DO BRAIN SURGERY AT HOME

[JES]

Sure, which makes it all the more interesting that Sear decided to rail against amateurs instead of execs, who appear to the source of the problem.

--JES

[Rigsby]

If companies didn't make it so 'easy' to record that'd cut out about two thirds of the people that do, you can't blame people for seeing something they can afford and wanting it. All the rest of the argument is redundant afaic, if people make shit records don't listen to them, and 'shit' is subjective.

[mr scratchy esq]

JES wrote "Sure, which makes it all the more interesting that Sear decided to rail against amateurs instead of execs, who appear to the source of the problem."

If you check out his "What Have They Done to My Art?" essay on his website (required reading IMO) he does indeed rail against the execs.

Bill

[herodotus]

Being an engineer isn't an art, its a craft. It is a matter of skill, knowledge, and technique, not art.

The problem is, that a craft can be made obsolete by the market, whereas art, being independent of the market, can not.

Now before I am given a virtual lynching, by 'obsolete' I do NOT mean 'useless', or 'a waste of time', but simply 'no longer necessary in an economic sense'. Recording engineers used to be necessary. Music had to be recorded (because people wanted to hear it enough to pay for it) and the means of doing this were complex and expensive to the point that making recordings became a CRAFT, like being a cooper or a cobbler or a tailor or a gun maker. And like all of those crafts, it has become obsolete.

Now there are still lots of tailors in the world, and if you go to Colonial Williamsburg, you will see people making shoes, guns, and barrels just like they were made 200 years ago. This is all very interesting and worth knowing about. And the practitioners of these crafts are as worthy of respect as any other people.

But ask yourself, if you saw someone talking about how everyone these days puts bulk foodstuffs like flour and sugar into cheap plastic bins instead of properly made wooden barrels made the old fashioned way, would you take them seriously? Would you like to pay three times the price for 'properly' hand made shoes, or four times the price for a sweater and a pair of pants made by a tailor?

Of course not.

So why should musicians (referred to lovingly by Mixer Man as "The enemy"), who often live in squalor because they spend all of their time making music, spend assloads of money making a record the way they used to be made, when the only people who can tell the difference make up a tiny, tiny percentage of the listening audience?

Especially when the cheap crappy recording that they make with Tracktion, a Mackie board, a bunch of sm57s and some cheap condensers, does actually sound like their band?

[Mark Alan Miller]

when the only people who can tell the difference make up a tiny, tiny percentage of the listening audience?

Not a personal attack on you herodotus, but that makes me beg the question "what makes one so sure only a tiny, tiny percentage can tell the difference?." If that was the case, I'd suspect the recent deluge of every demo/track/idea currently being recorded being pumped onto the 'net and promoted as 'releases' should be making a lot more people a lot more money.

Just a thought...

[joelpatterson]

...when the only people who can tell the difference....

That caught my eye too.

Although, your point, the decentralizing, fragmentizing of recorded music is all true. I saw a band at a benefit, high school boys. They had a crowd of proberly twenty hard-core fans who had followed them there, and when the songs started, were dancing and singing along. A huge whoop went up for the line about the "poh-leese car, in the Friend-ly's parking lot!" I guessed it was a real episode from their shared small-town history. They'd obviously made CDs that are distributed among this crowd. In thousands of towns, all over everywhere, this is the future I see.

[Girl Toes]

To assume that only a small percentage of people can tell the difference is really insulting. People do know when something sounds good or bad, even if they don't know why.

I do sound at a small club. My boss always tells me all the tricks he uses to get the band thinking it sounds good. I don't pull any tricks, I make it sound good, and the band can tell. A lot of people can tell the difference.

Secondly, the recordings a lot of bands I know make don't sound like them. They sell CDs at shows, people buy them wanting to hear what they heard at the show. Often, they are over produced, and some one played around a little too much with pro tools, and it sounds nothing like they did live, and the listener never listens to it.

There are a lot of bands do still go in the studio, they realize this, and figure some one more qualified might do a better job. I think one problem these days is, for a band who doesn't know much, its hard to tell who is qualified and who isn't, especially if they haven't been in the studio before. And ultimately, they just go with who is cheaper.

[YOUR KONG]

My problem with Walter Sears' article up there is that it's all or nothing. "Either you're a brain surgeon or you're a hack. Either you're pro studio or you're a hack."

I'm sorry, Mr. Sears never climbed up the learning curve himself? You know - when he was like us? Learning and working hard to get better?

Or maybe it's just that he's at the point in his life where he can forget about the days when he didn't have it made. Good for him - I have no doubt that the guy works hard and knows exponentially more than I do.

But he's sweeping away plenty of hard working people who make interesting (and gosh, GOOD and AURALLY PLEASING albums) with a wave of his hand.
And there are plenty albums that were recorded in bedrooms and basements that still sound great - and got a major label release.

