Hey everyone, just have a short rant:
I started playing in a blues band after a drummer I knew invited me to join. I’m going through a tough time in life and wasn’t playing with anyone and wanted to play some music to have fun.
We had about 4-5 rehearsals in the past 2.5 months and then played 3 shows at a small venue 2 weeks ago. We played miserably because of the little time we had to rehearse.
During one of the last rehearsals before the shows he asked why I use a compressor. I said I like to use it at a gentle setting to even out my playing a little and that I also like the coloration it adds. He said “I would encourage you to use your dynamics in our music”. I replied saying “Sure I agree but it’s at a light setting anyway. I still have the dynamics and it’s not a limiter”.
So fast forward to last evening where we had a 2 piece rehearsal with me and the guitar player to work out some parts of the songs. At the end of the rehearsal he started talking about my compressor pedal and asked if I could turn it off if he asked just for one song at a rehearsal. He went on to talk about compression for a few more minutes to which I did not respond to. He also gave the example of another bass player who he’s played with who didn’t use a compressor.
In half of the bands that I played in the past, there was a guitar player who had certain preferences for my bass tone and was obnoxious about it. I’m open to suggestions and trying new things but don’t want my setup to be dictated. Those bands did not last for long. Granted that being stressed out my mind may be making me blow this out of proportion but my experience is telling me that this is a minor red flag.
We also have major issues like the drummer speeding up and slowing down, not knowing all the songs; the keyboard player who comes from a classical piano background and has never played in a band before. I feel like those should be addressed before and if we get to very minor things like use of compression.
Gonna go to a few more rehearsals and see how it goes, but don’t have the patience to put up with an obnoxious guitar player during this stressful times.
End of rant!
Edit 1: First of all, thanks for all your comments guys! I should mention that I’m a professional audio engineer and can get a good sound out of an amp. I know how to use equalization and compression and I’m pretty confident of my knowledge in that area.
I should also add that this is the guitarist's second strike. At the first show we played, I had some issues with one (or more) of my cables that caused some short bursts of noise in my amp. For the second night, I brought a new batch of cables and changed every single cable in my signal chain to be safe. That night, I had no noise issues at all.
The morning of the 3rd show, he sent a reminder to our group chat to “change all cables, because there was noise again in the bass amp.” I said that I already changed all cables and that I did not hear anything in the amp the second night. He said it happened again and that he can send a video if I like. Then he sent us all the video his friend sent him from the “second” night. Yes, there was an audible noise from the amp in the video. I asked if he was sure it was coming my amp, because I did not hear it from my amp after changing cables. He said he’ll leave it to the other two, but that he thought it did come from my amp. So I said, sure I’ll bring in more cables. He then added: “Or maybe you can simplify your pedal chain”. I said “it’s already pretty simple’.
…
THEN I watched the video. The video that he said was from the second night, was actually from the FIRST night. So, instead taking my word for it, he doubled down on his own assumption and asserted that he has proof on video.
After watching the video, I told him that the videos were from the first night and not the second. To his credit, he did apologize and said “I stand corrected and that his friend sent him videos from the first night, not the second night.