TorturedSaints

[quote name='the boy' timestamp='1434191763' post='2797461'] That was beautiful. I rarely play a song the whole way through on first listen. I usually listen to the intro skip to chorus etc etc so I can get a feel for the composition and when casting my vote I return and have a more in depth listen from a critical PoV. This however I listened to from start to finish. It's got soul baby. It's honest and raw and I loved it. It's got one of my votes so far. [/quote] *blushing*. Thanks! [quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1434199682' post='2797555'] Hey..! Deep stuff there..! As 'the boy', I had to listen right through; it's enthralling. The singing..? We've heard far 'rougher' renderings from Radiohead; you've no need to blush at all. Yes, you're firmly up there with the rest of us, jostling for a place on the podium. My curiosity has been assuaged; I can finally slide into Morphées open arms. Thanks, if only for that. [/quote] Glad you got to sleep Dad! Thanks for the kind words. Perhaps next month I'll do an instrumental like Bilbo. :-)

I spent most of last night re-doing the vocal. With copious application of ReaTune, it sounds a little better in places. Thanks for the encouragement, although I would beg to disagree with lurksalot - it is my voice that is a touch toneless. . . . because it certainly sounds like it to my ears! So here it is, no mystery, no reason for your curiosity to be piqued Dad3353, it's just a song, and I couldn't have your lack of sleep on my conscience [url="https://soundcloud.com/torturedsaints/and-so-it-comes-to-this"]https://soundcloud.com/torturedsaints/and-so-it-comes-to-this[/url] A slightly sideways interpretation of the photo, it has to be said, but partially explained on the soundcloud page.

Having listened to the great submissions so far and A/B'd them against my work in progress, I've retired hurt. It seems that there is no category for amateur rubbish vocalists. However, I'll keep trying for future months, or will submit this month's song if I have a successful voice transplant in the next 18 days and manage to get it sounding even half decent. It's a testament to the high quality of musicians that hang out here, give yourselves a pat on the back.

15/15. :-) Definitely some stuff in there that wasn't in O Level Music nor Grade V Theory exam! Mind you, they were a long time ago.

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1433574585' post='2792165'] Steve Reich meets King Crimson [url="https://soundcloud.com/robert-palmer-1/the-daughter-didnt-oughta"]https://soundcloud.c...er-didnt-oughta[/url] [/quote] Nice!

I might have time to do something this month - wife away, no imminent gigs/rehearsals . . .

A photo of DarkSky playing at the Lucky Break Club, Clydebank, Glasgow on 28 May 15 [url="https://www.dropbox.com/s/q6fyxlldum6elxa/042.JPG?dl=0"]https://www.dropbox.com/s/q6fyxlldum6elxa/042.JPG?dl=0[/url]

Roqsolid do a tailored bag for the PK5s. Although mine is starting to wear out a bit . . .

We (DarkSky) played "The Lucky Break" club in Clydebank, Glasgow on Thursday night. I hadn't been there before, all of it's marketing stuff seemed to show it as a snooker club. It is, but it also has a nice sized stage with a good sized dancing area and powerful PA, fed through a nice modern Behringer X32 desk. The resident sound engineer John was great. If you are going to play there, there's also a fixed installation of about 5 video cameras that gets recorded during the gig - if we had taken a big USB flash drive with us, we could have had the 5 video feeds and the feed from the desk for us to edit/use. Sound on stage was a little variable (the drummer's monitor kept cutting out, which made his life a bit more difficult, and I found it difficult to hear the guitarist on stage) but out the front it was great. An hour's set of originals (which is all we play) and as such, we didn't get such a great reception as the following bands. However, it was nice to be out gigging again for the first time after Emma Dark's new baby came along. Nice to use my new (to me) AGC J type 5 out live as well, great booming D notes :-) [url="https://www.dropbox.com/s/gwa4iqna50j2mfy/Band1.jpg?dl=0"]https://www.dropbox..../Band1.jpg?dl=0[/url]

