So here's just a recent experience, not really needing advice or anything but y'all are free to comment of course.
I recently had a jam with a jazz guitarist, me on electric, and it went fine. He was a bit fussy about where my combo would be set in his apartment for the best sound and asked if okay to record. Fine. He had a nicer Tascam or Zoom handheld, and those get good sounds.
But I held my ground when he wanted me to stand on the other side of the room with a long cord. Uh, no. I like to be near my amp, to adjust, and keep the volume low, and also not stand near the rear of open back guitar amp, thank you very much.
Jam went well, I liked that he took on tough tunes and guitar chord melodies he had worked out. Which is much better than not worked out. Fun. The recording he sent me was good, as a reference recording, fine for posting promo or whatevs, 30% better than my iPhone recording from my go bag under the dining room table. But good times, music, good vibes.
A few weeks go by and he invites me to jam with a drummer, Experienced
Cat, nice set up in his home, with biggish but well appointed set. And warming up, he's tasteful and in control. And again, guitarist wants my combo in an odd spot kinda ahead the drummers ride, and me across the room.
Now, this isn't a recording session, no sound isolations, no headphones, no line out. It's a jam, kinda auditioning me, where he's experimenting with getting the best possible recorded sound from his device, as a way to practice recording and device placement to get a good recorded sound on future live gigs. Cool. I've heard a couple of examples from prior gigs. Pretty good, useable for promo or YouTube. It as one might expect, guitar heavy. But fine, it's not for SoundCloud.
But, he seems to have trouble with the idea that on that potential gig, I would WANT to be on the drummer's ride cymbal side, with my amp to the back right of the drummer, my left, so drummer can monitor my bass, and I have eyes on ride hand and bass pedal if needed, and access to my knobs.
That set up behind us, we jam. It's good. Drummer, who complained about prior bassist, and not locking in, and I…locked in. Nice. And as a trio, some good interaction, trading, dynamics, pretty good balance in the room, moderate volume (a bit guitar and ride heavy), we start and stop together, it swings. Drummer is happy, comments on some specifics where he liked what was happening musically. I think I'll be invited back. Guitar is happy too. Maybe sus that drummer and I got on so well.
That night, he sends me his recordings. I had already listened to my iPhone through the car stereo on the way home, so I know it sounded good musically. And again, it sounds good, but guitar heavy, ride cymbal is in check so I think a little low pass filter or other tweak on that.
With it, a long email about how to tweak the set up, maybe mic bass or move bass combo and have separate monitor for drummer. Etc. A couple paragraphs of this, and one sentence in he middle, that the drummer and he agreed that they hadn't ever sounded better. And more of the recording set up.
So yeah, this is all fine, musically good, we could talk openly about something to improve like not rushing or time coming out of the trading 4s, ….and, because for many bands this is not a priority (cuz they are still trying to learn tunes), I'm glad he's thinking and working at good recorded material.
I recently had a jam with a jazz guitarist, me on electric, and it went fine. He was a bit fussy about where my combo would be set in his apartment for the best sound and asked if okay to record. Fine. He had a nicer Tascam or Zoom handheld, and those get good sounds.
But I held my ground when he wanted me to stand on the other side of the room with a long cord. Uh, no. I like to be near my amp, to adjust, and keep the volume low, and also not stand near the rear of open back guitar amp, thank you very much.
Jam went well, I liked that he took on tough tunes and guitar chord melodies he had worked out. Which is much better than not worked out. Fun. The recording he sent me was good, as a reference recording, fine for posting promo or whatevs, 30% better than my iPhone recording from my go bag under the dining room table. But good times, music, good vibes.
A few weeks go by and he invites me to jam with a drummer, Experienced
Cat, nice set up in his home, with biggish but well appointed set. And warming up, he's tasteful and in control. And again, guitarist wants my combo in an odd spot kinda ahead the drummers ride, and me across the room.
Now, this isn't a recording session, no sound isolations, no headphones, no line out. It's a jam, kinda auditioning me, where he's experimenting with getting the best possible recorded sound from his device, as a way to practice recording and device placement to get a good recorded sound on future live gigs. Cool. I've heard a couple of examples from prior gigs. Pretty good, useable for promo or YouTube. It as one might expect, guitar heavy. But fine, it's not for SoundCloud.
But, he seems to have trouble with the idea that on that potential gig, I would WANT to be on the drummer's ride cymbal side, with my amp to the back right of the drummer, my left, so drummer can monitor my bass, and I have eyes on ride hand and bass pedal if needed, and access to my knobs.
That set up behind us, we jam. It's good. Drummer, who complained about prior bassist, and not locking in, and I…locked in. Nice. And as a trio, some good interaction, trading, dynamics, pretty good balance in the room, moderate volume (a bit guitar and ride heavy), we start and stop together, it swings. Drummer is happy, comments on some specifics where he liked what was happening musically. I think I'll be invited back. Guitar is happy too. Maybe sus that drummer and I got on so well.
That night, he sends me his recordings. I had already listened to my iPhone through the car stereo on the way home, so I know it sounded good musically. And again, it sounds good, but guitar heavy, ride cymbal is in check so I think a little low pass filter or other tweak on that.
With it, a long email about how to tweak the set up, maybe mic bass or move bass combo and have separate monitor for drummer. Etc. A couple paragraphs of this, and one sentence in he middle, that the drummer and he agreed that they hadn't ever sounded better. And more of the recording set up.
So yeah, this is all fine, musically good, we could talk openly about something to improve like not rushing or time coming out of the trading 4s, ….and, because for many bands this is not a priority (cuz they are still trying to learn tunes), I'm glad he's thinking and working at good recorded material.
