Quantegy closes its doors

[nacho459]

Wasn't Quantegy supposed to put out a press release today and tell us everything is gonna be OK? What happened?

Well, what should I expect from a company that decides to lay off their workers with no notice.

[gandhabba]

They were ok, but those albums weren't great because of the sound. they were great because it was JOHNNY FUCKING CASH, recording lots of cute covers (ooh, he's singing a trent reznor song! Now he's doing Soundgarden!) THAT is why people like those albums, not because of the sound. Sound wise they are ordinary. very, very ordinary. Let's not confuse content or icon-ism with "good sound"

I dunno. I'd be pretty damn happy to get an acoustic guitar sound like that (I'm thinking the Neil Diamond cover and the Tom Petty one at the moment). Maybe I like ordinary sounds ? Then again, I'd also be happy to have a big Gibson Jumbo and mics and pres of the calibre they had at their disposal.

I like those records because they sound good to me. Does it really need to go farther than that ? Why are we making music anyway ?

I agree with you JAS, that what makes those records great is Johnny Cash, not what medium was used in the recording process. Doesn't that just prove that the medium is of secondary importance though ?

[buddy holly]

Did somebody say "gouging"?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 81641&rd=1

--bh

[msmith4060]

Oh man I soo love this. We can all rest assured now that analog is gonna keep kicking for a while, and get back to the important stuff.......like pointlessly bickering on which mwdium is better!
Hoooray for tape!

[msmith4060]

medium

(spelling has always remained somewhat elusive to me)

[skypractice]

I think most would agree, on the cruciality of the artist and the performances...

To blame shitty music on anything but the performers is a bit bizarre, but I can understand the importance of taking a broad view... Look at the world, look at how we live... Should we blame producers, sound engineers, computer companies, or maybe its just from an increase in population and that incrreased population wants to be what they see on MTV or some reality show? Should we blame that?
Blame as a concept is bizarre as well.
Ultimately the responsibility to make good music lies on those willing to make and not fake it.
What about the guy or gal that made some cool music on his computer instead of his 4 track cassete... Shall we discourage them because they are part of the so called "decline of good music"? There is plenty of good music to be listened to and we certainly wouldn't agree on it all. We don't all have the same measuring stick for good music, yet we tend to swing our own measuring sticks at each other...

I guess I couldn't be further off topic... But it relates to degree if quantegy just dumps its employees like that. How are they different from the digital recordingc industry, or monster cable, or shitty musicians, lousy bands, lousy engineers, greedy producers, anyone that is being blamed etc etc etc.

Now that I have depressed myself with my own rant, I'll try to work on a better attitude, and listen to the "good" music that is out there, because it IS! If you can't find it, look harder.

[aryl]

For the record, the first shins album was recorded on cool edit pro. that guy did a really good job with what he had. i like the sound of the new record, but i'm glad the first one sounds the way it does. it fits the music. mabey its just the association with really good songs.

davidW.

[JGriffin]

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

It's not just you. It is, in fact, a complete coincidence.

And your perception of "increased crappiness" does not take into account the vast quantities of shitty music created and marketed in the previous five decades, that we just don't hear anymore because it has long since vanished into the mists of time. I lived through the '80s; for every U2 there were fifteen or twenty Kajagoogoos. All recorded on analog tape.

Is there any website where one could find out which records were made digital or analog? I'd be curious to know.

borrowed from some website somewhere:
You do not see it much on CDs anymore, but on some earlier CDs you will frequently see: AAD, or ADD, or DDD, on the back CD insert and/or on the CD itself. This is called the SPARS code (Society of Professional Audio Recording Studios). "A" is for Analog and "D" is for Digital. The first letter stands for the kind of tape recorder originally used to capture the music. The second letter is for how the mixdown and editing were conducted. The third letter stands for the mastering process.

Thus, for many older records that have been put out on CD you will see "AAD", since the recording and mixing technologies for the time period were necessarily analog (and the third letter is D since the music is mastered for a digital compact disc). Most CDs will have "ADD", since most music is still recorded to analog tape but the mixing is done digitally. "DDD" is mostly seen only on classical music recordings or some live recordings. Usually the letters are in a small rectangle, but not always, and you almost always will see them on CD longboxes from the old days.

As it became more obvious that combinations of analog and digital devices were being used at various steps of the process, three simple binary designations for the recording process became more and more patently ridiculous. The SPARS code was mercifully put to death several years ago.

