WinterMute

Bit of Geddy solo, Moving to Bohemia.

I absolutely use amp and cab models, have done for years, Line 6 Bass Pod XT Pro, Line 6 Stomp, Helix and now the Quad Cortex, but I always capture a DI track to, a good DI input can save a bass recording in a difficult mix. I tend to run the DI through UA's Eden World traveller model for a bit of cab and room, but I've also been experimenting with "re-amping" back through the QC at mix down too.

> Shelford Channel DI > UAD2 Line input > TB2 to computer Bass > Shelford Channel Link > Quad Cortex > UAD2 Line input > TB2 to computer Tracking 2 mono channels, 1 clean DI with EQ and a touch of compression from the Shelford, 1 fully modelled rig w Amps, cabs, FX etc. I've listened to the USB output from the Quad Cortex, and I prefer the analogue output, plus I don't have to worry about phase accuracy with the Shelford channel output.

I have the twin Hercules AGS stand, works for anything with a headstock. Not much use with a Steinberger however...

The model styles are fairly consistent, a Krell is the same shape given the scale length and variations in things like fingerboard radius, but the electronics vary depending on the original choice, I think OP wants to have a play with the filter based pre-amp and the multi-coil pickups.

I'm in Iver near Windsor, with a fretless ACG Krell 5 string, but it's got narrow string spacing so I didn't go with the MC series pick-ups, as they can't be anything but 18mm spacing. I have RFB's and the DFM 4K. it's this one: https://acguitars.co.uk/project/0431krellfretless5-34/

Saw them in Birmingham at the weekend, Levin looks like he's having a ball... Shame the PA didn't have the LF to bring out his work properly, sounded great for the more delicate stuff, but lacked weight. Excellent gig though.

I was singing in a school mates band and the bassist left, Steve said "you can play bass, it's only one note at a time" so I did. He taught me to play a major scale and a minor scale and I learnt a bunch of songs and just got on with it. I'm sure I could be a much better player if I took advantage of all the resources now, but the need has never arisen and I've spent the last 45 years playing on sessions and in studio based bands, mostly doing other stuff at the same time, mainly engineering and producing.

Both, onstage monitor is an FRFR cab with a parallel feed sent to the PA from a Helix floor unit.

In the serious playing years I'd have 2, a fretted and a fretless, and occasionally a 3rd in a different tuning before I started playing 5 string. For many years I had just 1 fretted 5 string, so that came out with a spare set of strings in the bag, which I never needed. If I gig these days it'd be back to a fretted and a fretless, both 5 strings, I reckon I could get through a gig on either one if anything went bang. I also used to carry a pre-programmed Bass Pod XT in case the backline gave up the ghost, I'd at least be able to get some sound into the PA... It's more useful to have spare cables, batteries, strings, gaffe tape and an extra strap, as these are things I've been asked for on more occasions than I've had equipment failure.

I've done many sessions with click tracks of all kinds, metronomes, loops, once the original song as a guide, and they all have advantages and disadvantages. I've come to believe that clicks of any kind limit the drummers to an extent, they constrain the performance, even if slightly. Even the best session players play better if allowed to keep their own time, to my ears. I started using groove extraction in Protools a while back, it allows me to lock the timeline of the session to the timekeeping of the drummer, allows them to set the tempo and dynamics and lets me keep programmed parts and loops in time perfectly. Obviously it only works in the studio and if you have a drummer capable of keeping good time, which isn't always the case...! Can't be done for live work, but a bit of time in rehearsal can set up a very similar "dynamic" click that can be used as the basis for a much more natural feel to programme-based tracks.

Add to that the velocity switch layering most decent drum systems have these days, BFD and Slate Drums being the two I habitually use if I have to programme drums, and you do get a much more realistic response. Interestingly this tech has been embedded in some of the triggering plug-ins too, the Slate version being particularly good at emulating the tone of an original drum recording. I still tend to layer triggered sounds with the originals rather than replace, but it all helps.

I'd really like my band to 1. exist and 2. be obscenely famous and rich and not at all dysfunctional...

