What I've Been Up To...

_Austin_ · 05-23-2007, 04:34 PM

Hey guys, Havent posted in a while, just lurking.

Anyway, i just thought i'd post and let you guys know what im upto and how things are going.

Firstly, and most importantly; I played a gig the other night that went very well. Me and a band im in all played in black trousers and shirts with farmyard animal masks on for a depressingly small audience.

At the start of the night i started off with a band consisting of 5 guitarists. The idea being that we would have 3 guitarists on stage at one time, 2 taking call and reply turns at soloing and one rhythm.

We dragged out a 12-bar stevie ray vaughn feel groove for about 10mins fiddling with dynamics and overall feel of the groove so no-one got bored or started feeling tedious.

Really my only complaint was my self-concience, I didn't play too well on the accord that the kit was set-up in a stereotypical 80's way. Heavily angled toms and high and extremely angled ride. Along-side a lengthily set-up double bass pedal and a hi-hat that rivaled my own height i wasn't the most comfortable. But i asked if i could move a few things and was swiftly told to be quiet and to 'just play drums.' I wouldn't complain to be honest about the way a kit is set-up but its just very restrictive when you're uncomfortable. I'm sure you can sympathise with me as drummers on this point.

Anyway, After we had played the opening slot, a variety of rock cover bands played their share of the evenings music. Prepubescent singing clashing with wailing classic rock tracks accounted for the next 1+1/2 hours.

I Came back from the downstairs bar having left about a half an hour before the scheduled start of our slot (at the end of the line-up) and the kit had been re-arranged perfectly, i was told it had just been moved because one of the guys wouldnt play without him being able to fiddle with the kit before-hand. Hats off to him, i couldn't do that. So i watched the band before us called 'Merge.' Indie rock styles dont normally strike me as anything interesting generally, but these guys were very tight and all a year younger than us, Even though they were all taller.
Anyway, this band were very together and well rehearsed, something our band lacks a bit. So i was a bit nervous of seeming a bit crap.

Anyway, so we got up at the time for our set and fiddled with amp settings and little things, as you do. and started playing the first song, Testify by Rage. Reason being for choosing this song is because the singer can't sing, but can rap quite well so there you have it. Same for the next song which is New skin by incubus. In this particular song there is a DJ solo as a bridge and we don't know any decent DJ's so we used my theremin and volume pedal to get a similar effect. It sounded sick. Then after that song the guitarist sung for us.

Following that we played Clean by incubus; The ocean by led zeppelin and two of our own tracks.

Afterwards we were invited to play battle of the bands at the same venue, and told by a few of the other bands' parents that they really liked our own material.

I was so stoked having not played a set where we were so locked into the groove and really playing at our best. Having not sounded too great in the practice room and been poorly prepared we did really well IMO.

Before this gig i've not really been taken hugely by playing drums as a career, but after playing such an exciting and adrenaline-pumping gig, im now maybe re-thinking my career choice.

Anyway, Other things that have been happening is that i'm slowly but surely saving up for some pre-amps for my home-studio and mic stands and cables. After that I'l be good to go.

I also doubled my RAM for my imac and now its gliding between programs and surprises me as to how fast and smooth macs are.

Anyone fed up with computers letting you down. GET A MAC, anyone with a mac will agree with me.

Anyway, cheers for reading i just felt like sharing this

All the best guys
-Austin

P.S I'l post up the links to the merge myspace if i can find it if you want to hear them.

And il put some gig pictures up when i get them from my mate
Aaaand, i think theres a DVD of us playing so i might get some snippets if anyones interested, i dont know about sound uality though...

Drum Phil · 05-23-2007, 04:38 PM

Whats up with you kit wise? Didnt you sell your yammies?

_Austin_ · 05-23-2007, 04:45 PM

Ye man, Back to an export, Im buying or should i say putting a deposit down for a new kit in the next 2months at the latest.

Should be something killer as im hoping not to buy another kit after this one for quite some time.

Drum Phil · 05-23-2007, 04:47 PM

Awesome.

Mirror.Circuit · 05-23-2007, 07:17 PM

Sounds good,man.
Amen on the macs.
I love mine.

CasB · 05-24-2007, 01:08 AM

Keep up the good work, and good luck with your home studio

It'll change your life (well, it changed mine

)

Seafroggys · 05-24-2007, 01:22 AM

Yeah I've done pretty well with my home studio. A couple of nice condensor mics + Firestudio equals great results!

Retarded Chipple · 05-24-2007, 05:23 AM

Great stuff man.

