Are we Doomed ?

[AllAboutTone]

I could not help but have the urge to vent and see how you guys feel about the A/V world as it is and coming to.
I happen to catch the local news last night where they were expressing that CDs were on the way out and downloading will take its place, well with my own eyes i can see that happening. With the Video in its HDTV format which is all good with me it seems that DVD-R's are getting cheaper by the day when CDRs are on the rise $$ wise day by day.
Oh course studios will still be around but will there be the need to gather up the best preamps and mics, or some has chosen to record @ 96 format etc, all to hear your music played on a computer or a mp3 player/myspace. Ive always thought that FM radio sounds like crap and XM is really not any better if not worse.
Why is the market of DVD / TV world getting better and better and the music audio is getting the shaft ?
You realize they will be no need for expensive stores to carry top of the line stereos etc, right now circuit city is on the way out and talks of Guitar Center is taking a huge fall right now as well, can they survive for local artist to buy a amp/guitar, strings or drum heads ?.
Fellow Gearslutz are we doomed as engineers from making a elite sound and getting 128 bps in the end ?

[doorknocker]

I believe it was Bill Putnam who recorded everything in stereo from the 50ies on at his own expense and later sold all these masters to the record labels with a huge profit when they and the world at large finally caught up with stereo.

So be smart and record everything as well as you can, it WILL pay off in the long run.

But it's easy to blame the consumer when in reality it's the confusion and misinformaton about formats that's the real problem. How should said 'consumer' be able to make up his mind when the 'industry' doesn't even know in which direcction they want to go?

It was SACD and DVD-A a few short years ago that was hailed as 'best sound ever' and suddendly these formats are not even mentioned anymore.

The first step would be for audio and mastering engineers - i.e 'us' - to establish rules in regard to formats and level i.e fighting the volume wars and educating people about mp3,etc

Actually efforts are being made in that direction and it can only help.

[Sounds Great]

Records are making a comeback! Some young people are getting it, it is about sound. Sometimes. There are two types of listening, most is on the go. Meaning in the car or with portables, or MySpace. Mostly it is then about the song, beat, etc. Quality takes a back seat. But I think sitting and listening, where the sound quality is important is getting more popular again. And records are perfect, the large liner notes/pictures, and the experience of playing the record. I love SACD too, but it isn't making it. I think because it lacks the record procedure it kind of falls in the middle. I think the only chance it has is if they make car players, as you can't play a record in the car. But I haven't seen one yet.

So no, we are not doomed! Record you record as if there might be a vinyl release, and all your bases will be covered. Of course you want to mix down to tape and/or DSD.

[kittonian]

Many people may see this trend as a negative, especially those owning or coming from larger studios, however I see this as a wonderfully positive time for artists and up and coming engineers alike.

From a dealer/consultant standpoint, I think it's an amazing time for some of the smaller, more specialized shops such as ours, to speak to all of these people and help them truly understand their purchases, support them in every way possible, and offer them insights along the way. This is what we've based our business model on and in our 7th year now, we are very happy to say that our family of customers is growing exponentially.

From a producer/engineer standpoint (which I still am on a daily basis) I think it's amazing that so many of the artists I get to work with are at least semi-well versed in the art of recording and can share their thoughts during the process. To me, an artist should be involved at every stage of their craft and with the tools that are available these days I am seeing this happening more and more.

The fact that anyone can delve into the art of recording, and have the nice gear available to them at an at least "semi-reasonable" price is something that this industry should embrace. Now, I'm certainly not saying everyone can be a great engineer, nor can just anyone make an amazing record. What I am saying is that artists can get into a relatively low cost system to get their ideas down in a compatible format to the both up and coming and established engineer's studios. They can learn the other half of this business which is the recording portion we all know and love. I encourage every artist to know about both sides of the equation so that they can accurately convey their vision to the engineer/producer when they enter the studio.

Now, to directly address the "well everything ends up as a crappy MP3 at the end of the day" scenario, I think the reason we are all here discussing these issues is that we want to make the best sounding recordings possible. The old saying of "garbage in garbage out" still holds true when you are talking about your music ending up as MP3's. A bad mix will sound terrible when it gets converted to MP3, but a great mix will still sound pretty darn good in MP3 form. Using great gear and striving for excellence at every turn, as well as listening to the artists we work with and helping them get the sound that is in their heads onto disk/tape, generally yields some pretty cool results.

