http://www.rhythminmind.net/presetblog/2009/03/digital-eq-fact-myth/
Not for the faint of heart. This guy matches up some holy grails with a tone generator and a meter putting a lot of the reality of what I've been saying on this blog into real nuts and bolts perspective
Friday, July 3, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
Just a Link today
I'd love to cover this most controversial of marketing hogwash factories one day, but for now, a very well thought out link about the percieved value of IP and those of us who create it.
http://www.truthdig.com/arts_culture/print/20090625_danny_goldberg_on_the_digital_music_revolution/
http://www.truthdig.com/arts_culture/print/20090625_danny_goldberg_on_the_digital_music_revolution/
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Sorry for the delay
I had a chance to record a Q and A type of thing a few days ago, covering some bits of audio this and that. I'll probably try and do mnore of these in the future. Have a listen and let me know if this is worth doing
Here's the mp3
Here's the mp3
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Battle of the Bands
After the long hiatus, I'm going to switch gears a bit, to an issue that has been bugging me for a long time, but that affects our lifeblood, the bands, rather than us directly:
The rash of battle of the bands scams
Maybe you remember the 80's when some clubs were alleged to have so many scouts at that that bands were willing to "pay to play". A big break, a big exposure. Maybe it was worth it. Maybe not. But at least there was a chance.
From the early 90's the live band business model changed rapidly. It was rarer and rarer to find an actual booking agent at a club as time went on. At first, club owners were happy enough to count on a few bands to show up and hope they had a draw. But from the band's point of view of course, the club itself also better have a draw, or how was the group supposed to get new fans?
Political pressures hit the bars pretty hard with anti-smoking laws, anti-noise laws, and especially, anti-personal responsibility laws that opened bars up to criminal prosecution and lawsuits if they served the wrong person, and discrimination lawsuits if the refused to serve that same person.
Barflies are typically unaffected by the presence or lack thereof of a band, but the semi-regulars started staying home, or going to parties instead of the clubs. It became critical for the band to have a draw, just to feed the bar.
The rash of battle of the bands scams
Maybe you remember the 80's when some clubs were alleged to have so many scouts at that that bands were willing to "pay to play". A big break, a big exposure. Maybe it was worth it. Maybe not. But at least there was a chance.
From the early 90's the live band business model changed rapidly. It was rarer and rarer to find an actual booking agent at a club as time went on. At first, club owners were happy enough to count on a few bands to show up and hope they had a draw. But from the band's point of view of course, the club itself also better have a draw, or how was the group supposed to get new fans?
Political pressures hit the bars pretty hard with anti-smoking laws, anti-noise laws, and especially, anti-personal responsibility laws that opened bars up to criminal prosecution and lawsuits if they served the wrong person, and discrimination lawsuits if the refused to serve that same person.
Barflies are typically unaffected by the presence or lack thereof of a band, but the semi-regulars started staying home, or going to parties instead of the clubs. It became critical for the band to have a draw, just to feed the bar.
Enter the fake promoter
At this point, a new and especially slimey character came on the scene. What the bars really needed was a way of packing the house, or a way of covering their costs if noone showed up. While ideally this would be handled by a house booking agent, who had a vested interest in seeing the bar do well, it more and more often fell to a mercenary promoter.
The system often shook out to be the bar selling that particular time to a promoter, after which they had various schemes on how to split the money if costs were covered.
Who can you count on to pay? Well, if you are a promoter, then you are out there stapling flyers, calling people, bugging everyone and making sure the house is packed. EVERYONE is happy!
But hey, that would actually take doing actual work. A much easier way to go is to charge the bands themselves. Divide the amount the bar time cost by the number of bands and charge em, bingo!
But wait, bands know a pay to play setup when they see it right? We'll have to be sneaky about it. No problem. Change the no cover charge bar to a cover charge, 100% GUARANTEEING that noone new will see the band, and probably chasing out the barflies and regulars as well.
So do you go pound the pavement to make sure enough people show up to cover charge the bar into the black?
