HairyScaryMark

My band will need a new bass player around that time as our current one is moving away to Edinburgh or Glasgow. It is not really particularly hardcore or extreme so it is possibly not what you are looking for. I wrote a detailed description of the band here href="http://www.aberdeen-music.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35540 Thought it was worth a try. My favourite metal band in Aberdeen is Black Atom. They are playing at The Tunnels along with a large percentage of Aberdeen's other gigging bands which fall under the heading of metal. I think I will probably go along.

My one experiecne with RnB guitar setup was expensive and appears your setup didn't work terribly well. Don't need to wait after adjusting truss rod? I think I might be a bit less cautious when setting up my jazz guitar in that case. Still haven't got passed the truss rod stage. (Note I have been playing another guitar of equal quality while my jazz guitar is out of action.) My relatively basic knowledge says you will need to adjust your guitar setup when you first get it when you change string guages every so often when things move by themselves or your preferences and perceptions change. I doubt there is anything wrong with the frets. You should probably increase the string height at the bridge. The two screw type things (not sure of suitable description) at either side of your bridge can be adjusted using an allan key. This will increase or decrease your string heights depending on which way you turn them.

Fair enough really but I did feel this sort of parody makes the assumption that he thinks far too highly of himself. My experience is that often the people with the largest egos are very often below average musicians.

Usually, if you are getting fret buzz from frets 1-7 only, then you should adjust the truss rodd. If it is much higher then increase your string heights at the bridge. This a legnthy process and it can be hard to achieve a good balance. Much easier on some guitars than others though. The truss rodd is one of the dodgiest areas for me as I find it quite unresponsive and you are meant to wait time before adjusting it again after a relatively small adjustment.

Didn't find them particualrly funny spoofs. It seems fashionable to have a cheap shot at advanced musicians at the moment. He never says he is the best or talks down upon other musicians. The real DVD seems very helpful. One of the few 'instructional' videos I have watched that actually try to teach the viewer anything rather than just show off. I haven't watched it all yet but have been trying out the stretching exercises and massages (without guitar), this week and I believe they have really helped. I was a bit skeptical at first. This has been one of my best weeks for practice, ever and I believe I partially owe it to the stretching and massages. Sounds weird but don't diss it until you try it. You need to repeat each stretch a good few times to really reap the benefits. I prefer Born to shred II as a parody as they are not actually taking the piss out of anyone in particular (or violating any copyright laws).

Forgot to point out the current band members range from 18-20 years old.

We should be ready to gig within 2 months. We have over 40 minutes of music written for 3 musicians, our drummer is also catching up quickly. We have found the most effective writing method for us is to write without the drummer, then add him later. We usually spend a few hours getting the basis of each song in a rehearsal room, we then spend quite a lot of time perfecting it and eventually add backing harmonies Sound Like Different songs could be described under different sub-genres which makes it hard to give it a style. In my opinion, 'symphonic metal' is probably the best label we can give our music, although I am sure other people will think differently......Sometimes the band sounds power metal and other times reminds people of 'gothic' and 'symphonic' rock bands such as Within Temptation and Nightwish. The vocals sometimes get compared with HIM (low, melodic, usually quite slow). There is also a horror film theme which is particularly prominent in some songs, this often leads the keyboard playing to get compared with Cradle of Filth. Chris has also described it as slowed-down power metal with low melodic singing. There is at least one solo in every song so far and there will be some trade-off solos between keyboard and guitar. I would also like to see some bass solos, possibly even as part of a trade off. Our song lengths vary between 4 - 8 mintues. Mostly nearer 8 minutes. Influences Varies between members, although our meeting point are probably System of a Down, Nightwish, HIM ,Symphony X, Dream Theater, Iron Maiden, Within Temptation, Avenged Sevenfold, Gamma Ray, The Doors, Yes ... also epic filmscore music such as Lord of The Rings soundtrack. Lineup is as follows: Mark Chalmers - keyboard, guitar and backing vocals (there is keyboard playing in every song and is a large part of the music) John Williamson - guitar and backing vocals Chris Moore - Vocals and occasional guitar part. Chris Cowie - Drums Requirements (out of date) must be able to make a practice on Wednesday at around 8pm till 10pm in Westhill, every week for the next few months. Formal music training preferred although not essential. Bass amp can be provided a bass guitar could also potentially be provided. We are definitely not an amateur sounding band, we are ambitious and plan to gig outside of Aberdeen, even in early gigging days. We all are competent musicians. I have formal music training from private lessons and also have done the Aberdeen College Access to Music Degree course with future ambitions to study at degree level and beyond.. Chris Cowie (our drummer) and John (our guitarist) have also had private instrumental lessons.. We plan to record a CD shortly after we start gigging. We have high quality monitoring setup and have been using headphone amplifiers for the last few weeks, with a separate monitor mix, each. If you wish to audition, reply to this thread, send me a personal message or email to mark@mark-chalmers.com

