Quantegy closes its doors

[Girl Toes]

Is it just me, or has the increasing crappiness of modern music coinsided with the increasing digitalness of it?

[chris harris]

computers don't (yet) write the songs or sign cookie cutter "artists"

[nacho459]

From The ATR page:

It has been widely reported on the Internet that Quantegy, Inc. has shut its doors and ceased production during a temporary lay-off. We have received hundreds of calls and emails looking for more information. At this point it is hard to separate fact from rumor, but this is what we know to be true as of today:

1) Quantegy has indeed shut its doors and temporarily laid off most of its staff pending restructuring.
2) Quantegy has NOT filed for Chapter 11 as was reported in several news articles. It may still be a possibility, but no record of any bankruptcy is on federal record for Quantegy, Inc.
3) Plans are in place to restructure the Opelika facility and continue to produce the profitable tape lines and hard drives, possibly under a new brand name.
4) Last year, Quantegy audio tape sales alone topped 14M, with total sales of about 30M.

It is our belief that the Opelika facility will be producing product in the near future, but what kind and how much is still undetermined. The tremendous response to this news in the recording community has only reinforced the fact that analog recording is still very much alive and that there is still an incredible demand for analog tape.

ATR Services has been quietly working on a new line of analog tape for the past year. We are currently in the R&D stages of production, and hope to have wide-scale beta testing in place by the summer. Be assured that analog tape will continue to be made no matter what the outcome of the Quantegy restructuring but please be patient, as we will not have any news on formulation or format until we are further along in the testing process.

Thank you to all of the clients, colleagues and friends who have offered your support and commitment to analog recording during the last few days.

Happy New Year and get back to making music!


The ATR team

[Girl Toes]

This is from ATR's website. Note the mention of last year's tape sales:

It has been widely reported on the Internet that Quantegy, Inc. has shut its doors and ceased production during a temporary lay-off. We have received hundreds of calls and emails looking for more information. At this point it is hard to separate fact from rumor, but this is what we know to be true as of today:

1) Quantegy has indeed shut its doors and temporarily laid off most of its staff pending restructuring.
2) Quantegy has NOT filed for Chapter 11 as was reported in several news articles. It may still be a possibility, but no record of any bankruptcy is on federal record for Quantegy, Inc.
3) Plans are in place to restructure the Opelika facility and continue to produce the profitable tape lines and hard drives, possibly under a new brand name.
4) Last year, Quantegy audio tape sales alone topped 14M, with total sales of about 30M.

It is our belief that the Opelika facility will be producing product in the near future, but what kind and how much is still undetermined. The tremendous response to this news in the recording community has only reinforced the fact that analog recording is still very much alive and that there is still an incredible demand for analog tape.

ATR Services has been quietly working on a new line of analog tape for the past year. We are currently in the R&D stages of production, and hope to have wide-scale beta testing in place by the summer. Be assured that analog tape will continue to be made no matter what the outcome of the Quantegy restructuring but please be patient, as we will not have any news on formulation or format until we are further along in the testing process.

Thank you to all of the clients, colleagues and friends who have offered your support and commitment to analog recording during the last few days.

Happy New Year and get back to making music!


The ATR team

[Girl Toes]

So its confirmed: Tha ATR page certainly posted that letter.

[object88]

Is it just me, or has the increasing crappiness of modern music coinsided with the increasing digitalness of it?

I think that the two have co-insided, but are not necessarily interconnected.

Which is not to say that the coming of digital technology hasn't made the record-making process available to garage bands... you now have lots of crappy garage bands with CDRs instead of tapes or just live performances.

[soundguy]

I guess you could believe that all bands on earth pretty much collectively got together and decided, as a group, to stop rocking, and they happened to have that super powers meeting right when linear recording was going out the door. I suppose if you wanted to believe that, nobody is gonna stop you...

The entrance of the computer into the recording studio has just been fantastic for rock and roll, just look at all the great records that have been made since 1999. My gosh, so many to list.

dave

[linus]

Is it just me, or has the increasing crappiness of modern music coinsided with the increasing digitalness of it?

I refuse to blame the format. One of the great albums of the last year was the Wrens "Meadowland". It was recorded on ADAT. (They were interviewed in Tapeop).

It's all about the songs not the format.

Keep in mind that we don't remember the really shitty songs from thirty years ago, not because there weren't any, but because they were FORGETTABLE. People will forget the shitty songs of this era as well.

But once again... It's the songs, not the format.

[chris harris]

I've heard a lot of great records made since 1999... many of them even resided on a hard drive at some point.

[soundguy]

share the wealth dude. I can only think of a few made in the last 6 years that I would put up against the classics.

dave

[skypractice]

what about basf?

[JASIII]

Screw BASF! I wanna hear these "great" albums produced since 1999 via digital!! So....name 'em!

[Gebo]

the shins first record was done on a digi001 I think...
and the new karate was done on a hd recorder.

[Rick Hunter]

The entrance of the computer into the recording studio has just been fantastic for rock and roll, just look at all the great records that have been made since 1999. My gosh, so many to list.

dave

THE BALLS.

[skypractice]

Screw BASF! I wanna hear these "great" albums produced since 1999 via digital!! So....name 'em!

ok, now I am laughing...

hmmm since 1999 via digital... If some of my favorite rock or indie albums since then were digital then, I would have to change my attitude about computers... I have heard some good stuff on digital since then, but noone well known, and I'm bias, because its friends' groups...

I'd like to see that list, maybe that could be a new sticky thread, best digitals from '99 to present...