Leonard Smalls

I'm kind of tempted by a Launchpad, possibly pro... But perhaps I'll do the unthinkable and read the manual on my Novation first to see if it'll actually do what I want first!

<p>[quote name='Lord Sausage' timestamp='1479399162' post='3176265'] Hard to tell on my sh*tty speakers. [/quote] </p> Sounded pretty good on my crappy computer speaks! Worryingly good.. But luckily it'll have to be disqualified due to being 15 seconds too long.

Has anyone used a grid controller, such as Novation Launchpad, or Ableton Push, or N.I Maschine for mixing? I'm wondering if there would be an increase in functionality over the basic controller on my Novation Impulse keyboard? Are they intuitive? Is it wise to use an extra mix surface such as a Launchcontrol, or just buy an Akai APC40/2? Or are they only any use for completely electronic music and bangin' tunes, man?

I've been looking at the Yams too... Twas somewhere between them, the Events and the Adams. However, I may well spend the money on an Ableton controller like an Akai APC40, plus a Behringer 250W power amp, then see how well my 1.1m high Leemas with bass down to 28Hz (-3dB) work as a nearfield monitor!

Time for some most excellent free improv with the Philly funk section of Jamaaladeen Tacuma and Calvin Weston groovin' with The Master, Derek Bailey... [MEDIA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOGdAFxe9_0[/MEDIA]

Here's a quick one from me - didn't have time to record lyrics or roll it in more than one layer of glitter! Still, the trusty Wal gets to pretend it's all sorts of other things.... [url="http://soundcloud.com/dredd-and-the-badass-weed/bird-brain"]http://soundcloud.co...weed/bird-brain[/url]

[quote name='Mornats' timestamp='1478437707' post='3169014'] The HS7s are a descendant of the HS10s so they're harsh (as a monitor should be?) and not for general listening or enjoyment of music. [/quote] A monitor should be as flat as possible between its frequency extremes if it's to be "perfect"... NS10s had a particularly lumpy frequency response in order to highlight certain areas, like vocals - this is why they sounded harsh. If you could get something to sound OK on these they'd sound fine on just about anything else! But because of their poor lower end response and general screechiness many folks would do the majority of their mixing on something that wasn't quite as tiring to listen to and just test final mixes on them. I understand the HS7s (and 8s) are nowhere near as fatiguing, so you won't come away with a terrible headache!

I think the reason you're not hearing any bass from the M-Audios is because there isn't any! Some manufacturers will give a quoted frequency range that's completely meaningless; if they say 56Hz - 20kHz does that mean flat? Or are these the -3dB, or -6dB or -10dB points? And what's the gradient of the frequency graph below the lowest alleged frequency? With my hifi speakers they're -3dB at 28Hz and -6dB at 18Hz... My problem is that in my new studio room, the hifi speakers and enormous amp are just too large, so I'm going to be going for some similar monitors; I've only looked at frequency graphs and reviews as I've got no chance of listening to them, but I've narrowed it down to Adam A7X (~£900/pair), Presonus Eris e8 or e66 (£4-500ish) or Event 20/20 BAS. All are front ported (which means they'll work against a wall), all will happily play bottom E, and all have sufficient amplifier oomph to go loud and still accurately reproduce bass, and all have an even frequency graph. I've discounted the Yams, simply because of unpleasant memories of the NS10. A full day listening to them would send you mad! I'm tending toward the Events, because if they're anything like the Event Opals at just over £2k - which I gather they are - they'll be a steal at the price.

Everything's funky, bubba!

[quote name='Lord Sausage' timestamp='1478278416' post='3168155'] there is no image there for me again [/quote] It's a bloke with dirty hands doing terrible things to a bird... In a tank.

Ta! With the bass whammy you can do both Bootsy and Eddie Hazel just by depressing the pedal!

Looks like The Funk to me!

I started with a Marshall lead/bass 100w tranny amp and 4x12 no name cab back in 1986. The amp was a bit rubbish - wouldn't go loud cleanly and the distorted sound was not very good either. So I went and bought a Marshall Jubilee 300W head in about 1991, and someone gave me an enormous 1x15 Yamaha cab. Then I had a 4x12 stacked on top of the 1x15 with the Marshall in flight case on top of them - I could just about reach the knobs! Then I got sick of the 4x12, and kept the 1x15 but replaced the speaker with an EV, and later a Precision Devices. And most importantly, put some huge industrial castors on the cab. Still sounds great in an old-skool sort of way though there is top end. But recently I bought a Markbass 2x10 for smaller gigs (it's the same size as my flighcased Marshall and weighs half as much!), but it also works as part of a stack for showing off with.

