What is needed the most is the technical
>>empowerment of musicians, so that we can intelligently select and
use
>>the tools at our disposal.
>>Technical knowledge allows a person to read thru the garbage fed to
>>musicians in every trade magazine, in every review, in every ad.

As true as true could be...One of my partners is the "pro-audio"
manager at guitar center here, and it is amazing how his hands are
tied, when trying to educate his costumers. Its almost like Alesis,
G.C., echo and a trade magazine that rhymes with "GQ" are in cahoots
with each other!


>>16 bits, is no longer the right equipment to buy?. "You can can
>>chain up to 16 Adats for a total of 128 tracks with sample-accurate
>>synch!" Yeah, sure... Is this true? Yes it is true. So, what's
>>wrong? Well, LOCK-UP time (when you can lock-up!) would be about 27
>>minutes!!! A little exaggeration,>>24/96 recording when I paid

A little exageration, but not by much!



$ How smart is is to have an Apogee
>>AD8000 ($5800.00 retail) in my studio while I monitor with a Mackie
16
>>channel board ($800.00)?

Heh....I dont see too many people, who think their Mackie is good
enough, ever even bother considering the quality of converters on
their ADATS or MOTU 2408s, but hopefully, if theyre around, I should
be able to get some more AD8000's for cheap! :) Ill keep checking the
classifieds



>>Intelligent use of your
>>equipment is the key. You can't do much with the best FX unit in
the
>>planet if you can't tell the difference between REVERB, ECHO and
>>DELAY. "What the hell is damping?" . A technically saavy engineer
with
>>so-so equipment will ALWAYS outperform a moron with a million
dollars
>>worth of equipment.
>>

I spent this morning at SAE Mastering here in Phoenix. We mastered
three songs, all done at different studios,by different engineers, by
the same band....Ironically, the song I mixed was called "Vegas
Style"! I had nothing to do with the name...One was done in LA
Tracked thru a Neve VRP recorded in pro-tools and mixed on an SSL. It
sounded like complete crap. Another was done here in a different
studio in Phoenix...Tracked and mixed mostly thru an Otari Status,
with some cool outboard gear, tracked on ADATS and edited in Pro-
Tools...It came out ok, in my humble opinion. Mine was done with
TASCAM DA's and mixed both in Vegas and on a lowly Soundcraft Ghost
console, and humility aside, I think it killed the other two! But
time will tell I guess.

I agree as well as before.It is not always the tools,it is how you
use them;ie. knowledge of using them.
Everyone is learning everyday new things either in their playing or
in recording.Their really is no one person who is the "I KNOW
ALL"...not even George martin.Their work was all experimentation.They
only tried things to see what would work.They had very little tools
to work with,but we still are in awe!!We do not ask ,what kinda board
did they use.We just go wow!!!They worked with what they had to work
with and experimented to create some of the cleanest sounding
recordings from that time still to date!!
Wow.
I agree you must always experiment and get any form of education
possible.
Learn about what you are using as well and what you want to
accomplish with it.I started on two cassette decks ping ponging back
and forth and learned so much through such a crazy experience.
Try that sometime.hahahahaha

I agree!!!!!:-)
P.S.
as far as learning goes our studios suggest to our student
engineers,books by Bruce Bartlet and some courses at Detroit
engineering online.
There is some great things to learn.
Victor Harriman wrote:
>>Hi, Aaron.
>>
>>Although I agree with you on most points, I have a slightly
different
>>outlook on the situation. I think that we are at the very beginning
of
>>a wonderful era when the technical/financial obstacles to recording
>>the best music you can record will dissapear. Computing power is
>>greater by the day, and that can only benefit users. Great plugins
are
>>around, and more will come. What is needed the most is the
technical
>>empowerment of musicians, so that we can intelligently select and
use
>>the tools at our disposal.
>>Technical knowledge allows a person to read thru the garbage fed to
>>musicians in every trade magazine, in every review, in every ad. It
>>lets you understand your options: do I really need 24bit/96k
>>recording? What's wrong with 16 bit/44.k? How come all these CD's
>>sound so nice at 16/44.1? How come Alesis is telling me my AdatXT,
at
>>16 bits, is no longer the right equipment to buy?. "You can can
>>chain up to 16 Adats for a total of 128 tracks with sample-accurate
>>synch!" Yeah, sure... Is this true? Yes it is true. So, what's
>>wrong? Well, LOCK-UP time (when you can lock-up!) would be about 27
>>minutes!!! A little exaggeration, but anyone who has worked with
>>more than one Adat knows what I mean. How can I make the transition
to
>>24/96 recording when I paid $1000.00 for my Lexicon MPX1 Fx unit
that
>>only accepts digital signals at 48K? How smart is is to have an
Apogee
>>AD8000 ($5800.00 retail) in my studio while I monitor with a Mackie
16
>>channel board ($800.00)? How can I work within the limitations of
my
>>equipment?
>>Claims like Steinberg's Nuendo ads are totally USELESS: "200 Audio
>>Tracks". As much as I like Nuendo, the claim is totally BOGUS and
>>MISLEADING. Who the hell needs 200 audio tracks? Movie Soundtracks?
>>Those guys are NOT using Nuendo, my friend. What computer do you
know
>>that could give you 200 tracks of 24bit/96k audio with a few
plugins
>>thrown in for good measure?
>>Should I trust a reviewer that that concludes his evaluation of the
>>Zoom Reverb ($150) like this: "With a nice assortment of capable
Fx's,
>>this unit offers a lot to budget-minded users. What it does, it
does
>>well. Recommended." TRANSLATION: "This is a piece of shit, but if
shit
>>is what you want, then this is good for you." Intelligent use of
your
>>equipment is the key. You can't do much with the best FX unit in
the
>>planet if you can't tell the difference between REVERB, ECHO and
>>DELAY. "What the hell is damping?" . A technically saavy engineer
with
>>so-so equipment will ALWAYS outperform a moron with a million
dollars
>>worth of equipment.
>>
>>The advent of the personal/project studio has given musicians full
>>control of the recording process, with the added responsibility of
>>having to look beyond their trumpet.
>>
>>
>>sincerely,
>>
>>
>>
>>Victor.
>>
>>Aaron Carey wrote:
>>>> Ok manufacturers have good resons for not making direct-
>>>>x plugins...and the same resons apply equally to VST.
>>>>
>>>>There are some good dx and vst plugs out there, but really
>>>>not many great ones...
>>>>
>>>>What can be done about this? Are we condemmed to a life of
>>>>lesser quality? I have had quite a positive outlook that
>>>>eventually, latency will disappear, tape will be gone, and
>>>>we would soon have some great native powered fx and
>>>>utilities. Am I wrong? Naieve?
>>>>
>>>>The truth is, I am very happy overall with the finished
>>>>quality of my mixes, but getting there is quite a
>>>>pain...Creativity is stifled by mousing mixes around...And
>>>>I cant experiment too much, because it requires soloing,
>>>>changing routings, reallocating dsp, and other sorrows...
>>>>
>>>>I think we need a real plan for the future, in our PC DAW
>>>>quest...It seems maybe we or at least me, are wandering
>>>>almost aimlessly, hoping that tomorrow will be brighter.
>>>>And no, neither Pro-tools or Nuendo is any real answer to
>>>>this...
>>>>
>>>>It would be wonderful if the great minds could all work
>>>>together on a truly integrated recodring/mixing
>>>>environment, including DSP and fx, routing, sync, and user
>>>>interface.
>>>>