Messages

126

Living Room / Re: Recommend some music videos to me!

« on: January 21, 2015, 07:23 AM »

The original take of I'm Losing You by John Lennon, featuring Rick Nielsen and Bun E Carlos from Cheap Trick on guitar and drums and Tony Levin on bass.

127

Living Room / Re: ideas that will change society

« on: January 15, 2015, 06:32 PM »

Idea:  Invent a cell-phone-signal-blocker for a sunvisor or dashboard.  Maybe with a 10 yard radius.

This could save some lives, help prevent some road-rage and make people pull off the road to talk.   

-crabby3 (January 15, 2015, 09:52 AM)

You're talking about a jammer. They exist, but are usually illegal.

As an alternative, I suppose that cars could be manufactured as Faraday cars.

-Renegade (January 15, 2015, 05:39 PM)

Only if you can convince the FCC it's designed for some other purpose, which pretty much means you can't advertise it as a feature.

I seem to recall some movie theater owners trying to get the FCC to let them put Faraday cages in several years back. That worked out about the way you'd expect considering there are almost always wireless carrier insiders on the commission.

128

Living Room / Re: ideas that will change society

« on: January 13, 2015, 08:23 PM »

No such thing. Ideas are a dime a dozen. Implementation is what changes the world.

129

Living Room / Re: Expanded role for Anonymous - Now more like The Watchman than V?

« on: January 11, 2015, 09:31 PM »

But who watches the watchmen?

-Deozaan (January 11, 2015, 08:37 PM)

I've watched it several times. The director's cut, in particular, is quite good. Not on the same level as the comics, but good nonetheless. 

130

Living Room / Re: What are your favorite movies?

« on: December 19, 2014, 05:26 PM »

I'd add the 1990 psychological thriller Jacob's Ladder to the list.

I'll avoid any discussion to keep the "go in cold" crowd happy.
 (see attachment in previous post)

-40hz (October 24, 2014, 11:13 AM)

Any attempt at explaining it would take longer than watching the movie.

131

General Software Discussion / Re: Some unknown webpage opens itself after starting my PC!

« on: December 17, 2014, 12:21 PM »

Despite your claim to the contrary, if your computer slows down enough to dissuade you from using AV software,  it is not 'decent'. If you are getting infected with easily avoided malware, which appears to have been the case here, your computer is, in fact, inadequate.

132

General Software Discussion / Re: Some unknown webpage opens itself after starting my PC!

« on: December 16, 2014, 07:17 PM »

First off, what Shades said 1000%. System restore first, and clean it only if that doesn't work.

If you do have to clean it, the 2 tools I use almost exclusively have already been mentioned - Malwarebytes and SuperAntiSpyware. However, I'd start with rkill prior to anything else. That will give everything that follows it a better shot of working.

133

Living Room / Re: Movies or films you've seen lately

« on: December 16, 2014, 11:38 AM »

BTW - Am I the only one here who wasn't impressed by Equilibrium?

-40hz (December 14, 2014, 02:11 PM)

I've tried watching it 3 times now, and haven't made more than half an hour in before the IMO entirely paradoxical setting made me turn it off. It's well produced, and skillfully acted, but entirely too silly for me to ignore its major flaws. I'm willing to suspend my disbelief, not hang it by the neck until it's dead.

The other night I watched a movie that's sort of the opposite of that, called Radio Free Albemuth. It's an adaptation of the posthumously published Phillip K Dick book of the same name. I say book, rather than novel, since the story is clearly part pure fiction and part autobiographical stream of consciousness from Dick's famously mentally ill and drug addled mind.

It's an extremely low budget production and, frankly, poorly directed. Despite that, I found it extremely compelling, and not just because it makes Phillip K Dick look like a god damn profit in light of certain aspects of modern society.

Well, except for...

Admittedly, it was a little hard not to giggle every time someone referred to the secret police as fappers.

