eric_B
Senior Member
I've played a couple of times with 3 male musicians and 2-3 female singers (I use these words as they don't seem to be a tight band yet) who want me to join and I've run into a couple of issues and a bigger problem.
I went 3 times and could not hear my bass drum, just the bass player who kept turning up the volume on request of the others. I could hear a syncing problem but not what was causing it.
So last time I brought a small mixer, a bass drum mic, a Zoom recorder and my in ears so I could mix my bass drum and the others to my taste. I also recorded some tracks so I could double check at home what I was suspecting: the bass player seems to be playing in his own world, not syncing with me. Not a bad player at all but not tight and not listening to me.
So I sent the band leader (guitar player) and bass player the recording and asked their opinion. Answer: sounds nice and clear but we can't hear your bass drum. (Yeah, I knew that...). So I asked again if they could hear a timing problem. Answer: no, we can hear the snare on 2 and 4 so what do you mean?
To put this in perspective: they are around 50-60 years old, have probably been playing a long time, no beginners. The bass player has been recovering from a double paraplegia and is over excited to be able to play again. So I don't feel very good telling him he needs to work on his timing.
I decided to call them and talk about the problem. They are easy going guys and the talk was not bad but they still don't seem to notice the timing problem. I think that might be an ever bigger problem.
A cause could be that their previous drummer (and also the keyboard player) didn't have great timing so they stopped listening and the bass player became the (unsteady) metronome.
Another problem is it seems to be the guitar and bass player vs the keyboard player and singers. The latter don't really practice their parts (are in other bands as well), seem to forget a lot of stuff and don't really take their responsibility.
After my previous band with timing and social problems I'm not overly excited to join a new band and go through the same again.
However, I do like a lot of the songs they play and, if everyone does their best, it can sound good. And also, bands are hard to find in my area, this is the first serious one in 2,5 years.
OK, so it turned out quite a long story...what would you do?
I went 3 times and could not hear my bass drum, just the bass player who kept turning up the volume on request of the others. I could hear a syncing problem but not what was causing it.
So last time I brought a small mixer, a bass drum mic, a Zoom recorder and my in ears so I could mix my bass drum and the others to my taste. I also recorded some tracks so I could double check at home what I was suspecting: the bass player seems to be playing in his own world, not syncing with me. Not a bad player at all but not tight and not listening to me.
So I sent the band leader (guitar player) and bass player the recording and asked their opinion. Answer: sounds nice and clear but we can't hear your bass drum. (Yeah, I knew that...). So I asked again if they could hear a timing problem. Answer: no, we can hear the snare on 2 and 4 so what do you mean?
To put this in perspective: they are around 50-60 years old, have probably been playing a long time, no beginners. The bass player has been recovering from a double paraplegia and is over excited to be able to play again. So I don't feel very good telling him he needs to work on his timing.
I decided to call them and talk about the problem. They are easy going guys and the talk was not bad but they still don't seem to notice the timing problem. I think that might be an ever bigger problem.
A cause could be that their previous drummer (and also the keyboard player) didn't have great timing so they stopped listening and the bass player became the (unsteady) metronome.
Another problem is it seems to be the guitar and bass player vs the keyboard player and singers. The latter don't really practice their parts (are in other bands as well), seem to forget a lot of stuff and don't really take their responsibility.
After my previous band with timing and social problems I'm not overly excited to join a new band and go through the same again.
However, I do like a lot of the songs they play and, if everyone does their best, it can sound good. And also, bands are hard to find in my area, this is the first serious one in 2,5 years.
OK, so it turned out quite a long story...what would you do?