WinterMute

It's stable as far as I ran it, which was not very far, I have UA interfaces and DSP expanders in the studio and I downloaded it out of curiosity, but was pleasantly surprised. All the plug-ins and the app instantiate from the UA hardware, so not iLok is needed, it will run AU plug-ins though, so I imagine iLok support isn't too far away. I'm keeping an eye on the updates for controller support, once that lands I'll take a very serious look at it.

It's good, there are a few things it doesn't do well, elastic audio for instance, but more importantly, it sounds good. I think I'll be moving over to Luna once Protools becomes un-wieldy, if it ever does. It's quite a learning curve, as it looks similar but is quite different to Protools. Edit: One thing, I use an Avid S3 control surface, and Luna doesn't;t support any external surfaces at all, HUI, Eucon etc. So I'll have t wait for that support before I switch permanently.

That's gotta hurt, I've all but given up the idea of owning another Wal, I had a 4 string Pro 2 in the 80's and I'd love a Mark 2 or 3 5 string fretless, but I have neither the patience or the money.

My all time favourite Joni Mitchell recording, very rare that I prefer a live recording to the studio version, but this one surpasses the originals with ease. Absolutely stellar. Jaco's white strides are something else...

Increasingly I find parallel compression on a separate buss yields great results, sure the kick and snare get some Distressor love, but having that compressed signal to ride in under the drum mix as the main mix progresses is a thing of beauty... Love me some Shadow Hills.

I have a Furman in my room, I use their bigger versions in most studio builds I do as an easy way to power multiple units in a rack tidily, they do clean up noise that comes up the mains, EM and RF stuff which is what your noisy dimmers chuck out. They won't do a lot for earth loops, those need tracking down and fixing, but fluorescents and dimmers, sure. The added bonus is the voltage smoothing and the surge protection, plus you can turn everything off at once, just make sure the monitors and amps are "last on, first off". https://furmanpower.com/pro-av-power/merit-series-export/

Room plays such a big part in recording an upright, it's such a physically big instrument that close mics never really do it justice, other advice about multiple mics is solid, I've found something bright and present close into the finger board, around the centre of the speaking length of the string, works very well for the detail, but the essential mic is always something big and sensitive a bit further out, mix to taste. If the scary expensive mics are beyond you, there are some excellent offerings form people like Sontronics these days, particularly second hand, the Orpheus isn't bad at all, but if you can pick up an Omega second hand, that's a great valve mic for around £300. Their STC3 solid state is cheap and cheerful. Rode do some good cheap large diaphragm condensers, as do SE.

I've been very impressed with Universal Audio's Luna platform, it's probably where I'll head once Protools keels over, the admission price is a bit high, in that you have to buy one of the UAD interfaces to get hold of it, but it's integration with the hardware is stellar and it's a very powerful and developing system. Logic remain my second choice if only for the huge amount it gives you out of the box, but it's never sounded as good as Protools to me, regardless of the hardware involved. I may run it up for a test with my UAD hardware and plug-ins, see if that makes a difference, I find it difficult to navigate around.

I'm not sure it really matters much anymore, most of my work comes in either Protools or WAV audio files so I choose to work in Protools, but grab whichever looks good to you and you can afford and get working, they all have great features these days, and you can work around the shortcomings of any system. The learning curves are steep unless you're into Fruity Loops...

I'm still a Pro Tools guy, I've worked with all the others, I have Logic X and Universal Audio Luna on my system, but I've always come back to PT for big sessions. It's built to behave the way an audio engineer expects and it does the job very well, if you're audio recording, editing and mixing, it's still streets ahead IMO. if you're producing EDM or anything using a lot of soft-synth etc. others will be more useful. We develop demos in Logic X, then track, edit and mix in Protools.

From my admittedly limited experience with Reaper, it's a decent alternative, but it doesn't handle plug-in delay compensation very well, and it's very latent. These issues may have been addressed in later releases, it's been a while since I've used it. Protools handles plugins very well and allows hardware insert compensation, it's great with really large sessions now with the folder tracks and it's probably the best DAW on the market for surround and Atmos. Yes, it's expensive, but it's very reliable and it always delivers in my experience, I cannot say the same for Reaper, Logic, Abelton etc.

