teej

[quote name='bethnalgreen' post='668017' date='Nov 28 2009, 09:28 AM']October 5th, 1972 - Hawkwind at the Sundown, Mile End, in London.[/quote]
Ahh, would love to have seen them around then, first time I got to a Hawkwind gig was '76 or 77 at Southampton Gaumont. Fantastic live show, a real all-round experience.

My first ever gig was Deep Purple, '74 (Burn tour, anyway), same venue. I was a little disappointed that Gillan and Glover had split. The support band was 'Elf', who became Rainbow (minus the guitarist, I guess).

It's a relief when it's all done isn't it? And I second the call for beer. I mailed off the audio master CD and the artwork master CD for our third album last friday - went straight to the pub for a quick one (and it was just the one, and quick, as I had to meet the kids from school). I'll make up for that when we get the boxes of product back from the factory!

It took 5 sessions, 4 of them with me setting up the mics and operating the laptop, and one where we had a live room booked with an assistant setting up and hitting the 'go' button! Good-natured he certainly was, and kept out of our way, a good lad. We recorded unamplified upright bass, drums, vocals and guitar (electric) or banjo (unamplified) or harmonica (through the guitar combo) simultaneously, and added guitar, backing vocals, harmonica or percussion to some, not all, of the tracks. As well as playing and engineering I was doing all the artwork (quark xpress and photoshop), so it was a real treat to send it all off to the factory. I don't do the mixing/mastering though - even if I had the experience to do so, I think there's a lot to be said for getting a fresh pair of ears in at that stage.

A slight warp can be fixed by immersion in hot water followed by clamping (but I've never tried). To avoid the warp run a soft pencil over the grooves the strings run on, to help them slide across the wood freely (but I always forget).

[quote name='witterth' post='660731' date='Nov 21 2009, 02:03 AM']oh dont forget to gaffer your fingerdinks if you're" rockabilly rockin"
ouch!! [/quote]

Can't say as I'd go along with that, you really need to toughen your fingers not protect them. Slap technique is my friend: believe it or not a good slap style can be less physical effort than 'conventional' pizz (quotes because all the early jazz/ragtime/blues players would have slapped to get heard, it's the use of amps that enabled bassists to move away from that technique, it ain't rockabilly at all), and it can be a way of giving your hand a rest, transferring much of the work to the arm.

Depending on the gig I'll slap probably 50-80% of the time: I never tape and I don't get blisters. My fingers are tough, but not coarse leathery pads. I often get people wanting to see my fingers and expressing surprise that they're not more calloused - there's more technique involved than brute force and a grin-and-bear-it attitude. Blimey, if it hurt I wouldn't do it!

2 tracks on myspace for now... [url="http://www.myspace.com/jacksonred"]here[/url]

Whoohoo!

Last night I sat with our engineer/producer finishing off the mix, and mastered our third CD - 'Hey Now!', and this morning got the laser proofs of the artwork ready to send to the factory after lunch. All done and dusted! A big relief; I do much of the recording and all the artwork, sit in with the engineer and then send it all off to the factory. Off to Galway on Monday for a welcome break!

The album's a mix of stuff from real oldtime blues (Nobody's Fault But Mine, on banjo, upright and small kit), to Tarantino-esque surf-rock, with jump blues, rockabilly, chicago blues, country blues and New Orleans street grooves in there too.

We used a MacBook Pro, Logic 9 and a Presonus Firepod for all of the recordings. Some (mainly the quieter ones) were recorded at the drummer's house using a matched pair of Rode NT1s to record the room; positioning the kit, unamplified upright, guitar/harmonica amp and singer to create the levels and stereo image, and performing live. Some tracks had overdubs added - second guitar or backing vocals. Another 5 tracks were recorded at Electric Studio, Brighton, in their recording room, using their mics and preamps, and with an assistant operating my laptop and the firepod. Everything close mic-ed and performed live. Some overdubs followed.

I'm very pleased with the sound of all of the recordings, and I think you'd be hard pressed to tell which are which. However, it was much less stressful for me having someone else push the buttons.

