Distributed in 94 countries, Mix is the world's leading magazine for the professional recording and sound production technology industry. Mix covers a wide range of topics including: recording, live sound and production, broadcast production, audio for film and video, and music technology.
TODAY’S HALLOWEEN, SO HERE’S A SCARY STORY… A while ago, I wrote about the need for manufacturers to spend a couple extra bucks on better-quality pots, switches, etc. to ensure more longevity in gear. Now i’m bugged by the idea of designs that create a built-in time bomb–just ticking down to destroy the stuff you have. Now whether this manufacturing obsolescence is plannned (shame on them) or unplanned (why didn’t someone think of this first), the effect on the end user is the same.
Last week, I pulled out a pair of JBL L26 speakers that I hadn’t used for years. These are really nice 10″ two-way bookshelves. After giving the oak cabinets a quick dusting, I pulled the grilles off and went to move a bit of dust on the edge of the woofer cone, and the foam surround crumbled when I touched it. I’ve heard of this “foam rot” condition, but this could never happen to ME—these speakers were never exposed to the sun, and were carefully stored in a home, but the malady is widespread, especially to speakers that are more than 10 years old. The sad part is that speakers don’t HAVE to go south with age—I’ve got two ’40s Jensens, two mid-1950s Altec 515Bs and a ’60s JBL D130—that are all in constant use with no ill effects, despite being 60/50/40+ years old. Yeah, I guess that butyl and foam surrounds are more compliant (at least when new) than their all-paper cone cousins—and there’s a fairly healthy business in third-party foam surround kits and re-foaming/reconing companies, but still…
In another example, I have (at least, had) a wonderful vintage Korg PolySix analog synth, that’s been a great studio addition over the past 20+ years, and when the onboard (soldered-in!) memory battery died, I didn’t lose much sleep over it. It couldn’t remember presets, but you could always twiddle a couple knobs and get what you needed, sometimes faster than walking through the presets anyway. But the REAL problem arrived when the aged batteries leaked, and since the main CPU is right next to the battery (another “great” design idea) the leakage trashed all the PCB traces going to the CPU and maybe that as well, so now it’s DOA.
At this rate, I wonder if there will be any legacy stuff left that you could pass to your kids and grandkids when you eventually get that call to track Jimi, Janis and Elvis. It might not be digital hardware, but it could be your Millennias or Massenburgs. It sure won’t be your plug-in library or your collection of music/DAW software unless your heirs still have a working Atari ST or really need a (NuBus) Pro Tools 3.0 rig. We can barely keep up with changing software mores right now with today’s Intel Macs and Windows Vista around the corner, much less having to worry what’s coming a decade from now. Sooooo….
When not working on Mix stuff, George Petersen records and performs with the SF Bay Area-based rock band ARIEL. Check ‘em out at www.jenpet.com.
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Is there too much planned (or unplanned) obsolesence?
Is the concept of legacy audio products still relevant?
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The November MIX hits the streets next week and has our annual listings of recording schools/programs—it’s a great resource for anyone seeking a starting place for a career in audio. Once upon a time, someone who was motivated could get a job sweeping up at a studio and eventually apprentice to becoming a recording engineer. Well, those days are long gone and education is essential to getting anywhere in the audio biz these days.
But simply possessing a degree or certificate is not enough to get you in the door. For example, let’s consider two job candidates, both with similar academics. Both of these people know how to push every button on an SSL and can recite a Pro Tools manual from memory. Now assuming that both candidates can form a coherent sentence, wore clean t-shirts to the interview and don’t smell bad, there are other factors to consider. Beyond a prospect’s ability to show up for work on time, employers are looking for other skills that may not seem glitzy, but will get any applicant serious consideration–anytime, anywhere: Can you fix stuff?
