Notes_Norton

IMO having fun on the holiday is more important than being authentic. Fun is our product, and if the audience is primed for fun, it just makes our job easier. We also play a couple of Polkas for Oktoberfest, only secular songs for Christmas parties, and include Caribbean music along with a few Hawaiian tunes for Luau parties. We played a wedding (adult-second marriage) where the wedding couple chose "Release Me" as their first dance - the audience loved it. Three of the Patty Melt party people already booked us for next year to make sure they can get us on St Pats day plus the Friday and Saturday before Paddy's day. I give them a break on the price if they have it before the day, and that way the disappointment of not getting it on the 17th is softened by saving money. Some people actually prefer the early days to save the money. Having 3 to 5 Patty Parties is good. The songs are only good once a year, so by the time we get to the last day, we actually can play them without hiding minor errors :D (One difference between a pro and an amateur is that when the pro makes a mistake, unless it's a train wreck, the audience doesn't know because it's covered up well.) Our philosophy: Life should be a party, and when we are on the job, we get to be the life of the party. We take the PLAY in PLAYing music seriously. And yes, in their heyday we did Alley Cat, Macarena, Mambo #5 (we still do the original Perez Prado version on occasion if we get ballroom dancers), Achy Breaky Heart, and pretty much anything that will get them going. Songs that are like Junk Food for our ears. Fun but without much nutritional content. And they don't make you fat!!! But gigging is balanced because we also get to play some challenging tunes. So I'll put the song by a Jew about the great flood in Mesopotamia (Iraq) written for children and sung by Canadian passport holders to rest until next year's Patty Melt when I'll be happy to bring it out and watch the audience mumble over the "Green Alligators" chorus. Insights and incites by Notes

Thank you all for your help and excellent suggestions. Notes

Thanks a lot. I built 4 input, one output with 4.7k resistors and an old project box. Tried it out and it works. I can't hear any more noise coming out of the PA speakers, and to my ears, it doesn't degrade the tone or volume any. At least not a noticeable amount. I could now get along with an 8 channel mixer. It doesn't give me a spare channel if one goes bad though (I had one go bad last weekend, and plugged into the spare. So I'll probably still look for a 10.

"Unicorn" was a hit. I'm glad we learned it. Notes

I sometimes speed up the B sections, sometimes increase the tempo as the song progresses, and sometimes slow down sections. It depends on the song and my artistic (or non-artistic) vision. Notes

There are different requirements for a live performance vs. a recording. A bit of noise floor or even some signal degradation doesn't matter if it is a needed compromise. The venue we are gigging in is going to have people talking, laughing, and dancing, there will be the hum of the air conditioner, the clinks of the glasses, and a lot more ambient sound in the room. We played a St. Patricks party (actually we did 5 this week) on Saturday and the noise in the room was about 75db before we played our first note. We had a great time and the crowd was not only noisy but enthusiastic. They booked us for next year to make sure they could get the date they want before somebody else does. Twice a month, all winter long, we play for an RV park that is the winter home to about 300 French Canadians. Talk about a loud, boisterous audience! This one is the noisiest of all. They are partying before we get there, they hit the dance floor on the first song, and are still there on the last one. They don't want to go home an often get an extra half hour out of us (then the park rules say we have to be quiet). A third place we have been playing weekly (weather permitting) for 11 years is on a dock, in a marina, on an island. The AC voltage is a little low, even with a power conditioner. There is an ice machine near us. On certain patches on my guitar fx/amp-sim I have to put the guitar pickups in the humbucking mode or the AC hum will be quite loud. Besides for crowd noise, there is the waves, the wind, the sea birds, and boats passing by. So what is the compromise? 1) Weight - I do this up to 6 nights a week 2) Efficiency of setup and tear down As long as the compromise doesn't hurt the performance, it's good. Insights and incites by Notes

