christofloffer

apologies if this is in the wrong section, there isnt a technical bit for the guitar section and i figured this is more applicable. i replaced the strings on my electric guitar today and found an issue. the nut fell off when i had the strings off. this is an issue i have had for about 6 years now as a friend (not much of a friend now) was carrying my guitar and despite my carefully telling him to carry it properly he was swinging it around by the strap and dropped it. after a lot of shouting and a quick exit from the friend i picked up the pieces to find that the nut had been snapped and the selector switch bent. other than a few scrapes that was the worst of it but it has plagued me ever since. i got a new one and glued it down and it was ok for a while but the glue fatigued and came away. then after another repair it was flexing a little when tuning, something which manifested in rapid wear of the nut slots and poor tuning stability. now the current nut has worn the same again and the glue has failed again. so i am thinking of replacing it with something a little more substantial. i am thinking along the lines of a roller nut or a height adjustable locking nut. these would both be screwed in and therefore more reliable and less problematic. my concern with the roller nut is if it would be high enough as the dimensions given in descriptions seem to refer to the overall height and not the height that the string would sit. also i dont know if they are worth it as its two strings to a roller so it would still scrub during tuning. the locking nut is currently my favourite. namely for the sturdy construction and the added adjustment at that end. some people say that they are supposed to be used as well as a normal nut though, so i dont know if it would work. it has only had plastic ones before but they sit at the end of the neck rather than in a slot which is why the glue doesnt work. it has no support at the back it just struggles to stay in place now so a screwed in one would be a better permanent fix. the only issue with the screwed ones is that they would cover a portion of the access to the truss rod. that too has its own issues and seems stuck but i will investigate that as i guess it cant be removed without lifting the fretboard. at which point i may as well get a new neck. thoughts and advice are very appreciated as i am a little stuck without having any experience of either type or anything more than replacing like for like. i am fairly handy so have no fears of the work involved, i just want to do the right job once and not mess about.

i love a bit of floyd, not listened to them much recently but after thinking on this thread i may have to revisit them again. picking a favourite is a tough one as i like so many for different reasons. i used to listen to fat old sun whilst relaxing in the countryside smoking naughty things and being very much at peace with the world, so that always holds a spot for me. atom heart mother introduced me to all kind of ideas. echoes introduced me to patience in music., i could go on all day. there are some barrett era tunes i like but i get on better with the post barrett stuff. if i had to pick one i would say it would be Time. i must have listened to that track hundreds of times and it still gets me now. the composition, feel and skill of it is just astounding. its still a close call but i think that would come out on top most consistently. first time i heard it, it just blew me away.

never gigged myself, never had much inclination to do so either. i attempted to join a band once but it was very clear very quickly that i lacked the intuitive nature to play live. i struggle very much to play through a mistake, and i almost always have to start over and get a good run. i simply enjoy playing for the sake of it. i also play other instruments and record stuff and i i get my kicks from composing and recording. i dont even feel much need to put my recording out there, its only since joining the forum that i have put things out for public consumption. i just really enjoy the process of writing, figuring and arranging a tune, then the work of getting a clean take. i also get a lot from the freedom to try new styles and approaches which i dont think i would if i was playing in a band. i think that if i was gigging then i would just end up practising the set more than learning and experimenting. that is just how my brain works. there are a lot of things that other musicians i know can do that i cant get the grip of.

Ok, i think this is about as done as it will ever be. featuring my new home made fretless, and a style largely unfamiliar to me but fun nonetheless. just a short little ditty for Halloween. https://soundcloud.com/christofloffer/happy-hour-in-the-jazz-club-of-the-damned-1 just updated as there was an irritating level issue with the second guitar so i reigned it in a little.

[quote name='Mornats' timestamp='1474388957' post='3137610'] You'll hate my entry for this month's composition challenge [/quote] i dont dispute that those sounds have places and uses. its just that the film music industry seem to have gone "ooooh! a new toy!" and shoehorned them into as much as possible and made them as loud as possible to show them off. i tried watching interstellar with headphones and nearly blew my eardrums out despite being unable to hear the dialogue. to my mind a good soundtrack should be almost entirely forgettable until after the event. at the time it should be subtle and make you really engage with the film. film scores that become iconic are usually done so by association with an iconic film/scene. it should be a whole package. as it happens i dont dislike your tune this month. the first section reminds of the playstation game "alien trilogy" soundtrack, which was one of my favourite games as a kid. there are certainly sections of the second half that are a bit more that way but its much more balanced and rhythmic. the strings may be chaotic but they follow a pulse and rhythm, whereas the insidious strings dont and are just noise. i could easily imagine it being quite effective in a horror flick.

