Leonard Smalls

[quote name='Skol303' timestamp='1460455897' post='3025806'] Next time I buy a pair of monitors [i](which will be in the distant future...)[/i], I'll probably save up for a pair with a sealed/portless cabinet - i.e. no bass port. [/quote] It's all swings and roundabouts... Theoretically, a sealed box will deliver "better" bass, as it's all coming from the driver - unless it's designed to resonate in specific ways... However, a poorly-designed sealed box will be shown a clean pair of heels by a ported/transmission line/resonator of good design. The problem with a sealed box is that in order to get extension, you need size... My Leema Xaviers - designed by a chap I used to work with at the Beeb - manage -3dB at 28Hz using one 6.5" (Scanspeak) bass driver (pistonic excursion of more than 25mm!), in a box 105cm high and 25cm wide by the use of an enormous 100mm port in the front. However, they're still quite big, need an amp, and would still set you back over a grand 2nd hand! But if you want sealed box active, aren't worried about WAF (wife acceptability factor!), and max bang for the buck, I'd recomment [url="http://www.gear4music.com/Recording-and-Computers/Event-Opal-Active-Studio-Monitor-Single/BGS?origin=product-ads&utm_campaign=*PLA+Shop+-+All+Products&utm_medium=vertical_search&network=google&adgroup=**All+Products&merchant_id=1279443&product_id=14860d1&product_country=GB&product_partition_id=62124249557&gclid=CLKDzoWCicwCFUgq0wodpBcHCQ#full-des"]Event Opals[/url]. They sound most excellent indeed, but are £2300/pair with bass down to 35Hz. Or if you want WAF, serious wireless design, 750W plus bass down to 16Hz in a tiny package, Devialet Phantoms ar around £2800 a pair!

[quote name='the boy' timestamp='1460388808' post='3025251'] I know what you mean.... There isn't a lot in either to inspire. The "Jono" pic is quite a personal thing and the video is a bit stop start to provide any rhythm. I'm gonna persevere as well. There is something about the "Jono" pic that's making me feel rueful. Rueful is the exchange student intern here at work. He doesn't mind. He knows it's in the interest of Art, dammit man......, [/quote] I've done something about the spirit of the adventure - basically in praise of the crazy fools! However, it's 56 seconds longer than the video, so I've downloaded ShotCut (good piece of kit, btw - open source and free...) - the question is do I have time to learn how to use it and edit more footage in? Either way, it's funky and only needs minor tweaks (some would say my dad rap could be tweaked out altogether!).

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1460054491' post='3022213'] . Jono is represented by the trombone and vibraphone; I hope it's a good match..? [/quote] He wouldn't have cared either way - he always seemed to enjoy loud AC/DC. But he's barely in my song, apart from a passing allusion to an "air dog". But Machiavelli and Jean - Claudia Killy both get a mention!

John-oh. Or Fluffster. Or Furrypants-boy. Or Gerroutthebloodyfridgeyertheivinmutt!

[quote name='christofloffer' timestamp='1460046395' post='3022087'] i "sad songs about dogs dying" [/quote] Here's another Jono pic for your inspiration... He was 18 when he died, so he did quite well - he was still coming mountain biking with me (on his own downhill rig) until 2 weeks before he snuffed it, so he can't whinge (literally!).

So far I've done slappy funk complete with 70s phased drums, wah-ed guitar and a Fender Rhodes... And there's a verse and a half of lyrics, with a provisional title. Haven't decided whether to stick with the Northern Poet, or do some Sad Dad Rapping. "Singing" is probably not a viable option!

[quote name='RalphDWilson' timestamp='1459949295' post='3021148'] I have the Adam F5s . [/quote] For £310 a pair that sounds like a bit of a no-brainer! I always fancied a pair of Adam Tensor Gammas, but couldn't afford them...

[quote name='Skol303' timestamp='1457780460' post='3001706'] I only have experience of using Mackie monitors, but I'd certainly recommend them. [url="http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/oct11/articles/mackie-mr-mk2.htm"]http://www.soundonso...ckie-mr-mk2.htm[/url] I have a set of MR8 and they're very good - albeit probably too large for the room I work in. You can pick up a pair of MR5 (mk2) for around £200. [/quote] For some reason I've never really got on with Mackies - I've found them to be a touch harsh in the treble, which means you might mix down higher frequencies, then it'll sound a bit "shut in" on other speakers/phones. This was brought home to me in a big way recently; we recorded our single in a studio in Sheffield which had large Mackie monitors and a sub. It all sounded quite impressive there, but getting it home onto my much more revealing system (Bryston/Leema/Ditton) showed that both low bass and treble were definitely down (I checked it on a Stax headphone system and some ATC active 150s) leaving a somewhat thin and overly polite actual sound... Though that was likely to have been an issue with relative speaker/sub balance - an issue quite easily sorted with some DSP - it didn't endear me to the Mackie brand! But I have always had a liking for Adam monitors...

