gjones

5 hours ago, Buddster said:

 

To comment on the reddit feed... 

Not all sound engineers are music sound engineers. Or another way, there are multi disciplines of sound engineering. 

I couldn't engineer a tv studio sound with multiple lapel mics, but I can mix and record a band. It's not easy to swap. 

Yes, they should use engineers who can mix music, but just because it's the BBC doesn't mean they have enough avaliable. 

Mrs B is fed up with me complaining about the sound on tv from Glastonbury. 

 

A tale from a long time ago. 

Back in the early 80s, I did the sound for a Bristol band that got a slot on Pebble Mill at One. 

I sat in the control room while it was being recorded and the chief engineer said "ooh I like this" and mixed the whole thing on the studio Tanoys. Not even checking on a small tv speaker. Which i found odd at the time. 

When we came to listen back in the Green room on the tv, the sound was terrible. Really tinny and weak. 

I know i can't tar every BBC engineer with the same brush (I've sat in on Radio 1 recordings at Maida Vale studios, which were fine), but I've never completely trusted tv engineers to mix bands. 

I have friend who was a Bbc engineer and is also a bassist. He says the same thing about the shortage of engineers with live music experience within the BBC.

3 minutes ago, Ramirez said:

 

 

I thought the TV sound overall this year was phenomenal. Yes, Chic's bass could have been a tad louder, but it was definitely there and close enough. I'd say it was at a level where you'd get a studio mix back and feel the bass should slightly stronger - ie. quite remarkable for an real time live broadcast!

 

In previous years it has been poor at times, but I thought there was a massive step up this year. It's a remarkably difficult job mixing live music for broadcast in a truck if you're close to the stage - I've done it myself, and the sheer amount of bass that comes from the stage can make proper bass judgement almost impossible. They've found a way this year it seems, and the results, to my ears, consistently ranged from good to superb.

 

Of course, the problems are often compounded by people listening on TV/multimedia systems that are simply not set up properly. Many TVs come with a myriad of sound 'enhancements' turned on by default that can absolutely butcher a good mix, and the same goes for receivers/soundbars etc. A hi-fi might sound fine for music playback, but if the signal being fed to it has already been messed with by the TV then all bets are off! 

 

It's certainly not a live feed from the desk - it's all AoIP (Dante etc) nowadays, which makes it much easier to arrange multiple full channel splits to multiple destinations. There was a thread on a Facebook group by one of the broadcast engineers involved with Glastonbury, and he said there was much better collaboration between all concerned this year, as well as a good few technological advancements being trialled. To my ears, it all made a massive and worthwhile difference.

I imagine it must be difficult to judge what is coming from your headphones and what is coming from the stage. I also assume that it's difficult for the BBC to get the numbers of experienced engineers required to deal with so many live acts. I would guess they're mostly contractors, as this is not something the BBC does very often and I doubt there are many BBC employees who are used to engineering live music.

When I listen to Chic in a few weeks I'm hoping the sound will have been remixed and the bass will magically appear.

5 minutes ago, tegs07 said:

Never sounds too bad for me. I just put the AV receiver into pure audio mode and turn the volume up.

I only listened to a couple of bands and the bass wasn't there. The band I watched first was Chic and I couldn't hear any bass whatsoever. 

I mean a sound engineer that mixes Chic with no bass, should hang their head in shame.

And I was playing it through hi fi speakers.

It doesn't help that the sound, from the BBC, always sounds weak. I assume it's because they're just taking the live feed from the desk. I have noticed that the sound of many of the videos does get 'tweaked' and remixed at a later date. Which can restore stuff, like the missing bass and bring down the ridiculously prominent bass drum.

Interesting discussion on reddit about the subject 

I've owned three American basses. A 75 reissue American Vintage, a Deluxe Jazz (both now sold) and a Precision Elite.

I bought the first two second hand and the Elite new. The RRP of the 75 reissue was about £2.5 k, when bought new, and the Elite cost me £1.9k.

The two Jazzes played beautifully with very low action.

Were they worth the money, if bought new? Well you can buy a less expensive bass and take it to a guitar tech who will get it to play fantastically. 

I have a parts Jazz, with a Korean Squier neck, and a vintage modified body, which has been set up really nicely and plays as good as my American Jazzes did.

I own a Japanese Fender that also plays beautifully. 

So logically, buying American doesn't buy you a bass that plays better than a much cheaper instrument, so you may ask 'what's the point in spending so much more money?' . 

Is it kudos? Peer pressure? The American dream?

I bought my American basses because I wanted a 'Real' Fender, not one of those copies from overseas (however good they might be).

Ironically, when I bought my brand new Fender Elite it didn't have 'Made in the USA' on it, because, legally it isn't actually an American bass, as too many components are made overseas. These days Fender instruments have 'Corona California' stamped on them instead.

52 minutes ago, Mrbigstuff said:

Well I watched thirty minutes of Charlie XCX to see what the fuss was about. What a disgrace. Miming, no band, just nothing but a flashing screen and a recording. Shouldn’t be allowed at Glastonbury.

She used to have a band. I know her old drummer Debbie, who now plays with James and my niece's band . The all female band was drummer, electric guitarist and bass player which, visually, looked a lot better on stage. The last time I saw Charlie XCX, at Glastonbury, her stage show looked even worse, as she was on earlier in the day in daylight, so she didn't even have a light show - just her gyrating on the stage to pre-recorded tracks.

6 hours ago, Leonard Smalls said:

Talking of gear, I hope everybody going will be following Vogue's advice!