A Charity gig for our first foray back into gigging after the arrival of our singer's new baby. Along with 2 other well-known Glasgow bands, JokerFace and Jamie and the Giants, we will be raising money for a special needs school, St Vincent's. As well as the three 1 hour sets, there will be a tombola with worthwhile prizes (like hotel stays, alcohol etc). If you are free, doors open at 7pm at The Lucky Break Club, 26 Glasgow Road, Clydebank. Tickets available at the door for £5. The link is here [url="https://www.facebook.com/events/1584414018514488/"]https://www.facebook...84414018514488/[/url] I'm not planning to use my Barefaced SuperTwin cab, but I'll certainly be using my ACG J-type 5 string and Roland PK5 midi pedal setup. Looking forward to seeing any BCers there Ralph

I bought a ME-50B from Malc, easy transaction, good guy to deal with. Thanks!

I use my MB500 with a Barefaced Super Twin. I've only used it at a couple of rehearsals and it is way too loud (in the best sort of way) for rock drummer/guitarist vocalist! :-) Very clear and punchy. Far better than my previous cab (Peavey 410TVX) with the MB500.

Sorted

There's a remix in progress, having listened to a few other tracks. I've also bought MCompare plugin which was recommended on here, so I can A/B against various tracks without the level change giving a different perspective. I've also taken Dad3353's advice and removed one of the keys parts (although it was the reverse reverb piano part, which was the drummer's idea, so that might not go down too well lol). I will post a link here when I'm happy with it again. I'm also thinking that there's a 3 minute song in there struggling to get out (but again, as the drummer wrote the song, he might not like that either.) The joys of bands. I did throw my toys out of the cot the other day and asked, since they were expecting professional results, what was the budget for professional mixing? (Answer: £0) I also said that whilst I have read a few books on mixing, I haven't had any training and that I'd also read some books on brain surgery, does that make me a brain surgeon? To be honest, the amount of hassle I'm getting and the time I'm spending on it, plus the mixed reviews (thanks Skol for the words of support) make me wish I'd taken up another hobby. That's probably just the frustration talking as I actually enjoy mixing.

I've just been to check! No, only one input, one unbalanced output and one xlr output with ground-lift. It wasn't as plasticky as I remembered, but actually quite solid and well built. The only things that felt plasticky were the little red bass and treble boost buttons, everything else felt well made.

I have one. It was an impulse purchase, and I haven't used it much. I have a Eden WT405, and bought the WTDI intending to use the WTDI live as most of the places we were playing were 'back line included' multi-band nights with a small bass combo DI'd into the PA. Since then I haven't gigged much and have only played with it at home. It feels a bit plasticky compared to the Eden Amp, the bass/treble boost switches are similar to a 'loudness' switch for when you are playing quietly - I couldn't see a real use for this function at gig volumes, even though the WT405 has a similar pair of switches. I have an alternative Sansamp BDDI to use, and to be honest, I would probably use that. Nothing particularly bad about the WTDI, just not quite as good as I was hoping. If someone offered me a reasonable amount of money for it, I wouldn't have any regrets about letting it go. I don't think the WTDI intentionally has distortion, unless you overdrive the input gain perhaps. That's why I would choose to use the Sansamp in preference. I have no experience of the Bass Buddy, so can't give a comparison. cheers R

Thanks for yout time, ears and comments. Much appreciated. Your replies illustrate one of my quandaries - who do I reference against, Bjork or Sade (or Siouxsie or Def Leppard -other things we have been compared to!). Let's face it, we don't even know who we sound like - the drummer suggested a Guillemots track or a Mercury Rev track! All good fun. Anyway, I'll go away and reference some more. All the best Ralph

[quote name='topo morto' timestamp='1423828076' post='2689429'] I get a a warning that it may be a 'private track' (I can see your other stuff at [url="https://soundcloud.com/pinthetailonthedonkey/"]https://soundcloud.c...ailonthedonkey/[/url]) [/quote] Thanks Topo, should be sorted now - it's a sound cloud account I have for random stuff, so it's not that band on there lol. Let me know if you still can't see it. Sorry.

