I don't think it's always about being afraid of answers. I've observed in a number of threads recently people not so much having an issue with what's been said as much as the way the 'what' is sometimes delivered.
Grim, you're absolutely right. I in no way advocate anybody acting like a prick
And yes, I know I'm probably doing just that in the past couple of pages. I'm sorry. But I do have my hackles raised at this point (I have hackles??? What are hackles???
) and I'm f*cking tired of the bullsh*t. That doesn't make me right to act this way, I know. Just give me a minute indulgence and I'll grow up again soon enough. Still some steam blowing off from the past couple of months of baloney...
I have two points about prickishness, though; first of all, prickishness is a two way street. Those providing answers are humans too and can be just as sensitive as those asking the questions, Where is it written that newbs have to be treated like one is walking on eggs, but it's OK to dis the veterans at will? How is it OK t accept the answers from the experienced for freakin' free, and it's OK to unload on them whenever the answer is one they don't like? What do you want, your money back?? But that's not an excuse for prickishness on the part of the answerer; two wrongs do not make a right. I know that. I have been wrong anytime I have acted like a prick. And I apologize for those times.
The second point is, not all the time where I (and others; I'm not alone here) have been accused of being a prick that were times that were called for. there is NO prickishness in the answers "you gotta have the ear before you can use the gear" or "how do YOU think it sounds?" or "listen to what the music or the mix is telling you", or "if you can't hear what the music is telling you, then there's nothing for you to do." Those are hard answers for some to accept, but that doesn't make the messenger a prick. Sometimes the answers ARE hard. Sometimes the answers are not the kind of answers one desires or expects, but that does not make them negative answers.
There's ways to sugar coat those answers, maybe. I've used phrases like "I'm sorry to say..." or "This is just my opinion, but..." and so forth, but when the newb realizes the nut of it is that they have to hear it for themselves, the sugar just melts away and doesn't make the truth any more digestable.
BTW, when I worked for the State of Illinois, I had one partner for a while that has the same kind of B.O problem you describe. He was the nicest guy in the world, and was a solid technician, but he just plain smelled bad all the time. And our desks were next to each other
P).
Our boss and I talked about it one day (he actually brought it up, not me), and he decided he'd sneak a stick of deodorant in this guy's desk drawer so he'd get the hint without being offensive or offended. He got the idea, no hurt feelings. But there was one problem. Because he couldn't smell his own bad odor, he never knew when he needed to use the extra pit goop, so it just sat in his drawer more than it should have, and he still smelled. True story.
In that case it wasn't the delivery of the answer that was the problem, it was the problem itself. Knowing that others could smell him, didn't really solve the problem, because he couldn't descern the problem himself. He could apply all the extra deoderant he wanted, but his sweater or shirt still stunk to high heaven from before that,
and he couldn't smell it himself. This bothered him, he didn't want to smell, but for whatever reason, that limitation of his own senses kept him behind the 8 ball.
Though not exactly analogous, it's kind of similar here with someone who doesn't yet have the ear. Until that core problem is addressed, no solution will work - at least not with any permanency. Sugar coating the answer does nothing to make the problem any more acceptable to the person whose hearing smells (so to speak.)
And for those recent to this thread who are advocating just practicing with the gear until they get it, I agree. Nothing wrong with that at all. But you guys have enough of an ear to be able to hear the difference the gear makes, and I trust that you don't need to ask someone else if something is sibilent or there is something else egregious about the mix. But if someone can't hear the sibilance to begin with, then how can they possibly hear when they have the dials set to take care of it?
And someone mentioned something about how musicians must have the ear for engineering because they play music all the time, my experience has told me that there is almost no correlation. i know a lot of good, high quality and experienced musicians, ones who have been playing for forty or more years and who have been on scores of album recordings and such, guys and gals who are that the ver top of manager's and producer's and band leader's phone lists, people I admire, respect, and trust. Many of them are great behind the glass. Just as many of them just do not have the analytical ear of an engineer. They can have perfect pitch, can know every chord variation ever played, and have a music catalog in their head the size of the Library of Congress. Sometimes it's scary how much they know...it can put me to shame at times. But they can - and often do - have a lousy ear for mixing or mastering. They usually are not shy about admitting it, ether.
How do you think I even got my foot into that new home studio I've been talking about and showing over in the studio forum? The guys who own and built that studio are some of the best musicians and upstanding guys I have had the pleasure of knowing. Honestly. I originally figured, "Why would they even want or need me?" But I have been repeatedly told that they want me and my ears in there because at least one of them doesn't think he has the ears that I do for it, and at least another one, while he can sing and play his balls off, just isn't into the technical aspects of engineering. I hear that all the time form perfectly qualified and experienced musicians.
I'm not saying that as a self-congratulatory pat on the back, just as an illustration that experienced musicianship in and of itself does not guarantee an analytical ear in the sense used by audio engineers.
G.