that was pretty interesting. i have been trying to record little soundtrack style tunes recently. i got tired of longer tunes as they all sound really similar without any lyrics, i still mess about with them but i can do a 2-3 minute soundtrack idea in an afternoon and move on to another idea. i really enjoy putting a tune to a particular emotion or picture/scene. i am not that good at it yet but its much more my cup of tea than a complete tune thats always left wanting for lyrics. i do like the old symphonic soundtracks but they are far beyond my scope of use as i just get baffled by the scale. nonetheless they are effective and i dont think it matters if they are truly original or not as they are there to serve the picture, not necessarily as a standalone piece. i prefer the more modern methods. it does lose a sense of grandeur at times but it can be beautiful and subtle. my favourite modern soundtrack would be the nick cave/warren ellis one for the assassination of jesse james, i could listen to that all day. the only bits of modern soundtracks that i honestly loath are those godawful tortured strings like the ones in insidious which just sting my ears, and that obnoxious bassy swell like the one in interstellar/dark knight/inception etc etc that has made me fear the opening scenes of many modern films. they would be fine in moderation but they are just exaggerated and irritating.

i think i would say yes it does, except not simply because of the physical diameter of the wood. a thicker or thinner neck surely allows or encourages different holds and then variations on finger placement and strength. i find my old cheap bass with a thicker neck lends itself to a much more thumpy feel and i naturally grip tighter, but my newer yamaha has a thinner neck and i find it much easier to play fast and i dont grip so tight. i know its largely down to me but its wasnt even a consideration until i read this thread and got thinking and had a play of each to see. the same goes with my guitars, i really struggle to play intricate fingerpicking on my electric but the acoustic is a world of difference. my friend even calls my acoustic "the bus" because its a chunky thing. physically speaking, different woods have different characteristics at different thicknesses. easily observed with handmade archery bows. oak is a lovely sturdy timber but its terrible for a bow as it just gets weak when its thin, but yew is one of the best (if not the best outright) as its can be made much thinner yet retain strength. so to various degrees i would imagine it would have some bearing on a bass neck. i think it would be more of a difference between different woods at different thicknesses, combine that with the player comfort and preference then i would imagine it could easily affect tone. but then, i am not a luthier and i have not played that many different basses.

yeah, i just dont get on with computer stuff that well generally. i dont knock people who do get on with it though, i just struggle. it always ends up feeling like actually playing the instrument is less important when i start editing out small mistakes or pasting together sections. i always feel much more satisfied with myself when i have got down each section enough to get a reasonable take. slow and fairly neolithic but it keeps it fun for me, but then i am largely a technophobe. doesnt stop me enjoying and admiring other folks tunes and what they can achieve with digital gear though. if i can suss out the EQ better and produce things better so that they sound clearer then i will be chuffed. thats why i always try to put something in each month, its keeps me focused on improving all aspects.

ok, looks like i am first in. i have gone for a sombre and patient approach after last months exuberance. i have not been in a great place mentally recently so i tuned in with the pictures quite quickly. it originally had a cacophony of whispers backing the whole thing but it went off in some really dark tangents and in the end i decided it was not fit for public consumption and took it out. i like to think that i am getting better at the mixing, i certainly took a bit more care over this one. its not perfect as usual but i dont like to over edit or use plugins so it doesnt worry me that it has rough edges. https://soundcloud.com/christofloffer/chemical-imbalance

when i was in year six i had no intention of playing music at all. i said i wanted to be a fighter pilot or paleontologist (i know, a strange combination), it wasnt until i was leaving secondary school that i began to actually listen to the music and got interested in doing it for myself. before that all i was interested in was pop and what everyone else thought was good so i didnt develop any real taste of my own until later, i think that is true of most kids at that point. given that the kind of pop aimed at kids is largely about the singer and not who writes or plays the music its hardly surprising that it declined. on the whole i think its simply been put on the back burner since digital tools have taken over. back in the day you had to find a physical copy of a tune you liked and personally go to a gig to see a band, now it can be done from youtube in seconds so kids have much less invested in it and as such, less interest. doesnt mean that they will stay disinterested though, maybe they wont want to be famous for it but a lot of folks pick up an instrument later on.

ok so i took the plunge a hauled the frets out of my old bass. it wasnt a great bass to begin with and its worth nothing really but it was my first one so i figured i had nothing to lose but potentially give it a new lease of life. i was given a rather nice yamaha which took over all duties (mostly as its far superior) with practice and recording which left the old one languishing in the corner. so i pulled the frets, which was harder to do than i expected thanks to some erratic glue use in construction, got some light coloured sawdust from the woodworking shed and filled the frets. this gave me the fret lines to use as landmarks, which is something i am glad i did. after a good sand down it feels quite nice to play. i have been messing about with it and i am finding it quite fun. i have a set of flatwounds on it and i quite like the sound, it does things that the other one doesnt so its got potential to be useful in recording again. i spent a while homing in the intonation, which was harder than i was expecting. then i started wondering if the neck relief or action should be any different. its not clattering around during playing so i dont think its too close or anything but unless i really smack a string or slide it doesnt have too much of that fretless sound. its there but its subtle. it was fun to slide for about five minutes but i am liking the little touches more, like just a slight vibrato or a tiny slide into the note to add some texture. so any tips on set up, common mistakes to avoid or even interesting things to learn right off the bat would be very appreciated.