Hell no, you got a ready made sucker pool to bleed: The band. Now, all you have to do is figure how many tickets need to go to pay the bar, and divide the tickets among the bands. And tell the bands to "sell" the tickets. Of course, the band is working 40 hours a week or going to school, chances are they will have to just buy the tickets themselves.
If the band has to sell their own tickets, stop calling yourself a promoter.
Of course there are legit reasons why a band would have to sell their own tickets, but this isn't one of them.
So now, the band is paying to play, the new cover charge on the previous no cover bar precludes any exposure, and some shmoe is getting fat on a job that was previously done much better by a house booker. And with the booking agent, the band might actually get paid to show up!
Political and social pressures increase, bands wise up and club owners need to look for better ways to keep the doors open. Enter "The Battle of the Bands"
No longer just paying off a fake promoter for 1/5 the bar rent, the bands really get to bend over now. Nearly every club that has a live band is claiming to run a battle of the bands every night. You have no choice but to "battle"
In a lot of cases, the fake promoter takes the maximum capacity of the club (a number that has probably never been reached in the last ten years) and hands each band that many tickets to sell. This means, that if every band actually sold their tickets to actual people, the club would be over capacity five times over than legally allowed.
Every once in a while the battle of the bands actually has some prize at the end. The ways of determining who the winner is is dubious and the conspiracies abound. In the end it becomes a contest of who's parents can afford to front the most ticket money to get all the way to the end of a series.
Woe to the "working bands" who have long since died off, they'd never be able to afford $3000.00 to play a house with 10 people in it.
The system often shook out to be the bar selling that particular time to a promoter, after which they had various schemes on how to split the money if costs were covered.
Who can you count on to pay? Well, if you are a promoter, then you are out there stapling flyers, calling people, bugging everyone and making sure the house is packed. EVERYONE is happy!
But hey, that would actually take doing actual work. A much easier way to go is to charge the bands themselves. Divide the amount the bar time cost by the number of bands and charge em, bingo!
But wait, bands know a pay to play setup when they see it right? We'll have to be sneaky about it. No problem. Change the no cover charge bar to a cover charge, 100% GUARANTEEING that noone new will see the band, and probably chasing out the barflies and regulars as well.
So do you go pound the pavement to make sure enough people show up to cover charge the bar into the black?
Hell no, you got a ready made sucker pool to bleed: The band. Now, all you have to do is figure how many tickets need to go to pay the bar, and divide the tickets among the bands. And tell the bands to "sell" the tickets. Of course, the band is working 40 hours a week or going to school, chances are they will have to just buy the tickets themselves.
If the band has to sell their own tickets, stop calling yourself a promoter.
Of course there are legit reasons why a band would have to sell their own tickets, but this isn't one of them.
So now, the band is paying to play, the new cover charge on the previous no cover bar precludes any exposure, and some shmoe is getting fat on a job that was previously done much better by a house booker. And with the booking agent, the band might actually get paid to show up!
It gets worse
Political and social pressures increase, bands wise up and club owners need to look for better ways to keep the doors open. Enter "The Battle of the Bands"
No longer just paying off a fake promoter for 1/5 the bar rent, the bands really get to bend over now. Nearly every club that has a live band is claiming to run a battle of the bands every night. You have no choice but to "battle"
In a lot of cases, the fake promoter takes the maximum capacity of the club (a number that has probably never been reached in the last ten years) and hands each band that many tickets to sell. This means, that if every band actually sold their tickets to actual people, the club would be over capacity five times over than legally allowed.
Every once in a while the battle of the bands actually has some prize at the end. The ways of determining who the winner is is dubious and the conspiracies abound. In the end it becomes a contest of who's parents can afford to front the most ticket money to get all the way to the end of a series.
Woe to the "working bands" who have long since died off, they'd never be able to afford $3000.00 to play a house with 10 people in it.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Occam's Razor
I usually see this as "The simplest solution to a problem is usually the best"
Of course we know to keep signal paths as short as possible, but another use of Occam's Razor is the idea that, chances are, the simplest explanation for a phenomenon is usually the most likely.
