Flash@TMB

After many hours of head scratching I've finally got this monitor thing cracked. I made the changes discussed with Soundian last week and these eliminated some of the problems. I then worked on them more with the help of the Hexagonal Pensioners and Keilan303 during the early part of the open mic night on Sunday evening. Some new unexpected feedback occured. I figured out this was due to linking the left and right front monitors which take a signal from both left and right vocal mics, the delay induced by the speed of sound was causing some kind of freaky effect. How I fixed this is my secret. Ask me no questions... Today we fired everything up full blast when the bar was quiet and began to systematically weed out the rogue frequencies. This is a pretty serious test BTW LOL. The SM58s induce a small lower mid blip at 500Hz - a 3dB reduction on the vocal channels eliminated this. Aside from that everything out front was perfect. Stage side there was a 3dB blip at 112Hz and a 6dB blip at 500Hz again. 500Hz appears to be a bogeyman frequency for us, although it's far more evident in the monitors than out front. I also added a HPF to the SM57s on the cabinets as these were picking up some low frequencies and muddying up the bass. The end result is that it's possible to scream at the top of your lungs with the monitors and PA turned up full, and all the mics on and turned up full, when the room in empty, and only cause a split second of minor feedback. I might be able to eliminate that too, but the likelihood of anyone actually requiring to do this is nil. Reduce a vocal fader by 5dB and there is no hint of feedback. We also tested this pelting out full volume jukebox from everything, and speaking/shouting into the vocal mics and this was accomplished without any noticable feedback. Obviously a band will be the REAL test but I'm pretty confident that we have it cracked. So THANK FUCK FOR THAT. Roll on the next band, I'm actually looking forward to live music again. Flash:up:

Today I went out and bought some guitars for use during our open mic night on Sundays. We now have: Fender Strat Ibanez Artcore semi-electric Stag bass The semi-electric Ibanez can be hooked up to one of our amps and used as an electric with a jazzy sound, or direct injected to produce an accoutsic sound. OK these may not be the best guitars in the world, but they are decent enough for an open mic night, and there will be a good separation in sound between the Fender and the Ibanez when both are in use at the same time. So now we have guitars, amps, drums, and everything mic'd up I reckon we are set for a cracking open mic night. One thing I'd request is, that on open mic nights, people use the house equipment whereever possible. The open mic night is a relaxed affair and the last thing I want is to fart around with guitar pedals etc. Both the amps have foot switches to go between solo, lead, and rythmn, and it's not that hard to get a sound on our amps. I'd also prefer for people to use the hosue guitars, ESPECIALLY THE BASS to avoid getting dunts out of the speakers when someone unexpectedly unplugs them. Obviously this doesn't apply to gigs, but if anyone wants to use our equipment for a gig (IN THE MOORINGS I BETTER ADD) then no problem. Due to the purchase of all this equipment, building of the stage, etc, costing the equivalent on a 1 bedroom flat, we've decided to scrap the play for drink promotion as the bar is now totally fuckin skint. The good news is that musicians can come down, have a few drinks, and play a few tunes through our lovely PA without having to worry about karting their valuable instruments around the streets in the middle of the night. The only thing we don't intend to supply are picks, so please bring your own! See you Sunday! Flash

We have our own backline now The Moorings Bar has it's own backline now - click here for specs: http://www.aberdeen-music.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=11180

We bought our own backline on Saturday afternoon. This consists of a Marshall AVT100 (100W single speaker, 3 channel with DFX, with footswitch), Fender Dynatouch Plus Deluxe 90 DSP (90W single speaker), Ashdown Electric Blue 15-180 combo bass amp (180W 15" speaker). These amps are on par with the gear that most bands bring in, the 100W Marshall being a common choice. Although not hugely powerful, given that everything is mic'd up this works really well. We purchased the backline primarily for our open mic night, but if anyone wants to use all or part it during a MOORINGS gig then they are welcome. The bar already has it's own Premier drum kit with symbals, hats, snare, and pedal. I also bought a new set of skins for that. See you at the open mic session on Sunday evenings 7pm onwards. Flash

When I first started attending in 1988, there was a Mudd Club on a Monday night downstairs. This was at the height of the Goth Era, and it played Sisters of Mercy, The Mission, etc... I wasn't a goth but I still enjoyed going because it much preferred it to dance. Over the years the music changed but remained on the darkside. On the Thursday was The Rock Night, this was my favourite night, it played a broad spectrum of all that was rock, the emphasis changing a little over the years through thrash, hair metal, and grunge. Both these nights ran through until mid 1996 when attendances became quite poor and they stopped them. This was a major bummer. Then suddenly in 1997 an alternative night started happening upstairs in the Palace on a Saturday Night. Everyone just called this a The Mudd club for some reason. That's the night I was referring to. At that time rock in Aberdeen had essentially died, and this felt like it's funeral. The incident in my story probably took place early 1998. By that time I was working 6x10 hour days, so would have been unaware of anything happening on a Monday. After that I don't know what went on at the Palace because we were at home saving our pennies.