Yes, Alan, my Sweetwater rep replied that he can't find anything for me. Looking at the other outlets, it's pretty much the same stock. It seems many years ago music gear was more oriented towards live performers, but as we know, live performing isn't what it used to be. There was a time when every hotel from a Holiday Inn and up had a band 6 nights a week. Now the market seems to be for home recording. Big table top mixers with long sliders and inputs on the top of the mixer instead of the back. I suppose that is where the demand is. I've been a live performer for many decades, and have managed to make a living doing music and nothing but music. I've recorded in a dozen or so studios, but I was always in the playing side of the fish tank. Stick a mic in front of me and let me play. So doing one-nighters means moving gear a lot. And on the gig I play sax, wind synth, guitar, flute, drum controller, and vocals. My partner plays guitar, tactile MIDI controller (Buchla Thunder) and sings. Part of the reason why we still work a lot when others do not is that we do a good job, and with our versatility and multiple instruments, we can cover many genres of music and get gigs others need to turn down. But setting up and tearing down is time consuming. The fewest pieces of gear possible, and the lightest weight is always a plus. The heaviest thing we carry are EV powered speakers (ZLX) at about 40 pounds each. The rack weighs less and is on wheels. Then the stands and the instruments. It takes an hour to set up, and we always allow an extra half hour buffer time in case we need to replace a cable (cables don't like one-nighters) and it takes about 45 minutes to tear down. Add driving time and there is sometimes more time in prep than performance. But the 3 or 4 hours of performance is the most fun we can have with our clothes on. Thanks again for all the suggestions. Keep it coming. Notes

Thanks all. Some great suggestions here. I appreciate all your help. Why passive? I already have a mixer, 4 sound modules, sonic maximizer, and fx unit plugged into the rack. I move the rack every gig, and it's just one more AC plug to fall out. Plus since my synths all have volume knobs, I don't really need more. If I could find a 4 rack space true 12 channel mixer I wouldn't need a sub-mixer, but all I can find that fits in my rack is a 10 channel mixer. I'd love to find another true 12 channel mixer (not a 10 channel with two of the inputs stereo and called a 12 channel) but I looked at Sweetwater, B&H, SamAsh, Musician's Friend, AMS, GC etc, and it seems the only true channel mixers I see are desktop mixers or will take up way too many rack spaces. Doing one-nighters for a living means moving gear up to 6 times a week. Small and light is good. OK inputs, 2 mics, 2 guitar direct boxes, 4 synths, 2 channels for backing tracks, an additional mic for someone to make announcements with. That's 11 channels of need. I can't find a 12 channel mixer that fits in a rack. msmcleod, I might try building one with phone jacks. Current gig rig - looking to replace the mixer. If I could find a 12 channel mixer that fits in that spot I would be happiest.

Looking for a passive way to combine the outputs of 4 synth modules. My old Samson MPL1204 Mixers are getting old and cranky (http://www.samsontech.com/samson/products/mixers/mpl-mixers/mpl1204/). I have spares, and repairing them is a bother. I pull one out, send it to the repair shop, put a spare in. It doesn't happen that often, but it's getting more frequent, and I don't want it to fail on the gig. I lost one channel, and I have one unused channel. That was a close call. So something new is in order. There is no small 12 compact mixer that I can find that has 12 true channels. Both the "Alesis MultiMix 12R Rackmount Mixer" and the "Behringer Eurorack Pro RX1202FX Rackmount Mixer with Effects" are really 10 channel mixers with the last two channels stereo. The Behringer looks better because it has balanced outs, but I'll be short one channel with no spare. So I thought of this solution. I have 4 synth modules that take up 4 channels in my mixer. I'd like a passive way to mix the outputs of 4 mono synths (1/4" phone jacks/plugs) to one channel. I don't need volume, eq or anything like that. Just a way to mix them together without creating an impedance mismatch or anything else I may not know about. Someone must make one. I'm searching sites but am having any luck. Perhaps I don't know what it's called. Thanks. Notes

I produced the video but nobody watched.

It's not worth my time to find the parts and repair the hinge on a 2002 ThinkPad. The other 2002 is still working and the Win7 machine I bought to replace the one with the damaged hinge is going strong. I might take the hard drive out and find a place that can use it for parts. Notes

Thanks, now the lame cartoon is complete.

The people I have known that were the greatest drinkers were from Argentina. The put the Irish to shame. I was playing at a bar near the Palm Beach Polo club. The people who handled the horses in the stables were from Argentina. On payday they would simply put their cashed paychecks on the bar. When the glass was empty the bartender refilled and took the money off the pile. In the unlikely event the customer didn't want another drink, he would put a cocktail napkin over the glass. If one of the standing patrons fell, others would help him up, and someone would surrender a bar stool so he could keep drinking. And in all of this, there was never-ever any fights or violence. I've known some Irish drinkers, but these guys were the all-time champs. Insights and incites by Notes

