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[OfficeMark]

Paul Mackie is keen to host a "jamming session" on a monday evening if there was enough interest in it, anybody got any thought?

[RockAustin]

What does it involve? What equipment do you have in your place?

[thesultanofswing86]

I'm always up for jamming sessions. But as above, whats the equipment situation?

[OfficeMark]

we have a pa system and stage all you would need is yourself and your iguitar or whatever

[thesultanofswing86]

Does that mean no drums or amps?

Would make it pretty difficult to have a jamming session with the jammers having to bring that stuff down themselves. . .

Yes we have amps they are part of the clubs pa system, and a multi core which will be put through this, so we can plug you mics and leads in at the same time; no mixing desk as of yet but we can hire one for the nights we do this, no monitors either (bands usually have their own, these are also a future purchase as we get busier.
We don’t have a full drum kit (missing cymbals and a bit old anyway) I was planning on replacing it. However I have been advised drummers are 1 - very picky about the kit they play on & 2 - will have no respect for a kit they don’t own, and is likely to be killed quickly! So now I am not so keen on acquiring a new kit for the club!

[lynettejc]

Originally Posted by TheOffice

Yes we have amps they are part of the clubs pa system, and a multi core which will be put through this, so we can plug you mics and leads in at the same time; no mixing desk as of yet but we can hire one for the nights we do this, no monitors either (bands usually have their own, these are also a future purchase as we get busier.
We don’t have a full drum kit (missing cymbals and a bit old anyway) I was planning on replacing it. However I have been advised drummers are 1 - very picky about the kit they play on & 2 - will have no respect for a kit they don’t own, and is likely to be killed quickly! So now I am not so keen on acquiring a new kit for the club!

what a sweeping generalisation! i have the utmost respect for every kit ive ever played on and treat them accordingly.... and ive played on some crappy kits let me tell you, so that rules out your picky theory also.....

[Chris]

Originally Posted by TheOffice

Yes we have amps they are part of the clubs pa system, and a multi core which will be put through this, so we can plug you mics and leads in at the same time; no mixing desk as of yet but we can hire one for the nights we do this, no monitors either (bands usually have their own, these are also a future purchase as we get busier.
We don’t have a full drum kit (missing cymbals and a bit old anyway) I was planning on replacing it. However I have been advised drummers are 1 - very picky about the kit they play on & 2 - will have no respect for a kit they don’t own, and is likely to be killed quickly! So now I am not so keen on acquiring a new kit for the club!

Amps for the PA system are probably not guitar amps which is what the other poster was referring to.

Most of the bands that use this website are unlikely to have PA systems or their own monitors (all the regular venues for those bands will have their own or hire in on the night), unlike the pub covers circuit bands that seem to be playing your venue, so if you want to have more local bands playing original material it might be an idea to get a couple.

As for the drum kit, maybe speak to the moorings and see how trashed their in house kit gets at their weekly jam session.

It might be a cheaper idea to get a band to host the jam night in the club. They'll take along their kit and amps and then play 2 or 3 songs at the start, middle and end of the night and in between the other punters that want to have a jam can just get onstage and plug in. Obviously the band would be risking their gear so you might want to help with their maintanence costs and obviously pay them (in beer, cash, whatever) for doing the work on the night.

[soundian]

Originally Posted by lynettejc

what a sweeping generalisation! i have the utmost respect for every kit ive ever played on and treat them accordingly.... and ive played on some crappy kits let me tell you, so that rules out your picky theory also.....

Why do you think the kits were crappy?

It's the hardware that gets all the abuse, a lot of (but note, not all) drummers seem to have an inability to replace felts,wing-nuts and clutches when they're finished with them, as well as thinking that adjusting the drumkit without slackening off the nuts is a good idea. Drum stools are also short lived beasts.

In my experience, the amount of damage/losses to a drum kit comes in at around £1-£3 per band, depending on how much use/abuse it gets and how often the skins are changed.

[RockAustin]

I went up to see the boardroom last Friday and I was impressed with the space. It has the potential to be a great venue. I also spoke to Mark who was enthusiastic and very keen to know more about the local music scene and bring in bands to play.

There are obviously some things that need to be sorted out before it can fulfil its potential but you have to give credit to the independent pub and club owners that continue to pay their bands to play. As I believe, we now have another venue willing to do this.

I'm not that technical minded so didn't know specific things to look out for but I think you should have the specks of your system available somewhere on the net - might be worth putting it up on this site and have a link from your website. It is important that you know or can provide the information for bands as you/they will have to hire equipment to maximise what your system can do.

A reasonable drum kit would be very useful for getting bands in. It is fair to assume that a lot of people who play in bands are either not really well off or don't have the ability to transport a drum kit around. You will intise more people if they don't have to fork out for extra transport. It would also be worth getting a reasonable guitar amp and bass amp even though most guitarist prefer their own. I know the rhythm guitarist in my band is not apposed to using the house amp to save on car space.

Do you have all the bits and pieces like mics, stands, DI boxes etc. I'm sure SoundIan would give you some lists of things that you will really need for you to put on regular band nights. You may need to have a sound egineer associated with your venue or at least the ability of having one any night you put on a band. From a customer perspective there is nothing worse than the sound being crap on the night.

Colin