Please bring your own light if at all possible.

I don't know anything by GOOD. Do you have Show Me The Way... ...To Amarillo by Tony Christie? I like that one

Friday 28th May The Pills, all the way from Boston, check out this link: http://www.monolyth.com/pills/index1.shtml I am also reliably informed that support will be from The Cuts and Josephine.

that pisses me off too Singers should learn how to use microphones. Do they really think that scientists and engineers put all those years into perfecting the dynamic response when all they had to do fast stick their fuckin hand over it. Doh! And another thing. See in the Stone Roses video for Fools Gold. That thing that Ian Brown does with his mic... let me fill you all in on a little secret... he was MIMING for the video. See when some idiot actually does that on stage it sounds like they are flapping their hand over their mouth. Not good X-( And another thing. Speaker stacks are no for leaning on while you sing. See mics in front of speakers is like smoking at a petrol pump. BOOM. What's more, the floor of the stage is not your 'special mic stand'. And when you are finished singing there is no need to fold the boom down so the mic points outwards 4" off the ground. This is not good manners like something you do with your knife and fork when you clean your plate. Hope some singer finds this information useful.

the path to glory Might be worth explaining how this change in direction was brought about... Aside from Family, friends, and small furry creatures that share my living space, the 3 things closest to my heart are music, alcohol, and horsepower. Back in the dark days of 1995/96 rock 'n roll had all but died off in Aberdeen. The Satelite Bar had become the Wodka Bar and they wouldn't let the likes of me in anymore. In fact there was hardly anywhere in town that would admit someone wearing a leather. That was STRIKE I. Then at the beginning of 1997 The Tilted Wig stopped selling Addlestones. I found a bar that sold Patron Tequila, it was 5 a shot but worth it to me. Then one day I ordered one, watched them pour it, then tasted... cats piss (cheap shit Tequila the cheating c***s). That was STRIKE II. In 1998 there were only 2 places you could see bands, The Moorings, and the Malt Mill. There only appeared to be 4 bands in town and they all played (the same) covers. We were also frequenting the Mudd Club upstairs in the Palace, this consisted of about 20 people all sitting on the floor looking miserable. Every week I asked Big Daz to play a particular record for me. Not something that was in ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM unreasonable. Every week for 6 months he refused. Well that's not entirely true, what he did, was promise to play it, then not bother. That was STRIKE III. KABOOM! I told Daz "FUCK YOU - I'm going to open my own bar, and it will cater for people wearing leathers, that like good booze. We'll put on original bands, and every week we're going to have a Rock Night and play 'Rock 'n Roll Singer' by AC/DC*, and you will NOT be asked to DJ, so you'll be sorry mark my words. He just sniggered. Then we never went back, instead we sat at home and saved all our pennies for the next 4 years... *side note: Daz later went on to host Air Guitar??? Weird huh? On the 4th of Jan 2002 I was sitting in The Moorings with my friend Alan. We were the only people there. Alan was talking about how he used to frequent the place in the 70s. At that time I was looking around for the ideal premises to open my own alt venue that would put on original bands, sell good booze, and have a DJ that took requests. I shouted over the Helen, "If you ever think about selling this place, give me a shout!" Helen replied, "Funny you should say that, it's been on the market for over a year." Alan looked at me, and I looked at Alan, then we both looked at Helen, and said in one voice, "WE'LL TAKE IT!". Of course that was on the condition that Laura was up for it, and prepared to do all the actual work that would be involved. Thankfully she was. It took another 2 years to find builders that believed we could afford to pay for the necessary modifications. I got so pissed off, that there was almost another STRIKE moment where I was on the verge of setting up my own building firm. During that time we also had to see out a year of covers bands that were already booked to play when we took over the bar. With hindsight we should have just cancelled some of the bookings, but we're just too damn nice. Sometimes. Now we are all set, and have in my opinion one of the best setups in the country, in terms of layout, service, equipment, sound, capacity, and alcohol. The only problem is that half the promoters in this town are choosing to ignore the fact that we exist (the other half are already involved and I'm happy with those). This is the only thing preventing us from putting on a more eclectic selection of bands, and taking in 'name' touring bands on a weekly basis. Unless that changes soon we shall reach a STRIKE IV situation, and more DIY will be necessary. Watch this space...

I would like to have Karloff in, just as soon as a promoter books you for the bar. Anything you can do to expediate that process at your end would be welcome.

