Las Vegas on NS

Hi All,

I'm here in Las Vegas playin' at the "Orleans Hotel/Casino"... Lovely showroom however I did have trouble with the monitor mix sound. That's something I don't have control over and had to shrug it off and get through that show the best I could. That's when knowing your instrument comes into play.

The sound was loud enough but mushy. It lacked punch and presence. It's tough to drive a band with that sound pumping through their monitor mix. If I were playing my electric bass I would compensate by playing harder on the string (pounding them actually very hard) and plucking farther back to the bridge.

The NS however reacts differently and you have a few more options... however pounding isn't one of them. That will actually give you a thinner sound and some 'clack' to boot. The good options are these:
Pluck back by the bridge - turn the volume up and pluck the string with a bit of force to get the mid frequencies working for you. Note: That by changing my amp eq, that will effect the sound for me but do nothing for the mixes as both the house and monitors signal is taken direct (bypassing the amp). So you must effect your instrument to get every system 'in line' with your sound. So, it's fingers and volume which (in my opinion) is where the quality of sound is initiated).

Also with the NS you have the "outside" option of which set of strings to play that bass note on. You can play low on the neck and use the thinner gauge higher strings or player higher on the neck using the thicker gauge lower strings. The difference - More punch to the tone if you use the thinner string - and using the lower gives me more mass volume and natural darkness to the tone. Not muddy bass but a darker rich tone.

AND the final solution to the whole problem was come in an hour before the next show and give the engineers a chance to tweak... and that solved it as well as making it easier on me to play. You can spend the show time playing rather than compensating.

As it seems for me - where there once was no NS solo... I find or make one. There's a moment where the drums and bass groove together over some show shtick. I take full advantage and what was once written as a drums and bass vamp is now "drums and NS/solo with hands flyin". "Ah, blazin' trails" and happy ones at that.

Now for the serious stuff. The food is not so great here in the hotel coffee shop and buffet area... looks wonderful but lacks the needed element of desirable flavor. Quite bland BUT... the price is right. Especially for me cause its free but even if ya gotta pay it's cheap... It's so bad (like the upcoming old joke) that when the waiter asked me how I like my steak, I said, "Good and Rare" and he said... "Anything Good here is Rare"... Brump bump!

So, what's the cure for that?!!!! I have the answer. Eat in the dressing rooms where every night they have a new entree for us AND one with the secret ingredient of 'flavor'. PLUS TWO big plates of those "big" chewy cookies. As you know I'm more of a donut man... but I did get through 8 cookies nicely.

Usually on "Rock" tours there's Jack Daniels and on these type gigs usually nice wines... they had both. I should take up drinking but beer and cookies don't mix well... (tried it last night)... kills the cookie flavor... (you can tell I'm a hard core drinker).

Yesterday I did a little rock climbing at "Red Rock Canyon". BEAUTIFUL!!! If you haven't been it's 15 minutes out from the strip..... soooo quiet, and beautiful. There are signs directing you to the park and for 5 bucks you can drive, hike, jog, bike etc,.. your way around. Being the great outdoors men I am - after fooling around on the rocks I got in my car - blasted the air conditioning and drove the rest of the way around. Ah, just wonderful.

This gig comes back in October (Frankie Avalon and Bobby Rydell) where I will once again fool around on the rocks - then drive the rest of the way around but this time run the heater.

Take care,
Don
www.donschiff.com (for more stories hit blog)and for actual 'real' information and good stuff hit www.stick.com