Studio Drum Upgrade

Coming this weekend. Tama Imperial Star drumkit. Brand new kit for room 3. Ludwig Kit will be moved to Room 4 after re-conditioning. New kit includes snare, two mounted toms, floor tom and maple ringed bass drum. Fitted with Evans and Remo heads this kit is a major addition to our gear.

Baseline Gig - July 13th 2012

Emissaries - Live at The Baseline

Here is a track from this fine band. Welcome to the Revolution recorded live at The Baseline



Opportunities for Promoters

The Basement Studio is actively seeking to work with young, talented, local promoters who want a superior venue for their bands. The Baseline at The Court House, New Street, Dudley, is one such venue.
We have put together a package for promoters which we feel offers the opportunity to develop and improve the live music scene in Dudley.
For further details from http://www.baselinedudley.co.uk/ or ring 07979 653412

Baseline Gig 25th May - some photos

LEE HUGHES

 

EMISSARIES



RED:LINE:RATIO

Baseline - Friday 27th April - more photos

Baseline Gig - April 27th - Photos

A few photos from last friday's Baseline Gig.

Target by Numbers

The Styles

The Picture

Baseline Lighting

One of the areas of improvement that we feel we needed to make at our venue "The Baseline" at The Court House is in auditorium lighting, We needed to connect the audience to the performing area. To do this we have added two new lighting effects. Subtle lighting to the front of stage has been augmented with laser lighting to the whole room. This will get its first airing at Friday's gig. After seeing these effects in action we are convinced that the audience will get more impact from the stage performance.

Pictured above is the effect gained in the auditorium by the new lighting.

The Baseline - 27th April - Band Profiles

Headline - Target by Numbers.
Less than 12 months ago these four lads we unknown outside The Basement Studio. Since their first Baseline Gig at The Earl of Dudley Arms they have become one of the leading support bands at The Robin 2 in Bilston, supporting some major british Artistes. Their blend of "easy on the ear" original British Indie pop/rock is centered around the vocal talents of Matt Jones and his accoustic rhythm guitar. Backed up by the haunting lead guitar of Neil Martin, these two provide the overlay on a backline provided by Nathan Millward's stylish bass licks and the superb Pete Smith on drums.

Support- The Styles.
Like Target by Numbers, The Styles have also emerged over the last 12 months. They also played their first gig at The Earl of Dudley Arms, and have gone on to play gigs at bigger venues throughout the West Midlands. They continue to expand their repertoire of original material which contains a mild jazz influence mixed with catchy licks which leave you humming the tunes long after the set is finished. These lads will headline their own gigs in the near future.

Support-The Picture
We could, should and have, headlined with these boys. We put them on first as our 'house band' for this gig as we know they never fail to please. The present line-up of this four-piece original rock outfit was born out of tragedy. It is just over 12 months since guitarist Steve Cutler was taken from us. He was a founder member and, along with bassist Fred Fieldhouse, the band's main song-writer. The Picture continue to perform Steve's songs, including some discovered after his death. The band has moved on, however, and although Steve's influence is still present, the band have refused to sit in the past. Their music has the drive and energy to get this evening off to a cracking start.

Basement Studio - Equipment Upgrade - New Combo Amp

Yet more upgrading at the studio. Added to our range of combo amps is this Laney Fusion TF 300 Tube amp. Almost identical to the TF 700 head that many of you are used to using at the studio, this powerful little beast will be installed in one of our rooms within a few days. Which room ......wait and see. Hope you are one of the lucky guitarists to alight upon this one, its a gem.

LANEY FUSION TF 300

Basement Studio - Equipment Upgrade - Latest News

Within the next few days all our combo amps are to be mounted on 45 degree tilt stands. These are designed to give greater audio experience as the speaker is tilted towards the player rather than to the player's knees!
We already use these at "The Baseline", our live venue at The Court House, and have proved to be very successful in live applications. In a rehearsal context they allow for a greater dispersion of sound at the lower volumes of a rehearsal room.



Baseline Gig - More Photos

Last Night's Gig - First Photos

The Baseline @ The Court House - Friday 30th March

Swamp Snakes

Synopsis

Halogen Pup



Basement Studio - Equipment Upgrade - Latest News

As part of our policy of upgrading the studio's equipment we are replacing the old Marshall 100 watt mosfet heads (circa 1990 ish) with brand new (and stylish) Marshall MG 100 HDFX heads.

We took delivery of the first of these last month, and installed it in Room 3. This has proved a popular addition. Two more will arrive tomorrow and replace the heads in Room 1 and Room 2. Room 1 has now been equipped with a newer Laney Pro-Linebacker 100 watt system (see an earlier post on equipment upgrade 21st June 2011).

We have also purchased a Marshall 4x12 300 watt 60's re-issue sloping front speaker cab for room 3.

The new Marshall MG100 is pictured below

Standard footswitches are available for use with these amps, free of charge.

Further upgrade news soon.

Rehearsal Prices

We have decided to increase the price of  rehearsals from £8 to £9 per hour. This is a reflection of the rising costs of electricity, rates and other services and is the first rise since April 2008.

The Basement is still £1 per hour cheaper than some local competitors and £3 per hour cheaper than others.

The price rise will mean that we can cover increased costs whilst still allowing us to improve and develop our facilities.

The price rise will take effect from April 1st. 2012

Current recording prices will be held until August.