Once I get some samples converted to mp3 for the website I'll post a link here...

meanwhile, here's the cover:

Haven't got an ashbory, but I've got a uBass with the pahoehoes on them. I like them so far, but I've never been long enough with an Ashbory to be able to compare. I know someone, somewhere, is selling ashbory strings by the metre (or something similar). I'll see if I can remember where...

... ok, it's just Gs and Ds, but they're here:

[url="http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/ashborystring/"]http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/ashborystring/[/url]

um... my upright doesn't have one.

I live in Winchester and for years I've worked almost exclusively with Brighton based musicians, not deliberate, just worked out that way. With Red Jackson that's not a problem - we don't rehearse: any new material gets worked over in the street in a quiet busking moment (usually first song of the first set) if it's a tricky one; if it's fairly straightforward, familiar or easily described we'll just launch into it. This has the advantage of seeing straightaway whether or not it works (does it make any money?). If not we'll probably ditch it.

However, when I joined The Ukes of Hazzard I found 3 very gregarious, friendly people who love to get together every week and drink wine, chat and play a few songs. It did start to get a bit much, but they realised this and cut down on the rehearsals I needed to be at: they'd work on their vocal harmonies for a couple of weeks, then I'd come down. They also pay towards my travel expenses. Just recently we've taken a big gap for maternity leave, but back to it in December.

Red Jackson do a lot of functions of different sorts - weddings, parties, corporate promotions, charity balls and fundraisers. Much more than we do pub/club/restaurant/venue/festival work.

We're a bit different - we play a mix of blues/rhythm'n'blues from the '30s-'50s with a jazzy, swingy, hepcat feel; and we arrive with minimum kit. We can fit into extremely small spaces and play pretty quietly if we need to (big gigs will usually have a crew dealing with pa, lights etc). Pretty much all our work comes from people who've seen us working as street performers. Most of these will have picked up a business card ('free' from vistaprint, as is most our printed material), and/or bought a CD, and then checked out our website. (OK, so there's three tips - get yourself a good website; promo material doesn't need to be expensive, but you need it, and it needs to be good; and you need a CD).

I wouldn't recommend our approach to everyone: the drummer and I are seasoned professional buskers with over 15 years of experience, and our material is street-friendly. But some of it will apply. Think about presentation. We know several other good busking outfits who are nowhere near as successful as us in this field; certainly material comes into it - our stuff is 'cooler', thus more up-market - but also we're more approachable than, say, 2 guys dressed as hard-core rockabillies complete with facial tattoos, or a soloist going for the 'blues-hobo' look. How you work out your image is down to you, there are threads here about that.

You're entering a field with a LOT of competition, and you'll need an angle to make yourselves stand out. Ours is partly our material - we're not doing the funk/soul/pop covers thing. You are, so what's your angle going to be?

You should find lots of info in various threads here - I don't always agree with some of it, because my band works in a very different way to most (our 'angle') - but for a band starting out and with mainstream (no insult intended) material, much of it will be sound.

Good Luck.

[quote name='cheddatom' post='647302' date='Nov 6 2009, 03:01 PM']what about presonus? There are lots of options.[/quote]
I'm halfway through recording a second cd (our third) on a Presonus Firepod: 8 xlr inputs, phantom power, good mic preamps, a variety of outputs, but no fancy, unnecessary features. Very pleased with the quality we're getting. Vocals, upright bass (mic'ed), guitar (mic'ed cab), small kit simultaneously recorded.

It's discontinued now and replaced with something else. I'll see if I can find it... [url="http://www.dv247.com/computer-hardware/presonus-firestudio-project-24-bit-96k-professional-recording-system--47523"]here[/url].

Had quite a few, where to begin?

