^that sounds good I may have the opportunity to try out for a bass role with these guys. Kinda cheesy but I reckon it'd be fun to play live. I just need to get an amp sorted.

It's a scam if it's anything like that Amway bullshit we have here. You sign up and pay a a bunch of money to be be able to sell generic products with a hip name or logo...in this case energy drinks. They also promise that for each person you get to "sign up" to their program (pay big bucks to the head of the company) that you'll earn a percentage of their profits, and a percentage of the profits that those people go on to sign up.

The company makes their money by people paying these big start up fees to get licensed to sell the products. Most of the time people give up a month or so into it. It's a pyramid scheme basically.

Yeah that's what my girlfriend said. Y'all are so knowledgeable. I just like how cult-like it is.

I'm sure we can find some generic products to slap a hip name or logo on and re-sell for Massive Profitz. Like Soviet-bloc AK-47s and pure Columbian cocaine. Those are value-for-money options, and there's always a demand.

Now that I think I've finished re-tracking all the bass for my solo rekkid, I do believe the whole fresh strings on ze bass is spoiling me. That's an expensive habit. Thankfully the stuff where I want a brighter bass tone is mostly on the first half of the thing, and I did them mostly in order. (By the last ballady thing I'm playing on the neck pickup only with the tone rolled off halfway anyhow.) The change in tone is noticeable, and it's not something that can be compensated for with EQ. Damnation. It still sounds fine, just not... Mightyfine.

Sooo... Does anyone here have a preference for bass strings that stay bright 'n' shiny for a long-ass time?

Elixirs start out sorta kinda shiny and stay sorta kinda shiny for months on bass.

I bought a NOS pilot light jewel for my amp on eBay. It arrived today and I realized that I forgot to ask for dimensions.

Ha! Fucking lulz! Are you serious?

To which I also gotta say: fuckit, man; mod the chassis and use it. It seems properly large.

Holy fucking massive light, batman.

I like it. It's like "fuck you, I have a bigass ostentatious light on my amp... So what? "




Re: Elixirs on bass, I'm hesitant, for a couple reasons. I tried them on guitar (acoustic and electric) years ago and was not a fan. They do last, but I generally use Dean Markely Blue Steels, so I'm coming from a very different place tone-wise and found them too dark. Right now I have Ernie Ball Power Slinkies on the bass, because they are a heavier gauge than you can normally get outside a five-string set. And they're a plain nickel-wound set. I'd prefer stainless, 'cause they're brighter and more likely to retain that brightness, and that's what I'm going for- see my most recent clip in the recording forum in my solo record thread. The brightness of the bass tone comes across even through the distortion and on laptop speakers.

I am somewhat intrigued by the Rotosound Billy Sheehan sig strings, for the stainless and the 110 low string. Speaking of coated strings, DR, which I've used in the past and liked, has a coated stainless heavier gauge set as a Bootsy Collins signature thing, and that has me very curious. If the coating dulls the brightness of the stainless a bit, I'm okay with that as a plain nickel-wound is fine with me if it keeps that "zing!" for as long as physically possible. A brief search turned up Ernie Ball Power Slinky coated titanium guitar strings, but I have to see if there's a bass version. I shudder to think at how much titanium-wound bass strings might cost though.

I bet titanium strings sound tits, though. Never tried them.

I didn't even know they existed until I found them by accident looking up something-or-other about the Ernie Balls. A quick Google search says they make bass strings like that too, and they're about $40 a pack, give or take. Not unheard of for bass at all, but what I have on there now cost me twenty bucks.

All OMG, Titanium! aside, based on its physical properties, it's probably a good metal for a string. It doesn't have the hardness of steel- it's more flexible- while having a strength equal to average common steels. It also doesn't corrode like steel (or bronze, or nickel, dealing with strings). It's very expensive, though, and a difficult metal to work with, which will also be reflected in the cost of things. The existence of titanium strings makes me wonder how one draws titanium wire. (Very carefully, I suppose. )

Titanium itself is interesting shit. There's a lot of popular myths about it being some sort of uber-metal (and its name itself probably adds to that), but it's really kind of an oddball. It's only as strong as average middling steel, and many things are harder. (For the unaware, strength and hardness refer to different properties re: metal. The more you know!) Its chief virtues are its light weight and resistance to heat. It's a bear to work with- you can't smith titanium; it needs to be machined if you want to make shit out of it- and it's rather rare and consequently very expensive. Much of it comes from Russia. Engineers apparently don't like to call for the stuff unless nothing else fits the requirements as it's too costly in terms of both the material itself and actually fabricating things from it.

Disappointingly for all the vampire hunters out there, it's not a great choice for a sword. Steel is easier to get a proper edge on, and its hardness and weight are virtues here.

It's probably a very good metal for a guitar or bass string, though. Its flexibility compared to steel makes me think it might retain brightness for quite a long time. Most of the loss of new string sound is the result of tension over time and flexion from use; titanium's flexibility compared to steel makes me think that quality would last longer. Wear caused by corrosion would be minimized as well.

Ya know, I think Fugazi is my most favoritest band ever. I have been fanboi obsessed with bands before, but I don't think on this level. What a retardedly well put together body of music.

Also, I have definitely confirmed that marijuana works as a mood stabilizer/antidepressant in my brain. Three days without it (I'm in Idaho doing repairs on this huge fucking crazy house) and my mind's getting a little sketchy, though Monday I shall be back home and will be able to get really baked again with just some pipe tokes. Which is: fucking awesome.