Hi there, I've done a first mix for the band I'm in - although I'm trying to place a 'chinese wall' between myself and the rest of the band when it comes to recording/mixing our latest songs. We are all over 50, and both the drummer and guitarist admit to hearing loss due to years of playing in loud environments. I always use ear plugs and have my hearing tested regularly for work and it's not too bad for my age (and my work isn't recording - I'm merely an amateur at that). This first mix sounds reasonable to me, however both the guitarist and drummer say it needs more air/presence/treble, which I'm not convinced that the track needs, either for its vibe (chilled rock) or for any other reason. I've suggested that the overall tonality issue is something that could be addressed at the mastering stage, but I doubt whether we have the funds for a professional master. So is it my ears being over sensitive to the top end of the frequency spectrum (could be a reason why I'm a bass player?) or not? Here's the track: [url="https://soundcloud.com/pinthetailonthedonkey/rtdmixcandidate1/s-afAjp"]https://soundcloud.c...didate1/s-afAjp[/url] What do you think? Edited to make link work. (That's not my real band's sound cloud either, just a spare one I have).

+1 to 'Go for it'. I had always wanted to play bass, but until a friend asked me if I was interested in playing with him and a couple of his mates, I had never done anything about it. That was 10 years ago when I was 40 and I'm still playing. There is nothing like being in a band to improve your standard of playing very quickly. I also have a very irregular varied work schedule that is outside my control. This stops us from booking the same rehearsal slot every week, causes some problems booking gigs and I certainly wouldn't be able to play in a wedding band. This may put some bands off you, but I've always been upfront with people that I've played with, or enquired about playing with. When you get to 40, most people have family/work/life commitments and are much more understanding of this than they would have been at 18. So, my message is still go for it! Ralph

I think I'm up to date. Thanks for all the DarkSky likes.

Fairly simple DI set up for bass, no amp or mic'd cab used. My ACG 5 string (East P-Retro active preamp) pickups in parallel, DI into Golden Age Project Pre-73 preamp and then into Focusrite iTrack Solo into Reaper. A little bit of eq and compression I think (this isn't my studio computer). Thanks for the kind words - it's still really a demo, guitar parts need to be re-done and there's a few beats need tightening.

DarkSky's latest song up on Reverbnation [url="http://www.reverbnation.com/darkskyscotland/song/22787016-opposites"]http://www.reverbnation.com/darkskyscotland/song/22787016-opposites[/url] Recorded in my front room, still a few guitar tweaks required, but pretty much there. Enjoy! Ralph

Too late to the party? DarkSky [url="http://www.facebook.com/darkskyband"]http://www.facebook.com/darkskyband[/url] PS It's the last day for registering to enter the Hard Rock Cafe HardRockRising 2015 competition if any other bands are interested. cheers Ralph

I've just made the switch from WinXP pc to 2011 iMac (Mavericks) for my studio computer. Things to watch out for: VST compatibility. Some of my favourite pc VSTs don't work on mac (for example all the Kjaerhus plugins). Might be a thing to consider, especially if you've bought them. Some VST instruments didn't make the transition very well with lots of samples not found messages despite doing a complete reinstall to the default location. (IK Multimedia SonikSynth/Sample Moog etc). Drivers. My Tascam US1641 interface worked very well with my low spec pc/Reaper combination. When I tried it on mac, the Tascam drivers are still in beta (for Mavericks/Yosemite) and comparatively there's a lot more latency (audible when monitoring your own singing through headphones). For comparison, I used a Focusrite Saffire Pro and managed a total latency of 1.3ms with the same buffer settings compared to 16ms with the Tascam. I can only conclude that the Tascam beta drivers are poor. Advantages: Stability Ease of use Nice to look at. Regarding the spec of any machine, it depends what you want to do with it and what DAW you use. Reaper can be put on a smallish USB stick and doesn't require huge system resources. I've been recording 8 channels of drums on a Windows Vista laptop with the Tascam without any significant latency. If you're using samples/soft synths/convolution reverbs you might need something a little more up to date. cheers