Leonard Smalls

[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1458362541' post='3006953'] Like the little repeating melody on that... It's like a mini jazz tune, doing the melody then a little noodle then back to the melody again, full tune in a minute sounds damn growly as well... Great tone. [/quote] Cheers! That's the beauty of Wal... I felt that the £300 for a service and set-up was well-spent!!

Talking of themes, my theme this month is solo bass... https://soundcloud.com/leonard-smalls/flatricenoodle

I've finally finished mine... I'd advise anyone whose mental age is above 15, or is offended by sub-Carry-On humour, or is appalled by a 3rd rate John Cooper-Clarke/Frank Sidebottom tribute, to step away! But if you like the idea of a cautionary song about a chap whose only means of entertainment is based on excessive flatulence, give it a go! https://soundcloud.com/dredd-and-the-badass-weed/there-she-blows [spoiler]This song has got 2 simple drum loops, with additional twiddling done by me via EZ Drummer - the triangle and shaker are loops made by me, also from EZ. FX are stereo enhance, some eq and some reverb. I started, as usual with bass (Wal) recorded direct into Ableton via a Focusrite Scarlett, then played it in again with slightly different fills. Both are doubled up with different eqs on all, plus lots of compression, some chorus, mild tube overdrive and hard limiting. Keys are 2 Fender Rhodes, one with a minor third trigger sequence and wah, plus 2 Clavinovas with slightly different drive and eq, one is wah-ed. Flutes and guitars are edited from Loopmasters samples with clean funk amp and reverb on both. Vocals (sorry!) are recorded twice, given a (large) touch of NY glue compression, with short delay on each, and one has chorus and occasional wafts of "Robo-Voice"...[/spoiler]

Aye... All the stories end badly. I was brought up on them and Bechstein/Grimm - I've got a German mother!

Perhaps with all this serious, dangerous storm stuff I should defintely re-think my flatulence angle... And just as I'd made it into a cautionary tale [i]á la[/i] [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Struwwelpeter"]Struwwelpeter![/url]

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1457710845' post='3001224'] I'd pray for you but for being an atheist..! [/quote] Everybody knows that heaven is only for the atheists!

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1457709462' post='3001204'] Dittons..? Yes, similar concept there. Any good for metal..? [/quote] They're very good for the harder of hearing at all audible frequencies (and beyond - 18Hz-30kHz!), they work as well for metal as jazz or classical. Mine, however, had the optional Folk-Filter fitted, so as soon as the words "I sawe a prettye mayde" or assocoiated fiddle-de-dees appear they shut down until re-activated using Brotzmann's Last Exit...

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1457705484' post='3001153'] If they're Byfleet-made TL200's, [/quote] IIRC, Cambridge are now a Richer Sounds brand... Doesn't mean they're no good, just not as top-end as they used to be! But you'll be pleased to hear I'm still using some Ditton 66 speakers...

I've made a start... Just for a change it's funk, with fat wah-ed clavinet and even a short flute solo... My Mrs, however, thinks the lyrics are "juvenile, at best", so I'm debating whether to stick with my 15 year old's attempt at being John Cooper Clarke (I thought it was funny - but not sure how many would agree!) or to write new lyrics...

Shannon Jackson and Fuze being surprisingly funky! [MEDIA]http://youtu.be/sEvyfDQUpBU[/MEDIA]

Cheers Douglas; witty, insightful and excellent reviews, as ever!

[quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1456060960' post='2984955'] What I do get as well for that extra £1k is a solid built aluminium shell, software that works without me having to read the requirements & no viruses. Some folk prefer to spend that £1k elsewhere (like a new bass or expensive anti virus software), I'd rather have something that I know is unlikely to let me down & in 5 years time still be worth a bit of money if I did decide to sell it. [/quote] Funnily enough, I've just spent the weekend in a studio running Reaper 10 and Euphonix desk with a top spec Mac... They've recently changed to the El Crapitan (as they call it) OS, which they say has caused them nowt but problems; we had to re-start the Mac 5 times, 1 time it even lost all the display screens which had to be manually re-configured. We lost probably 2 hours of studio time as a result of all that! It appears that Apple, in their rush to sell more and more product are doing what Windows (used to/still) do which is bung out beta software, causing all the pro users who made Apple's reputation in the first place think about switching to PC! And there most certainly are viruses for Mac. The only way to stay virus free is to be sensible!

