razze06

[quote name='51m0n' timestamp='1329497845' post='1543461'] Really though the drummer ought to be able to keep it together. If you all just turn the heck down by 1/3, and the drummer uses lighter sticks and a lighter touch you probably shouldnt need to go down this route at all. [/quote] Spot on! Doctoring the drumkit is not an option, the kit belongs to the room, not us

[quote name='musophilr' timestamp='1329496240' post='1543428'] Guitarists either use the "It's my sound, maan" excuse for being too loud, or they blame the drummer. (I know, I am one!) Having said that, IMO you need to be able to play at reduced volume 'cos they might ask you to do that at a gig where they're paying you good money and you have to do what they're paying you to do. Therefore you should not only practice playing the dots, you should practice playing them at various volume levels. And you have to accept that in some cases you might have to compromise on tone quality if you've been relying on a cranked amplifier. It IS possible for a drummer to get a powerful rock sound without bashing seven bells of hell out of the skins, I know a chap who can do that. But just as a guitarist might have to accept a compromise on tone quality, so should other band members. BTW try nobbling the vocal EQ as follows: (1) take out the bass. The female voice produces almost no sound in that frequency band anyway so you're losing nothing by doing so other than the opportunity for bass frequencies to start feeding back. (2) Hike the 3kHz mid-range by 3dB, it will make the vocals stick out a bit more I don't like the yellow spongy earplugs, they cut treble and some midrange and let in all the bass, so you get a highly bass-biased version of the sound. The ~£180 personally moulded jobs are very good. [/quote] Good practical advice on the eq, i'll try that. Incidentally, our guitarist is generally quiet and rarely needs to be told to turn down. More often than not he's asked to get a bit more volume! You heard it here first,.. Probably it doesn't help that our drummer likes a bit of the old metal, and likes to bash away at full strength in the privacy of his own garage When we need to play quieter or just in a more volume-controlled manner, we just use the electric drumkit. Using it all the time at practice is an option, but not a great one. Thanks all the advice folks, plenty to try here!

[quote name='charic' timestamp='1329493578' post='1543365'] Why not practice with her facing the speakers and you lot? [/quote] She does, sorry if I wasn't clear about that

[quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1329493238' post='1543355'] make sure she actually sings into the mic, like really close... and then work with where it is pointing too. obviously not towards a speaker or the direct reflection off that speaker. then look at how you EQ the vox, and send an EQed mix to the wedge. [/quote] We have told her to sing really close to mike ajd she does. The problem with orienting the mike is a critical one. The room is small, the two PA speaker are directly ahead of her, so she gets the reflection off the back wall. Perhaps I can try equing out some frequencies...

Regarding singing louder, she sings some bits louder and other quieter, and the quiet bits seems to get lost the most (unsurprisingly) Educating the drummer is ongoing. I had thought of buying some lightweight sticks, but i'd like to ask him first Turning everybody down is a common call at practice. In honesty, I can hear well enough, but she doesn't and that's the problem

We have a loudness problem with our covers band, so i'm her to drink at the fountain of knowledge and experience that is the BC community Essentially, our problem is that the singer can't hear herself much, especially in the faster and busier numbers. We do a mixture of R&B, funk, motown, some pop and other similar genres, so nothing too heavy. Lineup is bass, guitar, drums, keys and vocals. We practice in a relatively small but reasonably well equipped practice room, and we've found that we can't crank up the volume of the vocals in PA as much as we need to because of feedback on the vocals mike (a shure sm58, like almost everybody else). Why don't you just turn down, I hear you ask. Quite simply the drums won't go down enough in volume, and using the electric drumkit is really a last resort. What options do we have? Get a personal monitor for the singer (tried with a floor wedge, even more feedback than before)? Get IEM for the vocals? That sounds like an idea, but will she change her singing style and loudness with the thingy in her ear? Work the eq somehow, to let her voice cut through better? Find a way to make the acoustic kit less loud? Invest in a magic piece of kit that will make the vocals stop feeding back in the practice room? We need a solution that can be used outside of the practice room as well, if needed. Any advice or personal experience is very welcome, cheers!

a guitar (that's what it looks and sounds like, anyway)

More like a salvage yard special... Is there such a thing as a rat rig? [attachment=99654:newrig..jpg] The two fender neo 1x12 cabs, with some 70's technology on top of them (I only use one OR the other head)

[quote name='Acebassmusic' timestamp='1328813561' post='1533157'] We do it...standard chorus with a reggae style verse and rap section People dont recognise it until the vocals come in and then its "Aaah!" Goes down well with the punters. [/quote] Good to hear it's not a silly idea! We're sufficiently far apart not to cramp each other's styles

[quote name='EdwardHimself' timestamp='1328797668' post='1532793'] Well that's your opinion. I happen to think it's rather beautiful myself. But that's just me. Good idea. Given that you appear to be of the peavey persuasion, I am reccomending that you try out a peavey Cirrus/millenium BXP. Nice players, and tonnes of low end. [/quote] I shall. I already use a Peavey grind BXP when I play with my old band in Italy, and I approve of the playability!

Thanks for all your contributions, I'm thinking of finding a nicely playable cheap 5er and try it out. Tuning to BEAD wouldn't work, as I do a fair bit of work on the G string (oo-er) in several songs.

I have low B already, got a free 5 string set from somewhere long ago

What about the matching Little Bastard cabs? Ashdown makes some rather nice 1x12 to go with the amp head...

Would you think that stringing one of my bass with thicker gauge strings and tuning BEAD would make any sense?

Probably not the first topic on this, but I need some opinions. I have been toying with the idea that a 5 string bass would be a really good idea for my reggae and ska band. However, i'm just concerned that i will end up with an expensive thumbrest... Those of you who regularly play a 5 stringer, what you find are the main advantages? Do you use the extra 5 notes much, or is the availability of certain low notes in certain positions? Bearing in mind that I have no interest in soloing and I don't play any form of metal, would you recommend I gave one a serious try? Thanks for reading!

We're not all so lucky, Marvin

It is clearly a problem with North Edinburgh water supply then

I also kind of like it, just wondering how the hell is it that EVERY covers band seems to be doing it now

Have you noticed? No less than three bands (including ours - guilty as charged) were practicing this last night, and that's just at the practice room place we use (The Depot in Edinburgh). I blame the acoustic version! I'm trying to push for a stripped down reggae version of it, should spice it up a little

[quote name='Higgie' timestamp='1328547246' post='1528857'] I always tune to drop D when playing this. Really brings the thunder! [/quote] Meh, I should have done the same it when we were still doing it...

I used to play it in the covers band. Great song if the singer ca hack it! I never tuned to drop D, but i guess it could make for an interesting alternative

Did the late, late show at whistlebinkies' in Edinburgh again last night, 00.30 till 2.45am. When we walked in at 11.30 the bar was half empty, at the beginnig of the second set at 1.45 we couldn't get back to the stage for the throng of people! Large sections of the crowd consisted of young nubile ladies giving it all on the dancefloor, how good is that! Distracting though, dropped a few notes here and there... Big downside, i'm a wreck at work this morning!

jazz or precision? they're both great imo