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Post by mrholmes on Feb 23, 2016 12:07:18 GMT -6
Yeah I totally agree with what Svart said about "professional" tools. It's not that gear doesn't matter. It demonstrably does. I was more just struck be the approach/attitude. No care or time given to pedigree. The CL stuff or the Oktavas are in fact "professional" gear (the warm, punchy drum rooms with the Oktavas were some of the coolest I've heard) but many would deride them as prosumer crap. It was just refreshing is all. Got a rack of vintage 1073s sitting there? They're great but I like the Vintechs better for most things. Cable went bad? Grab another, don't give a rat's ass if it's Mogami or generic, just get one that works so we can get the part and move on. Already did a synth mock up in Garage Band? Grab your laptop and plug it in here. There's a room of vintage analog synths over there but if you already got the part you like let's just use it. There was just entirely less fussing around about gear and a lot more just getting tracks down. And they sounded great. I didn't mean my original post as a "gear doesn't matter" thing as much as a "obsess about gear less, make more music" thing. Get the shit from the HD, great topic. Remember coaching a band ten years ago, they where starting a discussion about the kick drum sound in the mix. I told them that time is money and that back in the days no one had the chance to replace a kick sound. I was out after minute two because the track was great ... the AE had two great hours with me playing table-socker. In the end they decided to keep the kick sound... STUPID... YES. We have to speak more about the music, about how it translates the message... gear ... we like it and its fun to talk bout. The older I get, the more it goes on my nerves. People ask me in my local pub which of the dam china guitars they should buy. Now I say to them that it does not matters its all the same shit except maybe Ibanez and that is Japan. Or I ask something like- how about practicing instead of buying a new guitar ... can you do some Santana Dorian stiff to me. No? First get that down and than you are aloud to buy a new guitar. I forgot the name of that kid on GS which made a great sounding track with an Behringer Xenyx mini mixer. All those I know better than you people on GS where just silent... If you have a great song I am sure it will work which ever gear was used. Yes gear matters but its not too tragic if you do it low budget. And low budget of today is something different from low budget 25 years ago. I still believe that people want to listen to great music. Special in days where lyrics about someones butt is on air. |
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Post by stratboy on Feb 23, 2016 16:37:21 GMT -6
Remember that saying, its a poor craftsman that blames his tools?
Well, it's true.
Why?
Because a professional craftsman has the right tools!
I figured this out when I bought my Makita reciprocating saw. 20 years ago. Still have it today.
Too bad it took me 18 years to apply that lesson to my studio!
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Post by ragan on Feb 23, 2016 16:47:46 GMT -6
Remember that saying, its a poor craftsman that blames his tools? Well, it's true. Why? Because a professional craftsman has the right tools! I figured this out when I bought my Makita reciprocating saw. 20 years ago. Still have it today. Too bad it took me 18 years to apply that lesson to my studio! Ha. Yes. I'm also a builder and I think that rule applies more in construction than audio, but I agree there's some cross over. The first time I used my Festool track saw I almost laughed out loud it was so awesome and easy. |
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Post by stratboy on Feb 23, 2016 16:57:41 GMT -6
I felt the same way when I first listened to my Tyler Acoustics D3mx monitors last December. All of a sudden, I could hear EVERYTHING.
The right tool.
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Post by stevefreeman on Feb 23, 2016 17:48:46 GMT -6
I agree with the post and think it was a great one for sure! We all know that great sounds can come from "affordable" gear just as well as they can from vintage or more pricy "Pro" gear. To me it's about the application and personal preference. For me personally, I don't care about the name on the gear. To me it's all about the sound it makes, BUT, when you are producing an album for someone, they do care. They have a stigma in their head that a Neve 1073 sounds better than a Vintech. Whether it does or not, the fact remains that in their head they are thinking that if you were as good as you say you are that you should have the Neve. So much more information is available now about gear. It used to be that producers and engineers were the ones that really knew about the gear and what it does and the artists trusted the producers and engineers to use what was best for them. Nowadays, it doesn't surprise me at all when a 15 year old chick walks in to do vocals and wants to know if she's going to be using a 251, U47 or U87. That's what they see in the videos and they see what the artists that are where they want to be are using, so they think that they have to use the same thing, regardless of the fact that I can shape a better sound with a $400 mic. In this business, you have to remember that PERCEPTION is everything. We may know the truth, but our clients are all about the perception and 90% of them perceive that a producer or engineers talent and ability is reflected in the price of his/her gear. Sometimes we have to pay the idiot tax to please the artist. It's why most studios have a list of all their gear on their website, because like it or not potential clients make decisions based on that info.
Personally, I'm in search of the end all vocal chain. I'll spend big money on a couple channels of the essentials, but for the rest of my open channels I don't care what name is on them as long as I get the sound I want. The fact of the matter is that by the time it goes thru mix and master, you'll never be able to tell whether you used a Neve or Api or an affordable clone of either. When we talk about the "Neve Sound" or the "API Sound", we have to remember that we are referring to a time when those records were tracked, mixed and mastered on the same console thru the same analog source and circuitry. Today, you can cut on a vintage Neve console and that's great, but then you send off to your guys that mixes "In The box" and The second they add a single plug in on any track, you just lost the integrity of the console it was cut on. It has now taken on the plug in artifacts and digital parameters. At that point it doesn't matter that you cut it on a vintage Neve console, you are now in the box and what comes out of the box is virtually nothing like what went into it!
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Post by Johnkenn on Feb 23, 2016 18:22:50 GMT -6
I still say 251-->1073-->Fairchild  |
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