what's YOUR band up to?

[Mr. Foxen]

I've noticed a lot of bands in recent years with the 'kvlt' sound live, sometimes it's to the extent that I have to go outside and come back in after they are done playing. Or maybe I'll check back after a couple songs to see if things have improved and are a bit less kvlt sounding.

Seems to be given the internet as a limitless resource for information, shit tons of 'musicians' prefer to use it to find excuses to sound like shit instead of finding how to sound good. There are loads of 'why your audience doesn't care about tone' articles going on about how they can't tell the difference. Pisses me off because 1: its not their job to care, its the musician's, and 2: assuming your audience is stupid is shitty.

[liquidsmoke]

I've noticed a lot of bands in recent years with the 'kvlt' sound live, sometimes it's to the extent that I have to go outside and come back in after they are done playing. Or maybe I'll check back after a couple songs to see if things have improved and are a bit less kvlt sounding.

Seems to be given the internet as a limitless resource for information, shit tons of 'musicians' prefer to use it to find excuses to sound like shit instead of finding how to sound good. There are loads of 'why your audience doesn't care about tone' articles going on about how they can't tell the difference. Pisses me off because 1: its not their job to care, its the musician's, and 2: assuming your audience is stupid is shitty.

You are probably onto something here but I was just talking about bands being out of tune and not knowing it.

[JemDooM]

I find these conversations about tone/intonation etc a little worrying sometimes,.. in that I really don't know much about gear, tone, guitar set up, strings etc,...when I'm tuning up the dial rarely sits perfectly on the note for more than 2 seconds, iv never known if this is good or bad, I can see that my nut is battered, my guitar is pretty cheap when I can see that pretty much everyone else has something of a really high standard, I use bass gear because that's what I started out with and since then I've never had money to buy guitar amps, I don't keep my tuner onstage and therefor don't check between songs which is potentially bad considering I tune to A, but despite all of this I love how I sound apart from the occasional niggle. But because of all this once in a while I do wonder if there are tone trolls in the audience grumbling to themselves and judging. I guess if that's the case though then fuck it, I'm not going to become an expert, have better gear or change my ways overnight 'just incase' a few people don't like it, I'm only doing it for myself anyway...

Btw what's going on with jibbs?

[JemDooM]

For the record Im extremely fussy about my tone and will get really pissed off over it especially if I have to use other people's gear, and if I thought for a second I was out of tune Id get it sorted straight away, but again, these kinds of conversations do leave me wondering...

I like what Lumpy said though, a pristine tone can be boring, sometimes I think it lacks personality...

[RAGER]

Hey Jem, good to hear from ya!  Just play what makes you happy.  Fuck the rest.

I'm unclear on Jibb.  He may have gotten an extended temporary ban just cuz his user name isn't blacked out like some of the others I know that got a permaban.

[Danny G]

Weird about Jib. Never had a problem with him and he was/is always cool.

Jem, if you're concerned about your guitar setup, take it to a pro. Setups are cheap, and since you tune low/use heavy strings your guitar could probably use some adjustments.

And even better, if you can sit there and watch /have tech explain what is being done and why.

[JemDooM]

Hey Rager yeah Jibbs, hope to see him back soon...

Danny I do have a guy iv been to a couple of times in the past, I should see him soon about getting the nut replaced, it's just money, always so broke! One of my strings doesn't play as nicely as the rest which I think is the nut as I said it's rather old and crumbled looking, or possibly a fret..

[liquidsmoke]

I find these conversations about tone/intonation etc a little worrying sometimes,.. in that I really don't know much about gear, tone, guitar set up, strings etc,...when I'm tuning up the dial rarely sits perfectly on the note for more than 2 seconds, iv never known if this is good or bad, I can see that my nut is battered, my guitar is pretty cheap when I can see that pretty much everyone else has something of a really high standard, I use bass gear because that's what I started out with and since then I've never had money to buy guitar amps, I don't keep my tuner onstage and therefor don't check between songs which is potentially bad considering I tune to A, but despite all of this I love how I sound apart from the occasional niggle. But because of all this once in a while I do wonder if there are tone trolls in the audience grumbling to themselves and judging. I guess if that's the case though then fuck it, I'm not going to become an expert, have better gear or change my ways overnight 'just incase' a few people don't like it, I'm only doing it for myself anyway...

Most players realize when they are out tune so you are probably fine. Having a tuner onstage and checking in with it once in awhile is a good idea though. I'm a hack at guitar so I try to make sure I'm at least in tune, helps me and the band sound better.

[mortlock]

 

[JemDooM]

Liking the new look mort it suits you

[Hagard]

Had a crappy weekend were we failed to meet up with a friend from Japan, the Guitarist from Leogun tried to Sell us his guitar and I witnessed the full extent of the cultural death of Central London.

So we did the only sensible thing and went home and listen to Dead period Mayhem.

[Danny G]

Trying to book an Ocean of Stars rehearsal for mid-week.

Been busy with other projects and an RPM Challenge album that I keep forgetting we have a gig in two weeks (March 5) which still also needs a third band for the bill, and SXSW is right on the heels of that.