134

Living Room / Re: 2014-2015: Best tablet specs for ebook reading

« on: December 15, 2014, 11:16 AM »

One interesting factor which most people would never think about, but has a great influence on the experience IMO, is aspect ratio. The iPad's slightly wider aspect ratio is a lot better for reading. When you're dealing with smaller tablets, there are at least 1 or 2  decent Android options with the same size and shape as the iPad Mini. However, I'm not aware of any larger tablets comparable to the regular iPad.

It creates quite a dilemma for someone like me who won't even consider buying an iPad, but there's no doubt in my mind that the size and shape combination of the iPad is as close to ideal for reading, including web pages, as there is on the market.

135

Living Room / Re: Do we have any musical people on DC?

« on: December 14, 2014, 03:07 PM »

^ That shop looks handy just for the cigar boxes.

136

Living Room / Re: Decibels, loudness, amplifiers, formulas...complete confusion!

« on: December 10, 2014, 03:07 PM »

Given the information provided, it was a theoretical question.

That's not a criticism, but merely an explanation of the type of answers you got.

137

Living Room / Re: Decibels, loudness, amplifiers, formulas...complete confusion!

« on: December 10, 2014, 11:16 AM »

There is no universal conversion/transfer factor between electrical power and physical power (ie air movement) for speakers. In fact, just to add to what 40hz mentioned about bass cabinets, another common problem people have is understanding, at some point, any additional power may just be dissipated as heat instead of being converted to motion. For example, a cab may be capable of handling 400W or more of constant input, but will typically stop getting louder somewhere around 200W-300W.

I'm not saying that's going to be an issue very often for headphones, just that there are numerous physical issues which act as something of a brick wall for volume,even long before you come close to their electrical limits.

138

Living Room / Re: Decibels, loudness, amplifiers, formulas...complete confusion!

« on: December 09, 2014, 07:44 PM »

I recently decided to download replacements for my trashed Jesus Christ Superstar CDs (Ian Gillan as Jesus FTW) and ended up finding torrents of 2 different versions. The first was from the same release I bought back in the 90s. The other was released within the last 3-4 years. I downloaded both, just to see if the new one had severe dynamic compression like I expected.

Not surprisingly, it did, and if you're at all familiar with the material,  you won't be the slightest bit surprised to know it sounded horrific. I wish I had saved a screenshot of the waveform comparison to demonstrate it. Of course, I deleted it afterward so I can't repeat it.

139

Living Room / Re: Do we have any musical people on DC?

« on: December 09, 2014, 01:13 PM »

Unfortunately even when it comes to harmonies I'm mostly faking it when I play, but then again I also share your hangup when it comes to my playing. If my tone suffers or, even worse, if I lose the groove, I don't feel like anything my vocals could add would make up for it. As a recent suggestion for a bass player's t-shirt went, 'They're listening to you but they're dancing to me'.

Ironically, if I keep things ultra simple, like nothing but roots simple, I can hold the groove pretty well (on a few songs anyway) and still sing better than most. The problem is, knowing my own capabilities, I can never sing up to my own standards.

I could never play as well as I can sing, but I would never get on stage if I wasn't playing. Besides, there's just more value in being a serious bassist. At the end of the day, it's a no-brainer which one I should focus on.

Personally, I think we butchered it every time . Partly it was how bad I thought my oversimplified bassline sounded, and partly it was just the fact it's just hard to pull off with a 3 piece. It always went over well, though, which is ultimately the only thing that really matters.

-Vurbal (December 09, 2014, 09:36 AM)

Absolutely! That is the attitude of a professional performance musician regardless of the level of musicianship displayed. It's not just about us and what we think. What the audience expects (and gets) is the other part of the equation.

 

-40hz (December 09, 2014, 12:56 PM)

Yep, if you want an audience - and once you've had one it's just too addictive for most of us to give up - you had better learn to understand how to make them happy.

140

Living Room / Re: Do we have any musical people on DC?

« on: December 09, 2014, 09:36 AM »

It also makes it difficult, depending on the music even impossible, for me to sing and play at the same time.

