2011 - What we've learned this year.

[NorseHorse]

MERRY CHRISTMAS! I hope 2011 was filled with many great recordings. It's been a good year, and here is some of what I've learned:

- Get organized, stay organized.
- If someone else can do it, you can it.
- Keep your monitor level constant.
- Record more, edit less.
- Turn down a recording to go to a birthday party. (twice)
- The weather in LA is awesome pretty much all the time.
- The drivers around DC and Salt Lake City are possibly the worst in the country.
- The clarinetist Kari Kriikku is pretty amazing.
- Wyoming is beautiful.
- Runzas are delicious.

What have you learned this year?

[David Spearritt]

Slutz take themselves waaay too seriously.
Air in recorded sound is the highest ideal.
Classical music is alive and well.
Recording Opera really well is very challenging.
Live performance is the most fun to record and produce.
Pyramix is fantastic software.
Apart from modern sonics, ergonomics is the most important attribute in good gear.
Joyce diDonato is a wonderful Rossini singer.
Evgeny Kissin is simply stunning, live.
Opinions on GS are almost useless.

[npulsipher]

The only high end gear you really need is your ears. So train them, take care of them and use them as you #1 tool.

[hbphotoav]

1. There is nothing better than to be paid to play with one's toys. Well... OK... maybe THAT's better...

2. Beer is good. Good beer is better. Great beer is worth crossing the street for.

3. A nice, quiet concert venue with a great acoustic is a Very Good Thing. A nice, quiet concert venue with a great acoustic where folks will let one place one's mics exactly where one wishes to place them is rarer than the teeth of a hen.

4. Wishing you all a stellar 2012.

Well... most of you, anyway.

HB

[Michael E]

– You can achieve a really good results, if you will be patient enough during the production/tracking process.

I mean when you get a creativity rage and start tweaking stuff too fast, trying to mix on the fly, adding a lot of sounds – it's a really easy to ruin all stuff.
So think more before tweaking the knobs and recording something.

– Passing soft synths through the preamp is really really good.

– Technics over the magic plugins.

The philosophy of the year: "You get paid for your taste, not for your skills." – Pensado's Place

[Thomas W. Bethe]

Some thoughts from this last year...

Recently there have been a lot of trolls infecting GS - however there are still a lot of good people here.

Classical music is dying a slow death but it is not quite on life support and is worth saving.

There are less and less real "audio engineers" and more and more pretenders.

A good hall with a good artist to record is worth the price of admission.

A good workman never blames his/her tools.

There will never be one microphone that is good for recording everything.

Someone on GS will always have a reason that a particular piece of equipment or software is the best or the worst.

There are too many people wanting to get into audio and less and less places for them to work.

Professional classical music recording by major labels is not being done much anymore and labels like Telarc, who specialized in GREAT recordings, are going away.

Someone will always know more than me and someone will always know less. It is the law of averages.

Never agree to do a recording without knowing all the facts. <It can bite you in the butt> Trust me!

The lowest cost does not always mean the least expensive way to do something.

Always buy the best equipment you can afford it will usually last longer and sound better.

If something can go wrong it will and at the worst possible moment.

Never give up on trying to be the best.

If all someone is looking for is the lowest price they may indeed get what they want but it may not be what is the best for them in the long run.

You can learn a lot on GS if you have a good BS filter engaged.

and finally

Today is yesterday's tomorrow - Message in a fortune cookie. Think about it!!!




Have a GREAT and PROSPEROUS New Year...

[johnsound]

By reading posts on Gearslutz I have learned the following:

Unless I have a specific piece of high-end/low-end gear/plug-in/DAW, my work and my opinions are worthless.

If I record to a laptop, I am untrustworthy and my work and my opinions are worthless.

Despite the fact that I have been making a reasonable living from what I do for almost forty years, if I don't post regularly on subjects I know nothing about, my work and my opinions are worthless.

I have learned that anyone using a specific type of computer for recording is delusional and that no-one in the real world uses them and that they're all in thrall to a reality distortion field and their work and opinions are worthless.

As a consequence of the above, I have learned that all of the high-end studios in London that I've used this year are run by delusional people who are not in real world and therefore their work and opinions are worthless.

I have learned that I should now be going back only to using analog systems for everything that I do in the audio world and if I dare to suggest that my digital systems might be a bit better for the work I do, I am still delusional and my work and opinions are worthless.

Actually, mostly what I learned from reading posts on Gearslutz is that I'm wrong about absolutely everything, that there is always a better and definitive way to do everything than the way I do it, and better and cheaper/more expensive equipment to do it with and if I don't agree, then my work and my opinions are worthless.

Aside from that, not much, really.

