Get off my LAWN! "Grumpy Old Farts"

[StereoPlayer]

Newspaper publishers learned to use cartoons to inform a marginally literate reader base.

View attachment 4031090​

You trying to say I can’t read?

 

[GwenOnBass]

Or better.

Speaking with me professionally is another thing entirely. My new fee structure is fair. That Website needs to be redone from scratch, I'm sorry to say.

 

[GwenOnBass]

You trying to say I can’t read?

ahahaha

what I expect happened is when my parents found me reading the dictionary at age 5 or 6 is they huddled down for a conference on what to do with this child. The battle lines were drawn

and wound up doing English major - music school - journalism school - music again

Jane get me off this crazy thing!

 

[Charlie Tango]

Learning the ins and outs of a medical boot is not one of these experiences that should be on anyone's curriculum vitae. And yet.

I have a pair of them, each a different size. Not because one foot's bigger, but because the first doctor was an idiot. I also now have a tall one, that goes nearly to the knee. All of them are more fun to wear and go about daily activities with than should be legally permissible.

 

[beans-on-toast]

Learning the ins and outs of a medical boot is not one of these experiences that should be on anyone's curriculum vitae. And yet.

Ins and outs, so you’re saying putting it on and taking it off is a challenge. When do you get to boot das boot?

 

[GwenOnBass]

Ins and outs, so you’re saying putting it on and taking it off is a challenge. When do you get to boot the boot?

Back at the doctor's Thursday for X-rays and an evaluation. I expect two more weeks with the boot, minimum. The trick, I find, is to fit it properly at the very start of the day. It's a knee height jobber so there's no way my food and ankle can move.

Getting closer to being able to put on a sock without wincing.

 

[beans-on-toast]

Compression socks are more difficult at the best of times.

 

[GwenOnBass]

There's compression socks and there are compression socks. I've got both. There's no way I can pull the compression socks over my heel without pain.

I am wearing a single Halloween sock. Eyeballs and skulls for just that right touch.

 

[beans-on-toast]

You can stuff the other sock with treats for Odin. How is he holding up through the layup?

 

[GwenOnBass]

Odin is a strong protector!

In unrelated news, Sunday I turned in my final Music Theory for the Bass Player video.



Forty weeks of music theory ... and couldn't be happier for it. Now sort-of wondering how to spend the next three months. First up is a microphone. A studio of sorts takes shape. It's gone from recording on my smrtph* to this.

The first thing I did was swap out the La Bella Low Tension Flats for Dunlop flats. A bit more pulling tension on the neck, I hope ... and hearing so many positive reports on them ... a few hours in and the first thing to report is the bass is intonated properly but the bridge looks cockeyed. And double-and-triple checked the intonation, it's right but looks very weird to my eye. Strobe tuner, and an ear .... and ear I really didn't know I had but I do.

What I find with the Dunlops is I have articulation beyond 12th fretland I've missed since the tapewounds. The LTSs are glassier feeling (missing that), and my plucking hand already feels the higher tension. Yet my fretting hand is super-comfortable. Very strange strings to me. Part of me wants to put the LTFs back NOW, and the other part of me is ready to plays these hard and break them in naturally.

The thud is there, it's not as pronounced as with the LTFs, but definitely there. Less than an hour's playing time is not enough an accurate assessment of these strings.

 

[beans-on-toast]

What type of mic?

 

[GwenOnBass]

What type of mic?

I see I can snag a SM57, cable and stand for $130.

 

[beans-on-toast]

I see I can snag a SM57, cable and stand for $130.

For vocals or micing a speaker?

 

[Charlie Tango]

SM57 for speaker micing, SM58 for vocals. Can't get much more standard than those.

 

[GwenOnBass]

For vocals or micing a speaker?

As vocals is a considerable stretch of the imagination, maybe "not mic'ing a speaker" is a better way of framing it. My actual need is a way to both play and use the microphone for what I must concede is my voice. What I have in mind is

well first, I've a commitment to collaborate with a singer/flutist and a six-stringer for two original songs. My current setup permits me to play, or speak, but not both at the same time.

A longer term consideration is an actual functioning studio for both musical work and my other work.

 

[GwenOnBass]

Got 'cha SM58.

 

[Jeff Scott]

SM57 for speaker micing, SM58 for vocals. Can't get much more standard than those.

IIRC, from the capsule on back, they are the same microphone. Whatever differences there are is down to the two different windscreen designs.

 

[Charlie Tango]

IIRC, from the capsule on back, they are the same microphone. Whatever differences there are is down to the two different windscreen designs.

Yes, the SM58 has an inbuilt pop filter to cut down plosives. Ain't no plosives coming out of a speaker, so no need in the SM57.

 

[beans-on-toast]

As vocals is a considerable stretch of the imagination, maybe "not mic'ing a speaker" is a better way of framing it. My actual need is a way to both play and use the microphone for what I must concede is my voice. What I have in mind is well first, I've a commitment to collaborate with a singer/flutist and a six-stringer for two original songs. My current setup permits me to play, or speak, but not both at the same time. A longer term consideration is an actual functioning studio for both musical work and my other work.

I use both SM58's and SM-57's for a lot of applications, although I do have other mics as well.

• When it comes to Shure microphones, always buy from a reputable dealer, they are still very affordable for a workhorse. There are a lot of fakes out there. Their look, even the packaging can fool an expert, but they don't perform like a Shure. People do use SM58's for both flute and guitar. Not necessarily because they are well suited but because they are readily available. Fancy mics can be more articulate, expecially for applications such as recording, but the cost gets way up there.
  
  
• A good quality mic cable is important. Mid quality is better than low end. You get better connectors and cable. I only use Neutrik connectors but Switchcraft is good as well. Best not to go noname. Cable shielding matters and helps reduce noise, especially if near computers/monitors/brick power supplies. Longer cables aren't that much more expensive but it is best to stick to the length that you need. Longer cables can pick up more noise.
  
  
• When it comes to mic stands, a boom extension is better. I like K&M products. A boom stand pulls double duty when hanging laundry. They are excellent for that.

 

[GwenOnBass]

<-- another believer in quality cables.