Quote:

Before this gig i've not really been taken hugely by playing drums as a career, but after playing such an exciting and adrenaline-pumping gig, im now maybe re-thinking my career choice.

The inevitable question...you gonna perhaps try for DrumTech again?

Quote:

Anyone fed up with computers letting you down. GET A MAC, anyone with a mac will agree with me.

QFFT!!!!! The amount of 1000+ word essays I lost due to Windows shutting down on me half way through writing them was stupid and very frustrating when you've spent like 2 hours working on it. Sure, you should save work as you go along but you shouldn't have to live in fear of your own computer giving up on you!
I was constantly depressed when I had Windows. Enter mac: Now I'm happy all the time! hehe

Also, does your band have a myspace?

Zildjian · 05-24-2007, 07:37 AM

yay another mac user. Mac > PC

What kind of comp you have?

I got a black macbook that I bought a few months ago and it's incredible

the_pure_drummer · 05-24-2007, 08:43 AM

Awsome man!

Things are looking up

_Austin_ · 05-24-2007, 09:53 AM

Its an Imac, With the newish dual core 2.16GHz intel processors.

Those black macbooks look sick.

Our band does have a myspace, myspace.com/shank

Track 1 is being re-recorded, mixed and mastered to album standard over the coming few weeks. So expect something new soon.

Cheers guys,
Austin

_Austin_ · 05-24-2007, 10:01 AM

Dunno about the drumtech thing, i've already decided im going to take a year out maybe go travelling or something, anything beats being cooped up in the shithole that is the midlands, UK

We_Love_Lime · 05-24-2007, 11:45 AM

Hahahh theremin.
Nice man.
You wanna tell me more about how you use that in your songs or something?
That's so cool.

Retarded Chipple · 05-24-2007, 11:55 AM

Haha, your band are pretty awesome! Tis just the sort of thing I wanna do but there's no one around here into that kinda stuff

When you re-record Track 1 that'll be well sick!!!
"Austin" is kinda creepy though haha.

Can I add you? Me = Joe-Stroke-Roll....

_Austin_ · 05-24-2007, 12:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by We_Love_Lime

Hahahh theremin.
Nice man.
You wanna tell me more about how you use that in your songs or something?
That's so cool.

Dude, i sat no pro-tools with my theremin, my volume pedal and my guitarists ME-50 guitar multiple effects pedal and i recorded a 20min epic theremin solo... I'l post it up sometime its some crazy stuff.

Feel free to add us guys

We_Love_Lime · 05-24-2007, 12:06 PM

Dude Nice.
I'mmma do that, but instead of effects pedal, I just got ableton, and a Midi Keyboard, so I'mma control effects, delay, phaser etc by that.
It'll be sick.
But I need to hear tihs, I suck so bad right now at the Theremin

. How good are you?

_Austin_ · 05-24-2007, 12:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Retarded Chipple

Haha, your band are pretty awesome! Tis just the sort of thing I wanna do but there's no one around here into that kinda stuff

When you re-record Track 1 that'll be well sick!!!
"Austin" is kinda creepy though haha.

Can I add you? Me = Joe-Stroke-Roll....

Yer man, i'm so psyched about the re-recording, i did the mixing on track 1. On a bose system it sounds sick.

And that austin track was the bassists doing. He loves me bless him. hahaha

_Austin_ · 05-24-2007, 12:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by We_Love_Lime

Dude Nice.
I'mmma do that, but instead of effects pedal, I just got ableton, and a Midi Keyboard, so I'mma control effects, delay, phaser etc by that.
It'll be sick.
But I need to hear tihs, I suck so bad right now at the Theremin

. How good are you?

Im not bad, i don't practice.

I'l get this solo thingy tomorrow and post it up then. Its nothing special, just pissing around with effects.

At the gig i described earlier the singer did the DJ solo for new skin because i cant play drums and theremin at the same time very well.

Once i get my recording set-up finished any bands im in will be writing loadfs of music right here at my house and come out with some really nice sounding recordings.

Also i can record gigs and other live events so this rig will really open up my horizons.

Maybe a macbook or macbook pro is a good way to go for live recording, hauling a 20" imac is going to be a bit too scary

We_Love_Lime · 05-24-2007, 12:16 PM

I should really start practicing and all as well.
I don't have an amp though.
But theremins are so chill. I don't like them when they're clean and regular sounding as much as I would assume I'd like them with a whole bunch of effects run through them.
What kind of amp do you use?
And I wanna get a macbook

.
But I don't deserve one.

