WinterMute

There you go, Mumford's on the songwriting team... I knew I detected his dreary style... 😉

I don't know, the performances are great, and the story is interesting enough, but I can't help thinking that the original songs composed for the show just aren't very good... Maybe they are going to get better as the show progresses to indicate the growing experience of the band, the song at the end of the 3rd episode isn't bad. That would be quite impressive... I'll probably watch all of it, but Spinal Tap is the only mockumentary I can think of with "decent" songs and they were all pisstakes.

You could do worse than this Lakland on the marketplace I think...

I worked with Mike when we were lecturing together at UWL/LCM in London, not only is he a fine bassist and producer, but he's a thoroughly decent fellow too. Weird in that 70's slightly spaced out way, but a genuinely fine human being.

Yup, that was my rig for a while now have the Quad Cortex into the K12.2, it's absolutely perfect for rehearsals and the like, I've even taken to recording it for a bit of room. The RCF and FBT variants are equally good, and anything with a decent sub is going to move serious air.

Could I have continued to play a £250 OLP Tony Levin and had a much fun? Oh yes. Do I enjoy plugging the 20th Anni SR5 is and making a racket? Oh yes. Can I afford to pay a craftsman like Alan Cringean to make me a fretless bass that is a work of art and sounds brilliant? Oh yes. Are all three lumps of wood (bits of metal, bits of wire, bits of plastic, carbon fibre, fanatical devotion to the pope...) Oh yes. Lucky me eh?

This is not helping me...

I had a GK800RB bi-amped into an ampeg 8x10 and a TE 4x10 and I could get it all into a Renault 19... Played havoc with the fuel economy...

Fingers crossed for a boring recovery from this point then. Do the physio, even when you think you can't, it's not fun but it's absolutely essential.

Blimey, SM666 cheaper than the SM665 sets... Looks like I'll have some spare 30s kicking around if anyone needs them.

There's just no point in trying to claim any single player is "the best", too many variations, best at what? Jazz? Soloing? Spitting blood while wearing ridiculous boots? I think uniqueness of voice is the most important element, and that is just behind serving the needs of the song, which McCartney always seemed to do very well, as did Entwistle, as does Geddy Lee, depends entirely on context. No-one gallops like Steve Harris, no-one hit 16s like Pastorious (maybe that odd bloke in Vulfpeck), no-one one is as versatile and creative as Tony Levin, no-one is a dependable as Carol Kaye and no-one, but no-one held it down like Cliff Williams... Who's best? No way of telling. I don't like the Beatles, I have no time for McCartney's solo work, but he's a phenomenal songwriter and bassist. This isn't Pokemon, there can be more than one.

Another nod to Sonarworks Reference for hearing curve adjustments, works a treat, but makes the room a difficult listen for anyone else...! Try investing in a good Spectrum analyser as a visual representation, I use the Nugen Audio Visualiser https://nugenaudio.com/visualizer You can look at the reference tracks and compare the output curves.

Tried a few 6ers, always find the neck profile too wide for my small hands or, if the profile is ok, the string spacing is too tight. I love the idea of more strings, if I were a braver man I'd buy a Stick, but time and opportunity are no-ones friends these days. Kraftwerk and The Human League et al didn't need strings...

BBE sonic maximiser is an aural exciter, not a compressor, it uses EQ and phase cancellation to enhance higher harmonics and clean up mud. I'd not expect one to have much effect on bass unless you're going for some ultra clean fretless Micheal Manring type sound.

Global EQ, very useful. IR loader block, very useful. The different performance modes don't help me much as mine is a studio tool first and foremost, but I can see how they'd be great for live work. The modified capture process is working very well I think. A good update so far.

I'm 58, most "modern music" of any era is crap, time dissolves the rubbish and leaves us with the good stuff. The main problem today is the ease of music production, I say "problem" because it really isn't as the world needs more music, but anyone with a laptop can throw a tune together in any number of apps that sounds like anything else out there. More power to them, but as we all know, there's a deal more to great music than a few loops and a mixing algorithm. Talent will out eventually, but the signal to noise ratio has been going the wrong way for a couple of decades now, and it takes time and effort to sift through the rubbish to find the great music that is still being made.

Almost everything in a mix benefits from compression and limiting of varying levels IMO, modern mixes have a very limited dynamic range and, unless you're recording binaural jazz or classical, been able to rely on an instrument staying where you put it is very useful. Live is no different, if you don't have a compressor on your rig, you can almost guarantee that the FoH engineer will strap one on. I find being in control of tone shaping before it reaches the PA or DAW yields better results, but I am a recording engineer and I do understand compression and limiting, it's a complex subject that causes arguments sometimes. Of late I've been using a lot more limiting to allow dynamic variation but also allow some control for the peaks when I get particularly aggressive. YMMV.

Installed it earlier, but haven't had a chance to give its more than a cursory glance, some of the new features look very useful.

That DPA mic lives and dies by the capsule suspension, some very odd harmonics in the strings after the bridge. I have to say they nailed it for live performance, not so much in the studio.

The first rule of progressive rock.... Oh, b*gg*r.

It's unlikely for me I'm afraid, I was the technical director for London College of Music for 7 years, my office overlooked the main performance/rehearsal space and I was subject to a daily barrage of bad jazz from people learning how to play it (or not as the case may be). Very occasionally someone who could play would turn up, Branford Marsalis memorably, and I could sort of see the appeal but I'm afraid too much of it either goes over my head or is just meandering wibble... A good big band makes a decent noise up close.

Steely Dan, 1st year at Uni, bloke over the corridor in halls played a lot of Steely Dan, I hated it, preferring to drown it out with a solid diet of Rush, Zep, Pink Floyd, Motorhead and the like. Now a proper devotee, love their work. Still love the other stuff too, my tastes have broadened. Ewen, you were right there mate. Still can't stand Jazz mind.