-Vurbal (December 09, 2014, 07:39 AM)

FWIW that is a very common situation with many, if not most, bass players. Bass players that can simultaneously sing acceptably while holding down a bassline seem to be the exception rather than the rule. Possibly too many brain centers engaged for most people (or at least bassists)  to handle at the same time.

Don't know if you've run into this as often as I have - but one of the first questions I usually got asked when auditioning as a bass player was: "Do you sing?" And if I answered in the affirmative, the very next question was: "At the same time?" Which I think nicely illustrates (a) playing bass while singing is not all that common; and (b) you can never have enough vocal talent in your band.

I do remember seeing (long time ago) an early draft study about something like "split roles" in musical performance that was trying to find what (if any) neurological basis there was for some musicians being able to handle multiple roles (instrumentalist/vocalist) in a musical context. I don't know if it was ever completed. Or if it was, and came to no conclusion. I tried a search but I can't seem to find anything. Maybe I just half remembered it from a conversation I had with one of my GF's cohorts when she was getting her Masters in experimental congnitive psych...

-40hz (December 09, 2014, 08:07 AM)

In my case it's a little more extreme than usual. I have almost no capacity for task switching, which essentially means I have to learn the vocals and bassline for a song as one single part, where some people can learn to simply (note that I call it simple rather than easy) switch from one to the other.

Ironically, if I could do that it would solve my problem of being able to be a front man. It's amazing the distance simply playing an instrument puts between me and the audience.

On an unrelated note, there's a funny story about the one song I used to sing lead on. When I started playing professionally, my new bandmates sat down with me and taught me about 30 simple 3 chord songs over the course of 2 days. They talked about playing Taking Care Of Business, but didn't know all the lyrics. I mentioned that I knew them, thinking I could be helpful and write them down, at which point they decided that should be the first song I would sing.

Fast forward a couple months. I've never even thought about singing anything besides backup vocals and although we all know Taking Care Of Business, we've never worked on it together. We have been playing 4 sets a night, 5 nights a week in a little out of the way hotel bar - usually to so few people it was more of an extended rehearsal.

One night a bunch of nursing students come in after final exams. After they've been drinking an hour or so, we're going on break and one of them catches up to me and asks if we play Taking Care Of Business. Without really even thinking about it, I told her yes, and from that night on I did.

Personally, I think we butchered it every time . Partly it was how bad I thought my oversimplified bassline sounded, and partly it was just the fact it's just hard to pull off with a 3 piece. It always went over well, though, which is ultimately the only thing that really matters.

141

Living Room / Re: Do we have any musical people on DC?

« on: December 09, 2014, 07:39 AM »

but they can be developed.

-wraith808 (December 03, 2014, 02:47 PM)

If they're there to begin with. That is something, unlike a musical instrument, that can't be bought. Some vocal abilities can't even be developed. It's there or it's not. And no amount of hard work or sincere effort will get it for you.

I sing too. I'm not bad. Three years with a university chorale that ran the gamut from Gregorian chant to Cole Porter taught me a lot about performance and various vocal technique. It made me a vastly better singer than I was before. But I would never consider myself a vocalist first and foremost.

I suspect (no proof to offer on this btw) that probably something like 70% of all people could be taught to sing adequately, with a higher percentage of them being women rather than men. But that's not the same thing as considering them 'singers', any more than being able to accompany yourself on a guitar in a workmanlike manner automatically earns you the title of 'guitarist.'

There's that difference between talent and skill; and craft and art. Difficult, if not impossible, to define. But oh so obvious to almost anyone when they encounter it.

That's what I mean by a gift. Superb singers are gifted rather than merely talented.

(Does any of the above even make sense, I wonder? )

-40hz (December 03, 2014, 03:11 PM)

I keep meaning to get back to this, because I do agree, at least where it concerns the great ones. I would add one caveat, that a great voice alone can't make you a great singer any more than dexterity makes you a great drummer.