Often you are sold solutions to problems you don't even have. In order to sell you something, the Marketing Machine will convince you that the fate of earth is dependent on you, yes YOU, lifting your cable off the ground in order to keep "the tone" from leaking through your floor, or some other nonsense. This often ties right into the next potential jacking:
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
Do I REALLY need a tube in my preamp or all hell will break loose?
Every few days there's a new thread in the audio forums about how different DAW summing engines sound.
Notice how the claimant disappears or clams up when you ask for evidence?
Will I really lose all my highs if I don't use directional speaker cables?
After nearly a mile of 18ga cables thru the snakes, then the patchbays, then the routers, do I REALLY need to use a Super-Short 3 foot magical 12 ga mic cable between the mic and the snake?
Of course we know to keep signal paths as short as possible, but another use of Occam's Razor is the idea that, chances are, the simplest explanation for a phenomenon is usually the most likely.
Often you are sold solutions to problems you don't even have. In order to sell you something, the Marketing Machine will convince you that the fate of earth is dependent on you, yes YOU, lifting your cable off the ground in order to keep "the tone" from leaking through your floor, or some other nonsense. This often ties right into the next potential jacking:
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
Do I REALLY need a tube in my preamp or all hell will break loose?
Every few days there's a new thread in the audio forums about how different DAW summing engines sound.
Notice how the claimant disappears or clams up when you ask for evidence?
Will I really lose all my highs if I don't use directional speaker cables?
After nearly a mile of 18ga cables thru the snakes, then the patchbays, then the routers, do I REALLY need to use a Super-Short 3 foot magical 12 ga mic cable between the mic and the snake?
I don't know
Three amazing words.
In many cases, hearing these words creates a lack of confidence about your situation.
Sales Weasel Management knows this and as a consequence, the training for sales weasels at many many retailers requires that those words be stricken from the weasels' vocabularies. In sales courses born from actual automobile dealerships, techniques are pushed to effectively just plain make stuff up instead of using the three magic words.
But when you go into guitar walmart, you'll notice theres always that one guy in the store. He certainly doesnt look as nice as the rest of his fellow weasels. His shirt may be untucked. His hair messier. He may have dirt marks from getting underneath gear, or picking up boxes to look for something. But there's one dead giveaway. He's the one guy in the store that has a line of people waiting to talk to him, while the rest of the weasels are hustling for people to con.
This is the one guy in the store who uses the words "I don't know". Counterintuitively, this guy actually does know far, far more than the rest of the staff. Often embarrasingly so, earning him the ire of his peers. He won't be there long, spending time to actually learn his job, and taking the time required to honestly and accurately evaluate his customers' needs doesn't earn him as many sales as the rest, though a few make up for it in large single sales.
Look for that guy!
Look out for warning signs from guys that have all the answers, but are clearly just making stuff up, telling you whatever you want to hear to get you to buy that thing.
In many cases, hearing these words creates a lack of confidence about your situation.
Sales Weasel Management knows this and as a consequence, the training for sales weasels at many many retailers requires that those words be stricken from the weasels' vocabularies. In sales courses born from actual automobile dealerships, techniques are pushed to effectively just plain make stuff up instead of using the three magic words.
But when you go into guitar walmart, you'll notice theres always that one guy in the store. He certainly doesnt look as nice as the rest of his fellow weasels. His shirt may be untucked. His hair messier. He may have dirt marks from getting underneath gear, or picking up boxes to look for something. But there's one dead giveaway. He's the one guy in the store that has a line of people waiting to talk to him, while the rest of the weasels are hustling for people to con.
This is the one guy in the store who uses the words "I don't know". Counterintuitively, this guy actually does know far, far more than the rest of the staff. Often embarrasingly so, earning him the ire of his peers. He won't be there long, spending time to actually learn his job, and taking the time required to honestly and accurately evaluate his customers' needs doesn't earn him as many sales as the rest, though a few make up for it in large single sales.
Look for that guy!
Look out for warning signs from guys that have all the answers, but are clearly just making stuff up, telling you whatever you want to hear to get you to buy that thing.
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