"All I ask is that you accept a couple of facts:
1) My opinion is my own and is rooted in personal experiences I have had."
those FEW NEED to go! We ALL need to be part of that solution. If guys like me complain about them, then everyone just says were trying to put down a competitor, but I complain anyway
"3) My opinion is also swayed by the experiences of several long time friends of mine (3 of which did make it "big" -- 1 of which was signed on the spot after playing his demo cassette ... which was recorded live in a garage) -- the largest% of my frinds find the technicinas they have met to be arrogent and self serving. (Their words... not mine)"
Now after your friend got signed with his garage made demo, they recorded in a real studio right?
"4) 12 yrs ago a man once told a group of us "When you send me a demo that was recorded in a studio like this one (We were at a recording seminar) you're not handing me a demo, you're handing me a master. I need something raw and live before I can decide weather or not I can work with you."
-- that man was Bob Ezra... and to be honest I can't see me disagreeing with him."
yes, if you are talking about demo's common wisdom not too long ago was for a raw one, in certain cases. But again, there is the need for a real studio to put out an album, Im SURE he also told you that.
I dont understand the point you are making with this demo stuff, if you got the goods to do it, you in most cases back then SHOULD have made your own demo. This has nothing to do with the need for real studios or real engineers.
However, we are now in a COMPLETELY different era.
This is " The Age of the Million Dollar Demo " . A digusting turn of events. Rich parents hire their kids a producer, a FULL blown one to create their kid's albums. This is too painful to even get into, but check around youll see the ugliness thats creeping thru.
Club owners wont even take demo's or CD's off of bands anymore, because they know how much stuff can be faked or edited now. Its obscene
"So I choose to terminate this and realize that I was indeed wrong in anything I said about you personally... I do however stick to my convictions about much of what I said in general.
I appologize to you for any comments that were directed directly at you as an individual. You also have my respect... wearing a reputation painted by people you've never met can't be an easy thing."
Youre a big man, and that takes a lot of balls. I think you just arent seeing all the facts, because you sure seem fair to me.
This IS a very cloudy issue, in a VERY shady business
If you were to walk in the shoes of any of us guys for a bit, I think youd see a whole new perspective
Remember, we arent your enemies, were your friends. The few who screw it up for you screw it up for us a whole lot wose! I mean, you arent alone in your feelings. The damage done by these few turkeys is a horrible burden that I personally and many others have to carry.
"With so many people willing to speak up for all the good you have done here it is obvious you don't fit into the category of tech for which I was speaking about... which confuses me a bit... if you don't fit into that category than to whome's rescue were you comming????"
I guess my own, really. I HATE to be misunderstood I guess. You gotta understand that many of us have sacrificed everything to do this job. My origins are underground music that would never see the light of day on the radio, and would NEVER be able to afford the innards of a big studio. Theres a few on this very BBS who Ive known nearly my whole life, and they can tell you, that Ive ALWAYS been for the little guy. We all hated the big money guys when we were younger, and I always wanted a chance to let the underground be HEARD
I guess I cant really emphasize enough how backwards it is to think that most of us would be in this for the money. A common joke is : how do you make a million dollars in the studio bizz?
start with 2 million dollars
think about this for a small place that MUST "take on all comers"
console :25,000
Recording formats: 15,000 ( AT LEAST)
Cabling and patchbays, panels etc...: 10,000
Accoustics: 10,000
Mics:10,000 ( yeah right! but OK )
Facilities, speakers, amps, etc.. 10,000
Cost of technology change per year: 5,000 ( lowball but hey)
so not even starting in with rent and everything else, were 85,000$ in the hole
now because of all the fraud studios, trust fund babies, drug dealers looking for a money laundering, and not quite there yet up and comers with accident settlements, the rates have to be WAY low, say 40 dollars an hour
Now lets say that even with that crap around you you are doing pretty damn good and booking 15 billable hours a week. 60 hours a month, thats a whopping $2400 a month. WOW $28,800 a year! Boy the money is just flying all over the place, better start handing out bonuses.
I'll say it one more time : It is NOT about the money!
What really hurts, is that a LOT of us are suffering pretty bad, sacrificing a lot, working a LOT of free hours, in order to make SOME kind of good CD for the budget of an album we are allotted. If that means doing a lot of editing at home, off the clock, so be it ( ask anyone Ive worked with)
And then the very people we are sacrificing everything for, the reason for our existence in the first place, are insulting us AND misunderstanding us.... it hurts
My hero, the guy who introduced a LOT of my favorite bands to the world, and sounds like a few of yours as well, has had to move back home with his parents!!! Its just disgusting
please dont kid yourselves or insult us by saying it is about ANYTHING besides music
We do have to weed out the frauds, and as much as noone will believe me and as bad as this will sound, most of the trouble is coming from guys with "commercial" home studios
but AGAIN, I think home studios are great, and they help me turn out better albums EVERY time, we all just need to get rid of the chumps
the original question was " What do real engineers think about home recording."
and my original answer, its the greatest thing a band can do for itself, no matter how far they want to go in the industry
and then
"to me all of this debate is irrelevant.
The songs matter first and formost.
The quality of the recording is a distant second in my opinion.
i prefer a filthy,dirty gem to a shiny piece of shit."
right, the songs matter most. But a good song WONT get you conventional exposure. My collection of albums from very early on in my life is almost all stuff that noones ever heard of, or that recieved very little exposure besides word of mouth: The Misfits, Crass, Dayglo Abortions, Beowulf, No Mercy, Sacred Reich, Ugly Americans, etc...
I tried to dedicate my life to recording those types of bands so that SONICALLY, they could stand up to the million dollar big money plastic people bands on the radio.
Stations and clubs use the excuse all the time that something wasnt recorded well, and thats why they wont play it.
I am VERY devoted to taking that excuse away from them
