woodyratm

Our new single “Legions”.

I’m using the Shure reissue - GLXD1+ and it’s been flawless since I got it. 
 

I have the sennheiser digital one too - was excellent too. Just the dongle wasn’t what I liked. I should probs sell that to be honest. 

On 24/05/2023 at 16:07, casapete said:

I’m jealous! Seen him a few times since the 70’s and love his stuff, one of my favourite artists.

However, I just couldn’t run to the insane ticket prices that were on sale - did you manage to get

yours on a good deal? Must admit I’ve lost a lot of faith in Bruce for seemingly endorsing this

new ‘reactive’ ticket pricing. I’m sure it will be a great gig though, one of the best bands I’ve

ever seen. Enjoy!

They were more expensive than I’d have normally wanted to pay. £130 each after the wretched fees, but my wife loves him so hey ho. 
 

Saw people selling worse seats than ours for absolutely silly amounts. Daft. 
 

Had to get a hotel in Dunfermline as they rocketed it. Like 300+ for a Travelodge! 

I’m seeing Bruce Springsteen next week in Edinburgh. Looking forward to it! 

 

5 hours ago, neepheid said:

 

Eh, it's a gig.  First one in ages for the 'Spoons, 'cos sax player got a job offshore and trying to work around his shift patterns has been a challenge.

 

I don't take any of these BOTB things seriously, we're too niche to win anyway.  It's more a case of reminding the three people who maybe care that we still exist as a going concern...

My words were “if we play the gig and one person becomes interested in us, then that’s a win!”

I mean don’t get me wrong, we’re still going to try and get people there. My wife is going to arrange a work night out that just happens to involve a battle of the bands at Krakatoa/moorings! 😂

1 hour ago, itu said:

Are you sure the batteries were changed? If only few act weirdly, the very first checkpoint is batteries. The next would be the cables around the same batteries.

Yeah sadly. I changed them myself afterwards to sanity check. 
 

28 minutes ago, Leonard Smalls said:

We did one of those recently and it turned out to be a contest of how many Instagram votes you could muster.

Sadly, our Facebook followers tend not to bother with it being a touch older...

We'd been told there were three judges, which is why we did it!

Yeah, apparently it’s the bar staff and sound person who judge it. But I’ve a sneaky feeling that the bands the venue has sorta created will win. 
 

if it’s a social media contest, we’re buggered! 

Casually going to look into this again. 
 

Does anyone have any recommendations on people to approach to get it quoted and fixed? I’m in Aberdeen, so ideally Scotland but could probs find a case. 

Played a great gig on Friday! Had some weird issues with one of our DIs dying for some reason - but we got it sorted!

Got an insane amount of of compliments on the band and even my bass sound and playing. I have to learn how to take those compliments! 😂

Sadly the live stream didn’t go on but oh well. Next gig in a battle of the bands for £2k. So if anyone is free in aberdeen and wants to see a band that sounds like faith no more covering the prodigy (apparently!), you’re welcome to come party! 

LED shoes not required 😂

25 minutes ago, Frank Blank said:

1981? An unspecified pub in London, I was much refreshed when I got in the van, so I have no idea where I got out, Peckham came to mind so I'll go with that. Arrived to find we were the third band to play on a bill of three so I had time for more snakebite. I remember lots of people arriving who had come to see us from my home town, by gig time the place was rammed. I sat down behind my drums (yes, I was drumming in this band), counted the first song in with drumstick clicks and, on the third click, I vomited profusely over my entire kit. When I say vomited, I mean gushing geyser-type, dam busting style, a proper outpouring whinged pink from the blackcurrant in the snakebite. I managed, somehow, to complete the count in and begin the song which was  mostly a floor tom/snare pattern and, as both drums heads were just lakes of pink sick, this first song was very splashy indeed. The throwing up cleared my head a bit and I got through the song, some kind soul took pity on me and brought me over a pint of what I thought was water which I downed before song two, it was actually lemonade and, half way through song two, the fizzing lemonade decided it didn't like my insides so it flew out all down the back of the singer. Still, managed to finish the gig somehow, can't remember getting home or how my kit got back but it did. We were finding little dried lumps of pink puke everywhere for weeks. Luckily for me everyone, including the singer and the people from home, seemed to find the whole thing hilarious so I counted myself lucky and did another years worth of gigs with them. I still have the t-shirt I was wearing that night that which I obviously used to wipe down the drums with, it is streaked like it's been bleached. Excellent.

Fantastic! 

32 minutes ago, MichaelDean said:

I like Payson strings on my Dingwall. They do specific sets for different tunings too. They've got a set for G with a .160 guage, seeming in stock at Bass Direct too. 

 

https://www.bassdirect.co.uk/bass_guitar_specialists/Dingwall_Accessories.html

Cheers man. I had a nosy on BD and actually went for the Paysons! 😊

Do you use the stainless steel or Nickel ones on yours? How long do they tend to last in your experience?

Aye up! 
I bought a Dingwall for recording down at G#. I was recommended to hit the 160 gauge for the low note. 
 

so - I bought a multi scale set from Daddario. But it seems the 160 is slightly too short. 
 

I know newtone do a set (https://newtonestrings.com/shop/alex-milovic-signature-multi-scale-bass-strings/?v=79cba1185463) but they are out of stock and my bass is currently in with my tech. 
 

Are there any other strings that would be happy with that sort of gauge and ideally in stock. I’m normally a status strings person but this is new territory!

12 minutes ago, BigJHW said:

i thought in my wisdom that a dual padded bass case would be a great idea for gigs so i can take a spare bass... bought me a Gator X2 Progo (i think that's what it's called)
it is very well made - provides loads of protection - but i soon realised 2 basses in 1 case is actually awkward to pack in the car as it's quite deep and not lite to carry at all
1 bass in each hand in soft cases (looks like hard cases but they're soft) is much easier to carry around and easier to fit in the car for gigs with other stuff and thinner oddly..

 

i do like the gator x2 thing - i just don't think it'll leave the house again which is a shame (just don't tell the wife i spent £170ish quid on something i'm never going to use lol)

Yeah this is kinda what I’m thinking. Might go back to my mono bag and use that and maybe get a second if I take two basses.

thanks all

Yeah just to agree with other folks. Drop works well - at least for live. Not sure I’d use for recording. 
 

I’m using the drop on the QC now. 

There was a lovely Status one on Bass bros. Red, fretted and fretless. Daisy Pepper owns it now. 

36 minutes ago, WinterMute said:

If the bass signal wasn't "hot" enough, he could have increased the gain with any number of gain stage devices in any number of DAWs. That was not an honest thing to do and I'd be p*ssed if it was my project.

 

The most important aspect of mixing someone else's music is a clear understanding of what they want it to sound like, and how they've gone about recording it, if it's a live band feel, that needs to be retained, if it's a Mutt Lange re-build note by note then attention to detail is essential. Good engineers respond to the music, the musicians and the intention. I have a list of questions I use to get to the meat of what an artist wants, even if I'm only engineering, not producing.

 

There are limitations to what can be done with some self-recordings, particularly where distortion is concerned, but there are tools available to make a fist of almost every recording error these days.

 

When you say "stems" what do you mean? If I was mixing your track, I'd want everything as close to original as possible, "stems" is a term that comes from Post Production engineers to describe sub-mixed groups of tracks. Do you mean comped and editing tracks?

Also, meant to say - my tone is heavy fuzz and distortion. But two tracks were sent. One with the effected tone, and one raw clean DI so he could do whatever he wanted with. 

45 minutes ago, WinterMute said:

If the bass signal wasn't "hot" enough, he could have increased the gain with any number of gain stage devices in any number of DAWs. That was not an honest thing to do and I'd be p*ssed if it was my project.

 

The most important aspect of mixing someone else's music is a clear understanding of what they want it to sound like, and how they've gone about recording it, if it's a live band feel, that needs to be retained, if it's a Mutt Lange re-build note by note then attention to detail is essential. Good engineers respond to the music, the musicians and the intention. I have a list of questions I use to get to the meat of what an artist wants, even if I'm only engineering, not producing.

 

There are limitations to what can be done with some self-recordings, particularly where distortion is concerned, but there are tools available to make a fist of almost every recording error these days.

