Franticsmurf

That reminds me of my first band, in which I was the guitarist. I had a decent amp (A Peavey Bandit) but as we were doing more proggy stuff, I decided to experiment with stereo. I had a Yamaha FX500 half rack multi effects unit and reasoned that I could plug the lot into my Pioneer hifi amp and speakers, which were about 50w per side. Testing it at home at low volume, it sounded quite good. At rehearsal there was a moment of stereo echo and chorus bliss followed by many more moments of silence. Both speakers went at the same time and the hifi amp was never quite the same. 😃

Good luck!

My first studio experience was in the place we used to rehearse - a properly converted basement beneath a terraced house. The neighbours must have been deaf. We'd been rehearsing there for a few months and spoke to the owner about recording a 4 track demo. Next thing we knew, we were introduced to a guy called John (as a reminder, his mustache and beard were in the shape of a 'J') and his 8 track reel to reel machine. He set up the mics in no time and we played through 4 songs, overdubbed guitar solos and the main vocals in a three hour session. We had a very relaxed and laid back mixing session after which we had several cassette copies and the master tape. My mate, the drummer and also a graphic designer, created the cassette box covers and hand coloured 10, which we sold in a local record shop. Years later, seeking a new singer for a version of that band, we found the guy we took on had bought a copy of the cassette. Alas, we'd dropped all four songs by then.

My dad had a couple of old reel to reel tape recorders and I used those in a similar way to your cassette recorder pair. 'Drums' were whatever sounded right, often empty plastic food containers. A large rubber band stretched over an open container for a vaguely bass-like sound. Like you, noise played an integral part in my mix. 😃

Hi Amnesiak. Welcome to the site from a fellow ex-guitarist who heard the word and saw the light some years ago. 😃

Hi Daniel, welcome to the site. Best regards from sunny South Wales! 😃

Hi Jon, welcome to the site. I have a couple of Harley Benton basses and can certainly recommend the brand for value for money. If you're not quite sure if you're going to stick with the bass, I'd suggest a HB from Thomann. If you stick with it, you can upgrade and keep the HB as a spare/back-up.

We were booked to play a caravan park. Turned up a bit early to an empty backstage area and what sounded like a school full of kids beyond the curtains out front. We set up behind the curtains and waited for someone to tell us when we were due on. The compare eventually turned up with about 30 minutes to go, a young chap completely hung over following an all night party the night before. He was struggling to get into his bear outfit to entertain the kids while trying to talk to them using a radio mic from back stage. He went out and wound them up to fever pitch before announcing us. We played the first fifteen minutes to about 50 3-5 year olds. Another holiday park gig and this time a full house of adults. The singer decided just before we went on that he would start the set with a solo rendition of Knocking on Heaven's Door (see my previous post - we checked to make sure it wasn't a wake this time) and the drummer and I were to come on for 2nd verse. We tried to dissuade him but he knew best. He went on, started the song and we very soon realised he was singing the verse much too quickly. We could tell the chorus was going to be even faster and we decided to let him have the whole car crash song to himself. We watched, giggling, as he realised his error, then joined him for the second song.

That's quite a good mix of songs. I'm in a band that has the standard 2 guitars, bass, drums and keys line up along with three Ukes, a banjo, a sax, trumpet and percussion. We have a similarly varied mix that includes Sloop John B, Then I Kissed Her, Ooh La La, Drift Away, Your Love, Under the Boardwalk and Midnight Hour alongside more rocky songs like Heroes, Dancing in the Dark, Treat Her Right, Have a Nice Day, the Sheryl Crow version of Sweet Child of Mine and Summer of 69. With that band, the ones that get the best reaction (dancing and/or audience participation) are Proud Mary, Dakota, Help Me Rhonda, 500 Miles and Hey Jude. With a previous band doing pub standards we found Mustang Sally would get the ladies up and dancing, Runaround Sue always got a huge positive reaction and Unchain My Heart usually hit the mark. We used to run Dakota into Sex on Fire as a mash-up, and that always got the dance floor bouncing (literally in some cases). Classic rock n roll tunes brought up to date were a surefire winner to wake up the audience at the start of the second half (Twist and Shout into Do You Love Me was popular). It was rare not to be asked to play an Eagles song during a gig. We would do Take it Easy and if we were running out of songs, Lying Eyes (which does go on a bit 😃).

I have mentioned this elsewhere but it fits here too - we did a last minute agent-booked gig in a pub of very well dressed but subdued punters. Ended the first set with our standard 'Knocking on Heaven's Door' to absolute silence. It was a wake.

It could still be latency, as the sounds are coming from, and going back into the software regardless of how you monitor. As has been said above, it's how it sounds, not how it looks, that matters. I find playing to a click quite difficult and in my own recordings I rarely do it.

I used to be in a band that gigged regularly but rarely rehearsed. To be fair, because we were gigging 1 or 2 times a week, there was no need to rehearse the existing set but bringing new material in was difficult. The singer/guitarist didn't want to rehearse and liked to boast that he could 'wing it' with any song. Of course, he couldn't and the result was mostly awful hence 'I used to be in a band... '. The drummer and lead guitarist left with me. I'm now in two bands. The Hulla rehearses fairly regularly; it's a 13 piece and more than half the band don't or can't practice other than during rehearsals. It works because the band is very relaxed and we're all in it for the fun and social element as much as the music. We get about 10 gigs a year and they're usually big ones, with all proceeds going to a nominated charity. As things stand we have 5 fixed bookings for this year and that gives me the motivation to rehearse. We are regularly adding new songs to the set so there is plenty to do when we get together. I joined another band last year and we've had about 5 rehearsals but there's very little talk of gigging and I'm beginning to wonder if the enthusiasm is really there. The set list if straight forward and all we're really doing is getting the beginnings and endings right. I enjoy playing live and that's the main reason I play in bands. Rehearsals and practice are fine if there's some point to it. Without the goal of a gig (and ideally a deadline) I find it hard to be enthusiastic enough to put in the effort that a proper rehearsal (and my bandmates) deserve. I don't think the OP is being picky. We all play for our own reasons. What works for me might not work for you and if you're not happy, you won't enjoy the experience and everyone will suffer. Chat to the rest of the band and see if there are others in the line up that feel the same. Maybe it's just nerves or a lack of confidence? Maybe they don't know how to go about getting gigs?