Persoanlly, I would go for Mesa Boogie Roadking, there isn't a better way to spend 2,500 in music. Seriously, it does everything. I would say that rectifier can be a bit too fuzzy at times, for my liking but can be good for some heavy riffs. It also has a built in lonestar, which is arguably the best clean sound available at the moment. Also has a built in MK-1 which has produced many of my favourite guitar tones. http://www.mesaboogie.com/Product_Info/Rectifier_Series/roadking/roadking.htm I haven't acutally knowingly heard great tones from ENGL. People seem to worship them and they are highly respected but I haven't actulaly heard the evidence to support this. The Satch signature Peavey is also meant to be amazing. Marshall MG or AVT would be a downgrade from anything you previosuly owned. I am not overly impressed with anything in the current range of marshalls. It all depends how much money you are willing to spend, if you are going to use it as part of a larger system or want something which can do it all by itself.

I got a replacement intonation screw from RnB (costing 70p). The original one was unremovable using conventional menthods so I drilled it out following the instructions http://www.ibanezrules.com/tech/setup/rounded_head.htm .I was originally too stupid to notice that guide and sent the guy an email. He kindly emailed me a back pointing at his website. During the drilling, the bridge saddle got a bit damaged. I phoned up RnB but they asked for 10. I then went on another website (can't remember which one) and ordered one for 2. Today I finally set the intonation on my guitar (took an hour or so) and it sounds lovely. I still have the original (damaged) bridge saddle in use (as the new one wont arrive till Thursday). I plan to put the new one in, when I put new strings on my guitar. My advice; If you own a floyd rose and the intonation screw looks worn, get a new one (or m any) and replace the screw, next time you change your strings. I think learning to setup my guitar was a worthwhile experience and if your guitar (or fellow band members) fail, just before a gig. It makes it far more likely that you will be able to fix it yourself. </endmonologue>

The difference is that all smoked in a pub were directly harming others around them. It is only a minority of drinkers who end up causing violence as a result. So there isn't such a great case for restricting the liberty of drinkers vs smokers where the threat is guarenteed. It is already illegal to sell alchohol to a drunk person, it just isn't widely enforced. I would be in favour of a clamp down on binge drinking and the 'anti social' behaviour it is accocaited with (providing I also agreed with the means used). Just becuase I approve of a smoking ban dosen't mean I am in favour of binge drinking. There has deffiantely been a huge improvement in the quality of air in pubs since the ban. Most still smell weird and many noticibly smell of smoke but it isn't nearly as bad as before. I can sometimes even now wear clothes again, without washing them after going out.

So it all works properly now?

What exactly do you mean by 'cutting out'. Is there no sound as soon as you switch it to the overdrive channels? Or does it cut out after producting some sound? Does this happen if you switch it manually with the buttons on the amp head? I doubt it is a valve problem if it works perfectly on clean.

I wasn't bashing the GT-8 as such. I simply just don't believe it to be as good as TC electronics and probably overpriced for what it is. The G system is 900 becuase it is top quality, has great functionality and is really the only effects unit you would need as part of your system unless you want to do pitch effects. I suggested the TC electronics G major becuase it costs about the same as GT-8 and the overwhelming opinion is that the most used effects (chorus, reverb, delay) are of much higher quality. The GT-8 does a lot of stuff but I really doubt that a lot of the pitch>synth stuff is really that useable and more or less just a gimick (opinion gathered from harmony central reviews). There is also a number of effects which aren't realisticly going to be used for any reason other than to create whale noises. The GT-8 also includes COSM amp modelling instead of the analogue overdrive and distortion pedals which Boss are famous for (which were available in the older models of BOSS GT). Personally I would rather have a DS-2 or OD-2 going into my guitar amp than a COSM model, not that COSM modelling is bad. I am sure the GT-8 is a great pedal but it certainly isn't the ultimate one. It is probably the best all inclusive floorboard in it's price range, that I know of.