 

When you say "stems" what do you mean? If I was mixing your track, I'd want everything as close to original as possible, "stems" is a term that comes from Post Production engineers to describe sub-mixed groups of tracks. Do you mean comped and editing tracks?

Potentially my wordage was incorrect. I’m not hugely knowledgeable at that stage of playing! I can play, but recording is a different world for me. Witchcraft! 😂
 

What I mean is he asked us to send the raw tracks for guitar, bass, vocals and synth. The drummer records midi using an electric kit (which he’s happy with, at least it’s mostly him on record!). 
 

If that helps. 

EDIT: aha the guitarist does the comping of tracks. 

1 minute ago, Waddo Soqable said:

An odd and imperious thing for him to do. Not acceptable without the band's specific say so.. 

A thing I was involved with years ago did some tracks where the engineer bloke "treated" the tracks to a bit of "trimming" of the instruments, kind of microscopically chopping any sound off that wasn't bang on the beat, he did it with the bass and guitars. It ended up sounding like something computer generated after having the human " played live" element totally removed. I wasn't overly bothered as it wasn't my project but IMHO his interference didn't do it any favours at all ! 

Anyway I do hope you find somewhere to record that will present your music as it should be. 

Funnily enough, he’s one of these engineers who adds drum stuff in. Makes it impossible

to play unless you’re an octopus! 

13 minutes ago, Beedster said:

 

So did the recording engineer or the mixing engineer remove your track? None of this sounds, to use your words 'fair enough', unless there's other factors. OK, if a producer was given carte blanche by the band to produce tghe best possible version of a recording that's one thing, but an engineer removing and replacing a part played by one of the musicians is quite a step without prior agreement, especially if you're paying for the master? 

Mixing. We recorded everything ourselves. I just hadn’t boosted the EQ on the basses. 
 

I have lost complete trust in the guy now and would really prefer to go elsewhere. Even though he says he will use my playing, I don’t trust him to do so. 

9 minutes ago, Jakester said:

Well, you're paying him. If you don't like it, tell him, and if he won't do what you want, don't use him! 

I’m looking for recommendations so we don’t need to use him. 

Have you also got anything midi controller-wise? We control our backing track (albeit via laptop) using a qc and Bluetooth midi. Maybe an option with the tablet?

1 hour ago, jimmyb625 said:

I think I might call my next band "plus support" I reckon we could get a good few gigs out of that...

There was a band I knew years ago. “With Special guests”

They got people through the door with people wanting to know who the special guests were.

26 minutes ago, Velarian said:

I know Jack about this sort of thing but but WTF!

 

has the the mix/mastering engineer been given some sort of executive control over your material? Surely the decision to replace your parts should remain with you?

Yeah you would think. Like I used to be crazy nervous about recording, but felt good after recording this one. But now, kinda feel a bit crap.
 

if there was an issue with DI I just wish he’d said! I would happily have fixed. 

I was proud of the EP but it’s tainted now. 

 

Hey folks,

I have an odd request… my band are looking to record our second EP. 
 

However… the first EP the engineer removed me from 3 out of 4 tracks. He said the DI signal wasn’t hot enough. We didn’t realise until fairly recently that it was a midi bass sample on all but one. 
 

So, I’m obviously not sure about him. However - he’s used by a fair few bands in Scotland and often just samples the bass (I believe) and is reasonably priced.

My guitarist is keen to use him again - “better the devil you know” and has spoken to him to find out what the issues were, he’s said he wants a new set of strings and a hot signal. So I tested, new strings on my Status CW and recorded direct with EQ balanced and with the EQ boosted fully. We sent the dude the track and asked if it would work. He said if we could get a sound like the boosted EQ for recording, he’d be happy to use the bass. Fair enough. 

But - I still have some reservations. My guitarist is also concerned about going to someone he doesn’t know, or not known, incase we either get screwed over, or they nick the music for themselves. Again, fair enough. 
 

Does anyone have any recommendations on someone who could be worth a look? We sent the stems and e-drums midi and can send the rough demos we have etc so see how things should be.

thanks in advance!

Arg! I just bought the new version. This would have been perfect!

GLWTS