ok, i got mine done as much as its going to be. https://soundcloud.com/christofloffer/organised-chaos i rather enjoyed this one. its not very complicated but its was fun to do. i found it rather nostalgic as it is much of what i was into when i was younger. i found it reasonably hard to play as i havent played with a pick much and not at any kind of pace for quite a long time. its really surprising the difference between using a pick on a guitar and a bass. either way, it was a refreshing change from my normal style and folks around here seem to like it so maybe you guys will too.

ok, well i have something started. i was getting a punky vibe so i thought i would go with that. i am hopeful for the tune, should be considerably more lively than my usual fare. i am struggling a bit playing with a pick but i cant move my fingers fast enough to keep up. its been quite a while since i tried a pick and i cant get the damned thing to stay still. i will get there hopefully.

well i did something. still couldnt get it right but it close enough for jazz. i would have loved to get it like it sounds in my head but something is missing and it just winds me up trying to suss it out. i will return to it later and attempt to expand a little but probably not for the comp. too busy, too hot and not in the right mental space. still its something and i always want to get something in. i did attempt to play with texture a bit with the mix and pan automation. i think it is best off on headphones or speakers that are well apart. i am not sure its right as i think its a little unbalanced but i like the idea so i will practice with that one. as usual its instrumental and short. very repetitive though, it did have another section to break it up a bit but it just made things worse to record. i did almost put a "mornats special" at the end which was just a deliberately poor bagpipe section, but i resisted. https://soundcloud.com/christofloffer/bc-mist-and-mountains

i have something in mind myself. it is a half done idea from a previous month that sprang immediately to mind when i saw the photo (great pic by the way). however i am having a annoyingly hard time trying to record it. all the parts are there but the actual recording is frustratingly difficult for some reason. hopefully i will get a good run at it and finish it up.

right then, i got something done. i have a pile of half done ideas that i got tired of so i just took the bits that i had fun playing from them and threw this together. its rather basic and has very little to do with the pic. the original idea of electrofunk just died in the water as it was just too similar to last months effort. i think i like this one for its simplicity and rough edges though, i always try to polish things up but in the absence of a good idea this was just fun. hell its better than nothing and i like to get at least something in each month as it keeps me progressing. word of warning to those who frequent the higher volumes, it starts all of a sudden as i couldnt think of an intro. [url="https://soundcloud.com/christofloffer/the-bristol-zombie-strut"]https://soundcloud.c...ol-zombie-strut[/url]

must say i am struggling with this one. i have some kind of electro/industrial funk going on but i just have drums and a foray into slap at the moment. just cant find a good accompaniment for it as yet, nothing seems to fit. hopefully i will stumble onto something soon though.

i couldnt get CDex to work, i either found downloads that were loaded with viruses or it just failed to install. which is a pity as it looked useful so i may keep messing and try to find what the issue is with installing. i have seen dropbox things before, never used it though. i will have a look into that. as for using another DAW, i had a cursory glance at reaper but i get really annoyed with demo versions. its bad enough with the sonar thing and figuring ways around what is usable or not. it takes me a long time to learn how to use them so i am reluctant to throw another one into the mix. it did however make me think about working along the same line. i used to use audacity for years and i rather liked it for its simplicity. so i found it out and just transferred a WAV file from sonar and exported it as MP3 from audacity and it works perfectly. plus i dont have to learn how to do anything as i am already comfortable with how it works. so that is the way i will do it from now on, or until i find a better thing. its also a little bit of a last chance to tweak the tune as a whole using the effects in audacity. there seem to be more in there that i can use as the sonar ones appear in the lists but dont seem to be usable. its a pity i cant warrant the cost of a full decent DAW but being as it doesnt earn me anything i am compelled to spend money on other more pressing matters. maybe soon enough i can get myself set up better though. thanks for the input guys.

just through my stereo speakers i cant really tell much apart on them. i'm sure with some really good quality gear there would be more of a variation but i was straining to pick up much difference. if anything i would have said that the second one was slightly easier to pick out different parts but i couldnt hear enough to pick it over the other.

