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Re: [ARSCLIST] Pristine Audio (?!)
I'm not overly optimistic for a few reasons:
1. as I said in an earlier post -- declining analog knowledge and equipment condition
2. there's no apprentice system like in the old days. You don't start sweeping floors and asking a
million questions. There are no crotchety old-timers who pull magic out of their brains every day
over whose shoulder you can look. Most of the experts are one-person operations, and struggling to
survive under that model. So there's no "guild" or "professional system" in place anymore. An
exception might be Hollywood, although I understand that's getting more decentralized too.
3. what passes for "knowledge" is a giant sludge pool of misinformation and myths. See any pro-audio
oriented web board. Who has the time to sort out facts from BS in those forums? Also, no
high-quality publications anymore. What takes the place of dB or Recording Engineer/Producer today?
Mags like Mix are just ego shows and advertiser-testimonials. Very few nuggets of useful or even
interesting information.
4. what would motivate a truly brilliant young man or woman to have anything to do with professional
audio? The music business is collapsing. There are no more magic mythical "temples" of recording
where you get paid little but have a giant "kewl factor" to working there, and brush elbows with
your favorite musicians. Many of us here are one-person operations, and some of us even _like_ to
work alone, but would we do this if we were 22 and just out of college? And, as Karl pointed out,
there is little budget or respect for anything approaching high-quality anymore.
5. the generation coming up, the so-called "millenials" (sp?) are work-ethic challenged. See the
numerous media stories on this trend. They also seem to think they have little to learn and don't
respect seniority. These are generalizations and I'm sure there are some wonderful young folks eager
to learn and respectful of their elders, but I sure see and encounter a lot of bad-attitude slackers
who have completely unrealistic ideas of work and wage-earning.
Sorry to rain on any parades, but reality hurts sometimes.
-- Tom Fine
----- Original Message -----
From: "Scott Phillips" <scottp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, December 05, 2007 7:09 PM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Pristine Audio (?!)
One can only hope !!
-----Original Message-----
From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
[mailto:ARSCLIST@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of RA Friedman
Sent: Wednesday, December 05, 2007 4:00 PM
To: ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Pristine Audio (?!)
I guess every generation says this! Take heart. Invariably some
youngster comes along and decides to learn the "old school way" and
revive craftsmanship. The real question is "Can they find their niche?"
-----Original Message-----
From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List on behalf
of Scott Phillips
Sent: Wed 12/5/2007 12:56 PM
To: ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc:
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Pristine Audio (?!)
Sometimes I think that mastering (or remastering) skills are
decreasing
at a rate similar to the rate of decline in the quality of
recording
engineers. As the 'old school' talent retires, the younger
replacement
talent has never learned fully to deal with the effort to use
the holes
in the sides of ones' head. Instead there is the mouse and
automatic
digital tools. The most disappointing thing is that it isn't the
tools
that are the problem. They are far, far better than they have
ever been.
It is the people, the attitudes, the 'easy way out' laziness
that is the
most disappointing.
Scott
-----Original Message-----
From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
[mailto:ARSCLIST@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Don Cox
Sent: Wednesday, December 05, 2007 10:47 AM
To: ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Pristine Audio (?!)
On 05/12/07, Marcos Sueiro Bal wrote:
Tom & Doug,
A-men.
It amazes me how professional mastering engineers can be lured
into
over-processing. A couple of years ago I consulted for a major
box-set
re-issue and the original mastering (from a reputable house)
on Cedar
was full of digi-swish. I believe that they had just gotten
the system
and were a little knob-happy (something that I admit to be
susceptible
of when using a new piece of gear). I convinced them to back
off a bit
(although, alas, they never fixed the pitch drift).
As these tools become more commonplace and we learn to use
them, we
can only hope that these artifacts will be a thing of the
past.
I think ear fatigue is a major problem. It is very hard even for
an
engineer to avoid adapting to what is coming out of the speakers
after
working for an hour or two.
So you tend to keep turning the knobs a bit further.
Regards
--
Don Cox
doncox@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx