zbd1960

More photos and some sort vids of the sound testing - not me playing https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1hCs4C6m-TZsL4XBN6vBvpoypaSFvsoUV?usp=share_link

OK.... here we go... A custom built Hauptwerk virtual pipe organ. Three manuals, 32 key pedal board. Custom built PC with 128gb RAM, assorted Arduino and MIDI boxes, Focusrite interface, two ARC Studio DSP boxes, 1 pair Neumann 310 inside the cabinet, 1 pair Neumann 120 externally, 1 Neumann sub....

OK.... the two-day installation of the "Bird Scarer" started yesterday... It is an instrument which has been built by a bespoke builder for me... It won't be fully functional until after we've installed all the electronics etc today. I will post more later, but here's a teaser...

Long shot... try recording the sound with various set-ups and then have a session with you all listening to the recording on some decent kit.... Probably overly optimistic. As a long-in-the-tooth hi-fi nut, I know that not everyone hears things the same way.

Two most common rattles on my cello are the end-pin, which is easily sorted, or it's the mute when not applied. The mute is a basic Torte one and when not in use it's slid over teh strings between the bridge and the tailpiece. In some locations it causes a rattle, which menas adjusting how/where it's sitting until the sound goes away.

Generally I eat most things - guitars are probably safe and cables a bit too chewy

As the non rock n roll bassist, I also sing, but I sing in classical choirs - choral societies and chamber choirs... The nearest I usually get to modern music is arrangements for choir of American Song Book stuff. I sing baritone (roughly the two octaves up from the F at the bottom of the bass clef). I'm a very experienced singer and I've been chair of various groups over the years - I know how they run. Anyway, for the last year I've been singing with a local choral society. They have a number of problems.... They have an MD with an inflated ego and it looks like the committee aren't up to challenging him. They don't have a separate accompanist, which is a major hindrance. The main issue though is the tenor and bass sections are weak. The basic cause is a lack of younger voices. At 65 I'm younger than any of the tenors by a large margin and I'm the second youngest bass... None of the other first basses (baritones) is strong which means I feel as though I'm always leading the line. This is where a good MD comes in and works to get people singing out. It makes rehearsals very tough going for me. I have to be on point all the time as if I'm not there's just nothing there. If I go off the rails, which happens (it's easy to come in a third too low or something) I've got no way of fixing it as there's no one else there. If this were a vocal consort with just three or four voices to a part, then that's a different thing, but this is supposed to be a 60+ member choral society. The current repertoire in rehearsal includes complex 8 part a cappella stuff. I've sung all of this repertoire before, so it's stuff I'm aware of. It's obvious that most of this stuff is new to most of the choir who've not sung this rep before. I pushed back to the MD a couple of weeks ago and told him this isn't working. He was very dismissive although words were said at the next rehearsal where it was evident I'd had some impact... The next rehearsal was hopeless. You would never know that there were 9 basses. It's supposed to be fun and this has become hard going. The choir just isn't up to this repertoire (don't get me started on sopranos unable to maintain pitch in the a cappella numbers). I've called it a day.

Hi, welcome

My plans have changed - I have ditched a conflicting event (long story) - so I will now attend and I will bring some kit. I'll probably bring my ACG 4 and Manton 6.

Yes, that was also true. That is exactly why I saw it as pointless everyone soloing every piece as all you got was generally the same solos repeated every time.

As a sax play and someone who has an interest in jazz, one of the things that I get frustrated with going to listen to a jazz gig is the typical way that playing is approached. The typical method is: play the head, perhaps repeat head with some variation/decoration, everyone takes a solo for 16, 32, 64... bars (cue perhaps solo sax, trumpet, guitar, bass, keys, drums...). After 15 minutes of boring the audience to death, return to head and finish. Repeat process with next tune. You do not need to have everyone taking a solo in every tune, but that's what a lot of jazz groups do. They then wonder why their audiences almost no one under 70 in them. I don't go to a lot of jazz gigs, but I've been to enough, first one in my 20s, and they all operate this way. More imagination would go a long way.

