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A-Barr
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Post by A-Barr » Thu Dec 20, 2007 10:47 am

RefD wrote:Image
AH! Jesus! Not cool!

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wedge
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Post by wedge » Thu Dec 20, 2007 10:58 am

junomat wrote:I was in College Park a few weeks ago and I didn't see Atomic there anymore. Did it move?
It's a couple of miles up the street... Keep going north on Route 1, cross the beltway, pass IKEA on the left, don't veer right before the next major intersection onto Rhode Island Ave. Keep left. Then after you're through that intersection, take a right onto Ewing Road, then a left onto Bacon Drive, and it's very quickly on your right...

10111 Bacon Dr, Beltsville, MD 20705

http://www.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q= ... =1&iwloc=A

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Post by Dj Mayonnaise » Thu Dec 20, 2007 5:06 pm

The opened a GC here a while back (years). I still haven't been in there.

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Post by dave watkins » Wed Mar 12, 2008 2:38 pm

i remember reading through this thread back in december and quite enjoying it, and also feeling my soul die a bit because everything that everyone is posting is true. the only time i ever go to guitar center is when my favorite locally owned shop is closed and i need some emergency strings or cable etc. i go in, get what i need and then browse around the floor to see if there's any bizzare used gear that strikes my interest. the following has now happened to me twice this year. TWICE! and this is why i am bringing this thread back:

GC: HEY BRO! WHATS GOING ON MAN?! YOU WANNA TRY ANY OF THESE SWEET GUITARS OUT?!!

me: no thanks, i am just looking around.

GC: HEY WELL IT'S LIKE I ALWAYS SAY MAN, YOU CAN'T SEE THE TONE!!!(he then laughs at how funny he thinks he is)

me: (i am speechless, then i leave the store)

i still just can't come to terms with the fact that this guy says this to everyone. if this ever happens again i will just have to reply "yes, i can" and watch his brain fry.
the tape is rolling, the ones and zeros are... um... ones and zeroing.
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Ryan Silva
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Post by Ryan Silva » Thu Mar 13, 2008 10:47 am

So I went into GC on a busy Saturday, and in Pro Audio I was asked "Can I help you??

I said "Yes, I want 1 Atlas Studio Boom, and a small onstage boom."

He said "Ok let me grab those from the back."

90 seconds later he comes back with exactly what I asked for and charged me what I wanted to pay. Took 3 min for check out, helped me out to the car, and I was on my way.

.......That's it.....it was great....I was happy......perfect! :D

It happens :wink:
"Writing good songs is hard. recording is easy. "

MoreSpaceEcho

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;ivlunsdystf
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Post by ;ivlunsdystf » Thu Mar 13, 2008 11:03 am

There's this, which I've just uploaded to freesound: http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/samplesVie ... p?id=49524

I have told the story before, about employees inadvertently making this recording onto a flash recorder which I then bought, but now it's forever available to the entire world at freesound.

That missing finger thing brings to mind the old "pound of flesh" story which is not a pleasant memory for me from my high school Shakespeare days...

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Smitty
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Post by Smitty » Thu Mar 13, 2008 11:23 am

RefD wrote: i blame the ad house they use.

even if the client (GC) insisted on it, i'd blame the ad house.

this just gives me even more incentive to not buy from GC or Musician's Friend.
their mailers are consistently awful. amateur stuff. i always wince when i get them in the mail on account of how poorly they're put together (and because they somehow know where I live).
"I try to hate all my gear equally at all times to keep the balance of power in my favor." - Brad Sucks

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Post by dave watkins » Thu Mar 13, 2008 11:31 am

well aside from the example of the employee with the bill and ted's excellent adventure demeanor, i have gotten some decent deals from time to time.

i got a presonus firestudio project for $100 off, at a time when presonus was offering a mail in rebate for a free faderport. so it was $400 for the total package. i also picked up a pair of KRK rps5's and a box of 32 1' x 1' auralex panels for $300. so i guess i really just have work on avoiding the guitar department, if only there was a way to get to recording and pro audio without going through it.
Last edited by dave watkins on Thu Mar 13, 2008 2:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.
the tape is rolling, the ones and zeros are... um... ones and zeroing.
http://www.davewatkinsmusic.com

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thieves
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Post by thieves » Thu Mar 13, 2008 1:16 pm

So I was on the lookout for a good strap lock system for my girlfriend. She plays a Mustang bass and I just bought it for her... we're not rich folks, so I want something that will help protect it and looks decent, since it's a damn sexy bass :D . I've had past experiences with the top two models that everyone seems to have, and I don't like either one. I've seen the Dunlop ruin a body of a guitar because it sticks so far out, and I just plain hate the way the Schallers look. Anyway, I looked on Musician's Friend and basically ALL of their chrome straplocks are on backorder, so I decide to go to GC (groan).

