mike257

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1454787304' post='2973036'] All joking aside, go and read my posts and find out where I mentioned pubs gigs for this gear... [/quote] You rarely give a straight answer to a question mate, unless you're dispensing your no doubt hard-earned wisdom on something. You never said "I'm going to buy d&b wedges to play down the Dog & Duck", but you've posted plenty on here over the years about the kind of gigs you play. You're apparently very discerning about what you'll take, so it's good pub gigs no doubt, but it's still pub and function world that you're operating in, from what I can gather, just like lots of us on here. You have been asked by a couple of posters in this thread to show some links to your band but you're nowhere near as forthcoming with that as you are with your definitive advice about how things should be done. I'm not pretending to be daddy big balls here, my gig today was putting a pair of JBL Eons on sticks for a poetry recital in a library, that kind of thing very much puts you in your place! Yesterday I took a booking for a festival where I'll be looking after an audio crew throwing up a couple of big hangs of d&b J series for 40,000 people to watch Primal Scream, but that's (sadly) not my typical everyday job. My average gig is probably somewhere in the lower middle of those two extremes. I've done some Academy level touring as a musician for a brief period but all my gigging is in wedding/corporate world now, so I'm not pretending to be a rock star or saying I know it all. My point is that I'm happy to contextualise my input by relating it to my real world experience so people can see where I'm coming from and listen to/ignore what I'm saying as they see fit based on that. If you're buying a d&b monitor rig with a view to hiring it out, I'd do some due dilligence on how much of a sound investment that is. Lots of PA hire companies stock it and can afford to be competitive. They'll also have established relationships with other suppliers for cross-hires to augment their inventory. A man with a decent function level FOH setup and one eighth of an arena-level monitor rig isn't likely to figure on their radar unless you've got a strong personal relationship with somebody there, and even then you're depending on them having a very specific requirement that matches the kit that you're carrying. Don't expect to make your dough back in a hurry like that. There's certainly wiser ways of investing that kind of cash if being a one-man hire operation is your game. If you're buying it for personal use, then good luck to you, enjoy it. It's a bit like the audio equivalent of the mid-life crisis sports car though. Way way way overkill unless you're in LARGE professional venues, where that kind of thing will likely be well taken care of before you're anywhere near the place.

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1454089471' post='2966395'] Yep... but I'd probably be glad about it as well...tbh. If I quote a price and someone comes back way off that price... then you walk away, surely. There will always be someone cheaper anyway... so to me, it is the same thing. As for gear at an event, I'd bill for that. There is minimum spec and I get the point about gear that has had a hard life, but this is all about having dealings with people who are on the same page, IMO...and what is required/desired on the gig As it happens, I'm looking for some high quality monitors..and by that I mean better than QSC.. so Martin, Turbosound or DB etc and I'll use them for vox out front or stage monitors I'll either hire them to the band or I'll sub them to a P.A company as there are never enough quality monitors to go around,I've found, and the local venue can't afford to have more than 6 of them. I'd sub to them when a touring act comes through because their riders always specify DB model or Equivalent.. [/quote] I've got to ask, are you talking about d&b audioteknik, or dB Technologies, because there's two different worlds there. dB is decent-for-the-price kit, no doubt about it. d&b is a different world, being one of the top live audio brands in the world and on most high end touring riders. To buy a d&b monitor setup (even just for a four way band mix) would set you back about the price of a brand new family car and require specific dedicated amps with onboard processing. I'm lucky enough to get to play with this stuff on some of the gigs I work on, but I'd never be self indulgent or financially irresponsible enough to spec a pile of M4s and a rack of D6 for a pub band. You talk a good fight mate, but that's just ridiculous. More power to you if you want to spend five figure sums on stage monitoring for pub gigs and the odd private function, but you must have more money than sense. [quote name='DiMarco' timestamp='1454107994' post='2966651'] Short answer to "Could you turn your backline down a bit?" is NO. Band runs the show, not the soundguy. He will not get sub lows coming off the stage. We can haz shelving EQ cutting off any subs from the bass stack on stage. Why do we need a 250w all valve head? Because we can and it sounds dope. Next. [/quote] As for you, you're just a wally. The band doesn't run the show. The sound guy doesn't run the show. We're on the same damn team. You want a great gig that sounds as good as possible. Believe it or not, so does your sound guy. I like to do a good job. It means my phone keeps ringing so I can afford to pay the bills and feed my kids. Near enough every sound engineer I know loves their work, takes pride in it, and feels lucky to be able to make a living out of something they enjoy. When we ask you to turn your backline down, it's not because we like screwing with you, are on a power trip, or just don't like bass players. It's because the massive low end off your amp that you aren't hearing because it hasn't developed by the time it hits the back of your knees is swamping the mix in the house, or the massive mid-range energy you're belting out at high volume is destroying any hope of us getting any real clarity in the crucial bit of the frequency spectrum where bass, guitar, vocals and keys are all fighting for sonic space to be heard. We want you to sound great. That's easier if you work with us. Lots of us are musicians too, we get it. I'd love every gig to be sonically perfect on stage and in the audience, but when it's me with a bass round my neck, I'd sure as hell rather compromise on my own on-stage mix to benefit what the audience get to hear, because without them, there's no gig. This us-vs-them attitude I see on here all the time is bollocks. I don't see it in the real world when I'm out as a tech or as a musician.