We still need to press our EP and get a proper website by SXSW, and that costs money :/

[Danny G]

Rehearsal last week wasn't too shabby considering we haven't played in a month and I haven't touched the music either.

But I was curious to see how I played, as I had been playing guitar consistently in the interim.

I was rusty on pedal switching and some of the musical parts but my leads and playing in general felt pretty effortless. Awesome.

Final rehearsal tomorrow for gig Thursday night, we'll run each song twice in a row then run the set if time permits.

One OoS gig booked for SXSW, looking in to another.

I don't know if we'll be able to squeeze a rehearsal in, but considering how decent we still sounded after a month I'm not as concerned

[rayinreverse]

We just released our third record.
We are playing tonight in SLC with In the Company of Serpents. We are also going to Boise ID tomorrow to play with them as well.

https://topdeadcelebrity.bandcamp.com/

[Danny G]

Good Ocean of Stars rehearsal on Wednesday. Rather than running the set as a whole we played each song twice. Helped immensely for the show last night.

Thin turnout as it was pretty fucking cold (for Central Texas in March), and playing to a near-empty house can either be demoralizing... or not.

We chose the latter and powered through. Turned out to be a really fun set, we sounded great and the few people there were pretty blown away. Midway thru the 3rd song I could feel us really hitting the groove and we kept it going rest of the set.

[JemDooM]

Practising our set for the upcoming tour and Roadburn it's coming along nicely but I have that 'new song' itch where I'm all picky and frustrated that it's coming along ok, the difference that tempo can make to how a riff sounds is colossal, milliseconds too fast or too slow can transform it one way or another, and as usual, the bane of my musical life for the last four years, no matter how many times I remind them to play slower they still forget most of the time, next practise I'm going to have a rant they won't forget

Printing and cutting out tape jcards this weekend, usually takes HOURS!! Love it all though...

[RAGER]

I played drums in this band several years ago and eventually quit.  I went to see them with their new drummer and they started at one tempo and ended up at aboput twice the tempo by the end of the song.  Shit was so fast the songs that I actually wrote or co-wrote were unintelligible to me.  I've quit bands because of that shit so I know how you feel.  There's gonna be a bit of speed up from the live energy but a huge difference is inexcusable.

Just look back at the drummer with death eyes before a problematic song and growl the word "tempo" at him Jem.

[nyarlathotep]

There's always playing to a click, I guess. Some people will use a metronome set to a 'flash' to get the right tempo at the start of songs too - just glance at it and get a feel, then start... I've been thinking about giving that a shot. Nothing like playing the countoff and realizing you started way too fast or too slow.

When I play live (drummer) I've noticed that we play songs faster than we do at rehearsal just out of the gate. What's strange is I never notice until I listen to the recording afterwards.... everything seems normal during the show. Nerves/heartrate maybe?

Speaking of shows, my band is playing a show tomorrow. First time with the new kit so I'm actually glad we're opening - gives me more time to make sure everything is set up right. Had some issues with the kick drum not feeling 'right' during the last week, but then I noticed last night that the clamp screws on the pedal had come undone. Whoops. Fuckin' drum gear.

[black]

For my bandmates and myself, I think it's the adrenalin/excitement factor when we notice playing faster than the song should be.

Hey nyarlathotp, have a great gig, man!

[Danny G]

Yes. Everyone have great gigs! (And don't play too fast   )

A good gesture (that you may have to explain to the drummer first) to reign in the tempo is to move your guitar neck in a sort of setting-the-hook fishing gesture. That means REEL IT IN, ie SLOW THE FUCK DOWN...!

If playing too slow, one thing singers who play instruments can do (while singing) is use one foot to tap onto the ground behind them at the proper tempo, or as an indication to speed up in general. Explain this to your drummer as well if he doesn't know it already.

If your drummer plays with his/her eyes closed, they need to stop that shit IMMEDIATELY.


Giving cues that look like rock moves, as opposed to obvious-to-the-crowd frustrated death stares, is the way to go. Always make it look to the audience that nothing is wrong. Even if the song is threatening to fly apart into molten fragments from wrong tempos.

[nyarlathotep]

Heh, thanks guys. Good advice, Danny. Fortunately not something I have an issue with, since I'm the drummer and I have yet to get a single tempo-stare-of-death. Maybe some day...

[Danny G]

Do you play with your eyes closed? heh

[nyarlathotep]

Not unless the sweat gets in my eyes, which is why I try and always wear a headband or bandana Looks stupid, but if I don't then I basically just drown in sweat.

[Mr. Foxen]

Picked up an acoustic bass coupla weeks ago. Guitarist came round and had a go at an acoustic arrangement of the set. Will totally work, probably because I wrote all the parts unplugged. Means when the record is done, can play acoustic nights and if anyone digs enough to buy a CD, only to later be disgusted by it being horrible droney electric stuff.

[showdown]

Next gig is in 2 weeks, we're playing with Audrey Horne. Should be fun