Doubly also, feeling real good about this musicmaking thing. Got the guitarist/keyboardplayer/singer I mentioned in here earlier on board, I do believe. Pretty much completely finished with that complete Fugazi worship/metalcoreETIDbreakdown song I posted in the recording forum. Basslines, lyrics and I think some other goodies. Got like, 4 or 5 other prettymuchthere tunes that just need to be practiced with my drummer. And I am thoroughly pleased with what is going on with them musically. Really feels good, man.

I'm starting a new band doing more posi/punk stuff with good time rock n roll thrown in. Jaded of all this drop dick doom stuff.
Strat is being loaded with a hotrail in the bridge and I'm contemplating building a nitro clone.

You have become a bit of a fanboi, I've noticed. Not in a bad way, though. And that's a band totally worthy of Respect, even if one is not a big fan. So far they haven't connected for me much, but I do get what they do/did and why they are/were awesome. It just hits me in more of an intellectual way, knowing why other people dig this vs. connecting in a visceral way; this is my failing.

And it really does work for some people. A friend of mine has been smoking recently- and he never did before- as he has really, observably serious anxiety problems, and his situation- he lost the house he got from his father, among other things (he has the worst luck of anyone I know- he had to sell a ton of his gear, his dog died and his truck died in the past month; now he has a shitty apartment in a shitty area of the American side of Niagara Falls, which is a shithole, and this is just the start of it. It gets worse.) isn't helping matters any. He also has spinal (neck/back) problems from a car accident a few years back and issues from said. And the ganja seems to help with both the physical pain and being able to keep it together, without the nasty side effects of the "legitimate" prescription drugs. And he's not the only person I know who smokes for medical reasons. (Only one of whom is otherwise a serious drug user- a drunk and a cokehead, and a generally disagreeable bitch, but she needs one of her knees replaced.) And I know how pain pills or benzos or whatnot f@Sk! uyo up1! I would rather people be able to function. And if the MJ is what helps them, than whatever. (Not that I have any objections even though I don't smoke pot- I think all drugs should be legal and regulated.)

And cong-rats! on the bandthing! Y'know how we've commented however many times re: the talent/members ratio here? Y'know what the worst part is? That not all of us are in bands and producing original noises. And you, sir, are an intelligent, thoughtful person who can objectively analyze their own work, and doesn't seem short on ideas. Get that shite going. And I'd mix yer rekkid, just for the hell of it.



Every day I will work on my solo record, and I will read some of Moby Dick. Perhaps that record is my :whitewhale:.

It's difficult to get back into the headspace I was in for those songs. I feel I have the recording/mixing chops now to do them justice sonically, and the vocal chops to perform that bit well. Listening back to the old versions I wonder if a voice simultaneously more trained and more brutalized by the rock-and-roll life can capture the upper register stuff with the same feeling though. And I have neither the emotional craziness- my life is quite dull now, by intent- nor the sheer ginormous amount of perpetual intoxication to really get to that same place now. I can find the dark if I want to, but it's a different- older, more cynical, world-weary and less dramatic dark. A resigned, bitter thing. But I feel I wrote a handful of songs that hold up. And justice will be done to them, because I want to hear that record.

Are you saying the schematic is out there?

Oh my fucking god. :mad; Just typed out this long ass fucking reply, even acknowledging what a whore it is to type this shit on my phone keyboard, so I will briefly sum up what I said with little regard for the sake of fucks.

FUGAZI SURE AM COOL.I LIKE THEM.

DAMN, I FEEL SORRY FOR YOUR HOMIE. I HAVE NO INTEREST IN COMBINING COCAINE, BOOZE AND MARIJUANA, THOUGH THAT SOUNDS ROCK N' ROLL AS FUCK.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR KIND WORDS. YES, THE PEOPLE OF THIS FORUM ARE ASS STOMPING TITANS OF INDUSTRY.

I SURE AS FUCK WILL TAKE YOU UP ON YOUR OFFER, I CAN'T MIX FOR SHIT, THOUGH I PLAN ON GETTING BETTER WITH TIME.

AH FUUUUCK YEAH, WHEN'S THAT THING GONNA BE DONE YA THINK? AND WHAT ALL'S GOTTA BE DONE? I'M STOKED ON THAT SHIT, MY FELLOW URBAN YOUTH.




Also: DOOOOOOOWNNNNEEEDDD CIIIITTTTAAAAYYY!

Good to hear of Young Cameron making his way with noises and noisemaker members. Fun times.

I am heading back up to Beantown for another night of dancey dancey at the Harp. Not staying overnight, it get too expensive and I want to be home in the morning. It's a rough drive 2-7 am but I can get 5 hours of sleep and have the afternoon to do something with my kids. I'm the only one on the forum with kids and I was definitely anti-children until I had mine. Hard to explain how much fun it can be to mold a little one, especially little ones that have respect and can still be artsy. Odd mix.

What?
This?

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/8802910/nitro_complete.jpg

You def got some cute ass kids, tor. How you juggle them, your exercise regiment and your music. Titans of Industry, I tell you. You also make them sound like young Maplitonian types in the making.

Young Maplitites for sure. My daughter definitely drums to her own beat. She's 9 and stands out, albeit quietly, in a crowd. My son on the other hand is a more outspoken type, but more along the normal side... he's young, I have time to shape him yet. And thanks.