Happy Jack

Contact Kris Kedzior on [email protected] His number used to be +44(0)7793 741 759 but that's a few years old and may have changed. In those days he was based in Staines.

At the risk of extracting the urine, why not just recruit the best singer and, if it's a lady, ask her to dress like a bloke? If you're challenged, you can wave the LGBT banner in their general direction.

You'll be struggling if you try to find anything shorter than that!

Wasn't that the fifth album by King Crimson?

I try mate, I try ...

Nice playing but shame the bass is in such poor condition. You'd think that, being an expensive Custom Shop model an' all, he'd take better care of it.

Mission Creep has now set in. I'm looking at buying a tower PC optimised for video editing. I bloody knew this would happen.

As always Russ, you're absolutely right. That's no help.

Update: I like the Vegas interface and tutorial, but now I discover that there's a second level of protection of the 'free trial' version in that you can't render any video lasting more than two minutes. This was not mentioned during the three hours of tutorials that I have just waded through. I suppose I can see where they're coming from, but given that there's already a fixed 30-day lifespan for the trial version anyway, this particular piece of overkill means that they may just have lost a customer. If I can't generate a meaningful video to check that what I think I've done is what I have actually done, then I'm less likely to be investing either more time or any money in paying for a product that hasn't actually been tested!

A very loud extended bass solo is pretty much what the Government have been seeking, in order to persuade people to avoid town centres.

I'll take this opportunity to thank everyone for the shedload of help and constructive suggestions coming my way, and also to mention that I am now following the advice of my very good friend Mr. Rishi Sunak and re-training as a Video Software Engineer. That is, I'm spending hours every day frantically clicking things and swearing at the computer.

How do you feel about scale length? I know that it doesn't bother a lot of people, but my experience has been that every single really good 5-string bass that I've ever owned had (or, more accurately, has) a 35" scale. That extra inch isn't particularly impressive on the E or A, but seems to make a world of difference to the B. So that puts me firmly in the Lakland / Tobias / Mike Lull camp.

Well could you at least fax me some paper then? I'm running low ...

Typo? At £900 rather than £9000 it wouldn't be such a bad deal.

I'm not hearing that at all! A different version, perhaps ...

So I downloaded all 1.6Gb of DaVinci Resolve (free version), extracted & installed the software, and fired it up. It wanted me to create a database, with a password. WTF? OK, so I did that. It offered me the opportunity to add a folder. OK, so I did that too. It lets me 'enable sharing'. WTF? Share what, with whom, and why? Ignored. It allows me to 'optimise'. WTF? Optimise what, and why? Ignored. It invites me to 'create an access key". WTF? Key to what? Why do I need one? Ignored. What it does NOT let me do: Search for media files Bring anything up on screen Playback anything Edit anything Do anything remotely useful And of course there's no on-screen Help or an option to Get Started. With recommendations (above) from both @BigRedX and @Dad3353 it's clear that the software is more competent than I am, but it's equally clear that this is a P155-poor interface and already dangerously close to being uninstalled.

Looking for advice / guidance / suggestions from the Basschat Massive. Please do not tell me to buy an Apple Mac, that's not going to happen. @Silvia Bluejay takes loads of band videos at live (pub) gigs, sometimes at rehearsals, occasionally in a recording studio. It's quite normal for there to be two (or even three) cameras in use, and perhaps also to have a separate audio source. I have absolutely no background in media, video, or editing. I would like the ability to pull in a video from one camera, bring in a couple of cutaways from another camera, and marry up the whole to a single soundtrack. And to do that limited range of processes in a simple manner. The ultimate aim would be publication on YouTube or similar. I'm not looking for a television standard of editing with (virtual) racks of high-end equipment and an unlimited range of effects and processes. In truth I need little more than Cut & Paste, Fade In/Out, maybe the usual Transition effects, but if you think I need more than that then I'm listening. Given that I am a Media Fool, the software needs to be foolproof. Free software is always welcome, but I have no objection to paying a sensible amount (i.e. no 'Pro' licences at $995 each) for a package that will do what I need. For context, I have for years used Freemake Video Converter as a simple Cut & Paste tool, taking a good-quality video from a pub gig, editing out the stuff before and after the song, and then saving as an MP4. On very rare occasions I have also used Windows Movie Maker because that allows me to marry up one video to one external soundtrack. Neither of these programs will let me do things like cutaways. What can you tell me?

Thanks for that graph @BassBunny, hardly a surprise (to me anyway) but it makes the underlying position far clearer. Speaking of which, do you think the ridiculous misuse of graphs employing logarithmic scales is likely to finally die out soon? They have been a great tool in support of Project Fear for the last few months, but presumably they must be discredited eventually?

I paid extra ...

As of nine days ago, Laurence was hoping to receive my new boards in a week or so. Any joy yet @bassadder?

If Action means that you're active, does Passion mean that you're passive? Asking for a friend ...

I'm still puzzled at the emphasis Schaller place on their 'new' (2018) S-Locks being "silent". I have old-style Schallers on at least half my basses, and I really can't remember ever thinking "gosh, what noisy straplocks these are". Yes, they rattle when you pick up the bass and start to sling the strap over your shoulder, but as soon as any weight comes on them they are of course completely silent. I'm not sure whether this should be filed under First World Problems or under Solution In Search Of A Problem.

Loving that 5" leather strap on a 3 lb U-Bass!