DO BRAIN SURGERY AT HOME

[;ivlunsdystf]

> Then a film about how to get a good internship with a great pro and become an icon.

That's my ultimate goal, to become an ICON. What is the film called?

[Brian]

We are suffereing from unfair ignorant competition, that doesn't mean the competition should quit, just get more familiar with quality standards so its an apples to apples comparison on the open market. Once that happens they'll see why the old guys recordings cost so much. It makes the whole community step up to quality rather than bring it down like what is happening a lot now.

...

I'm sure most people, beginners included don't plunk down $10k-$40k for the new gear thinking "it's all going down the toilet before I pay off the gear". They have the entepreneurial spirit and are looking to a profitable future turning out a quality product or service. Well, they can't until they learn how, and that takes admitting that you don't know how to yerself. Most don't do that, they just keep hacking.
They should be forced to watch a film about how to screw up a hard earned business and watch people qualified get caught off guard when the upstart arrives and watch him try to compete and lose everything including his house, car, kids, wife, and go homeless. Then a film about how to get a good internship with a great pro and become an icon.

I'm really not sure what to make of this. I feel like you are turning the market on its head by stating that those newly arrived to the competition (I'll use your term - hacks) should go through an initiation of accepted practices before they begin offering their services to the public, but then you make the statement about "apples to apples on the open market."

Doesn't the whole notion of an open market include the concept that entities are not "apples to apples" and that the consumer is ultimately responsible for choice? Why would any kind of learning curve for hacks be necessary if the market is open and consumers have choice?

If "pro" engineers begin losing houses, cars, spouses, and kids because of the entry of others into the market, then it's time to move on to another career because preferences have shifted in such a way that their services are no longer valued at the prices they set.

It just means that I'd rather compete at a higher level against someone with a little more chops for the same bucks, then I won't feel so bad about someone competing on price. Appples to apples.
Any market can be destroyed and all can be made to be servants to the man. Read Animal Farm. Look at Walmart.
The film is called "WTF".

[Mark Alan Miller]

Anybody who wants to record, should.
If they can't make their clients happy at whatever skill level and price point they are at, the market will decide.
Sure, there are people who probably shouldn't charge for their services 'cause they're "not ready" or "not good enough" but that's not for me to decide, only them. And their clients will probably help them decide, too...

[mjau]

We are suffereing from unfair ignorant competition, that doesn't mean the competition should quit, just get more familiar with quality standards so its an apples to apples comparison on the open market. Once that happens they'll see why the old guys recordings cost so much. It makes the whole community step up to quality rather than bring it down like what is happening a lot now.

...

I'm sure most people, beginners included don't plunk down $10k-$40k for the new gear thinking "it's all going down the toilet before I pay off the gear". They have the entepreneurial spirit and are looking to a profitable future turning out a quality product or service. Well, they can't until they learn how, and that takes admitting that you don't know how to yerself. Most don't do that, they just keep hacking.
They should be forced to watch a film about how to screw up a hard earned business and watch people qualified get caught off guard when the upstart arrives and watch him try to compete and lose everything including his house, car, kids, wife, and go homeless. Then a film about how to get a good internship with a great pro and become an icon.

I'm really not sure what to make of this. I feel like you are turning the market on its head by stating that those newly arrived to the competition (I'll use your term - hacks) should go through an initiation of accepted practices before they begin offering their services to the public, but then you make the statement about "apples to apples on the open market."

Doesn't the whole notion of an open market include the concept that entities are not "apples to apples" and that the consumer is ultimately responsible for choice? Why would any kind of learning curve for hacks be necessary if the market is open and consumers have choice?

If "pro" engineers begin losing houses, cars, spouses, and kids because of the entry of others into the market, then it's time to move on to another career because preferences have shifted in such a way that their services are no longer valued at the prices they set.

It just means that I'd rather compete at a higher level against someone with a little more chops for the same bucks, then I won't feel so bad about someone competing on price. Appples to apples.
Any market can be destroyed and all can be made to be servants to the man. Read Animal Farm. Look at Walmart.
The film is called "WTF".

What do you mean when you say "servants to the man"?

[Brian]

Slaves, via economy.
I agree any one who wants to record should.
When you're "in business" and feeding yer kids, it isn't funny when some rich kid buys all the good toys cuz he heard they're good and goes to school and still can't mix starts soaking up the dough in a small economy driving the people who can out of business in a matter of months just because he can with his trust fund, well, it isn't about service then is it?
The clients will decide and they'll vote with their feet, but, where will they go when the only guy who could help them get on track is long gone?

[workshed]

Except that graphic desdigners rarely become famous or ever have and rarely command salaries past $60k.

Ah, I didn't realize this topic was about salary and fame. Silly me! For what it's worth, plenty of designers, web and print-based, do make that much or more these days. Especially at the art director level, or web developers in general. Just sayin'. And honestly, how many of the people on this board pull in $60k + per year from engineering and producing? I'm not trying to insult everyone, but I'm just curious.

My website? I used to own a company in NYC called Knight Graphic Design across the street from the Emp State Bldg. So, yeah, I did it myself, but, I 've seen the work of others around. I didn't want a cookie cutter.

