HairyScaryMark

The talentless nobodies I was referring to are pop stars not bedroom musicians. Technology like this advancing helps the next McFly and Spice Girls (people who are poor musicians and singers) more than the bedroom musician. When used in a hugely radical way, autotune and melodyne do impact on the integretity sound in a big way. If you listen to pop recordings, many people are now actually used to hearing heavily autotuned voices on every song they listen to so it becomes normal. 'Do you believe in love after life' by Cher is an example of autotune used in a way it shoudln't be. I suspect a lot of the dance recordings with very high voices have been autotuned big time as well. Angels by Robbie Williams I am led to believe also had Autotune but not used to same extent as he could actually sing in the first place.

The current version of melodyne only works for single line instruments, particularly voice. The video suggests that the mistakes it will be able to correct are going to be much greater and on a much wider variety of instrumetns. I think this can be used creatively to do things that wouldn't otherwise have been realisticly achieveable, however I think the danger is it will be used largely to make up for poor musicianship and performance. I still believe that music should be performed by humans and technology is there to aid the performance, not to play the music for them. The danger for this is that more and more is likely to be done by souless machines rather than actual musicians. I am not a catholic nor do I suffer from any sort of guilt syndrome. If my views make me a traditionalist, then so be it but it appears to be an inaccurate description concidering the amount of technology I use to create music.

No it wont. More talentless kids will be sent to studios to make a product that can be sold without having the skills that were previously required to do it. EQ does not correct mistakes in performance. It is usually used to take out some harshness of an instrument or to get the instrument to 'sit' better in a mix. Reverb also is an effect to create something that arguably coudln't otherwise be achieved and does not correct a mistake in a performance. Melodyne sell a product that is used primarily to cover up the notes that are out of tune in vocal recording. Having recorded a good few singers and never got a completely 'perfect' take. I can accept thisb being used in small proportions, but as the technology gets better (like with this latest breakthrough) it can be used on a wider variety of instruments to correct bigger mistakes. This takes away from what music is about for me, performance by real human beings. Visual art is entirely differnet and I do believe that music should be played by real human beings unless there is good reason why it should not be.

I never said that and the rest of my thread was positive. It does however make it that much easier to make a talentless nobody sound acceptable on a recording. At the moment the statment "you can't pollish a Turd" is more or less true about recording. An engineer can make an average take sound a good bit better or cover up a few mistakes but unless the recorded material is at least of a minimum standard, there is no way they are going to get a good natural-sounding recording. Technology like this allows more room for error on recordings as it can be fixed later. Less skill is essentially required to get the same or similar results.

Definately sounds like a big step forward. It has many ways where it can be used creatively to do things that 'live' musicians perhaps could not do and great for solo musicians. However, I think it will be used largely to help talentless nobodies i.e pop stars etc. to be able to sell a product in less time using less skill. Imagine the next McFly who perhaps can not play instruments very well. Within very few takes they should be able to get something that with an engineer with great editing skills can make in time and in tune. I am maybe out of date but I think autotune or melodyne are not necessary and should only be used sparingly to correct minor notes that are out of tune in a take that would otherwise be spot on. It is however used as a way to get talentless nobodies to sing in tune.

Sounds interesting, I might investigate this. The opening week is first week of holidays from most places so Tuesday is available for hangover recovery/sleeping etc.

I believe the singer is actually from Birmingham or is that another member of the band? I cannot remember Either way, he doesn't sound anything like he is from Perth when singing.

That's just personal taste/preference really. I think he does quite a good job and sings how I imagine a pirate might sing.

Not on topic of Jukebox but on topic of last band mentioned (I failed to find suitable thread to mention this in but then again, I didn't look very hard) Alestorm are playing in Glasgow in what I assume is a relatively small venue (Ivory Blacks). They also played Moshulu last week with Turisas, they went down very well and a lot of people at that gig were wearing Alestorm t shirts, even before getting a chance to buy them from the merchandise stall at the gig. Cannot think of a better venue for a pirate metal band. Nows the chance to book them for moorings. Also book MySpace.com - Alba Gu Brth - Glasgow, UK - Folk / Metal - www.myspace.com/albagubrathmusic in support as I woudln't mind seeing them and they will support Alestorm in Glasgow. Should also book Black Atom again also as they were good t'other day. Alestorm are playing a good few notable heavy metal festivals in the world such as Wacken, Masters of Rock, Metal Camp and Bloodstock Open Air. They made conga lines out and back in the door when they supported Turisas in a few towns, so I heard. Also, the last metal gig at the moorings was very well attended.

A lot of people really like Sennheiser E609 for guitar cabinets.

Used the E604 on two bands so far and the results were quite good. Not blown away by them but they sound at least as good as the SM57 on toms, if not better. If I get better at tuning drums that will help also. Cannot stress how important drum tuning is. Spent a bit of time reading about it and gave it a go. Even with my basic knowledge and skills it makes the drum kit sound how it is supposed to rather than having snares that change in pitch and bass drums that sound nothing like a drum. Keep an eye out on ebay for C414 secondhand. On singers who naturally have a 'nice' voice i.e not a harsh one. They tend to sound really nice. Shure SM7b is a popular studio dynamic microphone for male vocals at the moment. Earthworks make some very nice microphones also. They are not cheap but you get a very high quality microphone. I ordered their free drum mic's demo CD off their website. Been impressed with what I have heard of the Audix D6 on kick. I don't own one but nobody seems to utter a bad word about it.