But the bands are going to be paid anyway and some venues will charge for entry whether or not a promoter is used. This dosen't prove to me why promoters are used. What's the deal with musician union rates? I know some people down south who try to claim Musician Union rates from doing gigs in a covers band but I don't know how sucessfull they are.

Personally, I would save your money until you know exactly what sound you want. Each amp gives you a differnet sound and if you have a specific sound in your head that you after, there is certain gear available to give you that sound. Faililng that, maybe try for ENGL screamer 50 combo from ebay. Or a peavey classic 30 although that is a less 'hardcore' amp.

I notice that most Aberdeen music venues hosting bands who play original material use promoters rather than booking bands themselves or through agencies. What is the benefit for the venue in this? Is it mainly out of convenience i.e not having to distribute posters themselves?

Boss GT-8 is good but is a toy in comparison to the TC electronics G system. The G-system is 900 so you woudln't expect anything else less for the price. The TC electronics G major's (cut down rack unit) are going for a lot less now that the G-system is avaialble. You get a G minor to control it with but if you want to do more complex control functions you may want to another floor unit. What exactly do you want your effects board to do and how much money are you willing to spend? Why does the idea of a multi effects floor board appeal to you also? Personally, if I was going to go for a relatively small system. I would get a high quality combo amp which sounds good on it's own then add a high quality effects unit such as a TC electronics or Lexicon unit at a later date.

I apologise for failing to see the existing topic. I think I am going to just spend time doing these things myself.

Depends though, fairly random Often about 4-6 pints of beer or ales. then a couple of single malts (straight) and some random other drinks on a night out. That is too much though and I am going to cut down to get rid of my beer belly and prevent so many embaressing moments. Usually only go out once a week. I also seemed to mysteriously get drunk really easily, two weekends running. Not sure why that was. Every so often I mysteriously run out of money and only drink about 2 pints also.

I am an owner of a 7 string floyd rose Ibanez. I have spent some time trying to set it up. I have decided it really isn't worth the time that I could be spending practicing. I set up my 6 string strat-style bridge Ibanez, no-problem but the floyd rose needs constant re-adjustment when adjusting intonation and such as the bridge angle changes. Then when the springs set, it changes slightly again. Causing a nightmare scenario. I am wondering what is available in terms of guitar setup in Aberdeen. I put my old guitar into Rn'B it is really simple to setup, they charged me something like 60, if I remember correctly and it wasn't even done exceptionally. I also realise now it was really easy to setup in comparison to other guitars. Is there any indepdent guys in Aberdeen who will charge a good bit less than this and do a good job, setting up intonation is the main job I need done, the rest I can do myself www.Ibanezrules.com is a good guide but the intonation is the part that I really struggle with, i am also slightly sketpcial that my guitar will have the intonation set correctly after removing the bridge and adjusting all the saddles as shown on the site. I picture myself still spending hours after doing that to get it all in set correctly. Has anyone else followed that part of the guide and found they only needed minor adjusments afterwards?

I have experience with much spoken word in a church as a sound engineer. What we did is, cut the bass greatly. The bass bins will otherwise make the speech sound muffled. You may also find cutting somewhere in the upper mid band is a good idea. To an extent it depends what equipment you have available, what mic is being used, who is using it and what system it is being played though.

Newscorp is Rupert Murdoch's company. Myspace accounts for over 10% of all internet advertising, there is no way Bebo is as popular. That is probably a large reason why Murdoch bought myspace.

I think it might be too late to make it worth saying this. Soundian more or less said it. A 4 track tape recorder, uses both sides of the tape at once. You can only play it in other 4 track tape recorders sucessfully. If you want to play it on another device, you will have to hook it up to another device and record it to another tape or computer.