Great photos.

Another +1 for the Digbeth. I can't compare it to the Tech 21 but for me there's plenty of options tone wise in the Digbeth. I play in two different bands; one needs a nice clean tone with a bit of top to cut through the massed ranks of stringed instruments, the other is a more traditional blues/rock band where the grit of the tube channel sits nicely in the mix. I love the Tilt option - I use it to fine tune the end result to the room.

....Clothes! Of course! So simple - explains all the feedback I've been getting at gigs recently. 🤣

Jazz.... yes... that's... exactly... what... I... do. Mostly experimental. Somewhat influenced by the randomist, atonal movement that I instigated and pioneered over the years. 😃

Works for me too. Well, in my head. I sometimes stop or go off beat too. Usually so that I can catch up with myself. But I always remember to smile and repeat it so it doesn't look like a mistake. 😃

That's a personal choice, or at least one for the band. I have yet to come across a song in a proposed set list that I find personally objectionable enough to refuse to play. Our singer changes a couple of words in one song to remove innuendo that he objects to, which is fine by me as it doesn't change the song and most in the audience wouldn't notice. I guess you have to take into account the context. In a pub full of stereotypes, you can get away with a lot more than, say, a wedding. If it's been played on the radio, the likelihood is it'll be fine for most venues. Common sense should prevail. We played a wake once (in our defence, we didn't know it was a wake at the time as it was a last minute agent booking) and ended the first half with 'Knocking on Heaven's Door'. 😃

For me there's a clear difference between liking or performing the music and supporting or promoting the views or lifestyles of those who created it. I would have no problem playing these songs if the set/band/client requested them. I accept that there may be a few who cannot make the distinction between the music and the person. But I believe that attitude is unreasonable unless the music itself condones, supports or promotes immoral behaviour or is so associated with it as to be impossible to separate from the behaviour itself. 'Tears in Heaven' is a great song. If we accept that it is tainted by association with Clapton, we must also accept that it is associated with loss, sadness and grieving and has meaning for a lot of people who have found some comfort through that song. Which side do we take?

Hi Daniel.

Usually in front of where I'm standing, at the foot of my mic stand. On cramped stages, anywhere I can reach with my right foot. That said, and after reading some of the comments above, I rarely switch effects mid song so it could go at the foot of my speaker. I have been thinking about a split board with 'always on' effects (pre-amp/DI and compressor) sat out of the way and the spot effects (phase, chorus, boost and tuner/mute) out front. But there would be a confusion of cables, and for some of the gigs I've played in the last 18 months, no room.

Not a special bass, but special to me as my first 'proper' bass with which I started getting decent gigs. A Hohner 'The Jack' headless, supposedly active but that wasn't working. I paid about £200 for it in the late 90s and sold it, many years later during a sabbatical from playing, for around £300.

I have this one, and played it in duo gigs - not a note of prog in sight 😃 . Here, my partner in crime is helping me cope with the weight. It was very much a show thing as for what we did, there was no real need to swap instruments mid-song. I still have it. As far as I know, twin necked guitars were designed with the main instrument (the one most often played) on the bottom. In the duo, I usually played guitar but occasionally strayed into bass territory and it was fairly comfortable to play, albeit at the 80's fashion 'mid-chest' position. In later years I had the guitar side fitted with a Roland GK3 pick up feeding either a VG8 guitar processor or a GR33 guitar synth. I haven't seen this photo for a few years and I can see I'm playing through a Marshall JMP1 valve pre-amp (in the rack behind me) into a guitar amp. My Strat is ready for when my back gives in and I have to shed the Spirit 😃.

I used to run a Marshall JMP1 valve pre-amp into the effects return of my Laney Richter 7 to bypass the Laney's pre-amp. The band I was in played rock and blues and it gave me a nice gritty sound. The JMP 1 has 99 memory slots and a midi interface enabling me to change settings - I used this mainly to vary the level of the effects in the loop. Later, I added a Zoom rack multi FX unit and had this under midi control too. Very versatile but it was all getting too heavy to cart around (as I'd got myself a hernia) I retired it in favour of a TCE BAM200 and a couple of pedals. Recently I've been using an Eden Glowplug in the board which warms the sound up and is last in line before the amp. I don't like the sound of the Eden overdriven, but just before it begins to break up is a nice tone that I leave on all the time. It's a bit of a nuisance having to use a second power supply for the 15v it requires. Before writing this reply, I went and dug out the JMP 1 and I'll be playing around with that this morning.

1. Hulla (or 'The Hulla Band'). When I joined the band was called the Hullabaloo, named after the annual festival it organises and was created to play in - the Horton Hullabaloo. I suggested shortening it for other gigs. We currently play around 10 dates a year, all for charity and usually well attended. The set list is as varied as the line-up, which currently numbers 13 and includes bass, drums, guitars, ukes, keys, banjo, percussion and lots of fun and games. 2. Midnight Smoke. A blues and blues/rock covers band just getting back on its feet following losing two members to Covid. I joined last year with my mate on drums to take their place. I like the name, it seems to fit with the vibe of the band.