I still don't understand why everyone is seething so much over nubnuts. Hell, if anyone should be pissed, it should be me, as most of his comments were directed at guys like myself.
But try as I might, the Nub has managed to get on my good side. I'm not sure what gave him the notion that I/we care about his political views, but I'll be damned if he wasn't spot-on with some of his comments about Indie, Tubes, and autotune.
I wanna' shake his nubby hand. On another note, Nubs, I feel bad for taking work away from guys like yourself. I really do. But frankly Nubs, the clients I intercept from you from time-to-time have a few gripes with you and your kind. Please don't take this the wrong way. I'm only telling this in an effort to share information in the hopes of helping you out.
Gripes my clients have about Nubs and people like him:
#1 : Total lack of people skills. If I only had a freakin' dollar for every time someone tells me: "You're much more laid-back than the engineers I've worked with at the studios." "That last guy was an asshole." From my own observations, most of the engineer/producer types I've met in Chicago fit the stereotype. They all seem pretty stressed, hyper, strung out, in total need of more niccotein, coffee, getting laid with any regularity at all, or whatever other fix they rely on to curb their shakes.
And most think they're pretty intelligent about not only all things audio, but all things everything. Like politics, etc. And they're a lot smarter than you. And guess what Nubs . . . your clients pick up on it, and they don't like it. They don't like you or your type, because you're too wrapped up in yourself and don't seem to give a crap about their comfort level . . . their vibe . . . their music . . . their performance.
And when they ask Nubs if Nubs has "tubes," and other annoying questions like that, they can tell that you don't like being asked that question. And they can feel the hatred you have towards them welling up.
Then they call me, and I show them the love. I say: "Yea, I got a few tubes, but let's get down to what you are
really trying to achieve, sonically." And I'll listen to them. As hard as it is sometimes, I will listen intently, and I will ultimately get their business, because I will convey a level of interest and personal excitement to become involved in their successful project. And before long, my gear becomes irrelevent.
You won't hear me get all nub-like and defensive. You won't hear me lecture them about tubes versus solid state and how if you like Neves you like solid state. Or about how Bush and our government is evil and how we are hated by the world and are responsible for suffering and world hunger or how autotune should be outlawed.
#2: "I don't feel comfortable in stuios." Another common complaint. When people come to my place, they're walking in to a home. A home with TV, furniture, a fridge, and a couple of very friendly dogs that like to greet strangers. When they step in to my basement, it looks and feels a lot like where they're used to practicing . . . only with a hell of a lot more accoustic treatment.
#3: "What the hell is with all the damn gadgets and gizmos? Do they even use any of it?" People who have worked with Nubs ask me that one a lot. Some of the gear snobs might be impressed with racks and racks of the pretty blinking lights, knobs and meters, all the big-name outboard gear, etc. But a lot of people think it's just plain excessive, and they wonder how much of their hourly fee is spent supporting an unnecessarily exessive, unhealthy gear habbit.
#4: Price/Performance ratio leaves much to be desired. Most of my clients tell me "Yea, Chessrock, I recorded with Nubs over at Nubnuts studios a while back. And not only was Nubbie an antisocial asshole with an opinion on everything, but he cost me more than twice as much, and in the end, my finished product wasn't any better than what I got with you."
Interesting, sad, but ultimately true. Now I'm not about to go in to the subjectives of digital recording versus 2" tape at 30 dpi, my oktava mics, or how superior Nub's outboard gear is to my plugins, etc etc etc. All I know is that in my client's world, and to their ears, my work matches up. Whether or not they have cotton for ears isn't the issue.
What is at issue and the only thing that matters to me is that they are happy. Happy with their experience . . . happy with the sound . . . happy with the laid-back atmosphere . . . and ultimately happy with my work.
I extend to anyone who works with me the same offer: If you're not happy with your finished product, you don't have to pay. I'm not going to come after you or take you to small claims. You don't like, you don't buy. So far, I've had maybe 30 different clients in and out of here, and I've only had one person take me up on that. And that's because he gave me some crappy CDRW's to record his work on, and he got pissed because his 20 yr old CD player wouldn't play them.
So Nubbie . . . I hope you take all of this in the spirit in which it was intended. I am not trying to portray the Nubbs of the world as being all bad, and I'm not going on any Nubjob witch hunts, either.
I'm merely "telling you how it is" from my side of the fence, and hoping you can see there's a bigger picture to see in all of this, and that you, too, can benefit greatly by recognizing it for what it is.