Depends on use for me. On stage I have a XP and a Win7 machine. I no longer connect them to the Internet so they haven't changed for decades. The XP is an IBM ThinkPad purchased in 2002 that even though I do one-nighers, and it sits on a bouncing keyboard stand every night, performs flawlessly again and again. In all these years I replaced the CMOS battery ($5.00 'watch' battery) because it died and the time and date settings needed to be reset when I turned the computer on. The Lenovo ThinkPad Win7 machine I bought when the other 2002 ThinkPad developed a hinge problem and it was so old it would have cost more to fix it than to replace it. I can get by with one on stage, but both are up and running. If a problem occurs, I can move the USB cable from the one I'm using to the up and running spare and the show goes on. Cheap gig insurance. But for any computer that lives on the Internet, I want all the upgrades possible because many of those upgrades fix security holes. Insights and incites by Notes

In the old days, when cars had lousy sound systems, I used to try everything in the car. Now I try everything on cheap computer speakers for the least common denominator. Insights and incites by Notes

It also depends on your voice. In MIX magazine, decades ago I read a piece on recording a female singer, I think it was Sade but I'm not sure. Anyway they pulled out every mic in the studio's extensive closet and ended up using a Sure Beta 58 because it made her sound the best. So what the best mic for me may not be the best mic for you and vice versa. Insights and incites by Notes

I don't mind buying the batteries for my Ear Plugs, and since they are not for a hearing problem, but to prevent one, I don't think the NHS would pay for them anyway. The active ear plugs work by increasing the attenuation as the external volume increases. The only faults I can find with them are (1) they don't have the greatest bass response (2) if the ambient volume gets over 100dba the output to my ears will climb over the safe 85dba. But I am in a duo playing for an adult audience, so stage volumes are never higher than 100dba, they usually peak in the mid 90s. If I go out where the music will be loud, I bring my regular passive Westone ear plugs (15 and 25 db attenuation). But I do envy countries with nationalized medicine. UK and Canada use the beveridge system, others like France, Germany and Japan use bismarck model. I think I like bismarck a bit better. I believe both systems are better than what we have in the US because we pay way more and are about the 65th healthy nation. Every nationalized medicine country has better health care than the US at less cost. It seems to me better care at a lower cost is a no-brainer. But that's our US politics and right now there doesn't seem to be enough voters who agree with me. But the post wasn't about healthcare, but computers so I apologize for getting it off thread. Also I won't turn this into a political debate and continue with the health care tangent. The batteries were about being tracked and mis-targeted on-line. So let's get back on topic... People tracking you on-line can make false assumptions about you. The ear plug battery issue is minor, but what if you were curious about something illegal? Not because you wanted to break the law, but perhaps to avoid being a victim. Would the key words in your post, or your search habits, put you on a watch list? And if you are being targeted by your browsing habits, will they know your bank name and other things that help them phish for the money in your bank account? The thing about being on-line is you have to adopt a slightly paranoid "everyone is out to get me" philosophy. And of course, everybody isn't out to get you, but if you let your guard down, you could be in a heap of trouble. A couple of days ago I had an e-mail that looked like it was from my bank, that told me there was a security problem and to contact them immediately. Of course, I didn't click that link or call the number in the e-mail but called the bank directly with their normal number. There was no security problem, the e-mail was simply phishing for my money. I've received a couple for other banks, PayPal, and the other big presence institutions. You have to keep your software up-to-date and you have to keep your guard up. It's the best way to minimize your risk. Insights and incites by Notes

Personally, I don't use Chrome except to check to see if my websites work on it. I just don't like feeding google that much info about me. Now if they would give me 10% of what they sell my browsing habits for, I'd consider it ;) I don't use Google for a search bot either, I use StartPage, it's private and non-tracking. This all started many years ago when I bought some Etymotic Active Musician's Earplugs. They don't attenuate the volume until it gets loud, so unlike regular ear plugs, between songs I can still hear an audience member who doesn't speak clearly. They use hearing aid batteries, and I go through about 1 per week. I'm searching the web for some better priced batteries than the drug store, which I found for about .20 each, and all of a sudden I'm getting ads for hearing aids, adult diapers, compression socks, medicaid supplement plans, etc. I quit using Google then, put a non-tracking extension on FF, and a few other privacy measures. It's not that I go anywhere that is illegal or that I'd be embarrassed about. But what if I read about a terrorist attack in the news and want to know how they made the IED simply out of curiosity, will my search put me on the watch list? Insights and incites by Notes

I just read in PC Magazine that everybody should update Chrome ASAP no matter what edition of Windows you are using. It only takes a minute or two. Insights and incites by Notes

Tough crowd :D Can I get at least a groan? Oh well, they can't all be anyone's best efforts.