To carry on in the celeb vein: how about busking in Guildford, and selling our tape (that was before we had cds) to Alvin Stardust? He was first customer of the day and we didn't have change so he had to go off and find some for us. Similarly, in Guildford looking up and seeing Bonnie Langford throwing cash in the bass case. Met Jack Dee a couple of times (wrapped up in a scarf, hat and shades), Oxford and Chichester - he's an old mate, we met at Comprehensive (no, he's not a public school boy) in our Third Year, and got a band together a year or two later. Nigella Lawson sat right in front of me, not 5 feet away at a gig in 'Ain't Nothin' But...'. Playing Will Young's joint winning-contestant/Mum's-birthday party - probably the worst food we've ever had at a private gig.

Surreal busking events involving non-famous people are so numerous I'd be here all night!

Then there's the strange request from an audience member. This, to a trio consisting of upright bass, slide dobro, and kit with just 2 drums - 'Owner of a Lonely Heart'.

I could be interested too...

About 15 years ago I was filmed busking outside a pub in Brighton - The Kensington Arms - with [url="http://www.myspace.com/tragic_roundabout"]Tragic Roundabout[/url] (fantastic band), for a TV show, Honor Blackman's guide to Brighton. We were all told not to look at the camera, which, of course, made it absolutely impossible not to.

About the same sort of time, and with the now-defunct Swamp Things (my first professional outfit), we were filmed backing Johnny Mars at a harmonica workshop for kids at a school in Chichester. Don't remember much about that, beyond Johnny being a really friendly bloke.

Last year Red Jackson were filmed at a cafe gig we used to do on Avon Beach - results are [url="http://www.youtube.com/redjacksondotcom"]here[/url]. It was a captive, sit down audience, all-eyes on the stage kind of gig, which doesn't usually bother me too much, but I have to say I did feel a bit self-conscious about that one.

A couple of weeks ago we had 2 sets at a 007 themed charity ball filmed professionally and I'm really looking forward to getting hold of that footage.

As a regular, all-year round street performer, I'm constantly having cameras and videocams pointed at me, and I'm sure some of it finds it's way onto youtube, but I've not been able to find any.

Contact them now for a chat and some advise. Despite appearances to the contrary they're only human, and are totally willing to help, in my limited experience.

Underwood pickup, through a Fishman ProEq Platinum preamp into a Yamaha Stagepas 500 pa.

She'd have to go. The instant I gave up music a timebomb of dissatisfaction and resentment would start ticking away, and it would only be a matter of time before the relationship exploded anyway.

Medeski, Martin and Wood. Or Chris Wood's album with his brother - 'Ways Not to Lose', which is very different to MM&W.

For tasteful slapping try 'The Hotclub of Cowtown'.

Switching to upright changed my life, putting me on the path to become a professional musician - an ambition cherished since childhood.

I've hardly touched my Ric 4001 and EB3 in 15 years - I can only recall one gig on electric, when the upright was in need of repair (neck came off after busking on a very hot day - glue just became too brittle and the strings pulled it off).

I do have a CR4M, which I've started to use at home, and have a hankering for a [url="http://www.kalaukulele.com/Ubass_Details.html"]U-Bass[/url], but the acoustic upright will always be my instrument of choice.

Danny Thompson?

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='612899' date='Sep 30 2009, 12:31 PM']Trying to get my head round the idea of a drummer who doesn't feel he needs to provide the drums ...

[/quote]
It's a bit of a shocker, isn't it

[quote name='PaulKing' post='612249' date='Sep 29 2009, 05:36 PM']PS ... see my bass for sale... [/quote]

yeah. had to have a look. nice just lashed out on laptop/mics/software to record album no 3. cleaned out

Ooh... I'd love to come and waste your time trying it, but I haven't the funds to take it off your hands right now.

Glad to hear you say you'd never sell the B&H - I love mine to bits.

I must confess I'd forgotten all about it! I wonder if I'll have remembered my login details by the time it's back online?

I've never used markers, but have a 'rule-of-thumb' approach combined with my not-especially-good ears and what's often referred to as muscle-memory (surely all memory resides in the brain ). I've always tuned my basses, found the harmonics and looked for any variations on the wood at the side of the neck to use as rough guides to the position of those harmonics. This has the advantage that you can't be tempted to use it as a complete substitute for your ears. That and the familiarity of using a favourite bass.