Just to clarify, I wasn't targeting you specifically with my post -- it was a generalized post to topic at large. That being said, whether you owned a design company or not, your web site only serves to support my point. I don't mean that as an attack, but all of your text sections are graphics, which means you have defeated much search engine indexing, and screen reader compatibility, and the font with the bold init caps is hard to read. My point is, you would have done better to hire a pro to do your site, not just from a design standpoint, but from readability and accessibility standpoints. In that sense, you doing this yourself is like the "unfair ignorant competition" to mentioned later in your reply.

Ever read this book, "Service America"(Albrecht and Zemke)? I dare you to read it all the way through, cover to cover, every single letter in six weeks! You'll hate it and you'll thank me for it.
We are suffereing from unfair ignorant competition, that doesn't mean the competition should quit, just get more familiar with quality standards so its an apples to apples comparison on the open market. Once that happens they'll see why the old guys recordings cost so much. It makes the whole community step up to quality rather than bring it down like what is happening a lot now.

Since when is ignorance ever fair? Well, I see it like this: Joe Garage Band wants to do a demo, their buddy John says, "Hey, I have this MBox, let me record you for cheap or free!" Joe Garage Band, being broke thinks this is a good deal. Until they hear the results. That's when they come to you. Ignorant competition is not all that bad. I don't think it's the end, I think it's a delay, and if you play your cards right, you'll come out stronger in the end. And their buddy John? He will either learn more and become more "worthy" competition, or he'll sell his gear for some pot and go back to his job at Burger King(tm).

And thanks for the book suggestion, I'll check it out, but with two young kids I rarely have time to read, and when I do, it's going to be something entertaining, not torturous.

I'm sure most people, beginners included don't plunk down $10k-$40k for the new gear thinking "it's all going down the toilet before I pay off the gear". They have the entepreneurial spirit and are looking to a profitable future turning out a quality product or service. Well, they can't until they learn how, and that takes admitting that you don't know how to yerself. Most don't do that, they just keep hacking.

I think maybe we are talking about two different groups of amateurs. One being the DIY home recordists like myself who buy some gear to record themselves at home, casually, occasionally some friends, for fun and the experience and freedom to document their music at will. The other is the guy who runs out to Guitar Center and buys $10k of Behrenger gear and opens his "pro" studio for the price of $7/hour churning out cookie cutter demos for small-time bands.

The home recordists are probably not that big of a threat to a business like yours, as if they get serious, they will probably do either their tracking or mixing at a real studio. I see this happen a lot. But I can see how the Behrenger crowd would cut into your profits for awhile, until he sells his gear and returns to his job as a Guitar Center greeter.

Anyhow, I'm horrible at debating, so I'll stop throwing my deflated two cents into the bucket. I just wanted to assert that this is not an isolated situation in an isolated industry.

[Brian]

You are right. The home guy isn't a threat, in fact that's the guy I want to have working in my studio, He's got enough sense to try and learn and not go puffing himself up. The other guy is the bad guy. No matter what business, the guy who starts a studio of his own for a business needs to have some chops and a grip on his ego which, to start one up without chops and just money, he doesn't, so, you're right.

[Brian]

On yer points about my site, you're right again. Since I moved states Its a temp. I have someone setting up my domain and site even as we speak.
Dead on though.

[workshed]

On yer points about my site, you're right again. Since I moved states Its a temp. I have someone setting up my domain and site even as we speak.
Dead on though.

Excellent -- I feel the way about dysnfunctional web sites that you most likely feel about bad recordings. Design is hard to quantify, it's so subjective, but accessibility and usability are easy to quantify. I've seen ugly sites that function very well and beautiful sites that are siezure-inducing to navigate. Again, like the recording industry, I see lots of people who get their hands on Front Page or Dreamweaver and say, "hey, I'm going into business!" Even worse are the companies who sell web site template designs for $99 and offer no service or real quality with their products. I've lost at least one customer to such a site.

Oh, and after recording my band's demo in my very modest home studio, I am already planning on either tracking or mixing at a real studio when we go to record an album. I done learned my lesson!

[Brian]

If you saw my site you probly saw all the pages and if you could read them (font sucks) you can get where I'm coming from. I'm just a lucky guy to have worked with any of the people I have and I just wanted to collect a few pieces of gear that would do just the jobs I needed them for. They became inexpensive as I was collecting and when I had a full studio, I moved and opened it. I must have chops because people seek me out and all the customers worth dealing with return and refer. I don't know what a day job is. I hope I never find out unless its what I'm already doing. Its a modest studio and a modest living, but, its what I do.[/i]

[;ivlunsdystf]

I think there should be a new forum devoted to Brian. This discussion is way more interesting than reading thread after thread about the genius of the latest Shins album or what have you.

[Brian]

Maybe we can make up a neater name for me, brian is pretty plain.
How bout "Funkmaster B" ?

[;ivlunsdystf]

How about "Brain"?

[Brian]

"Funkmaster Brain?"

[MichaelAlan]

Hell on earth!! I don't even care what we're talking about. I just stumbled in here again to find the message board back up. I can LIVE again!! Or at least ignore the rest of my life. How late am I? Come to think of it this is similar to the rest of my life.

So what was the topic? Luke's brain on drugs...?


The Mike