I get there and ask to see "every chrome straplock system they have." The guy comes back with.... the Schaller and Dunlop sets. So I say to him, "I've had bad experiences with both of these, I'd really like to see/try something lower profile like the Zeppelin straplocks on Musician's Friend." He turns around and grabs the exact straplock I had just mentioned. UGH
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Post by Trick Fall » Thu Mar 13, 2008 5:39 pm

I was going on vacation last month and had been looking everywhere for a decent pair of headphones to bring with me. I couldn't find anything at any of the electronic stores and had given up. Well the night before I was leaving I happened to be passing Guitar Center and figured they might have some decent cans. Now I was leaving that night for Costa Rica and also had to make a doctor's appointment. So I run in and head straight for pro audio and both guys working in there are on the phone. Now it was a Wednesday night at around 8:30pm so I am basically the only person shopping. Both of the schmoes on the phone tried completely ignoring me as best as they could for over twenty minutes until one of them had to switch to another phone. Finally I was like look dude, I just want to know how much the Sony's are, if they are under a hundred bucks ring them up. It probably took all of sixty seconds for him to make a hundred dollar sale, but it took me over twenty minutes. Seriously aggravating.......

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Post by JGriffin » Thu Mar 13, 2008 10:25 pm

RefD wrote: i blame the ad house they use.

even if the client (GC) insisted on it, i'd blame the ad house.
Quite seriously, I can't tell you how many times we've made an ad under client orders, all the while thinking, this is a reeeally terrible idea...

Though you're probably right, it was most likely the agency, some art director trying to be "edgy." And of course I can't tell you how many times we've made an ad some art director or writer thought was "edgy," all the while thinking, this is a reeeally terrible idea...


But GC approved it.
"Jeweller, you've failed. Jeweller."

"Lots of people are nostalgic for analog. I suspect they're people who never had to work with it." ? Brian Eno

All the DWLB music is at http://dwlb.bandcamp.com/

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Post by RefD » Thu Mar 13, 2008 10:37 pm

dwlb wrote:
RefD wrote: i blame the ad house they use.

even if the client (GC) insisted on it, i'd blame the ad house.
Quite seriously, I can't tell you how many times we've made an ad under client orders, all the while thinking, this is a reeeally terrible idea...

Though you're probably right, it was most likely the agency, some art director trying to be "edgy." And of course I can't tell you how many times we've made an ad some art director or writer thought was "edgy," all the while thinking, this is a reeeally terrible idea...


But GC approved it.
my mom worked for Temerlin McClain for nearly 20 years (actually she started with the Dallas branch when they were Bozell and Jacobs, then BJK&E and then just Bozell) and has regaled me with all sorts of client-approved (or sometimes it was all the client's idea and they just wanted the agency to execute it) ad horror stories.

often it was down to doing the thing at figurative gunpoint for fear of losing the account. :|
?What need is there to weep over parts of life? The whole of it calls for tears.? -- Seneca

lyman
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Post by lyman » Fri Mar 14, 2008 7:25 am

dwlb wrote:
RefD wrote: i blame the ad house they use.

even if the client (GC) insisted on it, i'd blame the ad house.
Quite seriously, I can't tell you how many times we've made an ad under client orders, all the while thinking, this is a reeeally terrible idea...

Though you're probably right, it was most likely the agency, some art director trying to be "edgy." And of course I can't tell you how many times we've made an ad some art director or writer thought was "edgy," all the while thinking, this is a reeeally terrible idea...


But GC approved it.
well, doing an ad for a client is not much different from recording a song for a client. lets say they want to quadruple track the bass guitar on a song but you tell the client it sounds like a wall of feces. they insist so you go ahead with it because they're a paying client. should you be blamed for the lousy sound in that case? different product but same scenario.

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Smitty
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Post by Smitty » Fri Mar 14, 2008 7:40 am

as a creative professional in another field, i've learned that your ability to persuade others that what they think they want is actually a terrible idea is often as important as your creative skills themselves.
"I try to hate all my gear equally at all times to keep the balance of power in my favor." - Brad Sucks

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>Mojave_Gary<
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Post by >Mojave_Gary< » Fri Mar 14, 2008 11:40 am

nacho459 wrote:About 3 months ago I walk into a local GC that usually has good used gear. In the pro audio section they have a fairly beat up Dolby 323 NR unit marked down from $4999 to $29 I ask the kid at the counter if the price was right, he told me yes so I told him I'd buy it. Near the dolby unit was an old Sony PCM-800 that I asked about, he said it was $99 so I bought it too. Pretty much the whole time the kid is helping me he is just talking about how I must be a pro because I realize what good gear is and what a good deal I'm getting, yadda yadda yadda. So the kid helps me cary the PCM machine to my car and says "You gotta let me hear some of the mixes you do on these." "Man these are gonna sound great together!"
NowI understand why the guy at the guitar counter at the GC here in the high desert keeps trying to sell me Groove Tubes for my Les Paul :roll:
What the #*%@ is that BuZzInG sOuNd ??

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