_Austin_ · 05-24-2007, 12:56 PM

Haha yer, i dont think apples like limes

No idea how you practice though, What theremin do you have, put a pic up...

Depends what im using it for. For the gig i used a DI straight into the FOH mixer, Live i'd use a guitar amp, and for studio use i'd DI it aswell...

What do you want to get out of playing theremin,

The reason i bought mine was to have so i can do funky fills. If say during a gig the band dropped out and i played a theremin solo that would kickass. I've got a volume pedal so i can rig it up right next to my bass drum pedal and just put the theremin to the right of my floor tom and maybe a few stomp-boxes for effects.

I'm also buying a hard-synth for my studio so il probably come up with some more weird stuff using that and ther theremin together. Maybe put a tad more structure to it than just messing about.

05-23-2007, 04:34 PM	#1
_Austin_ asmobilerecording.co.uk Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: West midlands, UK Posts: 1,693	What I've Been Up To... Hey guys, Havent posted in a while, just lurking. Anyway, i just thought i'd post and let you guys know what im upto and how things are going. Firstly, and most importantly; I played a gig the other night that went very well. Me and a band im in all played in black trousers and shirts with farmyard animal masks on for a depressingly small audience. At the start of the night i started off with a band consisting of 5 guitarists. The idea being that we would have 3 guitarists on stage at one time, 2 taking call and reply turns at soloing and one rhythm. We dragged out a 12-bar stevie ray vaughn feel groove for about 10mins fiddling with dynamics and overall feel of the groove so no-one got bored or started feeling tedious. Really my only complaint was my self-concience, I didn't play too well on the accord that the kit was set-up in a stereotypical 80's way. Heavily angled toms and high and extremely angled ride. Along-side a lengthily set-up double bass pedal and a hi-hat that rivaled my own height i wasn't the most comfortable. But i asked if i could move a few things and was swiftly told to be quiet and to 'just play drums.' I wouldn't complain to be honest about the way a kit is set-up but its just very restrictive when you're uncomfortable. I'm sure you can sympathise with me as drummers on this point. Anyway, After we had played the opening slot, a variety of rock cover bands played their share of the evenings music. Prepubescent singing clashing with wailing classic rock tracks accounted for the next 1+1/2 hours. I Came back from the downstairs bar having left about a half an hour before the scheduled start of our slot (at the end of the line-up) and the kit had been re-arranged perfectly, i was told it had just been moved because one of the guys wouldnt play without him being able to fiddle with the kit before-hand. Hats off to him, i couldn't do that. So i watched the band before us called 'Merge.' Indie rock styles dont normally strike me as anything interesting generally, but these guys were very tight and all a year younger than us, Even though they were all taller. Anyway, this band were very together and well rehearsed, something our band lacks a bit. So i was a bit nervous of seeming a bit crap. Anyway, so we got up at the time for our set and fiddled with amp settings and little things, as you do. and started playing the first song, Testify by Rage. Reason being for choosing this song is because the singer can't sing, but can rap quite well so there you have it. Same for the next song which is New skin by incubus. In this particular song there is a DJ solo as a bridge and we don't know any decent DJ's so we used my theremin and volume pedal to get a similar effect. It sounded sick. Then after that song the guitarist sung for us. Following that we played Clean by incubus; The ocean by led zeppelin and two of our own tracks. Afterwards we were invited to play battle of the bands at the same venue, and told by a few of the other bands' parents that they really liked our own material. I was so stoked having not played a set where we were so locked into the groove and really playing at our best. Having not sounded too great in the practice room and been poorly prepared we did really well IMO. Before this gig i've not really been taken hugely by playing drums as a career, but after playing such an exciting and adrenaline-pumping gig, im now maybe re-thinking my career choice. Anyway, Other things that have been happening is that i'm slowly but surely saving up for some pre-amps for my home-studio and mic stands and cables. After that I'l be good to go. I also doubled my RAM for my imac and now its gliding between programs and surprises me as to how fast and smooth macs are. Anyone fed up with computers letting you down. GET A MAC, anyone with a mac will agree with me. Anyway, cheers for reading i just felt like sharing this All the best guys -Austin P.S I'l post up the links to the merge myspace if i can find it if you want to hear them. And il put some gig pictures up when i get them from my mate Aaaand, i think theres a DVD of us playing so i might get some snippets if anyones interested, i dont know about sound uality though...