My advice is as it has always been. Get the best sounds you can, get the mix sounding amazing, and stay honest and true to the craft you embrace. If you've got all of that, no matter what form it ends up in, the music will still come through (and probably sound much better than you would've imagined).

[BJohnston]

There is more control in the Movie Market. The Audio Dinasaurs that owned record lables have put the music biz in this situation. They refused to change with the times. Over inflated budgets are really to blame. Does it bother me though? No, because I've always lived on the fringes of all of that. For me it's best this way...cuts out the bs with the middle man. Gives more control the artist. Radiohead has made everyone think twice. Read the Jan. (?) edition of Rolling Stone...there's a breakdown on how record sales were last year. Interesting!!!

B

[TonyBelmont]

Everything will be fine... people will always want a good sound.

Digital formats are changing and getting better. Apple Lossless and AAF are a step in the right direction.

MP3 is not the final word for digital audio. Things will change, and for the better.

[jumpnyc]

Originally Posted by drewgrass

and guitar center good f$%kin ridance it will just give the food service industry more employees.

LMAO. It's not nice but it was so funny.

[Duardo]

Why is the market of DVD / TV world getting better and better and the music audio is getting the shaft ?

I think there are a couple reasons. First off, it's very easy for just about anyone to see the difference between regular TV and HDTV (or BluRay/HD-DVD and regular DVD) just like it was from VHS to DVD. Not so with audio...most popular releases (which drive the market) are smashed to hell and don't even come close to exploiting the full dynamic range CD offers, let alone any other "better" format...not to mention the fact that, with a little care, a CD can sound awesome.

Also, though, I think it has to do with how things are used...people still do generally sit down to watch movies, whereas with music it's all about portability, and the newer (download) formats work well with that.

Having said that, movie downloading is a huge problem for the industry, and as popluar as HD video may become YouTube can't be ignored as well.

But it's easy to blame the consumer when in reality it's the confusion and misinformaton about formats that's the real problem. How should said 'consumer' be able to make up his mind when the 'industry' doesn't even know in which direcction they want to go?

It was SACD and DVD-A a few short years ago that was hailed as 'best sound ever' and suddendly these formats are not even mentioned anymore.

Maybe they could have been marketed better, but we don't dictate the way these things go. It's not so much suddenly that SACD and DVD-A aren't mentioned any more...I watched over the past few years as those sections at the local Best Buy (sad that that's the barometer I use, but it is what it is) grew smaller and smaller, then merged together, then continued to dwindle away until the section was a collection of maybe half a dozen discs with a bunch of white cards...and now it's gone. Consumers don't care about a higher-quality format. It would be one thing if it were just those formats that weren't accepted, but consumers are abandoning the CD for an inferior format.

Records are making a comeback!

Not in any way that's really significant to the industry.

I love SACD too, but it isn't making it. I think because it lacks the record procedure it kind of falls in the middle.

I think at this point it's safe to say that it didn't make it, not that it isn't making it. And I don't think quality has anything do to with it, as there's no perception on the consumer level that there's a problem with the CD, quality-wise...there was just no demand for it. I think that for it to have become successful all releases would have had to be those dual-layer SACD/CD combination discs, and not have been priced any higher than normal CDs. Even then, though, that wouldn't have guaranteed that people would have bought the players...

I agree that this isn't doom and gloom for those of us on the recording/engineering side of things. Even if the business model is changing artists will always take pride in their work, and will still need the tools to do things right...even if they do wind up offering their music up for free online and generating their income some other way.

[Unclenny]

Originally Posted by AllAboutTone

Follow Gearslutz are we we doomed

Everything will be fine.

Just keep making music.

[MarkRB]

The film industry will suffer the same as us once people can carry hundreds of them around on a portable device.

Unfortunately fewer and fewer people are buying music to "really" listen too, they just put it on their mp3 player and listen on the way to work or while they are jogging or hoovering the house. Whereas if you buy a film you pretty much have stop and focus purely on the screen.
I can't remember the last time I walked into a "non-muso's" house and saw a half decent music playback system, despite the fact they have a giganto cinema screen in their lounge.

[jammybastard]

There's a very well known studio in my neck of the woods and I stopped by there yesterday to drop something off and chat with the manager who is a friend.
We talked about this very subject.
Studios have always been money pits, but now there is so much increased competition for potential clients that everyone is hurting.

On a related not it's always interesting, on a forum like this, to see how many people are liquidating their studios while many others are building their own in their basement, garage, etc...