Boodang

6 hours ago, Maude said:

I could be wrong, according to Lady Maude it has happened before, but wouldn't simply resting your hand (or a finger) on the snare skin stop it resonating, in much the same way as resting your hand on your strings mutes them? 

I assume it's the skin vibrating against the snare, or is it the actual snare that sets up the resonance? Even if it was the snare, damping the skin with a digit would surely stop it being amplified. 

Too simple? 

Unlike muting strings there’s a lot of energy and there’s varying degrees of sympathetic buzz. Sometimes a finger on the reso head will be enough but if the bass player hits the right frequency then even holding the snare wires at one end won’t stop it buzzing at the other and the only options are to release the snare tension or put your finger under the snare wires. 

I’m a drummer (as well as a bassist) and unwanted snare wire buzz is something that I’m acutely aware of in band situations. For a lot of intros / endings I reach under the snare drum to mute. But also I pay a lot of attention to the tunings of the snare heads as well as the snare tension, particularly when it comes to avoiding this issue. 
Oh, one thing for your drummer to try, on the snare reso head, try loosening the lugs slightly either side of the snare bed which should help reduce sympathetic buzz. 

2 minutes ago, JapanAxe said:

I agree but the trouble is, matey will hear the guitar-and-kick-drum-heavy mix and say ‘Yeah, nothing wrong with that!’

That's a shame and puts you in a difficult position. Audience feedback sounds like the only thing that might make a difference but that's awkward, you can hardly canvas the crowd on the night like a focus group.

I'm a drummer as well as a bassist and I absolutely hate the hand grenade kick sound out of the PA. 

So, I'm that band member that does the sound engineering at gigs.... but only because no one else wants to do it. I hate juggling bass/drum duties with mixing, it takes my focus away from playing but hey, what can you do hire a sound guy, like we can afford that.

Anyway, one way to do deal with it, and what we do, is record the gig. I do it two fold, from the desk and with a field recorder in the room to get the audience perspective. As a band we play it back to analyse our performance and see what needs tweaking, that includes the PA mix which the band are quite particular about. 

One of my fav albums, along with Bright Size Life and certainly my preferred Jacob period. 

Sounds like a really interesting band, will definitely have to check them out. 

Brit Club beer festival. Got some great British ales and Belgium beers in. These pics taking just as we set up, but did get about 200 people once it got going. Setting sun straight into stage area with everything, including us, getting really hot. Bizarrely fried my Aguilar tlc pedal which gave up the ghost. I put on 5 bands, I was in four of them. Made sure the last band was the one I wasn’t in so I could enjoy a few ales before having to pack up. Everyone played well, started off with chilled vibes playing the likes of Bill Withers, then Hendrix/blues, punk/new wave, a 80s/90s cover, and finally my mates metal band at the end. Oh, and used my new (to me) Zoom L20 for the FoH and monitoring and worked a treat. So easy to get a good sound. 
All told, a great day but after playing for four hours and a 12 hour day of setting up and packing everything away I’m having a very lazy day’s rest. 

I had a lull recently with bass playing inspiration. The thing that got me going was composing solo bass pieces but the real driver was that I created a SoundCloud account so that the music didn't just stay in the shed but is actually heard... albeit by about half a dozen people. I'm still working in it but knowing that complete strangers are going to listen, and judge, your output makes me put extra effort into it. 

Good luck with the treatment, hope it all goes well. 

19 minutes ago, Dood said:

I think quite a few bassists here play drums too. I used to but the kit had to make way for children. I’d love a little fusion kit again one day. 
 

This post can happily live in “Other Instruments”! Nice kit

Thanks... it's a Treehouse nesting bop kit. Considering the small size it has a big sound. The BD is particularly punchy. 

Sorry, thought I was on the drummerworld forum!! My mind is going but what the hell, it's posted now!  

Please feel free to delete tho... unless you find it vaguely interesting. 

Recently I bought a nesting drum kit but as it turns out there are advantages to having a bass drum where the front unclips reso head intact. I prefer an unported reso head which would normally be an issue when it comes to internal mic'ing but when you can take the front off the drum in seconds it's so much easier. Plus, I had three holes made in the drum, one for the snare holder, one for the tom and one for the ride. As it turns out I only use two so there's one spare for the mic cable. 

I think in future I'll get my bass drums made this way as it sounds great but is easy to set up for recording/live. 

10 hours ago, Alanko said:

 

Were you called The Covers of Chloë?

Ah, if only I'd thought of that, we might still be playing... although I doubt more profitable!

I started an Eberhard Weber tribute band doing his solo work, took three bass players to take his place. Did one gig, everybody said what the actual F was that and the project hasn't seen the light of day since. Took a year to learn the songs and get them down properly but the effort was worth it from a musical growth perspective if nothing else (certainly wasn't a financial success!). 

Well, if you want British have you considered a custom. Now, if Andy hasn't retired, and his web site is still up and running, you should check him out. There's lots of good luthiers but Andy seems particularly good value. 

https://www.andyviccarscustom.co.uk/custom-bass-guitars.php

An example of Andy's work. 

....also, just because you want to play doesn't mean people want to listen. Something a lot of amateur bands fail to take into account when they inflict themselves on an unsuspecting audience. 

A friend of mine has a band that keeps moaning about how little they get paid but I have to keep reminding him they're lucky they don't have to pay compensation to the audience for the psychological damage they cause with their dreadful playing. 

I was in a band that insisted on being paid what I thought was outrageous amounts of cash... as a sign of respect for all the hours of practice they'd put in. Funny thing was they would play some venues where the audience to see them were less than the punters that would have turned up just to have a drink if they weren't there. 