Happy Holidays,

John

[marty lester]

- always scan Gearslutz. never ending source of info and fun
- always assume everyone else around you (especially who hired you) won't
have it together as much as you will, so bring extra everything and you'll be
a hero in a pinch
- double check you have the cables you need. then triple check.
- always toss a granola bar in the backpack. low blood sugar is bad on a gig.
- don't be afraid to record anywhere! some extraneous noise can be worth it.

happy holidays and new year!

marty.

[Rolo 46]

Take everything with a pinch of salt and a wry smile,imho
Knowledge is power ,even if its wrong.
Creatives always fall out and take umbrage it seems.

[GotGear?]

DA-88's ain't dead yet.
Got over my digital phobia.
Works just like an analog tape machine.

[Plush]

Merry Christmas to All. Onward and Upward for 2012!

What I've learned in 2011:

that GS is still a great place and the Remote Forum is the best place on GS.

That noobies need to feel their way along without pressure from pros.

That most who post on GS are hobbyists.

That I need to remind myself that most posters are hobbyists--to work on respecting a wide range of hobbyists.

That I once again need to concentrate on improving the front end of my recording set up. That means new techniques and new possibilities (a 60 volt future) for my mics and mic amps.

That Chicago is the best place for me to make my recordings.

That I need to order more RMGI SM900 analog tape.

That I can be easily replaced by a handheld recorder.

[memphisindie]

1. We aren't dead yet.
2. There are still people who want to take credit for your work.
3. The straw man argument and false dilemma are chronically used fallacies created EVERYWHERE.
4. Get a deposit from everyone.
5. Don't EVEN worry about what the next guy is doing at all ever, even if he just bought the latest digital do-all, if you have any chops, a mic, a d.i., and 4 tracks, you just exceeded his gear. (of course, if you also had gear like his gear...)
6. Customers who know nothing about what they are doing (but are convinced they know more than anyone) are always sold on the studio with the impressive gear list alone.
7. Studios that sell on price, even with impressive gear lists, are "obstacles" of good music and industry success. Ignore all of them.
8. DON'T EVER lower your standards to suit anyone or anything for any reason. Back out if necessary.
9. "Doing your best" doesn't necessarily work in the political atmosphere of the small town of small minds. They have a collective low self esteem. Avoid them, no matter how good they make it look or sound. There are RARE exceptions.
10. There are rare exceptions to everything.
11. Don't get mired in a bad deal and if you do get out quick.
12. NEVER get stuck having to learn a whole bunch of crap about something you never wanted to know anything about instead of continuing on your chosen path. Move if you have to.
13. People will try to get you to take up THEIR responsibilities every day. DONT EVER DO THAT.

[Uncle Russ]

I learned

1. The music "business" is dead even though some people still may earn a living in music. The rest earn a living in the entertainment business, sometimes as "hucksters".

2. By far the most important element of success in any field is to be in the right "clique". It far surpasses the qualities of excellence, creativity, integrity, wisdom, or intelligence. It even holds true on this forum (as John, above, suggests).

3. Finally, most of the time we consciously must separate "music" or "artistry" or "perfection" or "doing it right" from "earning an income"; the two only occasionally occur simultaneously.

[chris319]

I've learned to post less on GS.

[jnorman]

ask the person what the audition recording is for before you start the session (i did one for an Eastman audition without knowing...)

sometimes you really need to add some spot mics to the main pair...

it is to your benefit to try and actually listen to your wife when she is talking.

[rumleymusic]

Hmm, Things I've learned.

1) Steinberg Drivers Suck
2) Never pass up a good deal on great equipment
3) Bagpipes are hella loud
4) There is no accounting for poor taste.
5) No matter how good your product is, some people will not like it.
6) Steinberg Drivers really Suck
7) Don't eat at South Bay Fish and Grill
8) Not everyone in the world thinks audio engineers should work for chicken feed. (thankfully)
9) Subwoofers are useful
10) You can never spend too much for a good pair of shoes.

[boojum]

I have had reinforced that the GS Remote board is the for me place to learn a lot of what I need to know about getting what is in front of the mics to sound right on the CD.

The Jesuits were right: "Repititiio, repititio, repititio" is the motto of learning. The more often I get it right the less I get it wrong.

Believe it or not, the mossbacks on GS really know their stuff, even if I think what they are saying is preposterous.

I have two ears and one mouth for a reason.

[Bibster]

The single most important thing I learned this year, is that the the first piece of gear only shows up on the 3rd place in the list of important things, just after the room and the placement.

Enjoy the last bits of 2011, make 2012 even better!

P.

[Remoteness]

IMHO, you have to add your "ear" to that list of important things.

