Huge influx of idiots to the forum? or just me?

[LemonTree]

How many times over the past few weeks have I read....

I've just bought a £500 soundcard and a £600 sequencing program and a £300 microphone, where do I plug the mic and what do I press to make it work?


Is it just me?

I like to help out as much as I can around here with my limited knowlege but I'm starting to think new members should be restricted to the newbie forum untill they clock up a few posts and get some SEARCHING and reading under their belts

 

[FALKEN]

eh...

sometimes the search function isn't so good. try a search on "DI" for example...

and there aren't that many people talking about advanced topics either...which can be equally as boring.

I am just waiting for the revolution to happen....then all of these newbie questions will be worth it.

but yeah I agree...if you have to ask where to plug in the mic you are doomed.

 

[noisedude]

I remember talking to Alan Hyatt about microphone returns and he said that half the time when someone rings up and says their mic isn't working, they'll ask them if they have phantom power switched on and they'll answer, "What is phantom power?". What we're seeing here is a natural extension of that - it's too easy to ask questions compared to actually trying to find something out for yourself.

 

[mikemorgan]

While the mixing/mastering forum is not the proper place for those types of questions, and a newbie might not know exactly where to post, and that double-posting is frowned upon, I am underwhelmed more often by people of experience complaining about newbie questions. This is the Home Recording website and is geared towards helping people who are entirely new to the subject. The home page explains things like using a four-track, getting audio into your computer, and even using VHS as an audio format. The great benefit of this forum is that there are indeed, audio professionals checking in to help answer what "how does this work?" I don't think anyone should be offended by these kinds of questions wherever they show up, and if I'm to busy to help, someone else usually does.

 

[Markaholic]

At the risk of maybe getting some bad rep and sounding like a douchebag..
i notice 90% of them are hip hoppers/beat-makers.
I hate that music!
Why on earth would i want to help people make shit music?
I just laugh to myself and go to the next thread w/o even replying!

 

[cellardweller]

eh...

sometimes the search function isn't so good. try a search on "DI" for example...

and there aren't that many people talking about advanced topics either...which can be equally as boring.

AND what further complicates this is the Quantity .vs quality of many threads answered when using the search function.

It'd be nice if there were an advanced search, similar to that of google...

 

[mikemorgan]

At the risk of maybe getting some bad rep and sounding like a douchebag..
i notice 90% of them are hip hoppers/beat-makers.
I hate that music!
Why on earth would i want to help people make shit music?

Because they might just make you rich!

 

[LemonTree]

I'd have posted this in the nebie forum but they seem to skip straight past that on the way here. I think a 10 post minimum on the newbie forum would be a good thing...


...and a sticky on how to use the search feature for the rappers/hiphoppers

 

[Halion]

The increase scares me aswell. I just don't get how some people can buy stuff without knowing anything about what it does.

 

[noisedude]

At the risk of maybe getting some bad rep and sounding like a douchebag..
i notice 90% of them are hip hoppers/beat-makers.
I hate that music!
Why on earth would i want to help people make shit music?
I just laugh to myself and go to the next thread w/o even replying!

It's kinda taboo to say that ... maybe there are racial connotations.

My take? Rappers and 'beat-makers' aren't musicians of experience in the sense that they've never had to work a PA in rehearsal, or work out how to use amps well, or learn how to dial a great tone into a multi-FX by using their ears and not their eyes ... and many of them are so obsessed with getting an almighty bass thump in their music that they ignore the rest.

Hip-hop is the great leveller - even the most stupid kid with the least talent can have a go and turn out to be subjectively good at it ... a bit like the trend towards mindlessly repetitive 'garage' bands like the Strokes, but without the decency to even bother to learn a musical instrument.

I love great hip-hop, but any dipshit can learn a bunch of swear-words and shout into a mic ... not any dipshit can learn how to comptetently record it to a 'pro' standard.

 

[LemonTree]

eh...

sometimes the search function isn't so good. try a search on "DI" for example...

Now if they een knew what Di stood for they could type it in and get over the 10 characters minimum hurdle

 

[mikeh]

I must admit I find it confusing and frustrating that people go and purchase gear without any clue how to even hook it up.

We are all newbies at something at sometime and we all appreciate someone sharing knowledge - but it sure seems this is going the wrong direction.

Like most on this site I'm always willing to offer what little knowledge I can (since I have benefitted many times form the knowledge of others on this site) - but!!!!!

Even if a search can't get it done, there are a million books (I assume some people still read books) which could provide this basic knowledge, rather then simple asking basic questions on this site.

 

[MadAudio]

Another bad effect of the digital revolution. When I first got into home recording, Tascam and Fostex were about the only game in town. Computers were for games and programming. Now there is just an ungodly amount of affordable gear out there, and the companies making it do a great disservice by putting out ads saying "Now you can make pro recordings at home!"

 

[LemonTree]

I agree skipper.....that advert from microsoft telling you anyone can be a popstar from the comfort of their own home must have woken a lot of dead grey matter out there

And I wish I even had a computer to get on here for a good read back in the days when I was workin with an old tascam porta 01, bounce, bounce, bounce!

 

[brandrum]

sorry.....I'm probably one of those idiots.

 

[cellardweller]

sorry.....I'm probably one of those idiots.

As I am, and as we all (probably) are at some point.

But to blindly buy something, without even vaguely researching it...

God knows I will harass and question all of the good folks here for a year before buying a new brand of guitar strings...

 

[fraserhutch]

My bitch is when people come in here and just start firing away with questions without even doing a modicum of their own research. When they get called on it, they then say things like "stop with the hate, if you don't like my question, just ignore the question and carry on."

The problem with that is the signal to noise ratio here is through the floor.

<RANT>

I have to wade through countless repetitions of the same question over and over and over and over just to perhaps, every once in a while, uncover an advanced topic. Who has time for that?

"I want to record. How do I start? What do I need? I have a budget of $50 and I want to sound like the pros."
"What is the best preamp for $1.99 or less?"
"What is the best mic for $1.99 or less?"
"Show me how to use this $1000 software package I pirated and therefore don't have the manual for"....

So, I have pretty much stopped helping newbies just because of that. If they would at least do a little bit of reading, ok. But some (most?) don't. They want everything spoon fed to them, and bitch at you if you call them on it.

I generally don't mind helping, but it has been wearing me down....
</RANT>



Anyways, sorry for the rant.

 

[easychair]

It comes and goes. The same thing happened last summer. The really irritating ones dropped out, and a lot of good ones stayed.

To me, the big difference seems to be attitude. Older posters seem to keep having fun posting, and even if they aren't really contributing anything relevant or even useful , at least it's usually a fun place take part in.

 

[noisedude]

This is the thing. There was a time when all of the top 20 threads in the Newbie forum would have my name on 'most recent poster', and every single one of my answers was useful, planned and with links to further reading.

Now I can't be bothered, so I lark about a bit. People like Southside Glen are doing what I used to, and maybe in a year or two, will be mucking about too. I guess it's a cycle, but this forum ended its really useful life for me quite a while ago.

 

[noisedude]

In fact, does anyone remember when Spinsterwun and I basically ran the Newbies board? Those were good times man ... Spinster is like a crazy online brother to me ... when I make it to the States next summer I'll have to go on tour to meet guys like that.

I have made friends for life through this forum, including multiple ones who I've met in person. Eddie 'Timmerman' is coming over to my shop this week to say hi, and Tony 'Wilkee' invited me down to his pub for a beer festival. I think that's why I get narked when idiots come in and try to spoil it all.