There isn't such a thing as the best mic. They don't work like human ears or capture the sound in the same way. It all depends on the application, the sound you are after and the money your are willing to spend. A mic that is yet to fail me is the AKG C414 but it is also about 500 new. I've own Shure SM57, 58, Sennheiser E604, AKG C1000's amongst others and they all have their strong points but sometimes a mic is inheraitely more usefull and for me the C414 seems to work with everything i've tried it on. Wouldn't sound nice on some (male) voices though. People say the Shure SM57 is highly versitile and this is true but there usually a better choice for most things, apart from maybe snare drum. If it's for live on lead vocals. Based upon my experience I prefer Sennheiser E840 or E835 over the Shure SM58, as good as the 58 is I just prefer the sennheiser one and find I use less EQ. Also, there are things just as important in the signal path as the microphone itself, such as the microphone pre amp and analog to digital converter (if you are recording or using a digital desk).

Pretty much what I expected. Similar to last year when they have bands that blatently do not deserrve to be there and especially not headlining (Lost Prophets - like My Chemical Romance) and legendary bands i.e Judas Priest - probably end up being the same as Korn last year as they end playing shorter sets to what will probably end up being a larger crowd. Kiss are good fun, Judas Priest I would really like to see, HIM are ok but I cannot justify 170-180 or whatever it is when, for the same price I can afford my transport + ticket to a mainland european festival and enjoy a larger proportion of the bands. Bloodstock deffinately for me again this year. Wacken perhaps will be possible.

I believe Evile have cancelled in favour of touring with Megadeth. Think I might be going anyway. Not decided yet as friends have decided not to go at last minute. The Finnish support band are called Omnium Gatherum and you can hear them here MySpace.com - Omnium Gatherum - - Metal / Death Metal - www.myspace.com/omniumgatherum

Last year I went to Tunnels a few times and it was always ridiculously loud and harsh causing my ears to ring, even standing at the back of the place. Not that it is a bad venue, becuase it certainly isn't and the bands I saw were acutally mostly good, I just had my enjoyment impared by bad sound. I also went to the moorings a few times and enjoyed every gig I went to there so it gets my vote. I may have went to drummonds to see a band, I do not recall but it has never stood out above anywhere else to me.

VHT Amplfication That is a very good small amplifier which sounds great clean as well as on overdrive. It also sounds great quiet as well as loud. Available to buy on this UK website. Machinehead Music-Amps-Guitar Amps-VHT-Pitbull Super 30 This one is also a good choice GUITARGUITAR - Engl Screamer Combo Amplification For less money you could look at Peavey Classic but you wll probably need a distortion pedal to get the sort of metal sounds you want. Head and Cabinet is fun if you have space and can be bothered carrying it. Also generally less cost effective.

How much are you looking to get for it?

ENGL screamer is a good value valve amp for a gigging musician, in my opinion anyway. Suits metal also. See if you can find one of them in Glasgow or Edinburgh or possibly even Dundee. You need an acceptable quality amp and Stuartmaxwell is right and you should avoid buying things that you will inevitably want to replace.

To clarify You have two audio tracks vocoder - output - Left of toneport 1 drums - output - right of toneport 1 And they both go out left? Sounds to me like you have either made a mistake with a setting or there is a bug in the software or hardware. Why do you need an adapter exactly? Are your only outputs headphone outs?

I would highly recommend trying out the distortion pedals before you buy them. A lot of it is really down to personal taste. Chorus, Reverb and Delay etc. are not so important to try out providing you know the pedal you are getting is going to do what you want but distortion in my opinion is something I wouldn't buy without trying first, preferably through an amplifier similar to my own. Just my opinion however.

Out of the pedals you listed the ME20 is probably the best but you really would be better getting individual pedals as it gives you more flexibililty and generally higher quality. I have Native Instruments Guitar Rig and I use it regularly just would never concider using it live. There really is no point and real amps sound better (well, the good ones do anyway). I have had Guitar Rig crash a number of times also (usually I was running other audio software at the time however). The quality of the effects is also not that great. Always feel a bit let down by their reverb and chorus and I don't really like the interface that much. Also, what do you want multi effects for? To make whale noises? Just get yourself a decent reverb and distortion pedal. Maybe add a bit of chorus and delay if you want a bit more excitment. Speaking from experience. I've bought novelty items of gear before and always wish I had just got a decent (small) amp and a few pedals.

This reminds me how many Daily Mail readers post on this forum. What is the probelm with dressing how they can? I don't see why people take such a keen interest in how other's dress. Maybe they seek attention, it doesn't matter. It's up to them and plenty of people seek attention by wearing silly hats or skimpy clothes and that goes without question.

There was a thread about it on here a while back but it got hijacked by people arguing over irrelevant matters. Similar to what has happened here but on a larger scale. ..... I shall be attending with a band of warriors (friends). Seen them before and it was great. Alestorm and Norther are also supporting. Alestorm are a pirate metal band from perth who are recently signed the Napalm Records. MySpace.com - Alestorm - Perth, UK - Metal / Folk / Celtic - www.myspace.com/alestorm Also Norther MySpace.com - Norther - Helsinki, FI - Metal - www.myspace.com/norther All a bit silly but I enjoy that sort of thing.

Concidering he is the touring guitarist of Nevermore for a relatively short amount of time it seemed to work the other way round.

This doesn't mean he is going to stop playing for Nethermore though does it? Nethermore are a great band (epsecially since their singer quit drinking and sounds 100 times better) would be pity to see them stop touring.