I'm trying to set up my new Lexicon Lambda interface with my laptop and my Ableton 8.1 software, and I'm not doing so well. Is anyone familiar with any of this and could help me? [more inside]
posted by DMelanogaster at 12:56 PM - 12 comments

I just came into possession of an old piano. It's quite a nice one -- a 1920s Heintzmann 'grand in upright form'. It hasn't been tuned for, I'm guessing a decade. When I opened it up it was quite clear that it had never been cleaned -- there was a good 90 years worth of dust and other detritus. So naturally I took it to pieces. [more inside]
posted by unSane at 11:52 AM - 14 comments

You'd think as a professional musician, I'd know how to get booked... [more inside]
posted by Gygesringtone at 7:08 AM - 7 comments

I've been listening on and off in the car to the best of The Faces - disgracefully scruffy records but with a certain Jack-the-lad charm. I've ended up subconsciously synthesising a mash-up of Ooh La La and You Can Make Me Dance, Sing or Anything with an admixture of Cindy Incidentally. Works suprisingly well musically. Anyway, I thought.......how about a challenge where you have to do a mash-up of songs by the same band (I don't mean The Faces)? Obviously not an earth-shatteringly original idea, but perhaps a useful backstop challenge if nothing better is in the offing?
posted by MajorDundee at 12:38 PM - 7 comments

unsane's proposal for the sept music challenge [more inside]
posted by pyramid termite at 6:18 PM - 23 comments

Erstwhile Go-Betweens guitarist/singer and hair product expert Robert Forster has written a book titled The 10 Rules of Rock and Roll. Here they are:

1. Never follow an artist who describes his or her work as ‘dark’.
2. The second-last song on every album is the weakest.
3. Great bands tend to look alike.
4. Being a rock star is a 24-hour-a-day job.
5. The band with the most tattoos has the worst songs.
6. No band does anything new on stage after the first 20 minutes.
7. The guitarist who changes guitars on stage after every third number is showing you his guitar collection.
8. Every great artist hides behind their manager.
9. Great bands don’t have members making solo albums.
10. The three-piece band is the purest form of rock and roll expression

I think (10) is pretty arguable but I'm on board with the rest. Care to add some?

posted by unSane at 4:40 AM - 32 comments

Anyone want to record the lead vocal track for my song "Love To, Honey" posted Aug 25? I can provide whatever stems you need.
posted by Ardiril at 10:01 PM - 4 comments

In terms of the origins of punk rock, people always bang on about the pub-rock scene in the UK of the 1970's - bands like Dr Feelgood, Eddie and the Hot Rods etc. Or else the New York Dolls and antecedents like the VU or Stooges are cited. But......... I came across this the other day. It dates from the mid-70's I think. Apart from being one of my die-in-a-ditch all-time-faves, I think this performance shows how Glasgow's very, very finest The Sensational Alex Harvey Band (and, fuck my old boots, they really were sensational - trust me on this one) was actually one of the first UK punk rock outfits. It's just that no-one was using that term to describe non-conformist attitudes back then. This band kicked serious ass (or "arse" if you prefer the correct term) - they had attitude and musicianship to spare. And I'm going to namecheck the lot: Mr Alex Harvey - vocals, charisma, even more charisma, guitar. Mr Alastair "Zal" Cleminson, shit-hot P90-fuelled guitar bezalzlement; Mr Chris Glen - bass and insouciant grinning; Mr Ted McKenna - best rock drummer in the business - bar none; and Mr Hugh McKenna - brother of Ted and the soulful heart of SAHB. Discuss......please...
posted by MajorDundee at 3:06 PM - 34 comments

On my mixer, why does the AUX MON leave before the channel fader, and the AUX FX after? [more inside]
posted by mahershalal at 3:32 AM - 7 comments

It was my birthday yesterday, so I took it as an excuse to finally snag the banjo I've had my eye on in the local music store. Now I just have to figure out how to play the damn thing -- and that's where you come in. [more inside]
posted by unSane at 5:59 PM - 8 comments

Beck to release new album entirely on sheet music. [more inside]
posted by onehalfjunco at 12:14 PM - 4 comments

Why not tune your guitar the James Taylor way - all strings a bit flat? [more inside]
posted by motty at 5:06 PM - 10 comments

Know of any venues between Reno and Los Angeles that might need a band for this Saturday night? [more inside]
posted by platinum at 11:05 PM - 2 comments

I’m a quietish singer, to play (in three days) a long, small room with an ungreat PA system, manipulated by an inexperienced engineer. What, in two sentences, could I tell him that might help me get my voice across? [more inside]
posted by nelljie at 1:19 AM - 7 comments

Is it a joke? Sure...except when it's not. [more inside]
posted by askmeaboutLOOM at 6:09 PM - 5 comments

Has anyone got experience of different 'inversions' of a band, like different inversions of a chord? [more inside]
posted by unSane at 9:33 AM - 18 comments

