An open letter to gear manufacturers from an end user.

[nacho459]

Do I feel a riot coming on at AES or what!?

[mertmo]

A lot of what we are all annoyed with can be paraphrased like this: "We don't want cheap crappy stuff that's flashy, give us really well made stuff that is simple and sounds good and lasts...."

Unfortunately in this day and age, that type of approach would equal three quarters of these companies being out of business! Really nice gear is not cheap to build, therefore it's not cheap to buy. And in the end, how many $2000 last-forever mic preamps can really be sold? Not as many as can be sold if they are cheap as shit.

The reality is a lot of these companies are not really in the business of selling equipment that we can use to create art / content / entertainment with. I would venture a guess that it's not even the goal!!! The goal now might very well be to sell stuff that is just entertaining to BUY.

I recently bought some cheap-ass condensers, not because i needed them, but because hey - IT WAS FUN! It was a great deal of entertainment to aquire some sexy looking decent sounding mics and spend next to nothing on them!

I know i'm a bit out on a limb with this tangent. But it's obvious that making great sounding simple well built stuff is NOT at the top of the list for these guys. How would they sell tons of gear that way?

.... kind of sad to think about, but then that's how all mainstream business seems to go. I worked for a Guitar Center for a while and it freaked me out that they, as a corporation, could not have cared less that they were pushing super cheap crappy strats on every kid in the neighborhood, regardless of whether all the kids need them or not. All they cared about was how fast they could meet their goal of opening X number of stores by X year.

As long as there is a GC on every corner, and a chinese condenser in the bedroom of everyone who might remotely be interested in learning a few chords...... all is well.


disclaimer.... I LOVE MY CHEAP CHINESE CONDENSERS!

O.K. now MY rant is over...

BTW, the ideas about a great sounding summing console without mic pres...BRILLIANT!

[JASIII]

Yeah, companies care about staying IN BUSINESS above everything else. Disposable crap means that it will have to be replaced, and hence another sale.

[thecongostudio]

Joel,

Thanks for this post, I cannot agree more than with what has already been said. As a college student, and engineering for 5 years now, I am beyond the entry gear and need good reliable gear that will be a mainstay in my rack, rather than serve its purpose for a few months and then end up on ebay.

I have only recently purchased some top end gear and have suited to modifying my own gear to get the sounds I want. The FMR products are a great example of good people trying to make inexpensive quality gear for engineers. We need more affordable reliable killer sounding gear without having to result on spending so much cash on an Neve, API, Urei, what have you.

Anyways, thanks again. Also Joel, when you get any additional information about that new discrete console, I would be more than excited to hear your opinions on it!

[rhythm ranch]

Amen!

[DavidATX]

Joel! you cheeky little bastard! You wanna e-mail me or call me with more details about this console?!? You know I would be down with that idea for sure. Also, more funny stuff happened with my word clock...well, more of the same...I can't figure it out.

[joel hamilton]

I am really sick of companies setting up "hurdles" and then selling people ways to jump over them easier.

I think we need to re-define the word "convenient." If "convenient" does not take into account the quality of the end result, or the quality of the process on the way to the end result, then convenience is not something I want in a recording format.

If it is more "convenient" (for who???) To treat the symptom rather than the cause seems to be the american way. There is too much money to be made in supressing horrible symptoms, and in R&D money to mask the shittiness of the capture format. (this is the same with cancer research, and pharmaceuticals in general). We never see an ad for a CURE, just another fucking vague ad about a pill that will make you forget you are sick as fuck.

FINALLY, just today(!) I talk to someone in audio that is planning on going after the core, stepping back a whole giant step to get some perspective....

YOU DONT NEED ALL THIS BULLSHIT IF YOU HAVE A GREAT PATH TO RECORD TO AND MIX THROUGH!!!

Suddenly you are 100 steps closer to genius when you simply put up a decent microphone, through a class A signal path, to a TUBE ( or discrete ) , modular (!) tape machine, and sum all those great sounds back through a fully discrete mixer!!!!!!!! Holy crap. Forget about "warming up" or "making phat" your traxxx" Sick...

Step back and think hard about why you do this. I am proud to carry the torch for this project! I will be letting everyone know about this every step of the way. Amazing. I feel like this call came like a bolt of lightning from the heavens!

This shit is for real. For people like us. People who care, and have ears.

[syrupcore]

I have a small request. very small picture compared to joel's excellent big picture letter.

everyone hates wall warts. I understand the reason to use them is cost and as I'm broke, I can certainly understand that. would it be that big of a deal to use in-line wallwarts? connector>cable>wallwart>cable>ac plug. I have a few pieces that do and I appreciate it constantly.

please.

[markpar]

We need to keep tape alive. It probably won't happen, though, and I'll be sad when it goes.

I went to a "studio summit" this weekend and Jack Endino gave the keynote address. He brought up the fact that Quantegy only has a five year plan for keeping tape around (and that this was a year or two ago). It really opened my eyes and, frankly, scared me.

What will we do when the inventories run out? *sigh*

-mark

[Milkmansound]

we all need to start our own companies...

