[linux-audio-dev] Read this after your first cup of coffee

[John Check]

On Friday 20 August 2004 05:09 pm, Julien Claassen wrote:
> Hi Paul!
>   Point taken. There are not many blind audio-engineers, but there could be
> more, if they could use protools and the like. And from my earlier

Do you have any idea how much competition there is to become a professional
audio engineer working at the level people think about when they have a dream? 
People intern for _years_ for _free_ just to be able to be in the same 
building with an SSL. And that kind of facility is hard to get into even if 
you dropped $35k on FullSail. 
That's why I mentioned OSHA standards being a dubious argument. 

> experience at the C-LAB, I think - correct me if I'm wrong - especially in
> the US, they are very sensitive regarding the accessibility of software and
> other media. If a small group of people finally would make some noise in
> this field, the usability item would look different. And - although our
> group is much smaller - what you said is true vice versa: this software is
> hihgly useful and important to our group and not very useful for the rest
> of them. So for blind people those tools are very close to the best way of
> facing it. With interfaces like this, it isn't impossible for a
> vision-impaired person to be a professional audio engineer.

It's not impossible to win the Lotto either. With the current state of 
affairs, barring some kind of industry regulation, it's not happening.

>   Besides: I think one of the branches, that's florishing is home-recording
> and semi-professional recording, which can achieve quite good quality, if

This scenario is more likely to be the case. Really, you can get pro quality 
work done at home and that's been the case ever since ADAT killed the level
studios I worked at. 

> the user gets some knowledge and has good ears. In that field I could name

"Some" being the operative word. Lot's of people don't know what the 
Fletcher-Munson curve is and how it affects perception at mixdown or what the 
Nyquist frequency is and how it relates to retaining signal purity WRT sample 
rate.

> more than a handful of people in my direct environment alone (that is
> Germany). None of them is doing it with windows. They use linux or hardware
> only. Whoops, that was emotional... Yet I wanted my point stated: It isn't
> impossible for a vision-impaired person to become a pro, only people in
> that branche don't think of us. That way, we are - almost - forbidden, to
> get professional. - A friend of mine at BFBS had that problem.

Yes, well, there a lot of things that need changing ;) You have a valid point
but it's got some utopian flavor.

>   Kindest regards
>           Julien
>
> --------
> Music was my first love and it will be my last (John Miles)
>
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