Every Wednesday we run a price promotion on our premium products. Some of them are actually available for less than the standard products. This gives everyone the chance to sample some of the worlds best booze for not many s. Currently the fruit beers aren't included, but we intend to rectify that soon. Off the top of my head, the following products are on special promotion every Wednesday: Addlestones Weihenstephen Martinique, Jamaican, & Barbados rums Patron Tequila, Mezcal, and Sotol Russky and the Polish flavoured vodkas Jaegermeister All Bourbons (this does not include JD which is not a bourbon incidentally) Tanquery and Bombay Sapphire I think that's it. Ask the barstaff if you're unsure. Happy Drinking!

cost effectivenness Although the premium products are more expensive, we put less uplift on them so they are better value for money. Witness: Patron tequilas that cost us >4x as much (over 50 per bottle) yet we sell them for <2x the price of a standard tequila. For some reason good quality alcohol like this seems to have a much greater effect than the standard stuff, thus it's possible to get minging for a tenner. Just like I do every Friday... I also find it's more of an upper and gives less of a hangover. Sometimes. Flash

I think that everyone that replied to this thread should be disqualified from getting the job due to inability to follow written instruction.

Just to put this into perspective... Just to put things into perspective we have approx 2400W of monitor through 7 speakers serving between 3 and 6 people in 16m2 of floor space. That's similar to the entire output of our last PA and it served 100 people in over 100m2 of floor space. Please take into account that this is a lot of juice for someone like me who only has a 2" cock :O Seriously.

Re: Re: Re: Re: Getting There The DM1000 enables the level to be adjusted at every stage, post EQ, post compressor, post gate, etc. It also enables EQ, gates, compressors to be inserted at any point in the chain, and in any order. This enables me to tightly control the level of the monitor signal to ensure that it is within tolerance. The other benefit is that these operations are all perfomed in the digital domain and don't add anything unintended to the sound. Now that I'm getting my head round it I'm enjoying this freedom. The Moorings stage is by it's nature a tightly controlled environment. We don't get much in the way of loose sound bouncing around. With the exception of the subwoofer it's extremely hard to generate feedback. A little sound goes a long way up there! Speaker design and efficiency also comes into the equation. Not all 300W wedges perform the same. This depends on the nature of the compression. Because the DM1000 desk enables the level to be adjusted at each point in the chain, compression need not equate to an increase in gain. The effect out front may be more pronounced than the person on stage realises. I think it's important to give them an onstage sound that correlates to what's happening out front. Squeezing everything a little can help achieve this. Like I said - we aren't talking CD levels of compression, just enough to keep their signals within the audible range on stage.

Re: Re: Getting There That's not the meter position of the monitor, it's where I have the monitor faders set. Power is not a measure of volume. A 600W monitor is only in the order of 10% louder that a 300W monitor... assuming the impedance of both is the same. You need to multiply power by approx 10 in order to double the volume. An easier way to increase volume is by adding speakers. 5 wedges is quite a lot on a stage like ours. That's the equivalent of 5 powerful HiFi's, and stage monitors are very directional compared with HiFi. I also like to compress the monitor sound as this enables me to drive them harder, and I find we get less issues with feedback that way. I'm not talking full on CD levels of compression, but just enough to keep the vocal in focus. Also because the weges are powered, I can daisy chain 2 wedges together, and thus reinstate my 6th wedge at the front of the stage. It just means that 2 wedges will be outputing the same mix, quite often the case anyway. Feedback from AKA The Fox was that it was the best stage sound they'd ever had, and they were playing without the benefit of a bass amp, so the reliance on monitor was higher than usual. I have a spare crossover and I can try it that way, but alternatively I can send the kick drum signal separatley to both the sub and the wedge, and the use an HPF to eliminate the lower frequencies from the wedge. Also because the beater is on the front of the drum, some click sounds already makes it to the drummer unaugmented. Flash