Ironically, I'm something of an anomaly, in the sense that I have both the gift and the ear, not to mention the good fortune to have received some first class training in my youth,  but my Asperger's Syndrome,  which actually adds to my music, makes it impossible for me to be a front man. It also makes it difficult, depending on the music even impossible, for me to sing and play at the same time.

However, on the subject of great singers, I can think of one in particular who illustrates your point perfectly, and that's Corey Glover of Living Colour. Given that every other member of the band could arguably be among the best in the world on his chosen instrument, it would be easy to dismiss Glover as less important,but that would be a huge mistake.

As impressive as it is for the rest of the band to smoothly move between playing R&B to heavy metal to hardcore to hip hop, they still have one huge advantage compared to him. He doesn't get to change instruments when he needs a different sound. What he was born with is what he's got.  Arguably, it's even more than that since singing, even the most beautiful singing, actually damages your vocal chords. The fact he sounds amazing singing stuff influenced by, or even flat out copied from, Marvin Gaye, Al Green, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Bad Brains, Neil Young, and any number of other acts, is at least as impressive as anything you could say about the rest of the band.

TL; DR:
Mostly I disagree, but for the truly great ones you're absolutely right.

142

Living Room / Re: Do we have any musical people on DC?

« on: December 08, 2014, 01:45 PM »

I've heard numerous stories about an old guy - think the stereotypical uneducated blues man - who used to go to open mic nights at the local blues club with a plastic kazoo. He would apparently blow the doors off the place.

143

Living Room / Re: Do we have any musical people on DC?

« on: December 04, 2014, 05:40 PM »

Yay! The 5 pack of replacement fuses for my amp came a day early - and with an extra 5 fuses.

Sorry, I'll let you get back to discussing awesome female vocalists.  Oh yeah, and while we're on the subject, let's not forget the late, great Sandy Denny.

144

Living Room / Re: Do we have any musical people on DC?

« on: December 03, 2014, 02:58 PM »

Just for clarity's sake, I don't think most vocalists are all that special, in fact I have a better voice and more skill than most. Ann Wilson is in an entirely different league. She could just as easily been the world's greatest operatic soprano. Even beyond her voice, her skill is second to none, but that voice by itself would put her almost in a class of her own.

145

Living Room / Re: Do we have any musical people on DC?

« on: December 03, 2014, 12:40 PM »

Honestly, that wasn't even the biggest problem in his band. His guitarist was a wannabe late 80s hair metal god with as bad a case of LGD (lead guitarist's disease) as I've ever seen.

-Vurbal (December 03, 2014, 11:28 AM)

+1! Right up there with Roger Fisher in Heart's original lineup.

-40hz (December 03, 2014, 12:06 PM)

Isn't that the truth.  Here's a tip for any aspiring rock stars. If you you have a vocalist anywhere near the ability of Ann Wilson in your band, she will always be your primary focus,  and don't ever forget how lucky you are to have her. Journeyman lead guitarists are a dime a dozen.

146

Living Room / Re: Do we have any musical people on DC?

« on: December 03, 2014, 11:28 AM »

I suspect it was an economic thing - he was touring with Dr. Hook and playing small clubs in the middle of nowhere. I also suspect it had something to do with his love of synthesizers as well.  You can hear that all the way back to They Only Come Out At Night.

Honestly, that wasn't even the biggest problem in his band. His guitarist was a wannabe late 80s hair metal god with as bad a case of LGD (lead guitarist's disease) as I've ever seen. He pulled his head out of his backside during Frankenstein and the one White Trash song they played, but otherwise he was just off on his own all night.

I'd like to think a decent bassist could have helped, but LGD is often incurable in my experience. In any case, I'm not sure Edgar cared that much at the time. At least I didn't pay much to see him, and honestly Dr. Hook was a lot better than I would ever have guessed.

147

Living Room / Re: Do we have any musical people on DC?