There are a lot of individuals trained in button pushing, but what happens when you push the button and nothing happens? For example, two identical engineers enter identical studios to do some emergency voiceovers on a holiday weekend when they’re the only ones in the facility. They set up vocal mics, fire up the console, patch the feed into the DAW and there’s no sound. The engineer trained in signal flow takes two minutes to determine the problem is from a defective phantom power switch on the console modules, patches around it and the session resumes. An hour later, across town, the button pusher is still swapping mic cables and wondering where the problem is, but it hardly matters anymore, as the client left 45 minutes ago, vowing never to return. Which engineer would YOU hire?
And sometimes the key to getting THE right job in pro audio has nothing to do with sound. Can you configure a LAN system for interfacility networking? Can you troubleshoot audio and/or computer gear? Do you understand multimachine synchronization issues for film/video/broadcasting? Are you fluent in web design or DVD authoring? Skills like these, combined with a solid education in audio, electronics and computers will make you highly desirable to employers.
Experience is also important. Yeah, at one point or another, everyone in the biz has faced that “can’t get a job without experience–can’t get experience without a job” routine, but surely there are local places where you could work with upcoming bands or clubs, churches, community theatre, local access cable, public radio or TV and volunteer your time while making connections and building your skillset in the real world.
When not working on Mix stuff, George Petersen records and performs with the SF Bay Area-based rock band ARIEL. Check ‘em out at www.jenpet.com.
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FORUM:
So what’s the “best way” to break in to the biz?
How important is formal audio education?
How did YOU get started?
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A little part of us all is going away, never to return. As the candle burns down on the once-powerful Tower Records chain and the ongoing bankruptcy sales continue to clear the shelves, the music world is going to be a sadder place. But it’s nothing new: record store chains have come and gone over the years, but Tower was different—and with more than 200 locations worldwide, still managed to maintain a modicum of soul.
Tower was certainly not the same as other record chains. I hardly felt any swelling of emotion when Wherehouse Records disappeared some years back. And even in a day of cookie-cutter retailing, most Tower stores had a vibe—the Hollywood store was nothing like the Greenwich Village location or San Francisco’s North Beach store, which were nothing like Tower’s stores in London, Tokyo or Buenos Aires. And unlike the megachains where aisle after aisle would be filled up the same new mainstream release, Tower had stores with a real diversity where variety and selection actually meant something. You could actually spend hours shopping and discover a wealth of interesting releases, rather than a spoonfed list of 20 of this week’s chart toppers.
Don’t worry about the loss of Tower—you can still get yer fill of music at Wal-Mart or Target or Starbucks—but I doubt any of these suppliers will have a section devoted to Soca music or pre-bop or serious classical or soundtracks that weren’t penned by Andrew Lloyd Weber. And good luck finding something that carries anything with a PMRC “explicit lyrics” label there, either—everything will be white-picket fence clean in the new frontier…
No, I’m not implying that Tower was somehow the great savior of the industry, and there are at least some areas with cool indie stores that have good stuff, but even those are becoming closer to being part of an endangered species. Sure, there’s no shortage of music download sites (even some legal ones) and you can still buy physical product over the ‘net, but I’d hate to have to be the one to describe to future generations, anthropologists and historians what it was like actually visit a record store.
When not working on Mix stuff, George Petersen records and performs with the SF Bay Area-based rock band ARIEL. Check ‘em out at www.jenpet.com.
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What do YOU think?
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I’m still recovering from the AES convention in San Francisco, which was awesome to say the least. [For more on the show, check our AES-SF site at http://mixonline.com/aes ]
Here was a huge convention center filled with the latest technology, but the irony is that for all of the time we spend creating audio, we spend very little time listening. Sure, we hear things all day, but listening is an art in itself, and critical listening is the highest form of the craft. The difference between hearing and listening is about as wide as the gap between sipping a chardonnay and chugging a Coors.
As producers and engineers, we have to focus on the big picture and still be acutely aware of the minutiae. Musicians in the studio focus on the performance, and no amount of rattling, creaking, buzzing, rumble or hiss will sway certain players from their way of hearing. How often have you heard a take with great “feel,” but then found that one bandmember is overly bothered by a slightly anticipated 32nd note in the middle of a four-bar fill that no one but that player can hear?
