Re: (TV) Modern Biz (was: Arista/Clive Davis)

[Maurice Rickard <maurice@mac.com>]

At 4:08 PM -0400 5/7/00, Joe Hartley wrote:
> This is all going to be different
> soon.  It's easier than ever for a band to record decent stuff on
> a $1000 computer, making expensive studio time less important.

A good rule I've heard is that $n spent today gives you the 
equivalent of a $n x 10 studio ten years ago.  That $1000 computer is 
a $10,000 1990 studio.  $10,000 today is a 1990 $100,000 studio, etc.

There's certainly no substitute, though, for having someone who knows 
what they're doing work on your stuff.  I read rec.audio.pro a lot, 
and there's been a huge influx of people over the last couple years 
who think that their shiny new X device will make them sound like 
they have a 6-7 figure budget.  And they often seem to resent the 
experienced engineers (some of whom, in some capacity or other, have 
worked on recordings we've all loved, hint hint) who tell them 
otherwise.

Pardon the rant.  I've learned a lot from those guys over in 
rec.audio.pro, just by keeping quiet and reading the group, and I 
guess this has been on my mind lately, as I've been applying the 
various lessons to my track.

> So the hell with getting the shaft from Arista; forget catching Mercury
> Poisoning; no more getting screwed by a Virgin.

This has got to be one of the best sentences I've read in a while!

> It'll still be a crap shoot for a band to rise above the thousands of
> other bands competing for the listener's attention, but they won't owe
> a Porsche-driving, Perrier-swilling asshole hundreds of thousands of
> dollars if (when) they fail to be the next big thing.

Totally.  Mp3.com has that unreal number of different bands; who's 
going to wade through all the crap to find the gold?  I know I ignore 
most usenet posts telling me to check out bands on mp3.com, but I 
_might_ check out someone's recordings if they've proven themselves 
to be an actual contributor to a group, and happen to have their mp3 
address in their .sig.  Barriers to entry might not be as high, but 
getting heard above the background is definitely a challenge.

Definitely an interesting topic for discussion.  Thanks, Joe.

Gotta get back to work,

Maurice

--
Maurice Rickard
http://mauricerickard.com/
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