« on: December 03, 2014, 07:36 AM »

As much as people who can create music that way impress me - and don't try telling me they aren't musicians if you want me to take you seriously - in the the wrong hands, technology can be extremely frustrating. Back in about 1999 I went to see Edgar Winter in a small club. In fact, I was there with another bassist. Needless to say, we were both disappointed to find out all the bass lines were sequenced.

We were also shocked at how few people showed up to see him. Winter was there on a double bill with Dr. Hook, who went on first. After Dr. Hook finished, a couple hundred people got up and left. Only about 10 of us stayed to watch Edgar Winter.

Not surprisingly, it wasn't a great show,  but I got to see his brother a few months later - in about the same size club - and it was as good a show as I've ever seen.

148

Living Room / Re: Do we have any musical people on DC?

« on: December 01, 2014, 11:42 PM »

He might go for the child board. At the least he'd want in on it if we set it up elsewhere.

Maybe what we need is to show up at his place with our instruments and tell him to get out his guitar. So who plays drums? And who's driving? 

149

Living Room / Re: Do we have any musical people on DC?

« on: December 01, 2014, 10:08 PM »

That should help greatly with my technique - especially since I'm not using a pick like I did the first time around.

-Vurbal (December 01, 2014, 09:24 PM)

Nothing wrong with a pick IMO. Just one more arrow in the quiver. I'm a finger player myself. But if you ever play a large venue - or a big outdoor gig - you'll sometimes need to sacrifice that "feel" for the extra definition a pick provides. At least if you want the "pulse" to be heard and felt instead of just blasting out a low amorphous roar.

Check out bassist Scott Devine's website and YouTube channel. He's got some really good bass-oriented instructional videos. Really nice guy. And a talented and dedicated musician. I always find something interesting and worthwhile there. I suggest you subscribe to (at least) his freebie lessons. I was lucky enough to have my GF buy me a subscription to his bass academy as a birthday present last year. I got a huge amount out of it despite having played a bass for most of my life. (If I have any advantage in music, it's my unshakable belief there's always something new I can learn or try to master.)

Disclaimer: I'm not affiliated with Scott Devine in any way, shape, or form. I just really like what he's doing for bass players.

-40hz (December 01, 2014, 09:45 PM)

I've got nothing against using a pick, but it turns out I'm a lot better with my fingers. In fact, it turns out I just sort of naturally worked out a variation of the floating thumb muting technique Scott covers in one of his videos. Billy Sheehan also has some excellent instructional videos for bassists at just about any skill level.

The way I see it, though, there's no substitute for having a good teacher to analyze and critique my technique. One of the many things I'm doing differently this time around is focusing on technique before all else. If you get that down first, everything else will come in time. Technically you can also save it for last, but that takes so much longer - as I learned the hard way in my youth.

That's also something of a benefit to dealing with the narrower nut width for now. It makes me work that much harder at precision fretting - pun only slightly intended.

150

Living Room / Re: Do we have any musical people on DC?

« on: December 01, 2014, 09:24 PM »

Ah me...the things we do for love!

-40hz (December 01, 2014, 08:43 PM)

Ain't that the truth! Actually, a friend of mine, who also gave up playing bass professionally (long before we met) pointed out something when he found out I decided to start playing again.  He said even though he occasionally thinks about playing again just for kicks, he has no regrets about quitting because he doesn't need to play. But I do, and he knew that long before I decided to pick it up again.

And now it looks like I have a teacher to take lessons a couple times a month. That should help greatly with my technique - especially since I'm not using a pick like I did the first time around. Even better, I just found out tonight that I'll have a regular Wednesday night jam session to sit in on with some friends of a friend. They came over and played with me a couple weeks back and were so happy to find a real bassist they invited me to sit in.

The best part is, the drummer, who hosts it, is a bachelor whose house is basically set up to play music and games. He even has a decent little bass amp so I won't have to haul mine with me. Good thing too since I just blew the mains fuse and won't have the replacement until Friday. My cab just doesn't sound the same powered by my ancient POS 20 Watt Crate practice amp.