Leonard Smalls

All done... Tis my first ever attempt at playing Latin-ish grooves, which is why it turned into a housey thing at the end! It started off being an instrumental until Lurks inspired me with talk of our old Latin teacher, Sister P... https://soundcloud.com/dredd-and-the-badass-weed/sister-p

Funnily enough I've also got all episodes of Star Trek (classic series) on VHSs I copied from the original transmission D3 tapes, but I haven't got a VHS player - big scary button or not...

[quote name='alittlebitrobot' timestamp='1418418848' post='2630170'] I think about fireworks is the complete lack of rhythm. I'm worried that the only way I can respond to this image is with some ludicrous, unlistenable, arhythmic "free jazz" nonsense... [/quote] I did unlistenable free jazz for September's compocompo. I actually got a vote!!!!

I'm a bit worried about my song about nuns now!

[quote name='jmchich' timestamp='1418231443' post='2628261'] We got a work experience kid to ring up and order sky hooks... with hilarious results when the clueless phone operator at the suppliers didn't realise it was a pisstake and started searching the computer for them [/quote] You can actually buy skyhooks - I've used them many times while rock climbing:

Maybe it's some sort of Quantum Effect, or even to do with the nature of time and our perception of it, like [url="http://www.machinadynamica.com/machina42.htm"]THIS AMAZING DEVICE[/url]!

I'm afraid I have to disagree a bit with Douglas... There's room for improvement in both snare and kick, and there's room for making the bass sound better. However, I like the bass part - it's just too toppy which exacerbates fret buzz. I'd take out some top end and some high mid and pump up the low end a bit. That might not completely fix the bridge bit but there's an amazing amount you can do with eq, reverb and variable band compression!

Talking of Eddie Hazel, I just bought a mint copy of THAT album from our local 2nd hand record shop. Seriouslyfunkin! I was a little bit disappointed with the documentary. Nowt on Mama Funk, very little on Bootsy. As for the "Genius of Funk" live prog, surely they could have done a lot better. A bit of poorly mixed George, lots of average Jamiroquai, big chunk of James Taylor and Raydio (!).

[quote name='lurksalot' timestamp='1417527528' post='2621335'] What is it with school and Latin , you have to get past this [/quote] You've given me an idea for lyrics now...

I've started something vaguely Latin - seems to be veering wildly toward old skool house though...

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1417377260' post='2619767'] There's some good ideas in there. I quite like it but it does sound like a bag of spanners falling down a lift shaft. Could do with the old Booker T and the MGs treatment. They would jam for hours then come back the next day and pull out the riffs tang work and strip it down to the essentials. Only my opinion of course. [/quote] That's improv for you! Reminds of the story about Derek Bailey recording an album for Bill Laswell; he turned up and was told the duration of the album was to be 1 hour. After playing for precisely 1 hour he got up and left... Compared to Derek the FreeFormFunkyFreqs are as polished as the JBs! Edited to add: darned automatic spell check sneakily making improv improve! Don't impose your taste on me, you machine, you!

I saw them at least twice in the early 90s - once at the Electric Ballroom which was most excellent. However, my tastes now run more to Reid's free Form Funky Freqs improv band with Jamaaladeen Tacuma on bass and Calvin Weston as drummist... [MEDIA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtPZUEUiSYE&feature=player_detailpage[/MEDIA]

Hadn't realised it was Horowitz! Might have done something a bit more like this if I'd known... [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MFbn8EbB4k[/media]

I've still got the Melvin Bragg Southbank Show and the Lernny Henry doc on The Funk on good ol VHS!

[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1417177857' post='2617801'] I'd only have noticed the Wal anyway..... [/quote] Not the Pope on drums?

I've always worn daft clothes when doing a gig... I just feel more comfortable that way! Here's me 25 years ago: And here's me last year, aged 50: I find that the dafter I look, the less the audience notice how appalling the music is! And it's still the same boots...

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1417088280' post='2616913'] [size=4]Completely in harmony with the photo, this work takes us on a journey, although I'm unsure as to the amount of tongue in cheek involved. The composition, arrangement and execution are of a very high standard, and interest is maintained from beginning to end. A coherent progression throughout, underpinned by the relentless but discreet percussion and bass. I'd have liked to distinguish better the lyrics, but that's perhaps my failing hearing..? Very good work, in any case.[/size] [size=4]Douglas [/size] [/quote] Cheers Douglas - nice review as always! Lyrics are partly tongue in cheek - as I'm afraid is most of what I do... And my "singing" doesn't help - you don't want to hear tto much of it! [i]Being old is just a state of mind Your mind is what you get Being old is just your time of life Your life is what you get Dance until you drop etc They say you can only be young once Or be immature for ever The idea is to die young late Your life is now or never Sanatogen, Zimmer Frame, National Express I ain't got nuthin' 'gainst bein' old But the Funk is the best Tena Lady, Wagon R, No more fancy car Cups of tea, Songs of Praise, worryin' 'bout achin' days Dance until you drop Hip op. don't stop, dance until you drop[/i] Sorry!

My one and only win and subsequent ability to actually choose next month's photo was such an amazing power-rush that I've re-mortgaged my house to fund purchase of a 128 channel Neve desk complete with outboards by Klark Teknik and custom monitoring by TAD and Bryston. And besides, my old laptop was 8 years old and often fell over with just a Word document and Internet Explorer running - which would have been embarrassing if us Weeds had been playing a gig with flawless backing from the laptop, only for it to crash leaving the unfortunate audience to hear only our over-the-top noodlings...

I've just had a new laptop built by www.pcspecialist.co.uk - it was especially for music production and live use... It's a 17" i7 (not over-clocked, no real need for audio) running at 3.4GHz, 16Gb RAM, 1Tb hybrid hard disc with 128Gb of solidstate, with bog-standard sound card (no need for fancy sound card if it's always running into a Focusrite). All for £700 inc wireless mouse. And it's quick - I'm into an Ableton project within 20 seconds of switching on, and much of that time is typing in my pass word! And so far had no glitches or track dropping, even at 32 tracks all with up to 5 VSTs...

Unless you've got a specific audiophile soundcard, a decent interface DAC will beat the[i] bejesus[/i] out of it... However, if you're mixing with, say, Beats headphones, you'll probably have a bass light mix as Beats over-exaggerate in the bottom... So unless you've got transparent monitoring kit I'd check on at least two systems until you're used to how it will actually sound through your chosen system.

Entertaining stuff so far! And Douglas - it was me wot chose the pic...

I prefer The Schnittkinsjaeger...

I plug my laptop and Focusrite/keyboard into my stereo, so no need for separate monitors... All you need is a pair of 1/4" to RCA leads to plug into a hifi amp. So long as your hifi speakers are relatively neutral you'll be fine!

[quote name='lurksalot' timestamp='1415572791' post='2601677'] I have tried to put on a fake accent to add a bit of interest to my dire vocal tones , I am not a fan ofy own voice but at least I have disguised it a touch . [/quote] Can't be any worse than mine! I've been tempted to get autotune, but for the moment notch filters, reverb and delay will have to suffice...

Finally finished mine... [url="https://soundcloud.com/dredd-and-the-badass-weed/dance-until-you-drop"]https://soundcloud.com/dredd-and-the-badass-weed/dance-until-you-drop[/url]