[LAU] Top DSP plugins?

[david]

Al Thompson wrote:
> On 10/19/2011 05:36 PM, Fons Adriaensen wrote:
>> At which point it will become completely irrelevant. The easier
>> it becomes to produce something, the more there will be of it
>> and the less it will be interesting. And there is a secondary
>> effect: the more something is _perceived_ to be easy, the less
>> budget for doing it will be available. That applies to science
>> and technology as well as music. 
> 
> And isn't that the point to which we've gotten?  I'll admit that I'm an
> old fart - my first engineering job, in a 16 track studio was in 1979.
> 
> If a band wanted to cut a 4 song demo, they had to book studio time at
> $250/hour.  They had to buy a reel of 2" tape.  The studio had several
> hundred thousand dollars of equipment, and who knows how much in
> acoustic design, room treatments, etc.  The alternative for someone who
> wanted to record at home and save several thousand dollars was a TEAC
> 2440, a 24x4 mixer, and a dozen or so mics, which still was going to
> cost them a few thousand dollars.
> 
> Then came the Fostex 16 track 1/2" machine.  Suddenly, it was acceptable
> for a "project studio" to open up with a Fostex 16 charge $25-$35/hour
> for bands to cut demos (INCLUDING ENGINEER!!!!)  The engineer wasn't
> necessarily any good - he just did it as a hobby since he only had to
> spend a few thousand dollars to get started.  A band that wanted to do a
> song or two, which would take about 8 hours of time, then had to decide
> whether to spend $2000 at the "big" studio, or $200 at the project
> studio.  The "value" of the big studio was lessened, because more and
> more REALLY CHEAP studios were popping up.
> 
> Look at the situation now, for the cost of a computer, soundcard, and a
> few mics, They can spend unlimited time, cutting unlimited tracks, with
> unlimited overdubs.  They don't however, have quality large monitors, or
> an acoustically "known" room.  Now a band can spend that same couple of
> thousand dollars, and spend UNLIMITED time in the studio.  The thinking
> is "why pay ANYONE to record a couple of song for us, when we can spend
> that same money and record ALL of our songs?"

Who needs mics? Last Wednesday at Starbucks, I saw two college age guys 
sharing a table. Each had a laptop in front of him. One had a Les Paul, 
the other some other electric guitar. Each instrument was plugged into 
some external audio device that was plugged into his laptop. Each had 
headphones on. Each was playing and recording, replaying, etc, etc. 
After a while, they packed up their guitars and computers and left.

Portable studio. Why should they worry about having large monitors or an 
acoustically known room? Their audience won't be listening on that kind 
of equipment or that kind of room. They'll probably be listening on 
earphones, possibly at the back of a bus with the sound cranked up so 
they can hear it over the bus engine ...

-- 
David
gnome at hawaii.rr.com
authenticity, honesty, community