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1442217721' post='2865127'] For this reason, I was thinking about buying in an LS9 for hire. There are plenty of engrs with access to kit but a good digital board is quite rare. [/quote] The LS9 is the desk that engineers love to moan about. Used values are taking a dive now that there's a load of low cost options on the market. Great if you want a cheap LS9 for yourself but hire companies are generally phasing them out in favour of newer kit now. I'd take an X32 over an LS9 these days to be honest, it's much quicker to get around on. As for the raft of stage box mixers, a company I freelance for have picked up a Ui16. Great on paper, but I've had MASSIVE issues with the on-board WiFi and have refused to use it until there's an external router in the package. WiFi issues aside, they're great pieces of kit for budget gigging. For any professional work, I'd suggest having two tablets with it, so you've always got one on charge that you can pick up and grab when your battery gets low. For extra belt and braces, a laptop on a hardwired ethernet connection as a "just in case" is a sensible move too.

That's one thing that puts me off shopping for second hand Shure and (to a lesser extent) Sennheiser stuff. Never seen a fake AKG!

Excellent stuff! I keep missing chances to use them. X32 all this weekend for me! Does the job for the gig it's on though.

I've got three of the TT1 incoming for xmas (i'd stuck the triple pack on my Amazon wish list so i'd remember to buy it after seeing it for under fifty quid and my mum only went and bought it for me, bless her!) and looking forward to giving them a run out. If they're half as good as internet wisdom claims then they'll be great all-rounders to top up the mic box.

Used a QU for the first time last week - was on a last minute gig so didn't have time to do any homework. Found it pretty straight forward to walk up to though. Didn't have time to get fully in to the available features (had to build the stage, rig the lighting and then just get the hell on with it!) but the important stuff was easy enough to find. I think I'd still take an M32/X32 given the choice - the QU doesn't appear to have the same flexibility in routing and effects use. Would have no problem using one if it was on offer though! The S21 does look ace, I was booked in for training when they had it at Adlib recently but ended up having to go cover a gig. Feedback I've heard has been positive though!

If you can stretch to £35-£45 per mic, then grabbing some second hand AKG D5 would be my choice. They're my go-to live vocal mic and I prefer them to my Shure Beta 58A. On a tighter budget, Thomann's own brand "T-Bone" mics are generally pretty decent for cheapies and their Beta58-a-like is just over £20.

[quote name='4-string-thing' timestamp='1448040420' post='2912645'] The support band were called Marseille, I think..... They were bobbins too. [/quote] Neil "Art Attack" Buchanan's band, he's the lead guitarist - he got them back together for a tour a couple of years back! [quote name='KevB' timestamp='1448969398' post='2919621'] Ha! See post #129, that's 3 of us that remember them and probably all from the same gig [/quote] Add me to that list, what a shocker Chicks On Speed were, and I remember Fruiscante's telling off of the crowd for booing them. James Brown was great though, I'd have happily just watched him and then gone home! [quote name='Kiwi' timestamp='1449005875' post='2920079'] Sounds like The Game. [/quote] Damn you Kiwi!!!! One of my worst gigs is one of my favourite bands who (unsurprisingly) have already had a couple of mentions. They've also been responsible for two of the best gigs I've seen though - Smashing Pumpkins. I saw them at Leeds 2007 as a back-to-back double header with Nine Inch Nails, which all together was four of the best hours of my life, blew me away. When they announced a UK tour shortly afterwards, I rounded up a bunch of mates, raving to them about how incredible the Leeds headline set was. What we got in the MEN that night was like watching a different band. Long, dragged out jams that went nowhere in the middle of songs, solos that mostly consisted of tuneless feedback and Billy Corgan looking like he'd rather have been anywhere other than on that stage. I was gutted. Such a disappointment. Saw them one more time since in a much smaller venue (Manc Academy 1) and they were absolutely incredible!