Recent festival - the Magic Saxophone Fest...

I done a little short one featuring my new toy! http://soundcloud.com/leonard-smalls/funkwhammy-noodles

[quote name='MoonBassAlpha' timestamp='1477485296' post='3162521'] Anyone else noticed the plethora of flat 5ths this month? [/quote] I prefer The Devil's Interval...

[quote name='lowdown' timestamp='1477405495' post='3162016'] Haha.....Brilliant. Although I should think for some on this board, it's a Halloween Nightmare. [/quote] 11 bass faces, far too many notes... What's not to like?

The pinnacle is something that there's no way in this world that I could even come near to... Something like Stan's "School Days". Here he is, with some friends! [MEDIA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdRG-hD5ZKo[/MEDIA]

[quote name='MisterT' timestamp='1477395287' post='3161911'] You got me searching there cos I was a fan of Nightmares on Wax (Warp records, all that) - just found it was Nightmares [u]in[/u] Wax. I had no idea Pete had done this, you learn something new everyday. RIP. [/quote] Oops! When you get to my age your memory isn't quite... Now what did I come in here for?

I remember seeing him in about 1980 in his earlier band, Nightmares on Wax, and later when Wayne Hussey was Dead or Alive's guitar man... He also used to come to a niteclub we frequented around 1981ish - Oliver's in Chester. He got quite a kicking off a local hardman!

Can't get more Wal-ey than this! [MEDIA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKNSkprZVvo[/MEDIA]

[quote name='thebrig' timestamp='1476609215' post='3155521'] For a small town of just 12,000 people, Bridgnorth is a great place for live music with plenty of pubs having live acts on most Fridays and Saturdays, and you do get a few folk evenings and acoustic acts on during the week as well. [/quote] Compared to Clun, Bridgenorth is Bright Lights Big City! Though there is often a bluesy sort of band on a Friday eve in the pub, and I once booked Wilko Johnson to play at our village hall! But otherwise, I've been near "The quietest place on Earth" for 14 years now, and it seems like many just come here to die... If I wasn't so lazy I'd spend more time in Bishops Castle, which even has an Alternative Electronica Festival; no doubt there'd be more like-minded folks there. Still, I'm moving very soon closer to the thriving metropolis of Knighton where there's at least a decent guitar shop - so long as they're not all Clapton-a-likes I'll be OK!

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1476452185' post='3154456'] I'm always slightly suspicious of musicians who say they can't find a suitable band or other musicians for them to play with. Unless you live out in the middle of nowhere it should be fairly straight forward? Certainly from my perspective, as a bassist of below average ability, who has very strict rules about what types of music I want to play and who lives in a place that while being a decent size has never really had a serious music scene of the likes of Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield, Birmingham, Glasgow, Edinburgh etc. I have never had a problem finding bands or other musicians who want to play music that I like to standard worth bothering with and then get out and gig. [/quote] I had difficulty finding a band locally... As I only play a couple of times a year with the Weeds (we're spread widely - Languedoc to West of Ireland!) I've been trying to find locals to play funky, rockin', jazzy out-there grooves but can only find folkies or older chaps wanting to do 70s pub rock, both of which would cause me to go postal... I finally found some local jazzy funkers - they want to do standards mainly but are quite happy for these to at least[i] become [/i]unrecognisable - but the guitarist is out of action for 6 months due to hospitalisation! Having a similar population density to Shetland (I'm near the Welsh Border in South Shropshire) means there's not many people around, and those that are musically inclined seem to have been drawn here by the likes of June Tabor who lives just down the road, and the Small Faces farm a few miles north! So I often have to play with myself at home... Who needs a guitar when you've got a bass whammy!

Being a bit full of cold gave me a chance to finish my happy gothic ditty: https://soundcloud.com/dredd-and-the-badass-weed/voices Twas made with some guitar and some beats by The Weeds guitar man, but the majority of guitar-y noises are made with my new toy, a Bass Whammy pedal... It does The Funk as well - watch this space!

[quote name='pete.young' timestamp='1475925685' post='3149804'] I think that performance of Hard Times by Madeleine Peyroux was probably the worst live performance I've ever heard on British TV, and when I started watching there were only 2 channels. [/quote] I was most impressed when she sang "Everything I do gonh be funky", when in actual fact it appeared that every she do not gonh be at all funky even if you stretched the meaning of funky to include the like of Steeleye Span and the Wurzels... She is The Anti-Funk!