Study on rock production and audience trends

One question before I even look at the questionnaire... are you planning to share your results with us or are we simply guinea pigs in the lab?

I've seen a number of similar posts but can't ever remember anyone coming back and discussing the results. Since this is basically an amateur recording forum (most of us are NOT professionals, although there are a few who do this for a living), it would a nice point of discussion since many folks on here are directly involved in the production side of music, even if they are the performer as well. Members will post their music and often ask for opinions from other members.

On the other hand, we routinely get people logging in from places like LA Recording School. They'll post that they are studying to be a music producer and look forward to learning, and never log in again. It's almost as if it's a class requirement to join a social media / forum.

And finally, I'm curious about your premise. "how production affects how an audience responds to rock music, and if stagnant production has been the cause of rock's fall off in the mainstream." seems to be a rather strange idea. I have no idea what stagnant production means. Rock music had been a place of continuous change in production styles and equipment. The rock music world started with a simple tape recorder, some mics, a simple mixer and a few auxiliary boxes (look at Sam Phillips Memphis Recording Services), and moved through 24 track 2" tapes with massive consoles. compressors, limiters, EQs and reverbs, to digital workstations with unlimited tracks, plugins, synthesized instruments along with traditional instruments. The same techniques are used today in pop, hiphop, EDM and World music. How can that be called stagnant production?

I suspect the general public doesn't have a clue as to what goes into the production of the music they listen to.


Its not that I expect an answer. You might be another "one and done" student who will never even see this post.
 
Well - I did it, but it wasn't what I expected at all, and I'm not sure my answers will provide much in the way of useful comment. You will have data sets but no way of knowing why I scored as I did. I expected the same clip each mixed or treated differently, but we got more of the same song. I liked the quieter bit, and hated the louder bit where it got too busy - but that meant clip 2 was commented upon differently? It's a bit flawed as a questionnaire?
 
I did the questionnaire, but for the life of me, I can't see how it even remotely pertains to the title. The questions really had nothing to do with "stagnant" production. It seemed to present 3 different clips (which I thought were quite mediocre) but really didn't show any special production technique.

Nowhere does the subject of content enter into the equation, which is the true driver for music sales. You can have the most modern, innovatively produced song, but if the public doesn't like the music, it isn't going to sell in the mainstream market. How many streams do you think an impeccably produced recording done of a 10th century Gregorian Chant would have*? How about a pop song recorded in a bedroom by a young girl and her brother (maybe a few hundred million)?

*hint... you might be surprised to hear that there are Gregorian chants that have 5 or more million views on Youtube!
 
TalismanRich said:
I did the questionnaire, but for the life of me, I can't see how it even remotely pertains to the title. The questions really had nothing to do with "stagnant" production. It seemed to present 3 different clips (which I thought were quite mediocre) but really didn't show any special production technique.

Nowhere does the subject of content enter into the equation, which is the true driver for music sales. You can have the most modern, innovatively produced song, but if the public doesn't like the music, it isn't going to sell in the mainstream market. How many streams do you think an impeccably produced recording done of a 10th century Gregorian Chant would have*? How about a pop song recorded in a bedroom by a young girl and her brother (maybe a few hundred million)?

*hint... you might be surprised to hear that there are Gregorian chants that have 5 or more million views on Youtube!
Click to expand...
I cannot lie, I do like me some of that old Gregorian chant. A buddy of mine paid for much of his music education through working transcribing Gregorian chant.

It was a thing for a short bit some years ago. Haven't listened in a while but have some CD's and find it oddly calming.

I read the premise of this post and immediately dismissed it. Apologies to the OP but if this is truly what the thesis is, it is hugely flawed. There is a great body of work out there regarding human psychology and music. It's not modern production that is affecting the industry. Plenty of other factors.
 
It does annoy me that people waste their time on this kind of pointless research. I'm old enough to remember your supervisor pulling your idea apart and sending you away to come back with something with more 'academic vigour' - there was also much more focus on having evidence that meant anything. This one collected data from random people, with no questions at all on their musical history and existing ability. Just age - which is also a bit pointless nowadays. Some genres are very age predictable. So a teen probably won't have any rock experience - and the other cardinal sin - mentioning R&B, because to old people, it does not mean the same as it does to young people - not remotely the same music and the writer has not spotted the flaw. Whoever approved this one at the university really is to blame, not the OP.

EDIT
The response to the identical posts on the net was much the same as ours, but I loved the bot response on reddit - it's really good!
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Click to expand...
 