Seriously though - I hope the gist of this thread gets out to some of those manufacturers, because personally, I think a lot of new stuff sucks. New electronics in general suck. You are sick of cheap Chinese condensers, I am sick of cheap chinese capacitors and surface mount IC's and DSP sections and crap crap crap!!! Its a never ending river of crap in the inventories of music stores these days, God bless the people who offer an alternative (you know who you are on this site) to factory built crap. There is something to be said for a big honkin resistor, a big honkin orange drop cap, and a tube with the friggin plate hooked up to some friggin voltage!!! Ok, enough of me.

[bobbydj]

A lot of what we are all annoyed with can be paraphrased like this: "We don't want cheap crappy stuff that's flashy, give us really well made stuff that is simple and sounds good and lasts...."

Unfortunately in this day and age, that type of approach would equal three quarters of these companies being out of business! Really nice gear is not cheap to build, therefore it's not cheap to buy. And in the end, how many $2000 last-forever mic preamps can really be sold? Not as many as can be sold if they are cheap as shit.

The reality is a lot of these companies are not really in the business of selling equipment that we can use to create art / content / entertainment with. I would venture a guess that it's not even the goal!!! The goal now might very well be to sell stuff that is just entertaining to BUY.

I recently bought some cheap-ass condensers, not because i needed them, but because hey - IT WAS FUN! It was a great deal of entertainment to aquire some sexy looking decent sounding mics and spend next to nothing on them!

I know i'm a bit out on a limb with this tangent. But it's obvious that making great sounding simple well built stuff is NOT at the top of the list for these guys. How would they sell tons of gear that way?

.... kind of sad to think about, but then that's how all mainstream business seems to go. I worked for a Guitar Center for a while and it freaked me out that they, as a corporation, could not have cared less that they were pushing super cheap crappy strats on every kid in the neighborhood, regardless of whether all the kids need them or not. All they cared about was how fast they could meet their goal of opening X number of stores by X year.

As long as there is a GC on every corner, and a chinese condenser in the bedroom of everyone who might remotely be interested in learning a few chords...... all is well.


disclaimer.... I LOVE MY CHEAP CHINESE CONDENSERS!

O.K. now MY rant is over...

BTW, the ideas about a great sounding summing console without mic pres...BRILLIANT!

Ok, I sort of agree with one of the underlying sentiments in the last section of the above. But, despite that, I have to say that if I'm at all representative of the target market out there (and I actually think I AM, btw), then a key part of what you're saying is missing the mark.

I do NOT want something that's entertaining to buy. Seriously - wtf. I want something that's entertaining to USE. And, although you didn't say this explicitly, I most certainly don't want something that's complicated (and compromised) by bells and whistles shit. One fucking knob. What's wrong with the concept?? It seems that R&D people and manufacturers generally are a bunch of patronising dumbing-down twunts. Like, no sales will be made unless the potential buyer is captivated and seduced by a host of Xmas tree lights and glowing indicators. Wtf.

Having said that I DO like the blue lights on the Fuckusrite stuff.

But yeah. Fuck it. It does so often seem that manufacturers assume that customers have to be swayed by bullshit aesthetic details. Christ - this is the triumph of form over content. It pisses me off. At any rate, the bottom line is that rather than me buy this fandango light-up and flash shit with 4 thousand functions I can't even understand still less actually use, I buy nothing. What can I say. That outcome isn't doing anyone any favours. Well yeah - I save money. But dammit - I want to be a good little capitalist in my twilight years, and haemorrage dough as quickly and efficiently as the next dumbass.

[Devlars]

Wow how the invectives fly when the topic of discussion get's to the core and there is something wrong. This thread needs to be heralded beyond this particular forum, the manufacturers Do need to see this. We can only hope that the realization of what we're all going on about smacks them in the face with the all encompassing force of reality in the fore front otherwise they will maintain the problem which has infected nearly any and all companies to some degree, that being "The Bottom Line".

More importantly those who are bombarded with the flash and glamour stuff (the young unknowing joe/jane public) are taken in by these "ooh aah" peices of gear and buy it which only serves to perpetuate the problem really. It's to do with our culture and lack of knowledge innit? We are compelled by "ooh aah" stuff and because those who are just starting out don't know any better they go for it. Oh boy this could on and on cos it's a vicious cycle.

That being said if it wasn't for the cheap stuff I wouldn't have been able to get started myself. Although I did my research and bought the best quality cheap stuff, it's what led me to discover more about recording, equipment, creating something with my music etc. and so on. We all have our stories and we all have our opinions let's just hope that they can be influential for the better. Joel I applaud you, great topic.

ARE YOU LISTENING TO THIS MANUFACTURERS/PUBLIC/BEGINNERS AND PROS? PAY ATTENTION AND LEARN SOMETHING!

[bobbydj]

Actually, I think we're swimming against a huge tide. I heard this programme on Radio 4 the other day and it was talking about this thing called "convergence" - i.e. technological convergence. It's probably not news to anyone in America, where neologisms have been the fashion for some millenia. But yeah. Convergence basically means that consumer durables are tending towards the same item. Like with mobile phones that are also cameras and can download emails. the point being that in 2 years time there'll just be a palm-top that does everything that previously used to be done by 5 separate objects.

I suppose this is happening in audio. Like when Joel reviewed that Liquid Channel Fuckusrite thingy. It kind of did loads of things in the one box.

All that crap. We're barking up a tree that was chopped down and turned into matches which were burned up a long time ago. Is the danger. But so what - lets bark anyway!!!

[trashy]

bobby said the f word. a bunch.

[bobbydj]

So?!? I put all my loose change in the swear box.