Leonard Smalls

For some reason I can't get into General...

EEK! The shame! When you get to my age etc...

Electrical quality will only make a difference if the kit that is being supplied has a poorly designed internal supply... Unfortunately some hifi kit does seem to be susceptible to the slightest variation of mains, even if that mains supply is within the spec of the supply regulations! However, I'd say that kit like that shouldn't exist as it doesn't comply with EU regs, or at least with the spirit of the regs (i.e. it should work optimally at any voltage between 216 and 253 volts, at frequencies between 49.5 and 50.5 ohms), and should be able to cope with mild DC offsets and small spikes and rf caused by motor switching etc. And even if it does exist, as it does, a sensible consumer shouldn't buy it! You can get better sound without the shenanigans! And any signal cable that is electrically sufficient, ie has low LCR will do basically nowt to sound quality; however, if you spend lots on, say Van Den Hul carbon cables or the like you're adding what is effectively an uncontrollable tone control! This will sound different because it basically removes some of the top end! And if you buy some of the seriously expensive cables, such as Transparent, Siltech etc the fact that you've spent a fortune on them will pre-dispose your ears to hear a difference where there isn't actually one - it's called expectation bias. At the end of the day it's down to enjoyment of the music - if you get more enjoyment and perceived better sound by lifting your £10k cables with cable lifters at £250 each, having Shakti Stones littered all over your kit, everything standing on 12 levels of Mana and a generous spattering of Machina Dynamica foo gracing your room that's excellent. But I want kit that just works - it's the music i want to enjoy rather than spending a ridiculous amount of time faffing around searching for some impossible-to-find audio nirvana! BTW, I was also a BBC sound engineer for 17 years before retraining as a sparky...

Newish funk-metal band here... Ages range from 48-55. Found each other on Bandmix. Been writing and rehearsing since Feb/March with 1st gig coming up 25th November. We plan to do 4 or 5 gigs a year, in places ranging from Cardiff to Sheffield to TheMiddleOfNowhere (i.e. here) for a bit of fun and an excuse to act like starry eyed wannabes. And we've got recording booked for December, plus our first PAID gig in the new year (it's not much but it's the thought that counts!). My other band has been going on and off since 1983 - we get together a couple of times a year to write some new material and do a gig.

In both bands I play in we all write the songs together, and both bands are funky and rocky which is a lot of what I listen to. Neither band does much in the way of electric or improv free jazz which is also one of my favoured types of music - though I find most folks leave the room when I out on Last Exit, including both of my bands! As for covers, the rockier band has just started on a first cover - a version of DAF's "Der Mussolini". We'll see how that goes down in the Welsh Borders...

[quote name='Rocker' timestamp='1510242475' post='3404950'] One tip for better sound, and I have done this myself, is to get an electrician to install a dedicated SPUR from your mains MCB panel to an unswitched socket for your hi-fi system. And to use 6 sq. m.m. twin & earth cable and to run a seperate 6 sq m.m. earth wire from the socket to the earth block in the MCB board. Unless the electricity supply in your area is very poor quality, this relatively small investment will give a return way in excess of the outlay. 6 sq. m.m. is about the largest cable that can be used with a 13 amp socket. Also to ask your electrician to ensure that the earth connection is actually connected to the earth via an earth spike. [/quote] You'll be telling us we all need a Russ Andrews "Grounded Grid" next! There's absolutely no benefit at all in having an extra earth cable from your "SPUR" to your consumer unit (MCB Panel? No RCDs then, or RCBOs?)); the earth conductor is there mostly for safety purposes. It's there to allow a safe path to ground in the event of a fault - though some switch mode type supplies do dump a little bit of current down it. If there is a fault to earth, it makes sense to have the lowest possible earth loop impedance (i.e. the impedance of the line conductor all the way to the mains supply transformer, and back via the earth conductor), as lower impedance means higher fault current, which means faster operation of the RCD - something you'd be glad of if you happen to be touching the metal case of your amplifier when there's an earth fault. And if you want a low earth loop impedance, the best way to do that is via a TNCS, or PME system (Protective Multiple Earth) - basically the supply neutral is the earth, which ensures a very low impedance, typically 0.35ohms or less. Having an earth spike is basically something you should only have if your incoming supply is not suitable for PME; the loop impedance is likely to be anywhere between 100 and 600x greater than 0.35 ohms (max allowable by Regs is 200ohms), which means slower operation of an RCD. As for the "SPUR" often loudly promoted by some hifi types, it's not a "SPUR", it's a radial circuit. And using 6mm T&E is a bit of a waste of time - after all most hifi isn't likely to use even the maximum current supplied by a 13 amp socket (that would allow for ~3000W of power), never mind the 32Amps that a 2.5mm ringmain is rated at! Still, if it makes work for us sparkies, I'm all for it!

