FatHand

Aw man, I'm away this weekend... sounds like a great night. If it goes well will you be doing something similar again?

The bass player from Ghost of Bongo does all of that for our recordings. He spends huge amounts of time on the fine details. Some tracks have huge amounts of work put into them due to aspects of recording. I think Drums are particularly hard to make sound good if they are not recorded well.

Get the Holmes Brothers back, they are amazing!

Its worth doing a lot of reading up,you will see a lot of the same names coming up again and again as "clasic" synths. Check out the link below for MS2000 details, it is possibly the Korg speil, I didn't look to hard. Vintage Synth Explorer I'd say the type of synth you go for, no matter if it is software or hardware, depends a great deal on the type of playin you will be doing. I've been using a lot of lead synth in my playing lately as well as thick and dirty bass lines. Put through a drum machine can give some great effects (might be worth experimenting with MK). Hook two synths together... many possiblities. Read up on the vintage keyboards to see if there are any that sound like what you want. Some websites tell you bands that have used the particular synth - listen to them and see what might fit well with your style. For example, I have a Roland JP 8000. Aparantly Muse have used one in some of their early tunes, I can quite believe this as it has a great arpeggiator. A synth is only as good as how much you learn about it and delve into the details. That is what makes the difference between creating generic sounds and a unique sounds. There are definately many layers to my synth that I'm still getting to grips with. You will want to think about on stage functionality as well. How you write songs may change when you start to use different functions of a new synth. A major challenge to take into consideration is using live drums with the likes of an arpeggiator or you have sequenced a sound scape to match a certain length of time. Your drummer will have to be able to play accurately to a click track. Manipulating sounds while you are on stage is great fun, so you might want a synth that is easy and intuitive to use. I'm fairly new to the syth game but these are a few things that I've come across and have had to do to get a better understanding. If you can, try and get a shot of different types of synths. Find someone to show you how they use a softsynth effectively and how you might use one on stage. Colin

What are you going to be using your synth for, what do you need it to do? What is it about the MK that you don't like or it doesn't do... You can create some nice clavinet and organ sounds on analogue modelling synth but like stripey says, the piano sounds are rarely what you are looking for, I find they always sound very synthy and don't have the desired response. I'd maybe get a separate keyboard for your piano sounds (so it can be used stand alone form your computer), wouldn't have to spend a huge amount, and a decent control keyboard for use with soft synths. If you are looking for a new analogue modelling synth, I know of someone who is keen to offload his Korg MS 2000 for around 300. Having played around with it, I'd say it's a quality synth with plenty of scope to learn on. Colin

What do you mean by putting them out? Is that releasing them for purchase in oneup or fopp or putting them on myspace? All the recordings I have, from tapes (I still use these and like the sound) of my personal songs, rough recordings in practices, live "demo" recordings to those that are slightly higher quality, I consider worth letting people listen to and keep if they want. I recently did some home recording which is not exactly well produced, it was done quickly to capture an idea and let people hear a potential direction. The bear minimum, getting levels set reasonably and cleaning up sounds, was done (still took a few hours to do with my limited knowledge). Personally, it doesn't make a huge difference to me how well something is recorded as long as you get a decent idea of where it is going/could go and some semblance of effort has been put in and the songs are to my liking. I enjoy hearing the progression of songs from bands I like, hearing different versions along their road (even if is them learing how to mix down previous recordings) is not a bad thing in my book. It is nice document of how progression is made as a band and as individual musicians. Quality is important if people are buying your material but generally I'd say if people are interested in your music they are also interested in the progression it makes. I certainly, like Shaki, wouldn't charge more than a few quid for some home produced recordings, mainly so you can either keep up recording with the song writing or save up for the final product. I'd say the local recording facilities charge appropriately for the level that can realistically be achieved at them. Maybe the likes of the Byer (not exactly local) have the sort of facilities that are under discussion. I know they have some quality equipment. Colin

Recorded in Captain Tom's years ago. Live recording with all the separate tracks to mix ourselves. Since then we have recorded in Musical vision. My technical knowlege is poor but it is 24 bit recording. Andy will mix it down for you on his desk and using Cubase. It does sound clearer done this way but again the expense of doing it can get in the way. We took the individual tracks away. Our bass player has become very proficient at mixing using Cubase and gets the sound that he is after. I think there would be a huge benefit in having a producer outside of the band though.

