Leonard Smalls

[quote name='daz' timestamp='1331616125' post='1575838'] I remember dancing to this in Vogue night club[b]* [/b]in Chester, many a time. [b]*[/b]Great club for a time, in the early 1980s They didnt let in people [i]improperly dressed[/i]. I remember seeing two incredulous guys in suits get turned away for being dressed wrong, as a guy in a donkey jacket dirty jeans and doc martens wandered past without a look from the bouncers. Ahh bliss and karmic re payment for all the times it was the other way round. [/quote] Vogue? Which one was that? (my memory's quite hazy from then!) I used to go to Roxy Bowie night at Angels and Friday/Saturday at Olivers with my Dave Sylvian haircut and German Army black jodphurs.

Hole at the Astoria supporting Mudhoney. Mudhoney, good. Hole, absolutely atrocious. And Primal Scream at the Town and Country Club - appalling sound, band not at all tight, Bobby looked too off his face to cope (which is pretty off his face indeed!)

I've just had mine back from Electric Wood; they replaced some caps, dressed the frets, replaced some screws and generally made it lovely. Now it's better than when I bought it nearly 30 years ago! Excellent service...

[quote name='Leonard Smalls' timestamp='1447923881' post='2911447'] Another problem I've just discovered after the latest IE update is that whenever I click on a topic or a sub-forum it asks if I'm sure I want to leave this page, as if it thinks I've typed some stuff in that I'd lose if I moved pages... [/quote] However, I've just swapped to Microsoft's Edge browser and all the features seem to work. The only problem is that copying and pasting urls is much more difficult than it is in IE...

Another problem I've just discovered after the latest IE update is that whenever I click on a topic or a sub-forum it asks if I'm sure I want to leave this page, as if it thinks I've typed some stuff in that I'd lose if I moved pages...

The only way I can get IE to allow use of Quote is to click the reply window to highlight options, then click on the "toggle editing mode" button on the top right of the window to put it into basic mode. Then click on the Quote button. I've also found that unless I'm in basic edit mode a number of letters don't show - I have to type really, really slowly - and sometimes it causes IE to crash. Funnily enough, forums using BB software don't seem to have this problem...

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1447879426' post='2911241'] What would a tree sound like if it wanted to sing? I didn't want it to be a song because a tree would not sing a song. I wanted it to sound more organic than a song form so I improvised a theme with myself singing along to add that 'voice' to the sound. I think what I came up with reflects my idea so I am happy with the result. [/quote] Surely the tree would use Electric Wood?

The Focusrite 2i2 is less than £100 from Thomann, has 2 inputs and comes with Ableton Live 9 basic. There's very little latency and the mic pre-amps are of excellent quality...

It seems that there is a popular mis-conception that compression removes the ability to play more quieterer or more loudererer. It can do that. But it depends entirely on the settings you use! It can be very subtle - perhaps just increasing the attack of a note a tiny bit and smoothing out the sustain, or maybe compressing a small number of frequencies to make it sit better in a mix, or as I sometimes use it, to make just about every note have effectively the same level in order to trigger an envelope follower to give the appropriate Bootsy sound. What a compressor doesn't do is make a bad player good, or take away the ability of a player to play subtly. Some cheap compressors, often those built into amps, are very poor though and give little control and as a result are probably best not used! But using a compressor is no worse than using eq, or is it somehow cheating not to have all eqs flat?, Like just about everything bass-related, it's optional; it doesn't make you a better or worse person if you don't use it, and if you don't feel the need to that's fine!

[quote name='Jazzneck' timestamp='1447411330' post='2907410'] What is compression anyway? Can't really get my head 'round the description, to be honest. [/quote] In its broadest form it's a means of reducing the dynamic range between the loudest and quietest sounds - an example of this is when you're watching the TV the adverts always seem (or used to, as some programmes do it now as well!) louder because they've been compressed. In other words they've made everything in the advert as loud as the loudest sound is allowed to be. This also happens with music mastering - the point being that most folks don't listen on quality kit so there's no point having decent hifi dynamic range for the latest offering from 1 Direction... There is, however, a lot of opposition to this from folks who want the technical quality to be as high as possible - google "Loudness Wars" for more info. In terms of individual instrument compression, it's a means of making an instrument sit more easily in a mix, whether live or recorded; it can either change the way the note attacks, or decays, or simply reduce its dynamic range. This doesn't necessarily make everything the same volume - that depends on where the threshold is set (i.e. where the effect comes in). Many can also be used as a limiter, which will set a ceiling for max level. Some fancy compressors can do compression at individual frequencies, which means you can cut through with mids more while leaving treble and bass the same...

