WinterMute

I've worked for many years with Eddie Veale, who engineered and edited Lennon's Imagine album whilst building studios for Lennon, Harrison and (I think) Ringo, he's always maintained that Yoko was the making of John Lennon, and that there was a reason he (Eddie) never took to McCartney the way he did to the others. I've not heard his take on Get Back as yet, but he was interviewed for the Above Us Only Sky documentary about the making of imagine, which I thought was very good. I think Get Back was very sympathetic to Paul McCartney and I thought it was interesting that John Lennon was the one pushing to have Harrison's compositions included in the later parts of the documentary. I also think that, whilst the album probably wouldn't have been made without McCartney's drive and talent, it was him that ultimately led to Harrison's dissatisfaction and the split. I also think Ringo is a f*cking machine, he didn't miss a beat.

My take from watching episode 1 and genuinely not being a Beatles fan at all, it's fascinating to watch the moments of creativity that spawned some of the most famous songs in the history of modern music, Get Back, Let It Be... Watching the dynamic between the band members that is utterly familiar to any of us who have written music in a collaborative setting is equally compelling. I'll be watching the other episodes, it's a rare glimpse of history, regardless of the accusations of spin that are being levelled at Jackson's editing decisions.

No, the FBT kit is proper pro-level stuff, it's not cheap but it's very good, If you're happy with the sound you're getting from the HK's I'd probably stay with them. However if you're looking to step up the quality of your sound, I'd definitely have FBT on the list of PA to demo.

I've run full bands through the FBT Vertus, using the 18" sub not the 2x8, and with the higher powered columns, and they don't miss a beat, they'll handle small venue duties very easily, you can always double up for larger venues, they system is fully modular and self powered, add another sub and column per side and you're looking as some serious output in very well controlled line arrays.

There have been so very few musicians who can play a solo that is genuinely exciting and inspiring in the context of a band performance, most of them just come over as self indulgent twaddle, and I include some personal hero's work in that, even the late, genuinely great Neil Peart's solos were a bit hit and miss. Solo performers are a different case, John McLaughlin's solo work is awesome, but it's not just about his technique, it's about the music, Jaco's Portrait of Tracy is a beautiful piece, as are some of Micheal Manrings pieces, but 5 minutes of solo guitar w*nk by (insert guitarist name here) in the middle of a concert. No thanks. Take Prince's solo in While My Guitar Gently weeps at the Harrison Memorial Concert, as an exercise in technique it's astonishing, but more than that, it's an exercise in musicianship, and it leaves the performance all the greater for it. Mark King's brilliant work in (insert favourite Level 42 track here) is technically arresting, and he sings at the same time, astonishing playing. Geddy Lee's breaks in YYZ, answered by Peart's joint busting chops, gob-smacking, iconic. I think musical genres that are built around individual virtuosity, like some forms of Jazz, have a claim to extending the boundaries of musicianship and performance, but I personally find virtuosity for the sake of it to be a d*ck measuring exercise. The thunder thumbs video posted earlier, my god, what technique, what tone, what a huge ego... 32 bars of that and back to the song, brilliant. What, is he still playing the same solo? Dull. As always, YMMV, and it's a much more interesting world that has diversity of ideas, styles and purpose, if we all liked the same stuff, it'd be boring.

There's a synth line tracking the baseline too I think, could be an effect on the bass, but there's something synthetic in it.

Almost worth keeping a double bass bow in the case for that very event.

Never been a big fan of bass solos (or guitar or keyboard solos if I'm honest) if players want to show how brilliant they are, they should craft their work into the context of the music IMO. Something like Portrait of Tracy is clearly a solo, but it's a piece written for solo bass, and that's fine. Otherwise, do what Geddy Lee or Ox did and stick some killer lines into a great song.

Yes, but you get to keep the great speakers in the settlement...