I'm glad you mentioned that the same post was on Reddit. I see that the OP is studying at University of Portmouth, in Hampshire.

www.port.ac.uk

Music Technology

On this BSc Music Technology degree, you'll explore the theory and practice of recording, production, composition, and music computing. Find out more now.
www.port.ac.uk www.port.ac.uk

3 or 4 year program at about £9K per year.
 
If this rubbish is encouraged by Portsmouth without control, it says much about the quality of the research. In fairness, many universities introduce research by setting vague aims then they internally rubbish the results. The best, and genuine research projects include the university details, the aim of the research and a contact point for respondents to verify the thing is above board, often including a member of faculty’s email. This doesn’t, so it’s Mickey Mouse stuff. So many undergraduates have zero research skills from their A Levels/BTEC Nationals that the first year of uni is now spent catching up. This sounds like that to me. Somebody studying music technology as a SCIENCE degree should know better. Don’t blame the student, blame the uni for permitting such a pointless task.
 
It was a worthless survey--I find it hard to believe that this would be part of a dissertation, or perhaps I should say, "dissertation." I was not allowed to choose that I wouldn't listen, ever, to the badly produced music in all three clips. The 3rd one sounded marginally better than the first, but that ain't saying much. My favorite choice for a question that was seriously asked? "It sounded like more microphones were used" (in one of the clips). I, uh, put down "neutral" on that one!
 
I'm well aware of the worthlessness of so many music- (and arts in general) related programs out there nowadays.

However -- I'm not sure how far one can expect to go without a degree. @rob aylestone (and others, if you're actually in the business), how would you recommend that young folks get a good career in music? Is, say, doing a bunch of internship programs at studios (I know Abbey Road has one, haven't really researched others, I'm sure they're out there) enough to get a decent salary as a music engineer?
 
I have to say that many top class engineers I know didn’t get their degrees through education, but via networking. Some unis are very well ‘attached’ so their people who do internships, which incidentally, are rare in the UK as a ‘thing’, get spotted and hired. As everyone now has a Bachelors degree, even if unemployable, focus has shifted to Masters as meaning something, but time will tell. Certainly in Britain, the qualification is no longer a gatekeeper, far too many useless people, and it’s just a tick box on a form.

Studio intern schemes take hopefuls and screen them at low cost to the prospective employer. In many cases the system works on a personal level. Business requires good people. The business owner or management know a faculty member at a uni, often from when they were a doer, rather than educator, and this pipeline feeds in great people, until that faculty member moves and the system collapses. I’ve seen that happen many times. For a few years a uni is well known for where it post grads go, then it fails as another takes over.
 
There is something creepy about people who do masters degrees, just so they can out-degree those who don't.
You're better off going out to work, and getting real world experience, and also earn a living.
 
I'm wondering what level this person has reached in his education. If they are in their first semester of the program, I can see this type of project, just to get the idea across of learning to research (although we had this in high school, well before hitting univ level.)

I also see that the same post was made on SOS, Reddit, GS and HR. So far, only HR and Reddit have generated any "discussion" and Reddit is the only one where the OP actually replied to a question.

Rob, when I was in school, there were a few program where internships were required. The engineering school actually required a semester or 2 of co-op study where a student went to work with a company in their field of study. My brother was at the local electrical utility which worked out great. When he graduated, he was offered a position in the electrical engineering department. It turned into a career position from which he retired about 15 yrs ago.

From the campus radio station in which I worked (a low power AM station at the time), we had several people who ended up getting weekend jobs, then moved into full time positions based on the things they learned even though it was an extra curricular activity, not an accredited class. One was an engineer, four others ended up as announcers or news men. One worked for NPR for several years.
 
I took on a graduate from a well known British university known for their sound programmes - seemed OK, so I took the new degree as enough 'experience' for what I wanted.
I was really busy with other things so the incoming pile of hire equipment for a show I left with him. It appeared in the right place, and appeared cabled and sorted. It was, however, totally silent.

Speakon connectors go in and twist. He clearly was more used to jack plugs!
 
Um..did they kill the dream, or what?

get ready for $12 bottles of Ketchup and reciprocal inflationary ratios.

You think gas was expensive..just wait till it hits..
 
Thanks for completely killing the confidence of an amateur producer posting in the dedicated secection for newbies. Would it have killed you to be kind and constructive rather than tearing me to pieces?
 
While, I understand you being a little upset, when posting the first time, it is usually a rather sensitive time. I didn't see anything harsh, but there were no "pulling punches". I would recommend, if you are getting into this business, you better be ready for some harsh responses. Ask any band that has been reviewed by critics. Engineers and producers get less of a pass.
 
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