[dracofhc]

It's just music which usually ain't much more than just simple entertainment.

-Jeremy

Then explain how musical therapy works.

voodoo

[dracofhc]

My problem with Walter Sears' article up there is that it's all or nothing. "Either you're a brain surgeon or you're a hack. Either you're pro studio or you're a hack."

I'm sorry, Mr. Sears never climbed up the learning curve himself? You know - when he was like us? Learning and working hard to get better?

Or maybe it's just that he's at the point in his life where he can forget about the days when he didn't have it made. Good for him - I have no doubt that the guy works hard and knows exponentially more than I do.

But he's sweeping away plenty of hard working people who make interesting (and gosh, GOOD and AURALLY PLEASING albums) with a wave of his hand.
And there are plenty albums that were recorded in bedrooms and basements that still sound great - and got a major label release.

I don't know, man. I think you may be a little off the point. He doesn't have anything with people that say "hey, I'm not a trained doctor and I only have a table in my basement and $8 worth of tools, so I don't have as many resources but I'll do the best I can." He loaths the people that say "I have a table and a knife set so I'm a brain surgeon." You can be at whatever stage of audio engineering prowess you want, but just be honest about how good you are and what kind of gear you have. If you have crappy gear but can use it well and make good sounding stuff, then be confident that you're a good engineer. If you've got a protools rig and an SM57 with no experience, then don't pretend to be an audio engineer. That's his point.

[Mark Alan Miller]

There are a lot of bands do still go in the studio, they realize this, and figure some one more qualified might do a better job. I think one problem these days is, for a band who doesn't know much, its hard to tell who is qualified and who isn't, especially if they haven't been in the studio before. And ultimately, they just go with who is cheaper.

Ah yes. Education is completely key here.
I try, and encourage everyone else to do as well, to explain the pros and cons, the benefits of 'home recording' vs 'pro recording' (and the fact that that line is completely blurred now,) all that.
When a band cold-calls my place, I always try to engage them in a conversation about their goals for a recording, not just talk dollars per hour. I encourage them to actually listen to the different studios' work, and make that be their primary reason for choosing a studio (or engineer or whatever) as opposed to money, and remind them that it is they who will have to live with the results of their efforts. If that means they find a studio they like better than mine (for more, less, or the same money) that's fine - I don't want a client coming to me if they don't think I'm the right fit for them.
(And you know what? Many times they go with me over someone who offers lower rates, I'm proud to say. )

I agree that Mr. Sear, while making some interesting points, is definitely on a far end of a spectrum, perspective-wise.

[Jupiter 4 Studio]

My problem with Walter Sears' article up there is that it's all or nothing. "Either you're a brain surgeon or you're a hack. Either you're pro studio or you're a hack."

I'm sorry, Mr. Sears never climbed up the learning curve himself? You know - when he was like us? Learning and working hard to get better?

I think you are refering to the time in his life when he was getting coffe and doing nothing but keeping his mouth shut and watching. Or maybe you are refering to the the time when he was an electrical engineer designing gear. Probably why he knows so much about getting good sound... he actually knows how the stuff works.

Again, like I said before. He never said anything about people recording in general. I think his rant was more based on people charging for their services when they are not qualified to be doing so.

[YOUR KONG]

I'm sorry, Mr. Sears never climbed up the learning curve himself? You know - when he was like us? Learning and working hard to get better?

I think you are refering to the time in his life when he was getting coffe and doing nothing but keeping his mouth shut and watching. Or maybe you are refering to the the time when he was an electrical engineer designing gear.

Yes, that's exactly what I'm referring to! He did climb the learning curve - he wasn't always a "brain surgeon."

"hey, I'm not a trained doctor and I only have a table in my basement and $8 worth of tools, so I don't have as many resources but I'll do the best I can."

Yeah - I totally agree with that point, and that probably is his point...but I just don't see so fine a distinction in his article. In fact, in his article the guy who spends $8 on a claw hammer at the hardware store is still a quack. In that article there's nothing noble about "doing the best you can."

I mean, if that's what he's saying, he should say that!

[Jupiter 4 Studio]

Yes, that's exactly what I'm referring to! He did climb the learning curve - he wasn't always a "brain surgeon."

And when he was learning he wasn't charging people. He was working for someone that was!!!!!!

[chris harris]

if you charge people and don't deliver to meet or exceed their expectations, they won't be back. period.

again, whose "right" is it to decide who gets to charge and who doesn't?!?!
should their be a panel that issues licenses to charge for recording work?

this is just nonsense.

if you've got the gear and you're confident that you can make clients happy, then charge them what you think that you're worth. If you're not worth that, you'll figure it out pretty quick.