Comments on: A New Revolution http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/index.php/archives/2006/01/26/a-new-revolution/ First in Music Analysis Sun, 20 May 2012 13:07:01 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: John Van Nest http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/index.php/archives/2006/01/26/a-new-revolution/#comment-504 John Van Nest Sat, 11 Feb 2006 18:55:42 +0000 http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/index.php/archives/2006/01/26/a-new-revolution/#comment-504 <p>I own what I feel is one of the finest recording/mixing facilities on the west coast.  Green Day's "Boulevard" (well, the whole album, actually) was mixed at my place, among records spanning the last 25 years.</p><p>Yes, the *tools* for recording have gotten much cheaper, much like handheld HD video camcorders.  But, just like with guitars, hair clipping scissors, Viking ranges, etc...IT AIN'T ABOUT THE TOOLS THEMSELVES...IT'S ABOUT THE PEOPLE OPERATING SAID TOOLS!  Whereas the film industry still understands that just because you might own a $2000 HD Videocam doesn't mean that you're ready to take on Spielberg, Crowe, Lee, etc., the music industry seems to have fallen for the concept that any artist working at home on his computer recording software can now make How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb or Born to Run on his/her own.  Why involve (and pay for) a team of season professionals in a professional studio environment when we can make the music on this computer at home?  Hey, I've got scissors...do we really need Jonathan Anton to cut hair?  I have a Viking Range...Bobby Flay, you're over.</p><p>The reason that studios are dropping like flies is because THE LABELS, IN THEIR RUSH TO SAVE A DOLLAR, SEEM TO HAVE FORGOTTEN THAT JUST HAVING ACCESS TO THE TOOLS WON'T TRANSLATE INTO KNOWING HOW TO USE THOSE TOOLS TO MAKE RECORDS OF INCREASINGLY GREATER EMOTIONAL (and audio) QUALITY.  (You have no idea how discouraging it can be to be beaten up over studio rates only to hear that the label then dropped MORE MONEY making the music video than recording the ENTIRE ALBUM).  Interestingly, the studios have been unable to raise rates for the most part for the last 30 years (true!), and you're right, now they're dropping like flies.  But this has everything to do with the label thinking that the artist can just set up a computer at home and make a record like Tumbleweed Connection (Bob, do you really think that your typical kid with a computer can replace Herbie Flowers on bass?), the White Album, Dark Side..., etc. and actually very little to do with studios be a disposable part of the equation.</p><p>I view this as a short-sighted move on the part of the labels...a move that they will come to regret when, after realizing that studios can offer a tremendous element to the process of making GREAT records and going to search for such studios, they find that most of them have gone out of business due to lack of support from the labels.  Believe me, no studio owner is getting rich in the business, we almost all do what we do because of our deep love for the music itself.</p> I own what I feel is one of the finest recording/mixing facilities on the west coast.  Green Day’s "Boulevard" (well, the whole album, actually) was mixed at my place, among records spanning the last 25 years.

Yes, the *tools* for recording have gotten much cheaper, much like handheld HD video camcorders.  But, just like with guitars, hair clipping scissors, Viking ranges, etc…IT AIN’T ABOUT THE TOOLS THEMSELVES…IT’S ABOUT THE PEOPLE OPERATING SAID TOOLS!  Whereas the film industry still understands that just because you might own a $2000 HD Videocam doesn’t mean that you’re ready to take on Spielberg, Crowe, Lee, etc., the music industry seems to have fallen for the concept that any artist working at home on his computer recording software can now make How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb or Born to Run on his/her own.  Why involve (and pay for) a team of season professionals in a professional studio environment when we can make the music on this computer at home?  Hey, I’ve got scissors…do we really need Jonathan Anton to cut hair?  I have a Viking Range…Bobby Flay, you’re over.

The reason that studios are dropping like flies is because THE LABELS, IN THEIR RUSH TO SAVE A DOLLAR, SEEM TO HAVE FORGOTTEN THAT JUST HAVING ACCESS TO THE TOOLS WON’T TRANSLATE INTO KNOWING HOW TO USE THOSE TOOLS TO MAKE RECORDS OF INCREASINGLY GREATER EMOTIONAL (and audio) QUALITY.  (You have no idea how discouraging it can be to be beaten up over studio rates only to hear that the label then dropped MORE MONEY making the music video than recording the ENTIRE ALBUM).  Interestingly, the studios have been unable to raise rates for the most part for the last 30 years (true!), and you’re right, now they’re dropping like flies.  But this has everything to do with the label thinking that the artist can just set up a computer at home and make a record like Tumbleweed Connection (Bob, do you really think that your typical kid with a computer can replace Herbie Flowers on bass?), the White Album, Dark Side…, etc. and actually very little to do with studios be a disposable part of the equation.

I view this as a short-sighted move on the part of the labels…a move that they will come to regret when, after realizing that studios can offer a tremendous element to the process of making GREAT records and going to search for such studios, they find that most of them have gone out of business due to lack of support from the labels.  Believe me, no studio owner is getting rich in the business, we almost all do what we do because of our deep love for the music itself.

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