Go to www.pcspecialist.com They made one for me with i7 processor, 16Gb Ram, 1Tb hybrid hard disc and 17" screen/wireless mouse for about £710. You'd pay double that for similar spec on a Mac - and it runs Ableton 9 with no probs, even if there's 6 virtual instruments and 20 other tracks. Took them about 3 weeks to make it.

[quote name='Skol303' timestamp='1455632212' post='2980870'] Need to get something recorded myself. It won't be anywhere near as proficient as some of you guys. [i]Yes, I am making excuses already.[/i] [/quote] Don't worry about that - just turn it up and brazen it out - that's what I do (Emperor's New Clothes 'n'all!).

[quote name='JellyKnees' timestamp='1455625809' post='2980781'] +1000 I've said it so many times before, but when I started going to gigs over the water in late 70s early 80s, there was none of this Beatles nostalgia crap, bands clearly wanted to created their own scene and they did... the bunnymen, wah heat, the teardrops, omd, frankie etc etc ... [/quote] Me too - we weren't interested in our Dad's music, we wanted our own. So we'd make the pilgrimage from Chester to Erics, and watched all sorts of oddness from Pink Military to the Mighty Flock Of Seagulls, Big in Japan to Those Naughty Lumps. Rock'n'Roll was/is/should be about newness, rawness and individuality even if you're wearing the same clothes as the rest of your tribe. S'not about living in the past, but living for now and being yourself! Or maybe it's not... Maybe it's about product, or about re-living the glory days of your youth - depending on your perspective!

I'll echo Roland's comments... It was competently played and definitely fun, though I'm afraid that I feel it's the bass that's rushed - perhaps playing just a little bit more behind the beat with maybe a touch more syncopation would funk it up sufficiently. Either that, or play songs that don't require that sort of groove! (only listened to Walk This Way and Let's Dance, btw) However, I wouldn't necessarily take any notice of me as my tastes run to free inprov jazz and hard funk, where any melody is taken as a sign of weakness!

Prime Time! [MEDIA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSzC3ICoOds[/MEDIA]

Aerodrums are the answer! [MEDIA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAprpyGdgYk[/MEDIA]

You wouldn't catch me smiling at a gig, as I'm a miserable git. At least, not unless the singer fell off the stage, or the guitarist had a terrible "accident" while wearing white trousers...

Indeed! Nice variety and excellent work so far by all!

The Exploited. It's all much the same, wot with being punk'n'all. Apart from Wattie and the boys' collaborations with Joanna Newsom and Diana Krall.

Redone mine with delay and phasing on the vox... https://soundcloud.com/dredd-and-the-badass-weed/feel-the-burn

Worst thing is that Sister Bez won't be there either! How can we play without "her"?

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1455098021' post='2975766'] Hmm... a whole band of cut-outs and recorded playback..? Then whoever turns up can simply be part of the audience. [/quote] We played a gig once where it was just me and the drummer; we didn't know till the day before that it would be only the 2 of us. We got 2 members of our support band to come and jam for an hour. In that case the audience may have been happier with jazz renditions of Cage's 4'33"... [quote name='discreet' timestamp='1455098163' post='2975769'] I don't want to bash the bishop, but shades on a man of the cloth?? [/quote] You never heard of the rockin' vicar? Well I was thee Cool Cardinal, the drummer was the Pervy Pope, and the singer was Harry Monk...

I'm liking the cardboard cut-out idea... Another plus point is that there'll be a lot more of the rider for the rest of us. He's fine with the idea of playing without him - but there's talk of hiring a helicopter to fly from Peterborough to Hildesheim!