My current band have put there money where their mouths is. If the venue makes more money we get paid what they think we're worth. Seems like a bad business plan but so far it's paid off quite well. 

One second of backing track is too much for me. Live is live. I'd rather it sounded raw than turn into band karaoke! 

5 hours ago, cheddatom said:

After a very long 2 months off in the hope my ribs would recover, we were finally back out last weekend. The Gifford Arms in Wolverhampton on Saturday was sold out. I was hoping for the same comedy sound guy as the last time we played there but unfortunately it was a thoroughly pleasant and competent engineer. Still, at least we sounded good but I don't have a lot to rant about!

 

Sunday was the Hope & Anchor on a lineup supporting The Vapors. We were on at 5:30 pm which seemed very early to me but it was absolutely packed in there! I was forced to use the awful house kit. Obviously the bass drum couldn't stay still which forced a couple of errors. Thankfully my bandmates were tolerant of it this time! We went down a storm and we've seen merch sales online trickling in from London since. Result!

 

It is so, so good to be back out gigging, even if it does still hurt a bit.

 

Photo of my beautiful cymbals set up above the absolutely terrible house kit at the Hope & Anchor... Mini rant then: Imagine your band leader telling you that you have to use the house bass, and the A string tuner keeps slipping. You knew it was going to be terrible, you knew you could swap for your own gear in plenty of time, and yet you're forced to go with it due to others' ignorance. The band leader, the promoter, the sound guy, the headline act... everyone thinks it's fine to force the drummer to play sh*t drums but you're never forced to use a sh*t bass are you?!

 

You should have used the Elvin Jones trick of nailing the front of the bass drum to the stage floor! 

Worst house kit I've ever used had a split snare batter head held together with duct tape... I've learnt since then. Always have at least my own pedals and definitely my own throne or I'll get back ache, plus a spare snare head! I don't mind so much if the kit is ok but why insist when there's enough time to set up your own kit?! I've just invested in a nesting kit in bebop size to make the load in & out easier in the hope that'll persuade venues I can use my own with a minimum if fuss.

7 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

The desk sends white noise to each and then both sides of the PA with a special high quality microphone positioned in the 'audience'. It works out the frequency response of the pa + room and any resonances automatically eqs them out. That means you can use the same settings in different venues, even using their pa, and get pretty much the same sound. Obviously tweaks may be needed and in venues where guitars and bass are backline only we need to do our own adjustments (for example on Saturday I was near a corner and had to cut my bass control, which I normally have slightly boosted).

Is it white or pink noise?

17 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

you're a better man than me. i wouldn't accept that and would walk away now before violence erupts 

Seriously tho why do they not give you a hand. I turn up early to give our drummer a hand in with his gear.

Dave

 

Each gig the band say they'll help setup but there's always a reason why it ends up being less than it should. But.... the results are worth it and they really are nice guys just a bit flakey. 

Having said that, if it was a permanent state of affairs, we were gigging every week and it wasn't the case that I'm moving country very soon, I would be laying down strict ground rules. 

To put it in perspective the blues band is so good we're planning a small tour to take in festivals and clubs around the Baltics ( where I'll be based) next year. 

1 hour ago, dmccombe7 said:

Yep same for me. I carry the PA and my bass gear to gigs unless we hire a PA. 

I normally set up the PA and cables along with all mains for stage area. I also help load the drummers kit mainly to  save a bit of time. The more of us doing the lifting speeds up load in/out times.

Problem i have is that i need to load / unload the PA cabs by myself at home which are 40Kg each. My own bass cabs being lightweight are only 20Kg each. 

Especially tiring unloading the car into my garage at 2am. Even worse if i have to reload it the following day for another gig.

Dave

Not wishing to subvert this thread into a gig setup moan but I feel your pain. I’m in three bands and circumstances have meant I own and supply all equipment for the lot apart from guitars (it’s Pakistan and you can’t get sh!t here and I’ve got keys bass leads stands drums mixer mics pa you name it). 
I don’t mind but did a gig on Friday and the rest of the band turn up and say we haven’t got long to finish set up and sound check, take one look at my face which expresses yes but I’ve been setting up on my own all the gear for the last 4 hours, and they shut up and get on with it. 
Next posting (different country later this year) and I’m going to turn up with 5 mins to go before the gig with just my bass and F off before the the vocalist has got through his self aggrandising ‘thank you’s’ to the audience! 

Just recorded our latest gig with the L20. I might be late to the party but the quality of the recording is excellent plus the built in SD card makes it so easy. Now a recording is only as good as the source and we are using good mics and quality gear but … the L20 is up to the job. And it’s what, 4 or 5 years old, look forward to what Zoom come up with as it’s replacement. Although the Behringer Wing is looking good but a lot more expensive. 

Blues/Hendrix band last night. We had a guitarist friend come up from Karachi for the weekend so we did an impromptu gig. Only a days notice to advertise it but our loyal band of blues fans turned out and it was a great atmosphere. Even had our main guitarist playing his strat behind his head during voodoo. Just need to get him to set fire to his guitar now for the authentic experience! 

I've got Babicz bridges on all my basses and I can't notice the difference (but they don't make the bass sound worse!). So why do I do it... because they're well engineered, nicer to setup than a standard bridge plus the saddles lock down, so to me feels solid.... oh, and I think they look great. Technically though,  a low mass bridge.

8 hours ago, ezbass said:

A couple of live shots from last night, complete with footwear.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The mid rack tom looks like it's about to fall off the bass drum! An extreme angle but looks like it's mic'd up that way. 

29 minutes ago, PaulThePlug said:

@Boodang if ya moaning on the bolt-on at least go thru' neck 😉

Oh, I have no issues with a thru neck. My Sei custom fretless.