 

https://www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/article/what-to-wear-to-glastonbury

They missed out the shewee.....

Hmmm...... I put a set of Elixirs on a Jazz bass I have. I was practising some slap (a very rare thing for me) and noticed that the G string was very dull sounding. As the action wasn't great I took the neck off and inserted a shim in the neck pocket.

When I put everything back together the G string sounded fine.

I'm not sure what changed, possible something to do with string tension over the nut?

I have a John East J-Retro fitted to my Jazz Bass. 

I love a bit of low mid, which I feel gives punch and definition. When I go through a, front of house, PA I will turn up the low mids on my Jazz to prevent the sound engineer giving me a muddy sound out front.

Of course I could change the whole character of my bass, with various options available with the J-Retro, but I mostly keep things pretty simple.

I also like the ability to walk out into the room, while the band is playing, and change my tone to suit the room, without touching my amp controls.

On 20/06/2025 at 21:20, Mickeyboro said:

Point taken, but I am more concerned with how one motivates people whose main interest is another band. 
 

The fact they gig more than us, for instance - would more dates promote us up their practice list? Or are there other tricks ?

I always feel an imminent gig usually concentrates players minds and gets them learning the set. That is, assuming they have a professional mindset in the first place and don't want to look like a fool and let everybody else down on the night.

He should just whack some tolex on it. He'll get some pretty low offers otherwise.

That's a great deal. I owned an Ashdown EB 150, which was a beginners combo similar to your's, with a 15 inch speaker. I used it for years and partnered with another 15 inch cab it could be really loud.

I still really like the Ashdown sound.

My band hasn't done a gig in 5 months, when we do start gigging again (if we ever do), we'll need zimmer frames to get to the stage

In my experience, once you reduce the volume on the bridge pickup, even by a little bit, it then has no further impact on the overall tone. What you're then hearing is just the neck pickup soloed, which is naturally a bassier sound. The front pickup is usually a lot louder than the rear pickup, as well. This may be due to it's placement on the body.

The Orange Terror bass head has the same issue.

I've owned a lot of combos and they all had their flaws. They were either loud but heavy, or light and not powerful enough. But my latest combo, which is a Markbass CMD 121P, ticks both the loud and light boxes. I got mine used but I'd definitely have paid the full price (whatever that is/was) for a new one, they're definitely worth it.

And I thought it was all a scam......obviously not.

I'll buy myself a ticket immediately!

So the moral of the story is, if you're planning on buying from the big stores that are left, make sure you pay by credit card or Paypal.

Just in case the worst happens.

I don't know about the bass tone on this track but I really like the tune. 

Listening to other stuff Sven has done, I can tell he's a big fan of the sound tracks from the old Dirty Harry films. Maybe a bit of Bullit in there too.

It sounds like you haven't been sacked from your band, in reality it sounds like the guitarist they auditioned, recruited them for his own Rock/Blues band. it sounds like the drummer, singer and new guitarist, have formed a totally different band, in a different genre, with different members and (I assume) with a different band name.

A band that you wouldn't want to be in, even if they had asked you.

If I were you, that's how I would look at the situation.

My experience, over the years, is that you can go cheap on a head but you can't really go cheap on cabs, if you don't want the cab to fart out.

If you could find a ancient, 1990s, Peavey TNT combo that would do the trick. Ashdown heads are cheap as chips. I had an Ashdown combo which served me well but needed an extension speaker to get the best out of it.

Good luck with the search.

On 25/05/2025 at 22:13, Bluewine said:

 

It amazes me how popular Blues bands still are in England.

 

Do you think the blues band are more popular in the UK than here in the states?

 

Daryl

I live in Edinburgh, which is a tourist city, and the American tourists that see us play are always very enthusiastic. Maybe it's because they don't get to see many blues bands back in the town where they live.

I'm 62 and have been playing since I was 16. The first 10 years I was playing in originals bands trying to get a record contract. That ended when I realised we just we're good enough.

At that stage I fell out of love with music and I thought my time as a bassist had ended. 

Then, about 4 years later, my sister started dating a guy who was the singer and guitarist in a Blues band and he needed a bass player! Even better, he ended up marrying my sister and he couldn't then sack me. We played up and down the UK for the next 10 years. Then he and my sister fell out and that meant I had no choice but to leave the band.

At that stage I fell out of love with music and I thought my time as a bassist had ended.

But then the old drummer, from the Blues band, called me and said the new band he was in needed a bass player.

I've now been in that band for 23 years, other bands, over those 23 years, have come and gone and have disappeared without leaving a trace but the Blues band keeps on going. The singer is now 66 and the guitarist and drummer are in their mid 50s. We've had to take a break from gigging, as the singer and guitarist are married and are involved in complex family matters (think of the Godfather part III) which prevents them from gigging.

At this stage I think I may have fallen out of love with music and I am thinking my time as a bassist had ended.

Hold on there seems to be a pattern developing.......

Of course I don't want to be a old fart, in a band full of old farts, playing to old farts. But as long as we don't look too ridiculous up on stage and I can still project energy into playing, then I'll continue on until I can't.

Oh by the way, my sister and my brother in law got back together and I still occasionally play in his Blues band, when his new full-time bassist has something better (or more lucrative - wedding gig?) to do.

I cut my strings at a random point somewhere near (but not too near) the end.

I hope that helps 😀

There was one for Andertons on Facebook which linked to what looked like an Andertons website. I messaged Andertons and they asked me to report it to Facebook. Of course Facebook did nothing.

It's like the wild west out there.