[quote name='BottomE' timestamp='1449408197' post='2923226'] Sorry Dad - disagree - if you are forking out money to do a gig you are paying to play regardless of how you define "self-promotion" - it has nothing to do with buying your own instruments etc. The equation is simple: We are being paid to do a gig = not paying to play We have to front the money to play the gig = paying to play [/quote] Couldn't disagree more here, from my own experience at least. The last properly ambitious originals band I was in (a good eight years since it split, which has crept up quick!) got to a point fairly swiftly where we could pull 300-500 in to a hometown show. We did a lot of supports for touring acts, but when it came to our own shows we decided we were better served acting as the promoter and hiring the venue, promoting the show, booking the other bands ourselves. We put a fair deal together for other bands, booked people we knew were capable of bringing their own crowd in and worked our balls off to market the shows. We'd have significant up front costs in terms of venue hire, printing flyers/posters, buying in merchandise etc, but it was profitable enough for us that it funded us playing all over the country and making the band pay for itself. You can call these things "paying to play" if you want, but what these guys are doing by hiring a venue etc for a show is taking ownership of their gigs - this comes with an increased responsibility to make it a success, and an element of financial risk, but if you're doing it right then the reward is also much much greater. Why let someone else pocket a pile of cash from your music [b]if[/b] (and that's the big 'un) you have the ability, resources and time to do the job yourself?

Gigs of that scale have a bit more kit to shift about that your average night at the Dog and Duck, although there's a fair few more hands on deck to do it! There's a lot more happens in terms of making sure everything is ready and working perfectly before the headliners hit the stage though.

I have the guitar equivalent (Venue 100 Lead) in the garage, it was my first guitar amp. Bought second hand for £100 in the late 90's. They were a low end solid state model so don't get excited about "vintage" Vox prices or anything! Mine had a passable clean sound and went loud as hell. Last couple I've seen sold have been sub £100.

The missus is a photography lecturer at a local college and a vintage film camera buff, sure she'd find a use for these. Let me know how much you'd want to stick them in the post and I'll PayPal it over

In fact, I've just looked and the QU series will all do this too!

Have you looked into an M/X32 or the new Digico S21? Onboard USB interfaces for recording with no extra kit needed.

The main difference with the MFX over the EFX is an extra monitor send if I remember rightly. The Soundcraft Ui16 certainly has a lot of functionality for the price, so long as 12 inputs is going to be enough (and for pubs/functions with a typical band line up it probably will be) but I would 100% recommend using an external router and not depending on the inbuilt WiFi. I've used one for small conference jobs at a sound company I freelance for and have had massive show-stopping problems with the onboard networking. On our second unit from Soundcraft and this one has had bigger issues than the first. In terms of features and interface I think it's a great little box but the WiFi really lets it down.

I've read about people building themselves a little drum riser out of wood/foam/rockwool or seating something on halved tennis balls to isolate the vibration from the floor, won't reduce the perceived sound in the room for you but should stop it rattling through the walls to everyone above and below you!

The one that always springs to mind for me is Limp Bizkit. I think Wes Borland is a massively creative guitarist, some of the melodies, textures and tones he comes out with are just brilliant. Rhythm section are clearly both VERY capable players with lots of chops between them. That red-hatted buffoon of a frontman makes them completely unbearable for me though. Couldn't ever bring myself to own an album or see a show, I stick to respecting the musicians from a safe distance!

I'm a massive fan of the aforementioned D5 and currently have four in my mic case. Use them regularly on male and female vocals and they sound great with very little EQ fiddling needed. Can be found cheaply second hand if you keep your eye out. I'll probably pick up a couple more. Pretty certain I'll be moving on my Shure and Beyer vocal mics. They also work well on instruments, I've had them on guitar amps with good results and they're not too shabby on drums either.

I'm a big fan of the D5 too, got four in my mic box and they're my go-to live vocal mic when I'm mixing bands. Nice tight pickup pattern so will minimise spill from the kit and hopefully give you a bit more gain before feedback to play with too.

I've done it with clean bass and with an octaver, depending on what I've got in front of me (we've been sneaking it in at weddings with the Motown band and I don't pack a pedalboard for those gigs), my scientific measurements suggest it makes no difference to the amount of punters dancing to it. Vocals make this song, and if you collectively get your heads around both the doubling of the bassline and the various bits of verses (some lines are group vocal, some are call and response, and the pattern isn't the same in each verse) and nail that down it'll help with the dynamic of the song far more than worrying about the bass tone will!

I'll take a few requests within reason for wedding/corporate bookings. Some bands I've been with have charged for anything more than a couple of extra songs. If they see your standard repertoire and still want to change most of it then they're probably booking the wrong band! Of course, in these situations it's usually the bride and groom indulging their own tastes and a standard function set would probably go down better with the rest of the guests anyway!

[quote name='Roland Rock' timestamp='1440177660' post='2848921'] My brain immediately leans towards Lousiana/New Orleans/Cajun references for some reason: Molasses Chicken Grease Gumbo Black & Gold The Crawfish [/quote] I do sound for Black & Gold every few weeks, and there's a Manchester and Brighton incarnations of them run by the same agency, so that's probably off.

The first RATM album has aged pretty well in my opinion. It was a big influence on me bass-wise when I first started playing too, there's some massive grooves and great riffs on there. Their last release, Renegades, is full of goodies too. It's covers of artists that influenced the band, but reinterpreted in their own style. There's everything from classic hip hop tunes to Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, MC5 and Minor Threat, and a mighty, riff-laden version of Tom Joad for good measure.