Getting There Most of this weeks session was about sorting out the stage monitors. There were problems with low mid feedback, and a general muddiness. These were related to the configuration of the drum monitor. I think I've finally gotten to the bottom of this one, but it took a while... By 10pm I'd sussed it out an killed the drum monitor as a temp fix. At that point things started to sound really good. Eliminating the feedback and muddiness enabled me to start EQing the sound properly. We also got a really good stage sound (with the exceptio of the drummer). Next week I'll try out a fix that should eliminate the problem altogether. Thanks to all the participating musicians for their patience. For those that have more than a passing interest, here are the boring technicalities in all their dreadful detail: We have 6x300W powered wedges and a powered sub that run straight off the desk through 6 of the aux channels. One of the wedges daisy chains into the sub to provide a full range stack that acts as the drum monitor. I had assumed that there would be some sort of passive crossover in the sub for this application but if there is it toally sucks! The purpose of the sub is to deliver the kick drum sound to the drummer. Because the kick drum sound travels away from the drummer, it is impossible for the drummer to hear the kick drum once the rest of the band fire up. We use a sub because it delivers the whooomp feeling to the drummers arse. In a manner of speaking. The sub itself can deliver a range of frequencies from sub base to low mid. The problem had arisen due to the wedge being daisy chained into the sub. The sub and wedge were effectively acting as one big monitor, and apparently without a decent crossover to separate the frequencies. The meant the sub was delivering some of the low mid from the vocal - something it's not particularily good at reproducing. The result was feedback and a muddy effect through interaction with the vocal mics. It's not possible to EQ out the low mid from the sub without inadvertantly removing it's presence from the wedge also. The effected frequency band is really wide so the monito would sound well dodgy without it. The solution is to split the sub and the wedge and send separate monitor feeds to them, just pushing a nicely compressed kick drum signal through the sub. I'm confident this will clear up this issue. The minor downside is that with the sub using it's own aux channel I have to do away with one of the wedges, leaving 'only' 5 wedges, 2 at the front, 2 at the sides, and 1 at the back with the sub. We were previously using 3 at the front. This isn't too big a deal because there is lot's of headroom left on the monitors, the vocal was coming in at -10dB, and with the feedback eliminated we can start to crank the monitor mix a lot higher. Flash

The little toerag - he only had 2 vodkas. OK they were imported...

Errr better clear this up... Flash is not the landlord. In fact he's not even on the payroll. Laura is the licensee and deals with all aspects of running the bar. That makes Laura the landlady. Flash has a completely unrelated day job. You'll find me in the bar getting drunk once a week, and doing the sound at any gigs. Friday is my usual drinking night and I also have the honour of closing the bar on Fridays, hence the keys.

we just spent thousands doing them over in stainless, so not an option right now LOL. The stainless is indestructable, or pretty close but few things piss me off as much as vandalism, whether it's successful or not. Thanks for the offer though.

less of a hangover than Hoegaarden, but the same nutter juice effects. Much easier to drink. Hefe is not flavoured with coriander, so the taste is different though very much of the same ilk. During the 2 months we were shut the entire bar crew spent an afternoon in Cafe 52 sampling the Hefe. Prior to this visit the crew were very much in favour of retaining the Hoegaarden. That was reversed as soon as they tasted the Hefe. This has since been bourne out by our regular Hoegaarden drinkers, all of whom agree that Hefe is an improvement. The main reason given is drinkability. Like to hear your opinion too. Flash

In the green opposite R&B prices are very reasonable, but you may need to book a little in advance because the place is really popular. I usually go in and ask them to hold me a table, then go over and tour R&B till they call me on my mobile.

EDIT Back in April 2004: No it's not the can of Youngers Heavy that my dad bought in 1974 and I found in the back of the lobby cupboard 20 years later, that came out in brown lumps when I poured it. No this stuff was FIRST brewed in the 11 Century. It's even older than Ronnie Arthur. The beer in question is a German wheat beer called (let me get this right) Weihenstephan Hefe Weissbier. Or something to that effect. We just call it Hefe. The Moorings is only one of two places in town to stock Hefe, the other is Cafe 52, a place I've heard described as the cullinary equivalent of The Moorings. If you haven't been to Cafe 52 I strongly recommend a visit! We decided to stock Hefe for two reasons. Firstly Hoegaarden was bought over by Interbrew, and we prefer to support the smaller breweries where it's viable to do so. We didn't want to stock something that might find it's way into a chain bar. Secondly we errr road tested several wheat beers looking for something that we liked us much as Hoegaarden. Hefe was by far the best, in fact we MUCH prefer it to Hoegaarden. Hefe is more quaffable, and slightly fizzier. It also doesn't have the gagy effect that you sometimes get with Hoegaarden. Like Howgaarden it's very cloudy. In fact it resembles muddy water. If you can't pronounce Hefe or Weihenstephen then just ask for a Muddy Waters At present Hefe is retailing for the same as Hoegaarden was until we see the invoice and calculate the optimum price. Damage reports to follow. *** EDIT December 2006: As of today we have been kitted out with a new font to dispense both the original verions and it's darker sister Weihenstephen Dunkel. So now there is a choice: Weissbier oder dunkel bier. Ja! The new font has twin taps. The dunkel bier is similar tasting but with a stronger flavour. The brewery has restricted imports of the product, because it's intended only for their domestic (Deutch) market, and we are one of only 2 bars in the UK that can stock this on draught. In fact it's so rare that I cannot find an image of it to post here LOL. But it's brown and cloudy looking in a Heffe glass Price will be as per regular Hefe. Which is extortionate... but then it only takes 3 pints to fallover. My recommendation is to drink half pints - much safer.

Mine is 2", but my balls are approx the size of space hoppers.