the easiest way would be to set a chainsaw on the bass, once vertically and once horizontally and you’re done. The result fits a regular tennis bag but is, unfortunatelly, irreversible. What you made fit in the sports bag will never again sound warm, rich and low.
Charlie Chadwick found a better way and it took him 4 years to develop it to (near, IMHO) perfection. I guess most of this time was spend on making the individual pieces stick together and sound like a double bass again.
I was randomly browsing local news today when I came across this article about an old violin. The violin was crafted by J.B. Guadagnini in Milan in 1750. A singaporean violinist has the chance to play it until May 2011 – the instrument is a loan and worth US$430,000. If you are interested in the full story go here.
Having seen this price tag one question came to my mind: how much is the most expensive bass I can find?
Funny that the most expensive bass I found on the internet directed me to Germany, to Jens Ritter. There are no price tags on his website, but I found a few price ranges on the net. The Ritter Royal Flora Aurum for example is available for about $100.000 (US$).
Let me list a few of the features:
I remember when I installed Reason, the virtual studio rack from swedish company Propellerhead, for the first time. It was in 2000 or 2001 I think. I was thrilled by the concept and the thinking behind the software and I loved pushing the tab button on my keyboard to turn around the effect rack and the see the patch cables gently swing. But I was also dissapointed when I did not discover any capabilities for recording audio tracks beyond short snippets for the samplers.
In my dreams I saw the missing link between Reason and my perfect music suite.
Now my dream seems to come true! The first stage of materialization comes in form of a beta version. I hope to be able to put my hands on it soon.
I attended the Cubase 5 launch event somewhere in the SMU building here in Singapore, last weekend, Saturday. I mean, I really was not expecting a mega happening with paparazzi and rainbow press and so on. But I was a little surprised about how cozy this was. I think I spotted around 80 others besides me in a mini auditorium on the 4th floor.
The first 45 minutes or so (I arrived a bit belated) was all about giving awards and decorations to distributors, dealers and partners which actually revealed that among those estimated 80-something attendees at least 20 – maybe 30 – where not end users like me.
There was this guy; I think his name was Ivan. He did the first part of the product presentations and I guess he was Australian telling from his comments. He used many audio examples from the movie ‘Kung Fu Panda’ which was one of his last big projects (I hope I got this right).
Boy! He really knew the product in and out! Not an employee to Steinberg or Yamaha (which now owns Steinberg), but a freelancer and top expert.
After the break with poor catering a Steinberg support engineer took the stage, well I should rather say he took the table. And then the show began! It started with a music project that simply wouldn’t load. The 8 to 10 minutes felt like ages! And then the notebook denied any further interaction with hardware, software or human --> reboot!
Meanwhile Ivan stood up and asked for questions. I asked if Steinberg is sticking to the dongle protection or if end users like me (and the few others) could finally enjoy a new, more modern, method of copy protection. The answer was, in something I think to have identified as an Aussie accent, a ‘no’ followed by the advice to pore it in concrete so I don’t lose it otherwise your screwed. Thanks Ivan!
A few more questions from dealers about Edu-versions and stuff and the notebook was up and running again. Cubase and the project loaded smoothly. What then happened was a Déjà-vu of 1000 times before. But instead of me I see this professional from Steinberg talking half to himself and half to the spectators: “why can’t I hear anything?”. A live ‘demonstration’ of all possible drop down menus followed. Then again a click on the play button: “Man, nothing is coming out, but everything is fine!” (Exactly what I use to say). “It worked fine yesterday in Malaysia” (I also say that a lot) ? I was thinking “Ivan, where are you?”
I decided to leave the event and took a CD on my way out. No, no demo version or trial (dissapointed!). The most interesting document on that CD, “What’s New on Cubase5”, is now on my Skydrive
My days with Rhythm Asia are over. Although I would love to continue playing music with that bunch the goals that they, as a band, are seeking is something I will not be able to support. And therefore it is not fair to continue and steal their precious rehearsal time. Their aim is to perform 3 to 4 times a week in hotels. Sad that the music market in Singapore is too small to support acts with original compositions.