Not really punk, but with that attitude, Elvis Costello and the Attractions early work, Bruce Thomas was a powerhouse in that band, lovey work.

A while back, but Karnivool’s Roquefort.

These boys know a thing or two about isolating kit, I use their pro stands in the studio: https://isoacoustics.com/isoacoustics-products/home-audio-products/ Don't much agree that isolating amps and the like has much benefit, but speakers definitely, and not just for reducing the nuisance value of double kick drums...

I wanted to try the MC5 pickups, but they have pole-pieces at 18mm, I don't think I'm going t be disappointed with the RFB pups, I played a Krell with those on a while back, sounded brilliant. All my other basses are single pup SR5's or Bongos, so having 2 will be a bit of a luxury for me.

Take a look on ACG's website, there's a couple of Krells with the ART dyed black maple tops, they are fantastic looking beasts. This is the bass that made me look at the Black Maple top:

Not lost, never found, I have a fretted 20th Anni and it's a beast, my favourite 5er ever, but they only made 20 or 30 as fretless, and I've never seen one for sale. Took me 10 years to find the fretted version.

Seems everyone round here is on their second or third ACG so I thought I'd give Alan a chance to make me the fretless bass to replace the 20th Anniversary SR5 I can't bloody find! We've agreed to a Krell 5 with his ART black Maple Burl front and back, a swamp ash core and a mahogany central block lifted straight from the 20th Anni design. it'a going to have an acrylic infused Lava Bubinga fretboard with a wenge/paduak/maple neck and padauk accents. Alans building to a 17mm spacing rather than his usual 18mm, which I find a bit of a stretch. Coming from 16.5mm on the Warwick Thumb 5 to 17.5mm on my SR5s and Bongo was enough. I'm having twin RFB pups, ceramic in the bridge position and alnico in the neck, but both will be bridge orientated, like the odd Wal 2 series and the older Thumb designs. a 3 position switch for each pup will give great versatility, I'm going with the DFM 4k filter pre-amp. Not brave enough to have an unlined board these days, but that's fine with me. Now I just have to wait a year to see what he comes up with.... Here are the woods we've chosen:

You're not the first with such hearty praise, I'm really excited to see what he's going to do with the woods we've chosen the the Krell design.

I'm just arranging my ACG build with Alan, not a milestone, I just can't find a fretless 20th Anni SR5 for love nor money... My best mate bought me my stealthy Bongo 5 for my 50th, the magnificent old sod.

Particularly then it comes to pies, it seems...

There is much truth in this post.

I think there's no doubt that a very well constructed instrument will show off the tone in pups and pre's better than a slab of plywood and some razor wire... It's also true to say that if I pick up the bass of doom or Geddy's Jazz, I won't sound anything like Pastorius or Geddy Lee, tone resides in the combination of the player and the bass, and the bass is the sum of it's parts, some are better than that sum, and some are worse.

So, I'm think of getting Alan at ACG to build me a 5 string fretless as I can't find a 20th Anni SR5 fretless for love nor money, this naturally led me into a bit of research about woods and construction and I've been reading a lot about this over the past week. It seems to me that a number of things are true: Solid bodied instruments are less (or not at all) susceptible to variations in tone depending on what they're made of. Rigidity is key and acoustic instrument make better use of the tonal variations in woods as they are intrinsically weaker and so less rigid, which seems to allow the wood to resonate with the chambering/hollow bodies. Most of the "tone" in an electric instrument comes from the pups, the pre-amp, the amp/effects and player. Rigid is an excellent word. All that said, my 20th Anni SR5 fretted doesn't sound like any other SR5 I've played, and this may be due to the use of a mahogany "tone block" that the pups and neck connect to, or it may just be the Alnico pup and the new pre EB put in the thing. Could also be magic, I don't know. I've asked Alan a few questions, he seems to know what he's doing.

Geddy Lee's solo album My Favourite Headache...