AdamWoodBass

Hey guys Just thought I'd give a bit of a bump for Adam Dolan of Dolan Custom Guitars. He's a Manchester based luthier and has only recently started up. I got chatting to him at the Northwest Guitar Show at Haydock on Sunday. He had a couple of basses with him and I had a bit of a play. First impressions are these basses are high quality with a lot of attention to detail. Adam is a bass player himself so he knows what makes a good instrument. The 5 string on his website is the first of his Proteus series. Great spec with Hipshot tuners and through body bridge, Nordstrand big splits and a Glockenklang preamp which was intuitive and easy to use. Clear and defined low B and a nice even response over all strings. Action was a touch high for my taste but that can easily be lowered. Lots of nice touches you'd expect on a high end bass like wooden control cavity cover, stainless steel frets, wooden control knobs (I think he said Ebony??) and Luminlay markers. Sound wise it reminded me of a boutique Jazz bass with lots of bite on both pickups when you dig in but also the clarity of a very modern instrument when the bridge pickup was soloed. The 4 string which I don't think is featured on the website yet was a little heavier weight wise (not back breaking though) and the body shape is a little sleaker than the 5 string. I believe the body topwood was Black Limba and the neck was Wenge. Passive with Nordstrand Big J Blades (which are awesome!) and the same high end hipshot hardware. Sound wise I'd say it was a faithful tip of the cap to a high end Jazz especially as the pickup position is based on a 1975 Fender Jazz but with a little extra "something" that made the bass really stand out. The action was much lower on this and allowed for that very subtle hint of gritty fret buzz when you dig in on an old Jazz. Lovely tapered neck profile which made it a dream to play. Loved the tone from both pickups both on slap and fingers but for me it really came into its own with the bridge pickup soloed: punchy, dark and aggressive like an angry vintage jazz. Adam is a very friendly chap too and had a lot of time to answer questions and talk about possibilities. He's been working with guitars for over 10 years and clearly knows his onions. He had a couple of guitars with him too which looked lovely but I didn't try them. Check out his website www.dolancustomguitars.co.uk Just for transparency I am in no way affiliated with Dolan Custom Guitars and I'm not getting paid to say this, I just like to give credit where credit is due! Cheers Adam

All good points guys thank you. Just to clarify I tend to play for a couple of hours every day and have a pretty structured practice routine, and like ambient said I too used to play for 12 hours a day at uni and probably 15+ afterwards when I was doing it for a living. Nowadays I try to get a "shed session" in maybe once a month where I'll spend a whole weekend working on tunes but I probably have overdone it a little recently. I think I will take a look at my strap height though, as I'm probably not doing myself any favors there.

Hey all So I had a few days off and I've been doing some pretty extensive playing, 6+ hours a day. Now before I get questions about whether I warm up/stretch the answer is yes I do try to make sure I do some stretches before I play and maybe the solution is that I'm not doing enough. Anyway, after some heavy duty practice sessions working on some pretty challenging stuff I've noticed a dull ache in the back of my right hand (plucking hand). It seems to be localised to the tendon of my index finger and runs the length of my hand from wrist to knuckle. It's not enough to be causing me a problem but is enough to ring alarm bells. The last thing I want is to cause myself a serious injury and have to take time out from playing especially as I've started a new band. I've been looking into symptoms of the dreaded Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and I don't think it's that as I'm not experiencing any loss of sensation or tingling etc just a dull ache. I tend to wear my bass fairly high just below my chest which means that when playing my wrist is almost at a 90 degree angle. This is the most comfortable playing position for me in terms of my left hand (fretting hand) but I get it's a fairly extreme angle for my right hand. Has anyone experienced similar pain? How did you overcome it? Do you have any specific stretches/warm up exercises to help reduce the risk of injury? Cheers Adam

I'll be there tomorrow having a mooch around with a guitarist mate of mine. I'll be wearing a basschat lanyard if anyone wants to say hi!

So after much investigation and faffing around it looks like the issue is the M-Audio interface itself. Isolated it first by creating a new track and adding a massive reverb effect to it and noticed that the odd feedback noise was being affected by the reverb. Then dialed the headphone mix all the way over to "direct" thus bypassing the PC and the feedback was still there. Plugged the interface into a separate laptop and....... still there! Looks like my interface has finally given up. In fairness it's lasted a good while now so I can't really complain too much, just need to figure out what to replace it with now.

