Hello everyone,Just to let those know whom might be interested that I have created a group on LinkedIn for Gigging Musicians to discuss all things about gigging! Why not pop over and say hello!You can find the group here.You can also take a look at a blog post I wrote on top gigging tips here.EnjoyPeaceNeil
Gigging life saver - Neil's top tip 2
Don't over look a cheaper guitar as a backup. As we know you should always take a backup guitar to a gig, in case of any number of posible problem scenarios (most usually string breakage and tunage issues), so rather than taking your prized strat or Les Paul etc out, look at cheaper but reasonable guitars to gig with. You never know when some drunken reveller will get up and do untold damage!Top Tip 2 - Take a cheap guitar as a back upPeaceNeil
Google Alerts for social media marketing
Here is a little note about Google Alerts in relation to social media and marketing as it is a fantastic tool. Google Alerts enables you to filter search results in line with topics of interest to you and then email them to your inbox. This means you can constant be analysing what is happening in the blogsphere, news and other sites. It is very a time saving tool. Many years ago I worked for a company offering this kind of news aggregating functionality for considerable investment, and as is common place now, Google are offering it now for free. I would recommended signing up, and tracking topics related to your business!EnjoyPeaceNeil
Solution to 4 Channel Method (4 CM) using TC Nova System
The TC Nova System is a simply awesome pedal. I love it to bits, you can read my review here, TC Nova System review.
One of the criticisms is that you can't do it 4cm, I mentioned this factor in the review "Whilst I totally understand the reason that you can’t to 4CM (4 Channel Method) with the Nova System (i.e. stump up and buy a G-System), it is a real sadness that the drive pedal (and also technically the compressor too) are lost if you decided to run it in the effects loop.”
It really is such a shame to have to lose the drive pedals (and compressor!) if you want to run the unit in the loop, where it technically should be if you are using a distorted amp, as that method also means that you are also loosing an amp channel if you run the Nova System straight into the front end of your clean amp.
This is a real shame as the Nova Drive/Distortion are fantastic, and one of the best things about the Nova System, and usually most amps are two channel and you end up loosing what I am guessing is a fantastic amp sound too.
I have to say though that it makes some sense not to have the 4 CM method on the Nova System, because TC would want you to buy a full on G-system at three times the amount! If they allowed you to run the Nova System in 4 CM, I am guessing most people wouldn't buy a G-System!But then I had a thought.....yes I do have them sometimes.....you could actually buy another Nova System....maybe even second hand...to run in the loop....this would still cost considerably less than a G-System, or even if you wanted to go 'Rack' for the loop, the G-Major 2 is still more than a Nova System.
So what are some other plus points?
You can link the two Nova Systems via midi, meaning you could create a very interesting midi setup
Because the Nova System only allows you to insert one controller (that is either a G-Switch or Expression Pedal), by having two units, you get back the preset control in one and the modulation control in the other!
It would look cool!
You get two of each effect block (one in front of the amp and one in the loop), so you can double up on some of the effects....that is use, for example, an Octaver and pitch shifter or use chorus and flanger together for example!
I think i might start saving up!
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Peace
Neil
Interesting article on the creative composing process
I came across this article about film composing, and it is certainly a very prevalent article about all things related to working in the creative industry. I think it applies equally to those working in film production as well. Well worth a read.http://www.musiccomposerblog.com/playing-well-with-other-kids-in-the-sandbox.htmlEnjoyPeaceNeil
The effects of expectation on the perception of soundscapes - Abstract
Here is the abstract to my PhD thesis entitled "The effects of expectation on the perception of soundscapes", if you would like more information, please contact me directly. I will shortly be posting the introduction chapter.Abstract This thesis discusses how expectation is a contributory factor in the perception of soundscapes. “Soundscape” is a term attributed to R.Murray Schafer to define the acoustic environment, a recent ISO workgroup has proposed a formal definition as the “perception and understanding of an acoustic environment, in context, by the individual, or by a society” As such there is a move away from traditional acoustic methods of understanding environmental sound towards a more holistic, and interdisciplinary, approach to the sound environment. Previous soundscape research has identified the importance of semantic meaning attributed to soundscapes focusing on investigating linguistic and textual approaches of how people describe the soundscape. This thesis aims to extend the concept of meaning to give an insight into what particular soundscapes mean to people, and if this related to a predefined expectation based on context. This work expands Truax‟s notion of soundscape competence, and investigates how people perceive the soundscape. In particular how expectation of a particular space impacts on the perception of that space. This in turn addresses the issue of defining a context for a space and understanding how the soundscape is of importance to perception of spaces.The research which forms this work uses a number of interdisciplinary methods, from the fields of acoustics, social science and psychology, with the aim of developing a new qualitative and quantitative methodology for soundscape research. The work consists of qualitative fieldwork, and the development of a soundscape simulator in the laboratory. Through the use of an enhanced version of soundwalking, participants were asked questions aimed to analyse their pre-determined environmental expectation and their actual experience of a number of different spaces, and how this impacts on their perception and evaluation of the soundscape. The soundscape simulator was a tool by which participants could control and design their own soundscapes, whilst providing useful quantitative and qualitative data about choices made in the design process. Soundscape expectation is shown to relate not only to competence in perceiving the components of the soundscape but also to attitudes towards safety, social norms, accepted behaviour, visual aesthetics and control attributed to the space. Expectation based on competence forms the basis of place expectation or context, and relates to the overall perception of the soundscape for each space. When one or more of these factors conflict with a perceived place expectation, then perception of the soundscape becomes more important and impacts on the perception of the space. This work concludes that the meaning of a soundscape and its perception is related to an individual‟s expectation of the context of a space.Keywords : Soundscape, sound design, urban planning, expectation, competence, content, sound scapeCopyright 2011 Dr Neil Bruce - University of Salford
So...
...it's been a while since my last post and a fair amount has happened. Primarily, I am living and fighting against a lot of the things I talk about in the blog. I have been made redundant from a job which I loved, and I have been going through the totally insane process of leaving. It just goes to show that you shouldn't perhaps think that it can't happen to you. For me it was yet another wake up call in the realisation I had many years ago...the sacrifice for the constant paycheck probably isn't worth it. There is no loyalty, no matter how much you might give to the job. You are better of breaking free and doing your own thing. I think now more than ever it is the best time to go it alone, try a portfolio career and most of all ENJOY Life!!