If you want to go completely mad, these things are utterly awesome... you do need 2 for proper stereo though... That'll be €4000, thanks. https://www.devialet.com/en-eu/phantom-speaker/phantom-i/ They have a budget range too, a snip at €2200 a pair... https://www.devialet.com/en-eu/phantom-speaker/phantom-ii/

Honestly, I'd save a bit more and go for the B&W Zeppelin, best sounding system under a grand by some way IMO. https://www.bowerswilkins.com/en-gb/wireless-speakers/zeppelin

XLD has always work very well for converting FLAC from my Bluesound Vault 2 to either ALC or AAC for the MacBook Pro. https://tmkk.undo.jp/xld/index_e.html

My gigging rig from a while back, worked a treat and sounded great, but had to go once I stopped gigging as my room is too small... Changed it for a QSC 12.2 powered speaker that I use as a stage wedge most of the time for writing and practice, it'll serve perfectly well if I ever decide to go back on the stage. Main tone is now provided by an HX Stomp and the RND Shelford Channel for the DI, I occasionally run through the UAD Twin and use the Eden WT800 or the Ampeg SVT emulations, although the Stomp's SVT and 8x10 models are absolutely brilliant. I still have the Boss Bass Chorus pedal, which does get hauled out occasionally, as it sounds unlike any other chorus, but I'll also use the UAD2 Roland Dimension D model, which is very good paralleled on a fretless.

That Viagra's a wonderful thing, isn't it?

Have a look at the Audient iD4 as well, built like a tank, good preamps, same kind of price range. https://audient.com/products/audio-interfaces/id4/overview/

I pay loud and hard, in a 3 piece usually, there aren't many bassists that can push backline like I do, I used Barefaced cabs and power amps when I was gigging, with a variety of pre-amps, usually a Line6 Bass PodXL pro, but now a Stomp HX into a QSC 12.2, it's pretty bomb proof.

Fretted 5 string, Fretless 5 string, Stomp HX, QSC K12.2, sorted.

I had the 74's in my fretless Squier, really brought the thing to life, shame they're not made anymore.

I had a Geddy Jazz with the Badass bridge, sustained forever, had a Squier jazz fretless, the Jaco-esque one, which came with a standard bent tin jazz bridge, swapped it for a Gotoh hi-mass and it made absolutely no difference at all, unlike dropping a pair of Wizard pups in, which did. Was the sustain on the Geddy a function of better builds and woods? Maybe. I have MM SR5s now, the MM bridges do the job very well, and I think the posts let into the body that secure the bridge do play a part in allowing the string vibrations to act with the body, as they all sound great unplugged, as did the Geddy, the fretless not so much. YMMV

Back in the 80's I lent my pristine Aria Pro2 P bass to a friend who was appearing in a short run of "Oi for England", the play about skinheads, he was a very decent fellow and I assumed he'd look after it well, it came back with the front and pick-guard scratched to b*gg*ry, turned out he been playing with an aluminium pick. That cost the production company £150 for a refinish and a new pick-guard. I'll lend backline if absolutely necessary, but basses? No.

You clearly need a bigger sofa...

I'd always been under the impression it was a Synclavier direct to disc system that Trevor Horn and Steve Lipson had taken to using. Ealier Frankie work was engineered by JJ Jeczalik, a renown Fairlight user, certainly Relax was Fairlight driven, but Two Tribes was definitely Steve Lipson. Either way, it wasn't Ped and his P bass...

A little bit pricy, but FBT's Vertus system is brilliant and very compact, I installed a flown array from them 5 years ago, and they brough the vertus system in for a demo, we ended up keeping it as a portable gigging rig for concerts outside of the main theatres. http://www.fbtusa.com/vertus/ QSC's K series is very good too, depending on your needs, I use a K12.2 as a backline speaker, and it works very well, a couple of those on poles a sub or two would kick.

If you're lucky enough to have hardware, good for you, my favourite box was always the AMS RMX16, it's simplicity was it's strength. The 500 series version is very good indeed. If I had the room, I'd definitely be looking for an EMT stereo plate with a valve pre-amp, but I don't think the lovely wife would let me sacrifice the utility room to install it. I'm always very wary of adding reverb to bass parts, occasionally I'll put a bit of short room on a bass to tie it into a rhythm section, and the kick sometimes gets a touch too, depending on the genre and style of mix, but LF in reverbs muddies mixes, I always use an HPF set to around 100hz on reverb returns, it stops the LF in the track getting too waffly. Otherwise, add to taste, but remember that you are adding the illusion of space rather than real space, and what you are really doing is adding another audio layer to your mixes, one the needs treating in exactly the same way as anther guitar or keyboard part. Sparse tracks can deal with longer RT, denser mixes need shorter RT. Increasing pre-delay or early reflection levels makes a reverb space sound bigger without needing longer RT.

If you come out of the Mix Out on the front panel and connect to the Line In on an Active speaker, you should be OK, the back panel outputs are speaker outputs and should not be connected to anything but a passive speaker input. QSC K12.2 monitors would suit as they are excellent, but there are many, many other options available.