This is a phrase unSane used on a recent thread (my wife is a redhead, so shhhhhhh). Anyways, I was thinking about albums that have been overshadowed by more popular ones in a band's ouvre. What little wallflowers do you hold a torch for? [more inside]
posted by MajorDundee at 9:59 AM - 8 comments

Does anyone here use a Roland SPD-SX? I have a bunch of questions about using one... [more inside]
posted by Cantdosleepy at 3:01 PM - 3 comments

I always have a bugger of a job to get my demos to sound "full" without being cluttered, stifled or over-compressed. A common experience is that I'll play a demo in the car and think "yeah!!", then play a commercial recording, and then think "oh fuck.....". Mine always seem to be kind of thin or hollow. So.....I need to be able to analyse my recordings to see where the gaps are in, say, mid-range so that I can try to get a fuller sound via EQ. Any ideas?
posted by MajorDundee at 12:54 PM - 38 comments

Bass Guitar Filter: Traditional\Irish\Folk\Etc songs. How to play along with some fiddles, etc. [more inside]
posted by zephyr_words at 1:16 PM - 8 comments

Are headset mics inevitably douchetastic? [more inside]
posted by unSane at 7:37 PM - 29 comments

An enigmatic Soundcloud user has painstakingly recreated My Bloody Valentine's album "Loveless" in full. (shamelessly yoinked from dunkadunc's post on the main front page) [more inside]
posted by chimaera at 11:47 PM - 5 comments

1 - The Great American Songbook. Main parameter - absolutely no rock and/or roll. So at a total guess it's a period roughly between 1920-something and 1950-something. We're talking George and Ira Gershwin, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin and the like. Although rock and roll songs are excluded, that doesn't mean that a classic pre-r&r song can't have a rock and roll treatment. A punk treatement of "You Do Something To Me" could be....er....interesting..... 2 - a few years back we had a whale of time covering the entire Velvet Underground and Nico album Well............how about doing the same with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers' "Damn The Torpedoes"? Or maybe another classic album.......
posted by MajorDundee at 12:49 PM - 43 comments

What would you do with about $500 (USD) to spend on a new music something? [more inside]
posted by Doleful Creature at 10:54 AM - 13 comments

Years ago, when I was young, I was in a band for a bit, playing bass. One day, at practice, the drummer said he was listening to some of our stuff and this one song, he had this idea for a guitar solo at the end of the track. So he starts explaining it to the guitarist/singer/songwriter (and the only one with any real talent in the band). So he kinda goes "doo da doo, do do doo da doo" and makes this litle wiggling montion with a crabbed left hand. Well I laughed my head off, as it was completely untuneful and the little hand movements were hilarious. What? he asks. Sorry mate, its the little hand movement your making, it just made me laugh. Guitarist laughs and drummer says, yeah, I know what you mean, but then, I am a drummer. So the guitarist says "Do you mean like this?" and plays a bit, and the drummer goes "thats exactly it." [more inside]
posted by marienbad at 10:22 AM - 4 comments

May Challenge [more inside]
posted by dubold at 7:14 AM - 10 comments

Any tips for recording a whistle?
posted by InfidelZombie at 9:22 AM - 9 comments

I think we should have some musical duels. [more inside]
posted by unSane at 8:12 PM - 87 comments

Tips on achieving this guitar tone. [more inside]
posted by dobie at 10:21 AM - 6 comments

I sort of feel like I need another guitar amp. But the options are perplexing. [more inside]
posted by unSane at 4:23 PM - 29 comments

April Challenge - Into the Waste Land [more inside]
posted by dubold at 6:34 AM - 24 comments

Challenge Idea: Seapunk [more inside]
posted by Doleful Creature at 11:49 AM - 5 comments

What do I have to worry about in putting a low-G string on my ukulele? [more inside]
posted by endless_forms at 7:55 AM - 4 comments

unofficial mini-challenge suggestion: Friday the 13th? [more inside]
posted by moonmilk at 8:41 AM - 9 comments

Someone heard one of my tunes here and wants to use it in a video game. [more inside]
posted by Danf at 7:01 PM - 4 comments

My band has been working on our first self-produced release, and right now I've got a mix that I think sounds pretty good. I haven't done any mastering yet, though that would be the next step. [more inside]
posted by InfidelZombie at 8:41 AM - 3 comments

Hey all. unSane here, posting via sockpuppet cuz I already posted something to Talk this week. Anyhoo, the March challenge is to write or cover a song which uses the infamous Four Chords of Predetermined Pop Success. [more inside]
posted by sweet mister at 7:19 PM - 23 comments

I can't strum the uke. Help me strum the uke? [more inside]
posted by jessamyn at 1:59 PM - 11 comments

So who's using soundcloud or bandcamp? [more inside]
posted by dubold at 12:25 PM - 8 comments

I've been thinking about upgrading my acoustic guitar for a while now. What do you folks like? [more inside]
posted by unSane at 7:41 PM - 18 comments