I put my ears at the top of the list.

Originally Posted by Bibster

The single most important thing I learned this year, is that the the first piece of gear only shows up on the 3rd place in the list of important things, just after the room and the placement.

Enjoy the last bits of 2011, make 2012 even better!

P.

[Bibster]

Originally Posted by Remoteness

I put my ears at the top of the list.

Makes my statement even stronger!
(But really, my pair s*cks... Too bad!)

[Rolo 46]

Im sure if we all met down the pub we would all get on Famously.
This medium seems to be imperfect for witty and clever communication from erudite people
What I would like would be a Mike Placement session with the Illuminatti
They are always top fun.

[Remoteness]

I believe you are right; we would get along famously.

And, an excellent event it would be...

I don't know, I think we handle this medium quite well really.

Hey, a mic placement session with the "Illuminati" can be arranged, but do you know the special handshake?

...I'm not talking about last year's code mind you;-)

In any event, fun could be had for sure.

Originally Posted by Rolo 46

Im sure if we all met down the pub we would all get on Famously.
This medium seems to be imperfect for witty and clever communication from erudite people
What I would like would be a Mike Placement session with the Illuminatti
They are always top fun.

[MichaelAngelo]

Originally Posted by chris319

I've learned to post less on GS.

I think I agree with the fact that gearslutz viewers and bloggers are more hobby ist than pro's . Its all good, but I do find alot of post much less informative... or helpfull for that matter... But in the past alot of posters had alot of great info to share... I think this forum was incredible a few years ago, but recently has disinterested alot of working pro's..

But I must admit, it certianly keeps me abreast of the "new" thinking mentality.. which does mean alot....

[NoVi]

Made some advances in how modular synthesis works. Still find it difficult to grasp, especially when it comes to patching in a controlled manner to achieve a certain sound result.

[memphisindie]

Originally Posted by MichaelAngelo

I think I agree with the fact that gearslutz viewers and bloggers are more hobby ist than pro's . Its all good, but I do find alot of post much less informative... or helpfull for that matter... But in the past alot of posters had alot of great info to share... I think this forum was incredible a few years ago, but recently has disinterested alot of working pro's..

But I must admit, it certianly keeps me abreast of the "new" thinking mentality.. which does mean alot....

I agree, as soon as the "pro-piracy astroturfers" started posting their "new business model" drivel that had no new business model in it, the pro's went away.
You don't need to guess why either.

[scruffydog]

I disagree that this place is loosing the professional viewer.....several years ago most '' pro's '' thought ALL internet forums were absolute crap.
Now with pensado's place and Gearslutz clearly showing the way...i think it is a lot more acceptable to take an interest.
Also gearslutz has become unavoidable if you google ANY half decent piece of audio recording related gear.


so..
what have i learned this year?
probably that i can't work for anyone else like my Dad said...'' son...you're unempoyable...you got to do your own thing..''
Spent most of the year in the studio trying to please someone who just takes and gives nothing back..AGAIN!
wishing ALL fellow slutz a strong and purposeful 2012!

[philper]

2011:

1: Reminded again that on any recording gig, I'm there to RECORD what SOMEONE ELSE is doing. In other words, I'm not MAKING the art, just getting it down in a truncated form for later examination and (I hope) enjoyment. Humility, cooperation and flexibility are good things.

2: The huge vast majority of people I work for have no interest in what tools I use to do their jobs. A tiny percentage note what is being used (probably because they own the same or similar thing). A tinier percentage actually cares what's being used, and those clients I avoid.

3: GS has been very helpful to me, but there are a lot of angry audio people in the world.....

phil p

[hbphotoav]

Originally Posted by philper

2011:...
3: GS has been very helpful to me, but there are a lot of angry audio people in the world.....
phil p

See #2 in my earlier post...

Sometimes crossing the street is needed, and it might offer a reward...

[Remoteness]

I think it's all about respect.

Perception also plays a big part on this new phenomenon.

Originally Posted by MichaelAngelo

I think I agree with the fact that gearslutz viewers and bloggers are more hobby ist than pro's . Its all good, but I do find alot of post much less informative... or helpfull for that matter... But in the past alot of posters had alot of great info to share... I think this forum was incredible a few years ago, but recently has disinterested alot of working pro's..

But I must admit, it certianly keeps me abreast of the "new" thinking mentality.. which does mean alot....

[radeng]

Originally Posted by philper

3: GS has been very helpful to me, but there are a lot of angry audio people in the world.....

New forum: Psychology of Audio, moderated by professional shrinks. Sticky:
"Why the general public doesn't give a rip about audio quality and how not to get angry and go crazy as an engineer"