Ta!

My new band (been writing and rehearsing since March) has its debut gig on 25th November supporting the mighty Icarus Falls...

[quote name='tauzero' timestamp='1510093431' post='3404018'] Unless the mains supply is exceptionally bad, those of us with class D gear should be fine without mains conditioners. Might sneak some noise in through the primitive power supplies of class A and AB amps though. (A slight simplification, class D and SMPS power supplies aren't always twinned up). [/quote] Not just class D gear - any [i]properly designed[/i] amplifier - whether for hifi, PA, bass or guitar should have a power supply that filters out RF... Problem is, some gear is lacking a decent power supply section! In the instructions for my hifi amp (a Bryston), it says "do not use power conditioners or mains reshapers"; that's because its own supply filters RF and other nasties and removes d.c offset.

Not sure if this has been posted yet, if not it's time it was! [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBh1869ayNg[/media]

[quote name='SpondonBassed' timestamp='1509950590' post='3402735'] Great post. You are one of the influential posters in this topic. [/quote] Fixt!

[quote name='mikel' timestamp='1509886870' post='3402305'] But I didnt say they were the ONLY influential act, because they were not, I said most influential. I am also only talking about the short time they were recording material. I also did not say ever, I am talking Pop/Rock as a genre. I could argue that people who deny there massive influence on music and popular culture are simply trying to be different because they don't like there music. I am not a fan of Elvis, but I would never deny his influence on what has followed. I have followed and been involved in music for 55 years and I cant think of an act that has influenced as many musicians before or since the Beatles. Elvis was a catalyst but his musical scope and breadth of influence was not as wide ranging, or Michael Jackson. I dont think its such a big claim to think the Beatles are the most influential pop act, so far. You can correct me and I will have no problem accepting if it is patently not so. I have no axe to grind by the way, I dont have shares in them or anything, its not that important to me I was merely answering the OP. [/quote] It's the use of MOST influential that I object to. They were influenced by Dylan to write more interesting lyrics; Dylan was influenced by them (and many others!) to go electric. They would have been influenced by the psychedelia of the likes of the Electric Prunes to produce their later stuff (see the Nuggets and Pebbles albums series for examples). It's not like they invented rock'n'roll! Meanwhile you've got the whole of black music to ignore as the MOST influential on rock and pop; I spose Chuck Berry, Little Richard et al had no influence on anybody. Or for that matter, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, or Robert Johnson or a host of other blues men did nowt to change music. Or James Brown, Motown, Hendrix, George Clinton/Bootsy, Sly and the Family Stone, Africa Bambaata etc. It's ridiculous to say someone is the MOST influential; it's like saying Dali is the most influential artist, or Charles Dickens the most influential author; Everybody is influenced by all sorts of stuff, including the Beatles; nobody lives in a bubble, and most importantly, it's not a bleedin' competition!

[quote name='mikel' timestamp='1509815953' post='3401858'] the most influential musicians and songwriters in the history of Pop/Rock music. [/quote] This is my problem with the Beatles, or at least with those who say this sort of thing... It's never "among the most influential", or "they were very influential", it's always "they were the most influential musicians ever". And there's no argument allowed. The answer to any dissent from that position is "you don't appreciate history", or "you weren't there, how could you understand?" I personally feel that having such an intractable position is an insult to all the other great innovators in music, some of whom made very little money and got none of the adulation and worship (and huge piles of cash) that the Beatles got.

[quote name='funkgod' timestamp='1509660643' post='3400742'] Can i lend that frock ..... [/quote] Tis a highly flammable baby-doll nightie, complemented by a cod piece made from a black rubber glove... And the back-drop was quite badly stained.

This is what I wore in a very early 90s very indie band...

