To be honest, today's plugin is not totally free (or just for a while): Waves GTR Solo is a collection of guitar amp simulations and effects (that of course is useful for bassists as well). Normally, GTR Solo is about €150, but for now, you can get a free license for one year from Waves. They probably hope you'll like it so much that you'll buy it after using it for one year. Until then, it's a great opportunity to test the plugin extensively and use it for your own productions.
Tomorrow, Future Music Camp 2009 will start at the Pop Academy Mannheim. It's a barcamp focused on music and entertainment with a lot of high-profile participants.
The camp will start on Friday night with a meet & greet session. Saturday and Sunday there'll be sessions on different topics. More information can be found on their web site (in German) and on Twitter (#fmc09).
I'll be there on Saturday. Will you be there as well?
I'm not sure whether it's the global recession or the summer weather – but currently there seems to be quite a number of interesting deals for musicians.
After finishing their promotion on Kore, Native Instruments now has a very interestig offer for their Komplete package: During July, their package of Native Instruments software instruments is only €399. This package includes Kontakt 3, Guitar Rig (Software Edition), Massive, Reaktor 5, Absynth 4, Battery 3, Akoustik Piano, Elektrik Piano, B4 II, FM 8 and PRO-53. The offer should be available at your favourite dealer (e.g. at Thomann).
IK Multimedia also has an opportunity for you to save some money with their special promotion on T-Racks 3 Singles, the individual plugins that belong to the T-RackS 3 Deluxe Mixing and Mastering Suite. If during July or August you buy one product of the series (at €75), you will get another product for free after online registration. They even have a “lemming” bonus: If more than 500 people make use of this promotion, you will get another product, with more than 1000 people you'll get a third one for free. Time to subtly exert some pressure on your fellow muscians :-). The page linked to also has some details on the individual products (Metering, Compressor, Limiter, Linear Phase EQ, etc.). If you're interested in getting several plugins: At
Thomann, the complete suite is €380 (in Germany).
By the way, how much is a good instrument for someone starting to play bass?
I bought my first bass from a friend in 1994, at DM 450,-. It was a used Hohner PJ bass that had a few issues and was not the ideal instrument for a beginner. By the way, today, the bass is played in Tansania.
In the mean time, the bass market has changed a lot. When yesterday I was asked how much a bass for a beginner is about, I had to first think a bit. In this case, it's about getting a bass for a student band, and the budget allows for not choosing the most cheap instruments. And let's also add the follow-up question: Should you start on a four-string, or can you choose to start on a five-string as well?
My gut reaction was: You shouldn't spend less than €250 unless you really don't have any money or if you are extremely lucky and find an okay instrument. Between €250 and €600, you should be able to find good instruments that will not damage your technique (e.g. by Squier, Ibanez, Yamaha). Above that, you're already in an area where you can afford to be choosy and where you can find an instrument “for life” if you play bass occasionally. People normally only spend more than €1500 if they play bass quite a lot, and if you spend more than €2500-3000, you probably have good reasons to. But before you enter this kind of price range, most people rather choose to have a second or third bass ;-). (Although, judging from the Talkbass classifieds, there are more than enough people buying in this price range.)
When buying instruments, I would also recommend looking at the used instruments market. You should play an instrument before buying it anyway – so it doesn't matter whether you do that at a shop or at someone's house. And an experienced bassist (that I recommend asking when buying a bass anyway) should be able to find flaws in an instrument rather quickly, unlike for example when buying a car. Basses are much less complicated than cars :-).
And about four vs. five strings: I think it depends on the music you want to make. If you want to play rock, a five-string can come in very handy. But both can be used to learn solid bass technique, so I wouldn't say there is a fixed rule. Of course it is a good idea to also play a four-string once in a while (or vice versa) to gather more experience. And of course you also need an amp, but that's another story for another blog entry…
What do you think? Is €250-€600 an okay budget range for this case? Can you start on a five-string as well, or do you think it's better to start on a four-string as a matter of principle?
"To do this you have to sacrifice your life, your childhood (…) It's giving up your life for the medium".
Much has been written about the death of Michael Jackson, arguably the most influential figure in the young history of pop music. Few articles are as thoughtful and well-researched as Pat Kane's portrait of Michael Jackson as a man in our mirror. A long but worthy read that not just talks about Jackson, but also about our reaction to and fascination with him.
Pat Kane – The Man in Our Mirror: Michael Jackson
Even for equalization, sound coloration can be desired – as proven by Voxengo's Overtone GEQ. This 7-band equalizer plugin has loads of features: Up to 8 channels, internal channel routing, mid/side processing, harmonic coloration per EQ band – and all that for an unbeatable price: Like all other plugins presented in this series, Voxengo Overtone GEQ is free.
A while ago, Michael Preidel introduced me to Esperanza Spalding, a fantastic young double-bass player. Now that she's been voted "Up & Coming Artist of the Year" by the Jazz Journalists Association (thanks to Jonas and the Bass-Blogger for the news), this is a good occasion to introduce here on this blog. And since Michael chose an excellent video for his blog entry, I'll just take the same - in my opinion, it's her best on YouTube.
Esperanza Spalding at a gala at the White House honoring Stevie Wonder, singing and playing one of my favourite songs: Overjoyed.
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