Not unless they ask for it :D But if they do, we'll do the best puff we can. Fortunately a half dozen or so of the standards (McNamara, Danny, Wild Rose, Irish Eyes, Harrigan, Great Day, Peg, Molly Malone, Lullaby) and the Unicorn will be more than enough. The rest will be pop music from the 60s to the present (depending on the crowd). I suspect mostly "baby boomer" era songs with some modern crossovers. A couple of corny jokes like: Did you hear about the two gay Irishmen? Gerald Fitzpatrick and Patrick Fitzgerald. GROAN. Insights, incites and some very lame humor by Notes

I see the balanced cable as a fix to the problem. The balanced circuit and cable still gets noise, but the signal gets inverted on one wire before the cable, and then re-inverted after the cable. The hum interference is induced in both wires during the cable run and when the sum is re-inverted at the end the signal is strengthened and the hum cancels itself out. That's simplified, and I don't know if I'm explaining it in a way that's easy to understand. The important thing to know is that if a balanced option is offered by your gear, use it. Insights and incites by Notes.

When I turned 40 I got out of the crazy bars and went into the Yacht Club / Country Club / Condominium / Retirement Development end of the business. It's the biggest and most profitable market for us here in South Florida. There will be no green beer, but there will be cabbage and corned beef served. There will be married couples from 40 to pre-hospice folks and plenty of widows depending on which of the 5 gigs we are at (I give the retirement complexes a discount if they hire us before the actual holiday - that way I get to work more). The party where the Unicorn Song was requested is one we've been hired at for years. The woman who requested it is probably in her late 30s or early 40s. (She probably a mither who sang it to her wee ones.) I explained it was written by a Jewish guy about the Biblical Great Flood in Iraq and she responded, "I don't care, it's fun." so I told her we would have it next year. If either a regular customer requests a song, or if I get a lot of requests for a song, I'll learn it if I think I can cover it. It's how I make my living, and it's certainly better than any day job I can think of. Songs like "Unicorn" are to me the musical equivalent of Junk Food. They aren't challenging, they have little nutritional value, but they are fun to play. It's like eating potato chips. So this Patty Melt we will sing a song written by a Jewish guy from Chicago for a Children's Album about the Middle East made popular by Canadian Citizens with some birth before immigration in Ireland and have a great time while the audience stumbles over the humpty-back camel B section. I might even do some shtick, ask them to be in our background singing group, "The Mormon Bait And Tackle Choir" and encourage them to sing. Of course, I'll tell them, "If you can't remember the words, do what the pros do --- mumble." And James G, yes the Irish is Paddy, but here in the USA most people call it St. Patty's day, and it's easier on the audience if I agree rather than educate. Besides, our annual "Patty Melt" is a better pun than "Paddy Melt". ;) I told you USA people are just plain weird (myself DEFINITELY included). BTW, I live in a state populated by alligators, I've seen thousands of them, and never a green one. But perhaps they dress in green on St Patrick's day - I wouldn't know, I'm always gigging on that day :D Insights, incites and a little silliness by Notes

OK, later this month we have 5 St Patty Parties (we call it our annual Patty Melt). Last year we had a new song requested. Most of the songs we play for the retirement crowd at a Patty Melt party are either Irish, written by an Irish American, or written by a non-Irish American. But all traditional Patty songs are about either real or imaginary Ireland or people who came to America from Ireland. Last year we had a few requests for "The Unicorn Song" Now this song: 1) Was written by a Jewish guy from Chicago (the brilliant Shel Silverstein) 2) Has absolutely nothing to do with Ireland 3) Has nothing to do wit Irish people 4) The subject about a biblical flood that happened in Mesopotamia which is present day Iraq 5) Was made famous by a band comprised of Canadian Citizens who happened to call themselves the Irish Rovers (although there is some Irish birth) With real Irish artists/bands like U2, Van Morrison, Sinead O'Connor, Dropkick Murphys, Dubliners, Cranberries, Pogues, and others, how did this Canadian Band singing a Jewish song set in the Mid-East get to be a St Patty song when these other fine artists who are really from Ireland are ignored? St. Patrick's day is a strange holiday and we US Americans are strange people who seem to take everything to an extreme. Thank you Irish diaspora for this celebration, I'll be wearing some green. I was French on Mardi Gras last Tuesday. Of course, this is all meant in fun and not really a minor rant. I'm making a backing track for it today. If they wanna hear it, and it'll help their party, we wanna play it. Insights, incites and a little grin by Notes