[quote name='ivansc' timestamp='1509030875' post='3396178'] I have to say that it saddens me to read about those of you who think you "arent good enough for a band". We all started out being crap players and struggling to learn the ropes. [/quote] My first bass playing gig (I'd done 1 at school as a keyboard player the year before), was in 1983; I'd been learning "bass" (it was actually an acoustic guitar which I ignored the top 2 strings on) by attempting to play along to Bootsy records for about 2 months, when some mates decided after a bit of a heavy night, that we should get a band together. So after 1 rehearsal (all 8 hours of it, producing 3 "songs") we played our debut at Leeds University Tartan bar - I used a borrowed shortscale Gibson. And what a racket it was! But bizarrely, we then got asked to play some parties (our songs were very long - the sort of thing where the singer could nip out for a bath, put on a baked potato, have a couple of beers, eat the spud, come back and we'd still be playing the bridge of "Carnival"). And even a gig at the Warehouse, once we'd promised to write a few more songs and not play any of them for more than 10 minutes. So it shows anybody can do gigs, no matter what ability level they are (almost!)...

[quote name='lowdown' timestamp='1508924340' post='3395326'] WTF, some woman in white, is in fact, Hiromi. A very serious, skllful musician. [/quote] Indeed! Check out her stuff with Hiromi's SonicBloom (with Dave Fiucynski), her Trio (with Anthony Jackson), and the stuff she did with the Stanley Clarke Band and Screaming Headless Torsos. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYUU19Cnf-0[/media]

Recent rehearsal, with some colourising to disguise low-res phone image! [url="http://www.facebook.com/sixteenchokestart/videos/1556386737753199/"]http://www.facebook....56386737753199/[/url]

Only a bit posed, from a recent rehearsal... [attachment=255906:16CSbass6.jpg]

Aye, Mr. King is the only bass player who slaps consistantly. That Marcus Miller, Larry Graham, Flea, Doug Wimbish, Stuart Hamm, Victor Wooten, Louis Johnson, Abraham Laborial, Freddie Washington, Stanley Clarke, Jonas Hellborg, Bootsy, Les Claypool, Bill Dickens, TM Stevens etc always get it wrong and should stick to playing roots and fifths with a pick!

Last January a couple of local lads and I started a band - we initially looked for a singer but no-one seemed to be available apart from a death metal growler (we're not that sort of band!). So we resigned ourselves to having the guitarist sing - which has actually worked out quite well. We've written 12 songs and have our debut gig coming up in November supporting [url="https://www.facebook.com/icarusfallsukband/videos/1064856900313301/"]these guys[/url]. We recently had some interest from a good local singer which would have left our guitarist free to be Steve Vai a bit more. However, she wasn't interested at all once she discovered that there's no pay; she couldn't understand that locals don't like to pay to see bands - though they might be persuaded to pay £5, maybe £6, for 3 bands. The PA and sound man costs £250, local council insists on bouncers (it's in the community centre) - £250. Insurance is £100, and the community centre want £50 as well as all the bar take. So that's £650, with £100 for poster printing, tickets etc. The venue has a fire limit of 150, so that means max possible take of £900 at £6, or £750 at £5. So at £6 to get in, the maximum that can be shared between 3 bands (assuming sell-out!) is £150, and the Icarus boys have to come up from Down South, plus 2nd on the bill are about 1.5 hours away. Which means nowt for our band. So she's sitting at home waiting for a call which probably won't come, and we'll be getting [s]canned off stage[/s] the adulation we so richly deserve!

[quote name='ricksterphil' timestamp='1507708201' post='3387313'] Not at all in my book.... [/quote] Indeed!

Is this yet another re-hash of the "you're not a proper musician unless you get paid" thread? My mother is a pianist and LRAM, and she spent about 20 years duetting with a friend on the flute - mainly Bach. They never played a concert (even though they were a covers band ), and had absolutely no interest in doing so. It was purely for their own entertainment. Does that mean they weren't proper musicians?

Sometimes a bit of slap is just what the doctor ordered... Here it is, preceded by proper cheesey interview! [MEDIA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqXbIXfmH3g[/MEDIA]

I like the look of the Mark Audio AC2, but annoyingly their website only lists one dealer - in Italy... http://www.markaudio.it/dealers/2/ A google search for the UK finds no mention anywhere!