[Professor]

Somehow not surprising that this has declined into the useless argument of analog versus digital. Name 1 great album since 1999... and someone fires back with Johnny Cash and an actual link to the Rick Rubin interview... and someone else comes back with the useless response that it was Johnny that sounded good but the recording was terrible. It's useless. The whole argument is self absorbed, pretentious, and really one-sided. If one works in digital, they usually hold some respect for tape and probably would even like to own a machine, yet they are denegrated by the holy warriors that bow to the analog god and vow to mock and berate all who do not swear their souls and first born children to be sacrificed to the dying format.
Useless drivel.

I'd like to pull everyone back to the real HUMAN tragedy of this story. Nope, not the tsunami and who sent money or not. Has anybody given any thought to the 250 or so employees who went home for Christmas and didn't have a job after Boxing Day?
Holy shit!
What kind of screwed up, piece of shit company would do that to their employees. They knew they were hurting, they knew they had to take drastic measures. Why not tell the employees in October? Why not negotiate to have revolving days out without pay, or a 'temporary pay reduction' or some kind of fore-warning so they wouldn't over-extend themselves going into the holidays - or better still, have a chance to look for another job?
Nope, these slime balls had to just lead them along and screw them over Christmas weekend.
Now there are 250 people in a little town who are all looking for work before those Christmas credit card bills show up! I went back to that original news article in the Opelika news paper link and clicked the "Employment" link on the left and searched to see how many jobs were listed.
54
54 jobs including real winners like "babysitter needed every other week" or "part time personal assistant for elderly lady".
And some individuals (who will remain nameless) have the audacity to claim that they won't be able to feed their families for want of buying a reel of tape. There's tape out there for us to buy, but there aren't jobs out there for them.
Certainly unemployment will help for a few months, and it's not like there is a Red Cross campaign going to accept donations from us because in the end, it will be their burden to bear. If Quantegy does find some investor to throw more money into their obviously well-run business, how many of those employees will feel safe going back to work?

Sorry to get depressing or over-dramatic. And more sorry that I can't recommend any solution for the folks in Opelika. But it seemed appropriate to at least attempt to redirect our rants. You can hate Digidesign or Microsoft all you want for forcing digital down our throats, but they're not about to lock out their employees as a Christmas present.

-Jeremy

[JGriffin]

Somehow not surprising that this has declined into the useless argument of analog versus digital. Name 1 great album since 1999... and someone fires back with Johnny Cash and an actual link to the Rick Rubin interview... and someone else comes back with the useless response that it was Johnny that sounded good but the recording was terrible. It's useless. The whole argument is self absorbed, pretentious, and really one-sided. If one works in digital, they usually hold some respect for tape and probably would even like to own a machine, yet they are denegrated by the holy warriors that bow to the analog god and vow to mock and berate all who do not swear their souls and first born children to be sacrificed to the dying format.
Useless drivel.

Thanks for posting that, Jeremy. You're absolutely correct. Over 24 pages I haven't seen any "digital guys" doing victory dances over the (much exaggerated) death of tape...unlike the celebratory "Digidesign plunges into the ocean" thread elsewhere on this board.

I'm getting kinda used to the periodic smitings from the fundamentalists, though.

-dwlb (heathen)

[Professor]

Thanks for posting that, Jeremy. You're absolutely correct.

I'm getting kinda used to the periodic smitings from the fundamentalists, though.

-dwlb (heathen)

It's frightening, isn't it? Like some kinda screwed up radical religion. That's also why I never discuss Mac vs. PC with someone who owns a Mac.

-J

[JGriffin]

I try to avoid that conversation as well (and for me it fits in with your "digital users have a respect and admiration for tape" concept--I am a mac user primarily but I recognize the value of, and use, PCs as well). The Digidesign message boards have a "No Platform Wars!" rule...perhaps we should have a "no format wars" zone here. It IS religion and no one will ever win the argument.

[Professor]

I tried really hard to find a video clip of this one, but I'm afraid the audio only clip will have to do - which really doesn't do the song justice since it was from the British puppet comedy series "Spitting Image".

Our God (...is better than your God)

-J

[swingdoc]

Quategy needs Tommy Callahan III to drive around the states and start selling some of their product damnit.
*insert photo-shop pic of Spade and Farley with burning tape"

[Knights Who Say Neve]

If one works in digital, they usually hold some respect for tape and probably would even like to own a machine, yet they are denegrated by the holy warriors that bow to the analog god and vow to mock and berate all who do not swear their souls and first born children to be sacrificed to the dying format.

So if you like analog, you're an idol worshipper? And a child sacrificer? That is a vicious attack. Show me the similar attack on people who use digital.

You also wrote this:

When all these old-timers who refuse to switch to digital run out of tape and decide that they'd rather retire than record to hard disk - well at least there will finally be some decent job openings in this industry.

You call that "respect"?


I hope I never meet you in person, let alone have to work with you...