It was ever thus before the age of affordable audio tech, the process of just making an album was prohibitively expensive, which was where the labels came in, and still do occasionally these days. It's a perfectly reasonable prospect to put some time into learning how to record and mix properly and putting together a system capable of returning good product, and it's usually cheaper than paying for an established studio. I think there's still an expectation that the "big studio" experience is the only way to achieve pro results, and that's simply not true now. If Stu Hamm wants to leverage his fan-base to pay for better facilities, he absolutely should, if I tried it I reckon I could get £37.50... I'm lucky enough to be able to record and mix, but I'm aware thats not the case for everyone, so the limited help that a label can bring is often the only route available. Labels have always been necessary evil, but some of the practices in the industry are pernicious and that drives artists to try different things.

Marillion haven't had a record label for 25 years, a band like them needed funding to record back then, and yes, it's very different today and I'm sure they take advantage of the available technology. Steve is still very much of the same opinions, and views the internet as a way to get away from the clutches of the labels, sadly the streaming scams have simply put the money back in the hands of the middlemen. Stu Hamm has a following, and he's leveraging it, more power to him, I don't think the situation for a new artist recently signed is much different in terms of label support and where the money goes, many of my producer friends have resorted to the so called 360 deal with artists, taking points from ticket and merchandise sales as well as releases, there are clauses for ads, films, TV. The reality is that everyone still wants a bite. I make my own music, I do it for pleasure these days and I release it privately, the tech means it sounds as good as anything I did in a studio in the 80s and 90s. I think this is a good thing for everyone, except for your last point about releases, the signal to noise ratio has worsened exponentially in the last 10 years, who can hear the music over the noise now?

Marillion have crowd funded albums for years after they were dropped by their label. You might want to look at Steve Albini's essay on the record industry and how the money goes almost anywhere but to the band/artist, and his later, more optimistic, comments about the internet. https://thebaffler.com/salvos/the-problem-with-music https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/nov/17/steve-albini-at-face-the-music-how-the-internet-solved-problem-with-music

Hence my comment "make of that what you will", peer review is not as thorough as it used to be and there are many bodies willing to publish suspect research,

I genuinely though that cooker thing was an April fools joke like the mechanical compressor mic stand or the concrete speaker cab with pre-damaged 11" drivers and mini tow bar.

I've used the studio spares splitter for the same reasons in a few studios, might be a bit overkill, but multiple headphones outputs is always a benefit. https://www.studiospares.com/mtr-8way-ps-8-headphone-splitter-440520.htm

Indeed.

The American National Institute of health appears to think there's some valid science at work... https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4378297/ Make of that what you will. Actually, on further reading there have been a ton of studies done, many of which report some benefits to earthing. Appendix to this study has loads of links, how well the studies are policed or reviewed bears investigation. For clarity, I know people who swear by grounding, but I've always thought it was new-age b*llsh*t.

Quite fancy a noodle on a Zon Hyperbass, shame they don't do a 5 string version.

Yes, the Vault has a CD drive for ripping and you can add files to the 2Tb HD over the network, it'll play FLAC, but you can set the rip to AIFF 44.1/16 if you want to and it''l play back anything up to 192/24 and even some of the "master" files kicking about. You can also access a bunch of streaming services, and it has the TuneIn internet radio app. Useful little box. https://www.bluesound.com/products/vault/

Anything that gets recommended or I stumble across gets some time in the Apple Music library, if it survives a week or so, it gets bought on CD and ripped to lossless in a Bluesound Vault 2 network player. The 1500 or so CD's I've got are all in there and are playable round the house network. I've even digitised some old vinyl for SnG's. I compress the lossless files to AAC for the iPhone as it gets used in the car and on trains. I can't abide most streaming services, the only good one is Tidal, but the quality comes at a price for a service I wouldn't use that much.

Whilst you don't actually need to like the people you play with, you do have to know they value you as a player and band-mate, that's always been the kicker for me. Of course it helps immensely if you all do get on famously, because it's much more fun.