Amazing night all together I think. Really enjoyed your set and will def be down to watch more when I get a chance! All the other acts were on top form too. Cheers for the compliments! Colin

I only played piano and my digi piano with various emulated keyboard sounds until about a year ago. After having a go of a JP 8000 and really liking it, found one for sale for 300. I really couldn't afford it at the time but had to have it, so I didn't eat/go out for a couple of months. The last 6 months or so I've been getting deeply into it, and gets better the more I use it. The controls are really intuitive once you have worked out what they do and how they can interact with one another. It is great for live performance. Considering (due to a much better job) getting a more up to date piece of kit that has more sound creating options in conjunction with computer. Like you KimyReizeger, having used softsynths a few times, I prefer having the hardware. I think if you spend as much time with the software it can be as good an option, possibly even more versatile... better compared by someone who uses software regularly though. Colin

Rikki and Roopy are great. I love those keyboards

This will be a great way to spend your Sunday evening, very relaxed. We will be experimenting using jugglers and spinners along with some of the music, should be exciting! Hope to see you there!

I don't even know what to say about that except original, clever lyrics, great musicianship ... I could go on. They are truely growing into their music oh god that's better.

Really like the sound of this. Wouldn't mind some more info

Blackfriers

Fair enough Stripey. I get that you didn't like it. You really did labour the point to cause maximum offense, which is what you were aiming for. Another digital box for you to stand on to berate every musician trying to create and perform in Aberdeen. You expected no rebutal and questioning of your own credentials by making comments like that? I can completely handle you not liking the music as you are just one man with strong views rather than a bunch of people enjoying some live music. On a different note where can I find some of your "finished" pieces of work? Rather than the trip hop video and old stuff I found (fairly tame in my opinion). I genuinely would like a listen. Let me hear standard you expect from everyone else....

I can take constructive criticism well; in fact, I find it can be what pushes you to make your music better. For me, this part of your post was fine: "When you bring foreign language hip hop to an audience that isn't going to understand the lyrics, the mc's flow and the quality of the backing become crucially important. For example, (without wanting to sound patronising, obviously), the only reason artists like MC Solaar and DJ Cam (my two favourite french hiphop artists from the 90's) had some degree of success in the uk is because their mc'ing and their production was good enough to stand out from the crowd in the wider context of everything else that was going on at the time. Yes, the french language was a novel factor back then which carried a sort of avante guarde cachet, but I'm afraid that these days just simply having a foreign language MC does not have the same novelty. When I read about your plans, I was genuinely interested to see what would be the outcome" The rest of the post was your usual trash, musician bashing. I did, however, start reading with interest and hoping for something useful to be said other than pack up your stuff there is no hope for you and you are a shite performer. I'm glad you were interested in the idea. Maybe you could come down and see for yourself rather than making some sweeping judgements based on some, lets be realistic, low quality audio. Also, if you have ever played live music, you will appreciate that it takes a while to get all of the right elements for your first performance. That was a genuine invitation; I will even put you down as a guest of the band so you don't have to pay. Colin

I think that is a great idea. Have you got a date for that yet?

I resent your attitude to music I'm afraid. You write on here with an elitism and arrogance that is disgusting to read. You basically deny anybody's right to create and perform music, which for them, pushes their own boundaries. That makes you the most closed minded of artists as apposed to the enlightened individual you pertain to be. I find it hard to take you opinions seriously man, talking the talk, but never offering up any of your own work for criticism. You can use any excuse you like for that but the bottom line is that you show self-doubt and a lack of spine to take any feed back. As soon as I hear something, anything, from you be it a musical revolution or not, I will consider your opinion valid. But until then I'm afraid I'll be considering that you're speaking out of your ass.

yo mama wack

Flight of the Concordes

And looking forward to it! www.myspace.com/nosoucis

This is a rough edit of one of the songs we did last Thursday night. Its a freestyle jam. YouTube - No Soucis freestyle at Tunnels Aberdeen Enjoy

Been a while since had a gig on a school night, man that was fun but paying for it today. Always seems like a good idea to go and get hammered til 2am.... Anyway that was a great night, really enjoyed all of the acts and from our perspective it was a good solid first gig.

Tonight tonight tonight

Damn right, can't wait to catch up with the boys again!