Frank & James

Headline Bands - March 30th - Halogen Pup & Synopsis

Halogen Pup - Absence of a Beauty Queen

Synopsis - To be Free

Rock 'n' Wrestle Festival - Wakefield Thunderdome - 4 - 5 August 2012



After days of voting, the final two bands for the line-up have been decided by public vote. The studio has been campaigning via our Facebook Group, for one of our rehearsal bands, WINTER STORM, on behalf of singer/guitarist Hannah Fieldhouse.
The results are now in and out of  2721 votes cast, the top three bands out of the 34 listed were:

COUNTERHOLD       763
WINTER STORM       752
IMPERIAL CIRCUS    649
The fourth placed band polled  117  votes
The top two go forward to the main festival.

These were the recorded votes on the festival website when it closed at 6pm. The website re-opens at 9pm when, presumably, the results will be officially posted.

Thanks to anyone out there who supported Hannah and her great band. We were priviliged to be a small part of your achievement and wish you every success at the festival.... knock em dead.

Winter Storm

Tickets can be obtained through http://www.rocknwrestle.co.uk/

BASELINE GIG - 24th Feb. - photos

A selection of photographs from this great opening night.

Lazy J being lazy

....and working hard

Babelfish

The Picture

You pay for what you get and you get what you pay for

Four days to go to the opening of THE BASELINE (mark 2) and i feel i must respond to a comment i discovered on a Facebook group recently. It was a comment written by a local pub landlord who was having a "dig" at venues that charged for entry (like us) and venues that don't (like his).
Under some circumstances i can see where he's coming from, but there is a difference; in fact - many differences that should be accounted for.
Firstly, most pubs get an "entertainment budget" from the brewery, a weekly amount used to pay bands/artistes. In many cases this money is syphoned off at source and the bands are expected to play for nothing. This is not always the case, but it does happen.
In our case bands get 50% of what they sell. The other 50% is used to pay door & stage crew and contribute towards our equipment investment costs.
Secondly, most pubs provide the corner of a room, and a power supply. Some may occasionally provide a P.A. (paid for out of budget, thus denying the bands), but bands normally have to bring their own gear.
In our case bands can bring their own gear if they wish, but we supply all the equipment needed, full back line, drum kit, P.A. with mics and a damn good sound engineer to mix it all.
On top of that we provide a lighting rig and all the necessary organisation. And to cap it all the Bands get a recording (high quality too) of their performance.
What about the people who pay good money for their ticket. well, some people like the atmosphere generated in a small pub by a live band, but most like to see the band and hear a quality reproduction of their sound, instead of having to peer around a pillar or be squeezed against a P.A. cab.
At the end of the day free entry venues are a great thing, but they should not be confused with what we're trying to do at The Baseline, its chalk & cheeze and both have their place. its a long time since i've had a gripe on this blog but i stick to the true meaning of the title of this piece.

Basement Studio - Continuous Equipment Upgrade

As part of our policy of upgrading the studio's equipment we are replacing the old Marshall 100 watt mosfet heads (circa 1990 ish) with brand new (and stylish) Marshall MG 100 HDFX heads.

We have taken delivery of the first of these, and installed it in Room 3. Two more will arrive in March and replace the heads in Room 1 and Room 2. Room 1 has now been equipped with a newer

Laney Pro-Linebacker 100 watt system (see an earlier post on equipment upgrade 21st June 2011).

The older Mosfet heads will be available for purchase. Both have been recently serviced and we are open to serious offers for these virtually bullet-proof heads.

The new Marshall MG100 is pictured below



All ready for 24th

P.A. and lighting installation complete



Recording Enhancements

Continuing the policy of upgrading our studio equipment, we have recently upgraded our stock of recording equipment including a Rode NT1-A vocal condenser microphone. Ideal for layered or live work, we look forward to using this on the upcoming Target by Numbers and Red Line Ratio studio recordings.



Express & Star Wed 1st Feb

The build up is in full swing to our opening night of THE BASELINE @ The Court House, as this article from The Express & Star illustrates



Baseline - Opening night change

Red Line Ratio have been replaced by The Picture as the main support band on Feb 24th. More details on the main site at www.thebasementstudio.co.uk/baseline.html

Baseline Line-Ups February - May

Feb 24th: Lazy J, Red Line Ratio, Babelfish
March 30th: Halogen Pup, Synopsis, Swamp Snakes
April 27th: Target by Numbers, The Picture, The Styles
May 25th: Red Line Ratio, Emissaries, Lee Hughes

All 8.00pm start (Doors 7.30)
Tickets £4 in advance (from bands, Basement Studio or Court house)
£6 on door

New Baseline Equipment - Part 2

The second in our series outlining the new equipment installed at The Court House for our Baseline Gigs starting on February 24th. This time we look at the PA comprising a BEHRINGER SX2442FX 24 channel mixer and a pair of ALTO TS 115 800 watt active heads and a single ALTO TS 1200 watt active sub giving a total of 2800 watts of music power.

A pair of LONGeR DB floor monitors completes the set-up.

All this supplemented by SHURE SM58 vocal mics, YOGA D727 instrument mics, SHURE PGDMK4 drum mics and BEHRINGER C2 condenser mics supervised, as usual, by our resident sound engineer, James Callaghan - quality sound is assured.



New Baseline Equipment - Part 1

Gearing up for our opening on February 24th, this is the first in a series outlining the equipment we are installing at the venue. We start off with the drumkit, a YAMAHA Rydeen 5 piece kit with AQUARIAN Performance 11 Tom Heads, AQUARIAN Super-Kick 11 Bass Head and an EVANS power centre snare head.



BASELINE OPENING NIGHT - TRY BEFORE YOU BUY !!!!

To whet your appetite for our opening night on February 24th you can hear tracks from all three bands on our main site. Just click on the link below and select "2011 OPENING NIGHT" from the menu.
www.thebasementstudio.co.uk/baseline.html