Critical listening requires training and practice in the ability to discern both technical flaws and performance issues such as tempo, intonation and pitch. (Of course, working with pitch-challenged vocalists or unsteady drummers also requires finesse and diplomacy, but that’s another issue.) Unfortunately, expertise in the listening art can be severely hampered by inaccurate monitors or a poor acoustical environment. Too often, the investment in decent monitors or acoustical treatments is deferred in lieu of some cool new “must-have” effects processor or other studio toy.
Some engineers have the amazing ability to compensate for quirky control rooms or lousy monitors, but is that the way YOU want to work? A key indicator of a monitoring system’s health is how your mixes sound when played on other systems. A good mix should sound consistent on a boombox, headphones or a high-end home stereo; a mix that’s boomy, thin, dull or overly bright signifies an underlying problem.
Another question is how we listen. Sitting exactly in the sweet spot of a great control room is fine, but occasionally standing off to the side with one ear plugged may offer a better indication of how the mix may sound to users under less-than-ideal conditions. One favorite trick is checking mixes on a car system, but here again, playback during rush-hour traffic will sound very different from the way it sounds in a studio parking lot at 3 a.m.!
When not working on Mix stuff, George Petersen records and performs with the SF Bay Area-based rock band ARIEL. Check ‘em out at www.jenpet.com.
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So has listening become a lost art?
What monitoring reference(s) works for YOU?
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Here we are—it’s AES week, and if you’re not already planning to attend the show, be advised that San Francisco’s Moscone Center is THE place to be for anyone who’s serious about audio. [For more info about AES visit www.AES.org].
With more than 400 audio companies showing their latest toys, there’ll be a whole lotta technology going on and it’s an ideal place to talk to manufacturers up close and personal about how their products fit into your audio needs. Here are a few suggestions for gear suppliers on my AES Wish List:
Fix your Website! You probably don’t think it needs fixing, but it does. If the words “skip intro” appear on your opening page, you’ve got a problem. People visit your site looking for information, not entertainment. No one wants to watch that whirling logo and spacey music intro of yours. Also, your search engine ranking is based partly on the text on your front page, and if the only words are “skip intro,” there isn’t much for Google, Yahoo, et al, to work with. While you’re at it, test your site with several browsers to make sure your customers can actually view it.
Give us support! Phone support is hard to access (busy signals) for users, so pump up your Web support. Offer more FAQs, troubleshooting tips, downloadable manuals and quick-start charts. And provide documentation for discontinued products: You made that stuff, so give your supporters some support.
Copy protection is a necessary evil. A friend of mine had to buy a USB hub just to run all of his dongles on his laptop! Concepts such as the iLok aren’t necessarily perfect, but are a step in the right direction. Maybe 2007 will be the year when some smart minds in this biz come up with a solution we can all live with. Pleeeeaase?
Every manufacturer is in a hurry to get product out, but can you actually test stuff before you ship it? If it’s software/peripherals, check it on Intel and AMD hardware (with Win 2000, NT and XP Pro/Home); on the Mac side, try OS X (Tiger, too) as well as OS 9 and G5/G4/G3/legacy machines. If some platform isn’t supported, let users know before they buy/upgrade, and don’t simply promise a future new driver or fix. And it’s not just computer stuff– audio hardware (from mics to modeling synths) needs a good dose of beta testing before foisting it on the public.
Finally, look at your products from a long-term user’s viewpoint. A box with a soldered-in battery for RAM backup just screams the phrase “planned obsolescence.” And in one of the few industries where users actually value vintage gear, a few extra coins for a battery socket (or better-quality pots, switches and connectors) can mean satisfied users and repeat customers down the line.
When not working on Mix stuff, George Petersen records and performs with the SF Bay Area-based rock band ARIEL. Check ‘em out at www.jenpet.com.
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So what suggestions do YOU have for manufacturers? And while we’re at it, what would YOU offer in terms of ways that the AES show itself could improve?
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