right, so i had a major system error on my computer and had to do a system restore. needless to say it has played havoc with many things, but thankfully my recordings were unaffected. i did however have to reinstall sonar LE and the drivers for my Boss pedal. so i got on to recording again and now it seems that sonar doesnt remember the Lame MP3 encoder. it used to work perfectly and was my go to thing but i cant get it to configure it now. the program is definitely there and in the same folder it was before, but when i fill the box in to configure it into sonar i click save and it just deletes the name from the friendly name box and doesnt do anything. i am rather stuck now and despite following various guides on getting the two programs to speak to each other i just get the same issue. i tried asking on the cakewalk forums but i just got ignored. if nobody knows how to get around that little monstrosity is there an easy to use and free mp3 encoder around that isnt just a demo of something which runs out almost immediately? i tried a couple before but they were complicated to use and always demo versions. i uploaded this months comp entry as wav so its all good for that, but i tried to send a few tracks to a friend in an email and it said that even one was too big. i used to send several at a time so i guess mp3 is a smaller file size (obviously not very clued up on technical ins and outs here). help is much appreciated as always.

right then, this is mine. i dont know if it works with the picture very well, i dont think it does really. it would have if it had carried on as it started but it sort of went off track and i wasnt really having much luck with any other idea so i just ran with it. its also a little rough as i have been told that i tend to work song to death. apparently people like my tunes more before i have re-recorded parts to work out the flaws, so i am trying to take it on board and just leave things as they stand before i get too far down the rabbit hole. at the start it was really industrial-electro feeling, but i couldnt find a bassline to suit and it took on a more funky approach. it was a really strange thing to play for me too as the two bass parts were almost in different times, dont know if they are as i am not good with that side of things, so it was trying to switch between tight on the drums and then off beat. i am not unhappy with it though, i think its more interesting than my usual fare of attempted atmospherics. plus its the first outing for my new bass, which i am loving. https://soundcloud.com/christofloffer/the-opressors-new-groove i also took mornats advice and recorded everything much quieter so that i could turn things up rather than down. seems to work as i think things are clearer.

well, i am not sure quite what it is that i am recording so far. its rather like industrial electro funk blues. wasnt at all what i had in mind when i started but i am finding it a curious avenue so far, so i will keep going down this particular rabbit hole for now. not far off going into the tweaking phase now.

well they tightened up nicely. i thought they might but its always better to ask in my opinion, it all too easy to dive in and make a mess of things. now i know in future too. they are all the right way round, he had just taken the little screws out of the back (with the strings slacked off) and rotated them in behind the head so that they werent stuck out. the only niggle now is that it has round-wound strings on, feels very strange after the flats on the other one. different scale lengths though so i cant swap them over, besides i might just leave them on. perhaps try out half-rounds instead, its a little zingy for my tastes as it is but maybe it would be better to meet halfway and leave the flats on the other one. hmmmmn, decisions decisions...................

right, question one is a (i would assume) simple one. i just got given a new bass, a yamaha rbx260. must say, i am rather liking it so far. its very different to my first one but not in a bad way at all. i think its all pretty good set up wise, it is certainly playing nicely but like i said its very different. the pickups are wonky, not sure if that is normal as i have not had a precision before. they are higher in the centre and slope off in opposite directions. it seems to be no issue whilst playing and its nice and clear through the amp. my main question though is about the tuners. they were unscrewed for delivery and swung in to avoid damage, which was fine but they have a rattle. the washers under the nuts on the peg side are loose. to look at i would assume its just a case of tighten the nut up but i am not sure. i am a mechanic by trade and i am only too aware of how much damage can be done by over tightening. so do i just try and nip them up or is there a procedure to follow? second and possibly more foolish question. the old bass is not very good. it was a present but its basically worthless in money terms. i always said that when i got a better bass i would play around with the old one. i have always found the idea of a fretless tempting, but i dont really have spare funds for things like that at the moment. so it got me thinking how feasible it would be to simply file down the frets to the height of the fretboard. would that work? its obviously appealing to have a free fretless, but if it kills the neck then its not really worth it. it has a bolt on neck so it could be changed later if i dont get on with it. i'm not diving into anything, just mulling it over.

ok, the sad song didnt quite come together properly. so i have gone for the slightly more lively (for me anyway) one as it felt more complete. it is rather in need of a lift in the second part but i just couldnt get a lead line to sound right and i still refuse to sing. i might still get one in before the deadline but i am not that hopeful. i tried to create something i bit more balanced this time. so i gave each track its own EQ (only realised i could do that this month) to set each track apart. i also made use of the automated panning to add a bit of texture. the idea was to capture the feeling of standing on top of a ramp on my skateboard, which i always found terrifying. i could only assume its akin to the feeling those snowboarders must have at the top of a mountain. so the first part uses two tracks with alternating panning to try and get the queasy feeling, and the second part is supposed to be how i felt when i actually went for it. though i did use some poetic license and didnt include the crunch into the floor that usually followed after trying to ride a ramp. i am not all that sure that it sounds like all that, but its what i was going for. https://soundcloud.com/christofloffer/a-short-fall