u/Visual-Individual-49

First off, here is my story. I went to a tiny jazz bar and joined a jam session after reading on their website that "beginners are welcome."

When I walked in, there were only about five tables. A piano solo was in full swing. After the solo ended, everyone applauded, so I clapped along. I kept clapping on the 2 and 4 during the following play, but the manager gestured for me to stop. I immediately thought, "Ah, so it's that kind of vibe."

Watching the vocalist sing a jazz ballad, I realized, "I really came to the wrong place."

Still, aside from the saxophonist, I noticed the other players rushing, dragging, and making mistakes. I figured, "Maybe the atmosphere isn't super strict after all," and decided to join in.

There was a tiny bass drum (looked like 16 inches), concrete walls, and a low ceiling. I ended up playing two songs. From the very first song, I knew I was screwed. Aside from the Japanese folks, there were two Westerners: a guy in the audience who spoke fluent Japanese, and the host playing the piano.

From my angle, they were the only two people whose faces I could see. The Westerner in the audience would frown occasionally, and I could tell the piano player wasn't happy about something either.

My mind was racing: "I'm playing at 20% of my usual volume, is this still too loud? Is my timekeeping off? Do I lack a swing feel?" I just kept lowering my volume and focused purely on timekeeping and listening to the other instruments' comping. For the second song, I played as quietly as humanly possible while still maintaining a swing feel. I don't think I've ever played that softly in my life.

After those two songs, I just sat there awkwardly by myself. Anyone could tell the situation: I was a total outsider and not welcome (and to be fair, I am an outsider). Plus, I felt like I completely ruined the performance. I wouldn't have even been mad if they had cursed me out.

Eventually, the saxophonist came over and talked to me while I was just looking around. We chatted for a few minutes, but he intentionally avoided talking about the performance or giving feedback, just smiling and saying, "You played well." It felt very much like typical East Asian politeness.

I asked them, "Was I too loud? If you don't mind, could I get some honest feedback?" The bass player was the only one who gave me a straight answer. He said, "The back wall here is concrete and the ceiling is low, so the sound reflects a lot." So yeah, I guess I was too loud. He also mentioned it's better not to play too many triplets. I didn't catch everything perfectly, but I think he meant I was over-comping.

Honestly, I was pretty embarrassed, and it made me realize I need to practice playing at even lower dynamic ranges. But it was also bizarre because the vibe was so strict that if I had played a single rimshot or thrown in some chops, I felt like they would have thrown a cup at my head. Jazz has so many different styles, right? There are powerful drummers like Buddy Rich, Art Blakey, and Brian Blade. But it felt like that kind of energetic playing was absolutely forbidden there. It also felt very closed-off to outsiders.

Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to ask: are other jam sessions in Japan generally like this too? I was planning to check out other places, but now I'm hesitating because I'm worried my participation might just be a nuisance (a "meiwaku", in their words).

It was alright, but it wasn't mind-blowing or anything.

The sound mix was pretty bad—the kick drum was way too loud, the bass and snare were quiet, and you could barely even hear the cymbals.

This might be a stretch, but it felt like the band wasn't in great shape today either. They messed up two or three songs, made mistakes, or stopped halfway through a track to switch to a different one. It almost felt like they were improvising the setlist on the fly. (Though Black must take crazy good care of his voice—he sang so well it sounded straight off the album.)

The overall volume was pretty quiet, too. At least the low end of the kick drum gave a decent thump, though.

They played pretty much all the main songs, so the setlist itself was good.

However, the crowd barely knew the songs, and honestly, it felt like they didn't even know who the Pixies were in the first place. So the whole vibe was super dead.

Maybe my expectations were too high. Just to be safe, I tried to keep my hype at around an 8 out of 10, but the show was more like a 7 or 7.5. Subconsciously, I guess I was hoping for a 10 or 12.

They didn't even do an encore—maybe because of noise complaints from the nearby residential area, or maybe the band members were just unhappy with the show. (Some guy kept trolling by screaming for "Debaser" over and over; I really wished he'd just shut the hell up.)

Seriously, the sound at this venue is absolute trash.

hello everyone,

I’m losing my mind after spending over 5 hours trying to tune a brand new 24" Remo Powerstroke 3 Clear bass drum head. I’ve used 18" and 22" Remo P3s before on other kits with absolutely zero issues, so I know how they are supposed to behave. But this 24" is a nightmare.

I ordered two 24" P3 heads together, and they arrived packaged very poorly—they were just wrapped together in bubble wrap with no cardboard box protecting them. I suspect they might have been bent or warped during transit.

From the moment I started finger-tightening the Remo, something felt completely off. The tension felt wrong immediately.

To eliminate any thread friction issues, I applied lithium grease to the ends of all the tension rods to ensure they were perfectly lubricated.

I then tried literally every popular tuning method and extreme "seating" trick in the book:

Rob Brown style tuning after finger-tight.

JAW (Just Above Wrinkle) tuning.

Standard Star pattern (diagonal cross) tuning after finger-tight

Cross-tuning using two drum keys simultaneously to balance the hoop after finger-tight

..