05-24-2007, 09:53 AM	#11
_Austin_ asmobilerecording.co.uk Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: West midlands, UK Posts: 1,693	Its an Imac, With the newish dual core 2.16GHz intel processors. Those black macbooks look sick. Our band does have a myspace, myspace.com/shank Track 1 is being re-recorded, mixed and mastered to album standard over the coming few weeks. So expect something new soon. Cheers guys, Austin Last edited by _Austin_; 05-24-2007 at 09:59 AM.

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05-23-2007, 04:38 PM	#2
Drum Phil Mine is an evil laugh Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Tharsus, Mars Posts: 23,269	Whats up with you kit wise? Didnt you sell your yammies?

05-23-2007, 04:45 PM	#3
_Austin_ asmobilerecording.co.uk Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: West midlands, UK Posts: 1,693	Ye man, Back to an export, Im buying or should i say putting a deposit down for a new kit in the next 2months at the latest. Should be something killer as im hoping not to buy another kit after this one for quite some time.

05-23-2007, 04:47 PM	#4
Drum Phil Mine is an evil laugh Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Tharsus, Mars Posts: 23,269	Awesome.

05-23-2007, 07:17 PM	#5
Mirror.Circuit christmassteps Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 2,610	Sounds good,man. Amen on the macs. I love mine.

05-24-2007, 01:08 AM	#6
CasB Twiggy! Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: 60 bpm. Stick control. Months Posts: 2,442	Keep up the good work, and good luck with your home studio It'll change your life (well, it changed mine )

05-24-2007, 01:22 AM	#7
Seafroggys Truffula Hugger Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Edge of Nowhere Posts: 16,591	Yeah I've done pretty well with my home studio. A couple of nice condensor mics + Firestudio equals great results!

05-24-2007, 07:37 AM	#9
Zildjian XMII has never beenkissed Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Buffalo, New York Posts: 6,721	yay another mac user. Mac > PC What kind of comp you have? I got a black macbook that I bought a few months ago and it's incredible

05-24-2007, 08:43 AM	#10
the_pure_drummer Multipurple Poster! Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: United Kingdom!!! Real Posts: 0 Posts: 13,801	Awsome man! Things are looking up

05-24-2007, 10:01 AM	#12
_Austin_ asmobilerecording.co.uk Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: West midlands, UK Posts: 1,693	Dunno about the drumtech thing, i've already decided im going to take a year out maybe go travelling or something, anything beats being cooped up in the shithole that is the midlands, UK

05-24-2007, 11:45 AM	#13
We_Love_Lime Most Not Sleep Join Date: May 2005 Location: Must Warn Others Posts: 9,584	Hahahh theremin. Nice man. You wanna tell me more about how you use that in your songs or something? That's so cool.

05-24-2007, 11:55 AM	#14
Retarded Chipple is the worst player here Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Gloucester, UK Posts: 6,977	Haha, your band are pretty awesome! Tis just the sort of thing I wanna do but there's no one around here into that kinda stuff When you re-record Track 1 that'll be well sick!!! "Austin" is kinda creepy though haha. Can I add you? Me = Joe-Stroke-Roll....

05-24-2007, 12:06 PM	#16
We_Love_Lime Most Not Sleep Join Date: May 2005 Location: Must Warn Others Posts: 9,584	Dude Nice. I'mmma do that, but instead of effects pedal, I just got ableton, and a Midi Keyboard, so I'mma control effects, delay, phaser etc by that. It'll be sick. But I need to hear tihs, I suck so bad right now at the Theremin . How good are you?

05-24-2007, 12:16 PM	#19
We_Love_Lime Most Not Sleep Join Date: May 2005 Location: Must Warn Others Posts: 9,584	I should really start practicing and all as well. I don't have an amp though. But theremins are so chill. I don't like them when they're clean and regular sounding as much as I would assume I'd like them with a whole bunch of effects run through them. What kind of amp do you use? And I wanna get a macbook . But I don't deserve one.

05-24-2007, 12:56 PM	#20
_Austin_ asmobilerecording.co.uk Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: West midlands, UK Posts: 1,693	Haha yer, i dont think apples like limes No idea how you practice though, What theremin do you have, put a pic up... Depends what im using it for. For the gig i used a DI straight into the FOH mixer, Live i'd use a guitar amp, and for studio use i'd DI it aswell... What do you want to get out of playing theremin, The reason i bought mine was to have so i can do funky fills. If say during a gig the band dropped out and i played a theremin solo that would kickass. I've got a volume pedal so i can rig it up right next to my bass drum pedal and just put the theremin to the right of my floor tom and maybe a few stomp-boxes for effects. I'm also buying a hard-synth for my studio so il probably come up with some more weird stuff using that and ther theremin together. Maybe put a tad more structure to it than just messing about.