It's always the same. I used to have a challenging 55 mile drive to rehearsals for one orchestra in the Birmingham area. My drive was at least an hour and ten and was 50% rural A roads and 50% M54, M6, M5. I was never late, unlike those who lived within 3 miles who'd dribble in

Never rule out complete incompetence...

Bird scarer is probably the nearest....

To continue the 'tease'... There are Neumann studio monitors stacked up on the floor. I have ordered a DSP and associated software. No, it's not a studio....

You do encounter some very good musicians busking from time-to-time. I know several that do busk, mostly to raise money for charity but I do know that they're competent players. The notable thing about the good players is that they're not usually very loud... In the summer months we get a busker who appears in the town centre and he just sits there all day endlessly repeating the same things. This drives the staff in the shops mad. There is an issue I think with amplified busking. The usual issue applies here - whatever laws/regulations exist are woefully out-of-date and not relevant. Most councils haven't got the funds to have an environmental officer wandering around with a calibrated SPL meter. A simple option to help protect the sanity of those who work adjacent to such things is to time limit playing in a location. I'm not sure how easy it is to deal with volume levels.

I have a new music project underway, which I started on nearly a year ago. I'm not going to go into any detail yet - there will be a 'big reveal' in a few weeks' time. The project has involved some electronics and sound equipment, I will say that much.

In a different musical universe... one of the choirs I sing with rehearses Wednesday evenings. I joined them last September. I'm a competent bass/baritone singer - I can sight read to a reasonable extent, but I'm not perfect and not at cathedral lay clerk standard.... I'm finding it tough going though. I have sung all the stuff for the next concert previously, so it's not new to me. The reasons it's tough going are various. I'm not keen on the MD's approach - partly I think he's an arrogant arse. As someone who has been chair of several choirs we'd be having words if I chair here. He doesn't seem to understand that a lot of the choir are not sight-readers. The main issue with the basses is none of them is very strong and they're struggling, not helped by the MD's way of working. I'll do the concert next month and move on, it's not worth the hassle.

Oh yes - one of the Prokofiev pieces went into treble clef as well as tenor - up to the E on the top space of the treble clef... As for the number of key changes - don't ask... lots of them - 5 sharps appeared later.

I was out with the cello last night for an orchestral concert in Carlisle. Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev. Here's the opening page of the first piece. I think the double bass part is similar.

I play viol. I started in bass but play mostly tenor

Oddly, the viola da gamba (viol) which I also play, uses underhand bow. But in the viol world, it's not referred to as 'German' as it was the standard. There are different 'holds' the English one is the one advocated by Christopher Simpson, there is the French Forqueray hold, which mostly differs by rotating the wrist to apply more pressure on the bow hair. With the viol, your middle finger rests on the hair and so rotating the wrist anti-clock adds pressure to the bow hair.

Hi, welcome

As someone who plays bass, and in particular also plays baritone sax (which weighs 8kg) getting straps etc right is important if you don't want neck/back issues in the future. You cannot eliminate the weight of the bass as we have yet to work out how to alter that aspect of physics. With the bari, I cannot take that weight on a strap (I can't with a tenor sax either which is half the weight) as the pressure on the nape of the neck is too much. I also cannot use the usual alternative which is a 'strap' that sits on the shoulders, as it's still too heavy. That means using a harness - there are different types of these, some of which means no weight on neck/shoulders at all (weight is transferred to a hip belt). There are some very expensive options - there is a sax 'stand' that holds the sax in place and you wheel it into position to play (seated). They cost £00s For bass I use 4" wide straps which have substantial padding, which distribute the weight over a larger area. There are harness type straps but I've never used one so I can't say how good/bad they are.

I know.... I keep thinking about upgrading my cello bow. At the moment it's a Durfler bow with pernambuco stick, which was £450 back in 2011. I tried some bows up to £2,000 a few years ago but none 'spoke' to me.... I have a feeling I wasn't looking in the right price range...