directly with the artist when you buy their music (your Paypal payment does indeed go to the artist's account rather than, say straight to iTunes) but also they give you the option to download in a lossless audio format, or a high-quality lossy format of your choice. And the aforementioned "name your price" option does seem to work well for a lot of artists (well, certainly for Steve Lawson!)

[quote name='five-string.co.uk' timestamp='1387210977' post='2309415'] 5 down is incorrect [/quote] Surely it should be [color=#ffffff]phrygian[/color]? (highlight to read!)

[quote name='Leonard Smalls' timestamp='1387192221' post='2309083'] Years ago I invented a battle of the bands TV show presented by Lemmy and Wilko Johnson. No TV companies took it up, the short-sighted gits! It might have helped if I'd actually sent to it someone... [/quote] You really should have - I'd have watched it. One of the knock-out rounds could have involved the contestant having to share a stage with Jools Holland while he insistently played his boogie-woogie piano licks under everything they did.

Not a daft question at all - actually a more complex one than you give yourself credit for, and certainly not one to which I can give a comprehensive answer! A lot of guitarists spend time playing with their volume knobs to find a "sweet spot" where they're getting a satisfactory tone and the right amount of drive out of their (already excessively loud) amp. As bassists, we normally run our basses close to '10' just so we can be heard above them! Joking aside, your volume pot affects the overall resistance of the circuit. Whilst it doesn't have as stark an effect as the tone pot & cap, you should find that the balance of frequencies changes a bit if you back off the volume control. Where this becomes most obvious is when you've got a good overdrive pedal: you can dial back the guitar volume until the dirt all but disappears...then roll it back up, keeping some tissues on hand to wipe the blood from your ears. What you probably can't do is make a Epiphone mudbucker sound like a '50s Fender single-coil. Whether you can, say, make a Stingray humbucker sound like a Jazz pickup, I don't know. Got to be worth a try! (And if not, I guess you can invest in a coil tap!)

[quote name='alyctes' timestamp='1386981054' post='2307273'] I'm for [i]Hall Of The Mountain Grill[/i]. But I never thought Hawkwind were heavy rock, really. Still don't. [/quote] A fair point - outside of this thread I would have called them progressive rock, or, to split hairs, space-rock.

[quote name='Jazzneck' timestamp='1386961000' post='2306947'] Atomic Rooster - Death Walks Behind You. [/quote] Oh, well if we're going down that route then surely [b]Sir Lord Baltimore's [i]Kingdom Come[/i] [/b]deserves at least an honourable mention?

[quote name='dan670844' timestamp='1387019290' post='2307436'] I think it is very possible to gig with this amp, most often I use a LB212, its all about volume on stage, for most bands it is always too loud, you need to work with the drummer and guitarist to get the sound levels down. the singer will thank you and you the band will sound much more balanced and professional. But that is a problem world over, for most bands. [/quote] I'll drink to that! We've been quite lucky with sound engineers for our last few gigs, but previously we've had to get into the habit of telling them "just make sure the audience can hear the vocals!" (Though I think our relatively polite lead guitarist is also a blessing in that respect.)

I don't suppose anyone knows what year Vintage started using Wilkinson hardware? Only, I've got a VS6 (their SG copy) which must be about 10 years old now. I suspect the hardware is not Wilkinson (can't see any logo or decal on the p/ups), and I've toyed with the idea of upgrading the pickups - would I be correct in assuming that a pair of Wilkinsons* would be a good replacement? *not a euphemism