I've got a rackmount DBX dual band compressor which I use mainly into a 3 Leaf envelope follower and Qtron - it means I can get a wah-ed sound with every note. I've been know to use both bands with different settings for different FX, as different drives give different sounds. Then I'll amplify each separately for that sound that could easily be created with one simple keyboard...

This is a bit less precise, and a bit more jazz [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQKS10h3kw4[/media] And trust Ornette to push the boundaries of what instrument you can play in jazz [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0HB8ybKJzo[/media]

Finally finished my mutant blues, named after (mis-spelling of) a Nazaire track which it only resembles in tempo and amount of bass! [size=4][url="http://soundcloud.com/dredd-and-the-badass-weed/hooz-blooz"]http://soundcloud.co...weed/hooz-blooz[/url][/size]

I use the 2i2 with Ableton 9, and it does use ASIO - don't use the MIME option as it's very glitchy. You'll need to take care with buffer settings as Gary says; there's a section in the help tutorial or in the on-line manual that explains how best to do it. Mine has very little latency. There is also a low latency option in the preferences section - I have that enabled as well.

South Shropshire here! And I also like the bass to be to the fore, not sitting at the back with all the naughty boys...

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1446472378' post='2899566'] No, still no hot disco beat; in fact, quite the opposite. [/quote] I've made a start and for a change, there is also no hot disco beat - tis 85bpm! So far we've got slightly strange (shurely shome mishtake?) mutant blues. And I'm debating whether an ominous chant (obviously recorded from our bathroom at the bottom of a well) would help or hinder... Also, just how far out of key can I go with the keyboards until someone complains to Trading Standards?

I once played with the house band for a blues jam night at a rock'n'blues fest... Foks would come up and say do you know "$$$£" by ***&^ and the guitar player would say "yup". As I don't know any well-known (or other!) songs I'd tap Jerry on the shoulder and say how's it go?"; he'd say "12 bar in B, 1,2,3,4" and we'd be off! So I'd advise knowing the sort of songs you're likely to be asked to play, or be able to busk it...

[quote name='Che' timestamp='1446212746' post='2897782'] Maybe my entry scared the voters away?!! [/quote] I doubt it... [url=http://soundcloud.com/dredd-and-the-badass-weed/unbalanced]THIS[/url] was my entry a year ago - I even got 1 vote!

We definitely need more voters or I'll be the bridesmaid yet again!

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1445988767' post='2896043'] I'm assuming that the lyrics (were they lyrics..?) are not the key feature needed to decipher the piece..? [/quote] Who's gonna say? Great review as ever! Gad you're feeling well enough to entertain us all with them again, the Compo Compo isn't the same without 'em!

I usually get shouts of "turn it off!" and "my ears, my ears!" when I put on "Mirakle" by Derek Bailey, Jamaaladeen Tacuma and Calvin Weston... But I'm a fan! Enjoy: [MEDIA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOGdAFxe9_0[/MEDIA]

Recognition at last! [url="http://www.openculture.com/2015/10/the-neuroscience-of-bass-new-study-explains-why-bass-instruments-are-fundamental-to-music.html"]http://www.openculture.com/2015/10/the-neuroscience-of-bass-new-study-explains-why-bass-instruments-are-fundamental-to-music.html[/url]

Nice!

I like... Saw him a couple of times with James Blood Ulmer, but here's his collaboration with Burhan Ocal: [MEDIA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mh9XB0miLFc[/MEDIA] Edited to add: Cheers Chaypup!

Funnily enough when I bought mine from Allbang and Strummit in 1990ish I was choosing between a Jaydee, the Wal (£450 and £500) and an Alembic (£600). And that Wal is now one of the only things I own that's actually increased in value. The Alembic may have shown a similar increase, but definitely not the Jaydee!