I use Ableton... I've never bothered consolidating clips automatically to 0dB - I like to set volumes individually both by ear, and by looking at the outputs. I've also always used - until last week! - the Ableton audio fx compressors, in particular the Aggressive Kneeless Compressor - this allows different levels of compression at different frequencies (just about!) which works very well for bass. I also use the Fast limiter, and often a bit of reverb on bass tracks which helps it cut through drums. Being ex-BBC I also take a lot of care for the master output to never exceed 0dB (you can tell what the max level of each track including master from the mix window) as digital distortion and clipping is horrible! I do find that this sometimes means my levels might be lower than some other folks mixes, but it also means that any distortion on the track has been added by me (unless I just haven't noticed it - when you get to my age etc)

[quote name='Roland Rock' timestamp='1459695328' post='3018672'] *Hey Leonard, hope to be playing Green Meadows fest so see you there! [/quote] Excellent! When are you on? We're after the puppet show and balloon sculpture on Sunday

Me Shropshire too, though in the robber country of the south...

Looks like your lyrics are sorted! Stick something funky and zoomy under that, with just a hint of dogs barking and Tom's yer uncle!

[quote name='Rikki1984' timestamp='1459635563' post='3018328'] If it's any use to you the video is just of 2 people snowboarding down a mountain. [/quote] Aye, it's just of 2 French women snowboarding down a mountain. With ice-axes... It's waaay rad, dude! Or in French "C'est super cool!"

You'd never have got anywhere near any of the ladies if Jono had been Belle!

Jono wouldn't have approved of that... He only likes Bach. And when in lighter mood, Offenbach. Though he did have a soft spot for Iggy's "I I wanna be your dog"and of course, George Clinton's "Atomic Dog",though he worried about nuclear war.

[quote name='Skol303' timestamp='1459511790' post='3017262'] Here you go. This is apparently the [i]actual[/i] photo of Mornats handing the Supercharger plug-in over to Mr Smalls (obtained via Reuters news agency). Good to see they both made the effort and scrubbed up for the occasion, eh! [/quote] Fixt!

I don't know how to embed the Facebook vid without getting into html, but the theme of this month is crazy dogs (my sadly departed ex-mutt, Jono), snow (some in the lane above my house 3 years ago this week!), and crazy French girls, also in the snow... I can envisage "woohoo" Blur type stuff, sad songs about the death of a dog, free jazz epics celebrating the randomness of snow drifts, struttin' disco grooves about "having a good time, all the time" (copyright Spinal Tap!), or acoustic ballads about being scared stupid!

Lawks! A song about a serial gufmeister wins! I'd like to thank my public, and my ma and pa, and ([i]d[/i][i]rones on emotionally for 4 hours)[/i] [i]​[/i]

Our band are playing our first ever outdoor festival this year, though we played (indoors) as part of Sheffield Tramlines fest last year. We're way down the bill, but at least we're above the Bouncy Castle! (we're the Badass Weeds, btw) http://www.greenmeadowsfestival.org/line-up-3/

S'funny that spell check changes "improv" to "improve"! It's obviously bourgeois reactionary software designed to oppress the working man by stifling his creativity (in a non-sexist way wot with referring to me, and me being a bloke and not a 15 year old girl from Wisconsin, honest!)

Cheers Douglas! As you rightly say, much more thought went into the lyrics than the music; I'd been listening to "Gimmix" by John Cooper Clarke on orange, plectrum shaped vinyl! Excellent write up, as ever, and I'm pleased you like it. Obviously I'll have to return to tuneless free improve next month...

Luddite! That's proper science, that.

Chas and Dave... They were excellent - and a Wal was involved!

[quote name='Rikki1984' timestamp='1458600202' post='3009066'] was mortally embarrassed by the vocals. I haven't got time to rerecord but I've remixed them and have smothered them in effects in a desperate and vain attempt to cover up their obvious deficiencies. [/quote] I do that a lot! I find it works better with minimal melody, possibly sticking with more rhythmic and more tuneless vox - dare I say dialect rap? I also discovered that a further coat of glitter can be added by double tracking (or double recording) the vox with slightly different levels of delay and other fx on each. You can see how well all that works by my tasteful offering this month!

Our band works on the unanimous votes principal; if one member doesn't like a song, we don't do it.