[quote name='ivansc' timestamp='1493621846' post='3289402'] My current drummer wins the prize though - Iron Maiden. If you look on THE Iron Maiden site you will see a link to a charity LP by The Bolton Iron Maiden. Bruce & Co contacted Paul (my drummer) and this was a "negotiated settlement" for the use of the name, apparently. Happily the charity record raises around 20k a year for (among others) Cancer Research UK. [/quote] That's so cool! Good on Bruce and Co for linking to it as well.

So we thought we'd settled on something - "The Funk Chronicles" because we all thought it was kind of cool and was the name of the folder we were keeping all our recordings in. Unfortunately a Google search discovered a "Jazz, Funk, Soul and HipHop" band called "The Chronicles" which we all felt was a bit too close especially because Funk/Fusion/HipHop is the sort of thing we're also doing. Figured it wouldn't be cool to have such a closely related name when the kind of music we play is so similar. Back to the drawing board!

[quote name='ead' timestamp='1493373390' post='3287824'] I know what you mean re the hissing. I personally think it's something to do with the bass as I have noticed that it seems to be hypersensitive to external noise. I've not yet been able to nail it down. Lovely playing btw Adam (thus avoiding words like rubato, lyrical, etc). [/quote] Haha cheers mate! Yeah I think it's because where I'm sat when I record I basically have the bass facing and in quite close proximity to a pair of monitors and the PC base unit itself. I think it's electrical interference that's being picked up by the exceptionally hot and sensitive pickups. I can solve this fairly easily by just getting a longer lead and standing further away from the desk when recording.

[quote name='redbandit599' timestamp='1493295980' post='3287222'] Cheers mate- I've also directed Chris (Smooth Hound) to the SBL contacts page so hopefully they'll connect. [/quote] Sent you a PM mate

I've sent a PM message to the guys at SBL Academy and pointed them to this thread on BC. Hopefully they'll get back to you sharpish. Cheers Adam

Hey everyone So I've been playing with an originals Funk/Fusion type band for a couple of months. It's my absolute privilege to play with these guys as they're some of the most talented musicians I've ever had the chance to play with and this band has almost immediately become the BEST band I've ever played for. Everyone on the same page, everyone equally as passionate about the project and already some really cool material coming out of only a handful of practices. But I digress... Last night during a coffee break we were talking about band names. We're all the type that will deliberate and lose sleep over the "right" name that sounds cool and not crap. I frustrate myself with it when I think about it as a band name's just a name right? If people listen to your music and enjoy it the name becomes just a label right? Anyway we have a few "working title" names which we're living with at the moment to see if we like them. My question is two fold: 1) Are you like me and massively over think coming up with a band name or do you just pick something and move on? 2) How did you come up with your band name? Amusing anecdotes welcome! Cheers Adam

Years ago I was tutored by Geoff Chalmers who I believe still frequents this forum, he's also part of the Scott's Bass Academy and a phenomenal player. He was the guy who really taught me the importance of getting your head around harmony, my playing massively improved as a result and I still practice some of the stuff he taught me to keep my chops in shape. Having a tutor who is passionate and ambitious as a player is really beneficial because that ambition gets transferred to the student in the lesson. Also being able to demonstrate to a student the tutors own musical struggle is helpful because it shows that they might be better than you but they're still human and they can still relate to the frustrations of practicing something over and over again. I remember Geoff showing me his progress on learning Donna Lee, he was struggling with some of the fingering but was really determined to get it nailed. Doubtless he can play it in his sleep now but it really inspired me to work hard on my playing.

[quote name='MoonBassAlpha' timestamp='1493155390' post='3286176'] That's lovely. Can't hear any bad artefacts, they must be in the same range as my hissing tinnitus! Btw a nailed on winner for the noodle bar this month [/quote] Thanks mate! Very nice of you to say! Haven't had much chance to experiment with the recording setup since my last post and I'm out at rehearsal tonight. I'll try and post my findings later in the week.

My best mate's band Of Allies in Manchester on 3rd May. Shameless plug, you need to check these guys out if you're into heavy alternative rock. Ofallies.com Then going to see Snarky Puppy on 4th May at the O2 Apollo in Manchester. Nothing more need be said about that for people that know them but if you don't know them you really need to! Yes I'm spoiling myself next week!

Done

[quote name='Blink' timestamp='1493041760' post='3285096'] The low spot was Myung's tribute to Jaco (Portrait of Tracy) which was technically impressive (I can't get close to it) but musically flat. A very enjoyable 2 hours and 40 minutes of entertainment. [/quote] A mate of mine saw them the other night and told me it was really bad. Portrait of Tracy played badly with maximum overdrive? I think I'll pass! Just my opinion mind, each to their own!