I don’t have the pressure to have to earn money with music (which clearly classifies my as non-professional musician) so I will visit S.O.F.T. more often now. Mainly the category “RobTheMob is looking for 1 or 2 guitarists with voice to perform his stuff – which is being written as we speak” will be browsed intensively. Well, I will have to search for that category first. May take a while.
I love this clip! I don’t know how many time I have viewed this. May not be the most spectacular solo of Victor Wooten ( I was lucky to see him together with Marcus Miller and Stanley Clarke performing as SMV at The Esplanade in Singapore ) but …ah! just watch it and you’ll understand.
I havn't cleaned any of my bass guitar since I arrived here in Singapore in 2006. To be honest, I have no clue when I did that for the last time.
When I first removed the strings I saw the marks of the last few years. Since about one and half years I play (almost) daily. Most of the times I grab my MusicMan StingRay then some other times I play my Fender Jazz. The rosewood neck of the Fender hides the disgusting filthiness accumulated on the neck. The maplewood neck of the StingRay reveals it all, shamelessly!
Before and after
long way to go.
Nelly did take care of his Palomar (only the body) what he loved. Actually I must thank him since it was him breaking his E-string that made me decide to go for a "all or nothing" and clean and restring 2 basses and one guitar.
Nelly git-tech
About 60 frets later everything looked shiny and I now just had to wait for the all natural almond oil to dry overnight.
WAIT! What about my Ibanez Roadstar II Series (RB850 from 1985) that I have in the office? Well, I guess I'm not done yet...
...maybe. I have decided to put my own hands on my StingRay, but this time not for playing the instrument but fixing it, clean it, adjust it, set it up, restring it.
As I said a few days ago here in this blog the last time tried to acomplish this by myself lead to a complete f**k up of my bass and the repair store had more work to do (and I had a higher bill to pay).
After browsing the net for advise I found a pretty good Electric Bass Guitar Setup Guide on TuneMyBass.com
Reinforced by this support I will give it a try in the next few days. Stay tuned!
Technorati Tags: bass,bass setup,StingRay,Musicman,Roberto,RobTheMob
Last weekend I had the chance to play 2 really nice basses. In fact I'm looking for a 5-stringer so I was automatically attracted by this sweet pair in the window of a music shop in the Bras Basah Complex (forgot the name, again) (it's not the big one ;-).
Unfortunately it was so loud in the shop that I could not test properly but they sure felt good in my hands.
I know basses that "sing" but these two talked to me very clearly: "buy me, buy me!". Conflict!
You can see the specs here on the Fender.com webpage. Marcus Miller V5 5-String Bass. Victor Bailey Jazz Bass V.
What a nice week I had. Toxxi the bass player of the powerful punk'n roll band from Munich was in Singapore for a week. I was lucky enough to meet him a few times during his stay here and share a few beers (preferred Guinness draught) while interviewing him.I will not reproduce any of the interviews here due to the delicate topics we discussed and the special language that was used to visualize certain things, sorry. ;-)
Official Logo
Homepage: http://www.sexshop-home.com/main.htm
Spörm, Phil & Toxxi
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/sexshopmusic
"As a bass player, I think of myself as a colchon (a pillow) – always there, supporting everything that is happening, always there for the soloists to fall back on,"
"I never stopped playing, because it's important to keep my fingers supple,"
"I remember once I was playing with the orchestra and I had to appear on the country music TV programme 'Palmas y Cañas (Palms and Sugar Cane). So as soon as the orchestra was finished I jumped in a taxi with my bass in my D.J. and before I knew it I was playing on the set. The orchestra had a visiting conductor from abroad and as chance would have it, he happened to see the programme and the next day at rehearsal he said to me, Was that you I saw playing yesterday evening on the TV? and I said Yes. And he was astounded, and kept asking me, How can you play such different styles? And I told him, I always have!"
"When I played with Orchestra Riverside I had to follow the style of the pianist. Cuban music is very syncopated and he played wild, unexpected, dissonant chords which we call moña. In a sense music making is all listening and watching."