Massaged and bent the outer collar/ring area with my hands, gave it "CPR", and even cranked it to high tension to literally jump up and down on top of the head.

After detuning, I carefully aligned the head dead-center on the bearing edge and gently placed the wood hoop on top!

Despite all of this, the exact same issue persists on BOTH new heads:

When one side of the head clears wrinkles at basically finger-tight, the opposite side—specifically around 9 to 11 o'clock (or sometimes 4 to 7 o'clock, depending on the attempt)—requires 2 to 3 full turns of the tuning key to clear the wrinkles.

Even with the lithium grease applied, those specific rods squeak and groan under massive structural resistance from the head, while the other side is barely turned at all.

to check if my wood hoop or shell was warped, I mounted an older Evans EQ4.

The Evans tuned perfectly and effortlessly. Finger-tight all around, plus a 1/2 turn, and the wrinkles cleared instantly with almost perfect evenness (only 11 o'clock needed a tiny 1/4 extra turn). No squeaking, no weird resistance.

This makes me think my shell and hoop are 100% fine, and the issue lies with these poorly shipped Remo heads.

Even though the Evans head tunes easily, the Remo P3 sounds and feels VASTLY superior.

The Evans EQ4 has a higher pitch, but ironically, the rebound/response feels very weak and dead on the pedal. The sound is choked, thin, and lacks body.

The Remo P3—even with this ridiculously uneven, "frankenstein" tension where one side is choked tight and the other is loose—sounds incredibly deep, punchy, and has a great, pillowy, yet highly responsive rebound that feels amazing on the pedalpedal(JAW tuning).

So..

1. ​Since they were shipped in just bubble wrap, is it highly likely that both 24" Remo heads were warped/bent during shipping? However, since the two heads were packed facing each other, if one head was hard to tighten at the 9 to 11 o'clock position, the other head should logically have that issue at the 1 to 3 o'clock position.
2. ​Are Remo heads that are 24 inches or larger originally known to behave like this? Is it a common trait for their large-diameter heads?
3. ​Why did the Remo feel weird from the very beginning at the finger-tight stage compared to the Evans?
4. ​Since the Remo P3 sounds and feels amazing despite the crazy uneven tension, is it safe to just leave it like this? Will keeping 3 rods cranked 3 turns tighter than the rest warp my wood hoop or shell over time?

I would highly appreciate any advice!

Is Dynamine (Methylliberine) a scam?

I was looking for a caffeine alternative and an AI (lol) suggested Dynamine (Methylliberine). It gave me a very detailed explanation about the safety profile, effects, and mechanism of action, so I got interested and started researching it myself.

The more I looked into it, the stranger it seemed.

As far as I can tell, it hasn't received FDA or EFSA approval, although it appears to have GRAS status.

Here are some things I noticed:

On Amazon, there seems to be only one seller offering a standalone methylliberine product.

I can't find products from major supplement brands like NOW, Thorne, or Life Extension.

iHerb doesn't seem to carry any standalone Dynamine products either. Most products containing it are pre-workouts or multi-ingredient formulas.

It looks like the Dynamine trademark and ingredient are supplied by Compound Solutions, but they don't sell directly to consumers.

As a result, the only standalone products I can find come from smaller nootropics companies like Pure Nootropics and Nootropics Depot.

(I had never even heard the word "nootropics" before today.)

There aren't many reviews, and a lot of the content I find feels more like marketing than genuine user experiences.

Even on Reddit, there aren't that many discussions, and many of the threads have very few replies.

The studies do exist, but many of them appear to involve the ingredient company itself or researchers associated with it.

My question isn't really whether it's dangerous.

What I'm wondering is whether it actually has meaningful value as a supplement.

If it's truly an effective caffeine alternative, why:

are major supplement brands mostly ignoring it?

are standalone products so rare?

are there so few user reports?

is the market for it so small?

I'd love to hear from people who have actually used Dynamine or who know more about the supplement industry.

1. Does Dynamine actually work?
2. If so, how does it compare to caffeine?
3. Why is the market for it so small?
4. Is it simply a niche ingredient, or is this a case where the marketing got ahead of the actual benefits?

When I first learned about it, I was excited because people were claiming it had a shorter half-life than caffeine and caused less acid reflux, diuresis, and overstimulation.

But the more I research it, the more it starts to feel like either an overhyped ingredient or something I'm missing entirely.

Has anyone here actually tried it?

I don't play the bass myself, but I suddenly became curious.

I've heard that playing walking bass lines can be quite difficult. Is there an alternate tuning that makes walking bass easier to play?

For example, just like guitarists drop the 6th string from E to D (Drop D tuning) to play power chords more easily, I wonder if there is a similar method for the bass.

I don't play the bass myself, but I suddenly became curious.

I've heard that playing walking bass lines can be quite difficult. Is there an alternate tuning that makes walking bass easier to play?

For example, just like guitarists drop the 6th string from E to D (Drop D tuning) to play power chords more easily, I wonder if there is a similar method for the bass.