I auditioned for the Music Performance degree at the Bass Institute back in 2004/2005 if memory serves. I think it was Terry Gregory who did my audition in a coffee lounge without an amp because there were no practice rooms available! I got a place but didn't end up going because I couldn't afford to live in London at the time. Looking back I probably could have figured something out financially if I'd have thought about it but then hindsight is always 20/20! I do remember the course fees being exceptionally high even back then (pre university topup).

[quote name='SubsonicSimpleton' timestamp='1493131420' post='3285910'] I would also check if changing proximity of your interface/you to your screen or changing the USB cable you are using makes a difference if you can establish that the noise is baked into the audio at source. [/quote] That is another thought, the USB interface is sat directly underneath a pair of 24" monitors. I wonder if that would cause problems...

[quote name='lowdown' timestamp='1493129077' post='3285861'] I try to avoided words like 'Tempo Rubato', 'Unrestrained', 'Lyrical', because folks only tell you to shut up and go and get a PBass with flats on and invest in a Plectrum**** [/quote] Haha true dat! Yeah I blame being a music graduate, it does tend to sound a bit arty farty! My lecturers tended to get annoyed when I wrote rehearsal marks on charts like "angry like a trapped ferret" or "fast but not too fast" even though the guys in the bands thought it was funny. In fairness, nothing wrong with a pbass with flats!

[quote name='lowdown' timestamp='1493117205' post='3285698'] With headphones on, yes, I can hear it. Like you said, maybe a lead ? Or indeed, try Dad's suggestion. But, to be honest, I am only posting regards the quality of the playing and composition (improvision). Lovely.... I really like the 'toing and froing', tempo wise, especially the middle section. Really makes it breath like a classical piece. Top work. [/quote] Thanks mate! Yeah I went for a bit of a rubato feel throughout, I wanted to make it sound organic like it was evolving as I played it and something more akin to what a pianist would play. It's a bit of a sidestep from the stuff I normally play, I'm just trying to push myself to play in as many different ways as I can to become as rounded a player as possible. Really glad you liked it!

Yeah I've been meaning to sort out my templates in Reaper for a while, every time I start a new project I always think to myself "why don't I just setup a template for all this stuff" and then almost immediately forget to do it! One day I'll learn!

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1493115166' post='3285666'] Do you still hear this interference when listening to the 'dry' track, with no treatment at all..? [/quote] I'll solo it out when I get back from work and see what it sounds like, I see what you're getting at though as in it might be the effect that's causing it. A mate at work who's big into production has had a listen and has suggested I should bus out the reverb and isolate it because that might be causing the issue. I'll report back after I've done some experimenting.

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1493112410' post='3285627'] Proof, if ever I needed it, then, of the clothness of my ears, as I hear nothing untoward in there at all. Beautiful atmospheric playing, quite 'celtic' at times, with a hot finger-picking section, then back to calm reflection, and an unsettling 'seventh' final note. There is a gentle reverb in there, which I took to be the sound of a studio 'stone room', except that you're recoding using DI..! In that case, I'd say that it's an excellent fx unit, tastefully contoured to produce a very natural and flattering effect. A splendid piece, showing up some of the qualities of a superb bass, and even more qualities of a sensitive bass player. Thanks for sharing; I'd change nothing there at all (but my ears are 'shot', so ignore the above... ). [/quote] Aww thanks mate that's really nice of you to say! Yeah the strange hissy feedback isn't always audible when it gets a bit busier, just when I allow a single note to ring out or when I play a bit softer. I've got some super clear Sennheiser HD380 headphones so when I listen back at home the hiss is painfully obvious, on a lower spec pair of "general use" headphones it's less so (but irritatingly still there!) The signal chain is basically just: Bass into M-Audio interface, single track in Reaper with a stock reverb setting (forget the name of the VST but it's one that comes with Reaper out of the box). I've dialed back the "wet" signal on the reverb a little as it was a bit much at first and was causing notes to get lost in a cathedral of feedback! The "Wooten-esq" bit in the middle is me revisiting two handed tapping which is a technique I haven't used for a long time, thought I'd have another go at it.

Yeah I thought that, although I've not heard it happen before. I'm wondering if it's my cable. I might try and experiment with some different cables later. I'm just going direct into a USB M-Audio M Track interface, it's the old one and I've had it for several years so I'm also wondering if it's getting a bit decrepit and I should invest in a new interface.