" It's a matter of not leading or going ahead and yet responding immediately to all changes however small. On the one hand the bass line gives everything cohesion and makes it all work, so you maintain the bass line like a time line; on the other you respond to the inspiration of whoever has the melody which depends very much on their personal style. With Rubén I can see it from the way his hands move and sometimes he gives me a look or a move of the head. When he is really moving he likes a lot of bass so you get this bass-piano dynamic. With Omara there's lots of fílin: she gives me a phrase, I respond and she gets inspired against that. She plays a lot with rhythm, one minute she moves slightly behind then in front, moving around my line. With Ibrahim it is different again."
Cuban bassist Orlando “Cachaito” Lopez died Monday, February 9, 2009 in a Havana hospital.
I'm happy with my current practice environment. It's compact, it's flexible by all means and it sounds very good!
It consists of 5 components:
1) Roland MiniCube Bass RX (bass Amp)
2) Boss GT-10b (effect processor)
3) Roland RC-20 (looper)
4) AKG 271 (Headtphones)
5) Zune (MP3 player)
This is the right set of tools I need when I have to learn cover songs (Zune/Amp) or when I compose my own tunes (MiniCube/RC-20) or when I just want to fool around with crazy sounds and rhythms (GT-10b/RC-20).
The GT-10b also has a built-in looper but with only 1 non-permanent bank of max 38 seconds it is ok if you want to check some effects like delay or long reverbs or to work on voicings. But when composing and arranging I feel better having 11 banks and over 5 minutes at my disposition which is what the old RC-20 has to offer. More details soon...
Headphones, Zune & amp
2 loopers
Father: Big black MusicMan StingRay.
Son: Small sparkling red Palomar.
Just trying to make it easier to the yunger members of the family to 'touch' music. At the moment it is looking more like this
I bet Iggy Pop looked like this in his early days ;-)
I'm not a fan of Multi-Effect Processors. I prefer single pedals, specially those from EBS! But for my current job with "Rhythm Asia" this big floorboard from BOSS offers the flexibility I need.
The possibilities are ad infinitum! Check the manual if you want to know more (or all).
So far it sounds very good but I haven't tested it live which will prove how good this thing really is.
Motown may be the most famous label on this planet. Although it's known for its past, long gone, it's good to know that it's still there after 50 years! Congratulations!
Read here a short summary of the history of Motown Records. You should know all the names quoted there. If you do, yes, you are old! (I know them all...)
Bass: I can't think of any other record label that influenced bass playing styles so much and yet owes so many world hits to groovy and funky bass lines. I'm sure many of them will be featured in Motowns' "M50" podcast series.
I got myself a Roland MicroCube Bass RX. A mini bass amp if you want.
'Wow' is the only thing I can say. I'm really impressed what this small little cube produces and the richness of features (Chorus, Phaser, Delay, Reverb, Octaver, 6 amp simulations, compressor, tuner and a beat box).
To be clear: You will not 'survive' with the MicroCube in a real session or with a drummer. But for a spontaneous impro or office jam (yes, this happens more often than you may think) this is prefect. The best use for me though is as a practice amp. The features may not be world class but good enough to be fun and make you play longer than you would without it.
there are 3 reasons why you should start a blog: your are passionate about something, your are a subject matter expert, others will care about what you have to say.
In my case:
The subject matter expert: I would rather say that I'm still in "learning mode". Since 30 years! So maybe not an expert but for sure a lot of experience.
Others will care: Not being native English speaking makes it a little bit more difficult. Some posts I make may be unintentionally funny (and I won't even notice) others will be simply wrong (although absolute correct in my mind). Bear with me.
There are people, musicians, mainly in Europe that are interested it the music scene here in Singapore. And there are people, musicians, in Singapore interested on how I, vicarious for others, perceive the local music space.
Passionate: This one is easy. Playing bass, writing, composing and arranging music, performing live and in recording studios, jammin' sessions and checking out music stores is a basic need to me. Full stop. The only thing that comes close to this level of passion is my love for a good espresso!
But hey! I don't have to justify anything here. This is the Internet, this is my blog, I can do what I want
:-)
Cheers
RobTheMob
me and my '83 Fender Jazz
