I start writing this with a real "what's the point?" kind of thought in my head.  Does anyone actually read this stuff?  Does anyone actually care?  I was reading a thread on a certain local music forum which was making an example of someone who was documenting their entire life in minute detail on Twitter.  Let's just say that ridicule was most definitely on the menu.

Well, for those of you out there not sleeping (or having trouble sleeping), I'm mostly looking forward to this weekend - pay day's on Friday, got a gig with the band on Saturday (it's a birthday party, otherwise I'd be pimping it to the max, but if you really, REALLY want to go then let me know and I'll see what I can do).  Minor highlights will be band practice on Wednesday, and hopefully receiving a missing piece for one of my basses which some kind soul on Basschat seems to be happy to give me for nothing.

Jayne and I recorded a wee song for the IheartUTG CD at the weekend.  It's a reworking of the Burns song "The Slave's Lament".  Considering we recorded it in the bedroom in a few hours with nothing more than a bass, a keyboard, a small plastic tub (improvised drum), a Shure Beta 58A microphone, a USB sound interface and Audacity, I think it came out pretty good.

Jury's still out on the whole earplugs thing - in the three practices I've had since I got them I've had variable results - room 4 in Musical Vision was good, room 2 was passable and room 5 was bloody awful.  There's probably a plethora of reasons why - different amps, different basses, different room dimensions.  They have been great at gigs I have attended though.

Lesson learned: don't skimp on protection

I recently decided to get hold of some half decent earplugs having been pointed in the direction of a good deal on some ER-20 earplugs on eBay.  I've tried cheap foam ones before and while they are useful for getting a snooze on a busy aeroplane, they tend to muffle music unnaturally and make having conversations difficult due to the way they attenuate sound.

I tried out my new ER-20s at a gig this weekend and I have to say I was impressed.  The sound was pretty clear, high frequencies from the drums were still a little muted but nowhere near as bad as with foam.  I was able to have conversations reasonably well.  I walked past (literally feet away) from a loud rock band and didn't even feel the need to blink, it was just like listening at reasonable volume at home.

The big test will come tomorrow when I'll give them a go at band practice.  I tried foam plugs once and it was a disaster - I felt so detached from the rest of the band I couldn't play properly, timing was all over the place.  I'll let you know how I get on :)