Friday, September 07, 2007 Class Action Suit Against Digidesign Current mood: annoyed What do you think. Let's sue them for putting the studio business, well out of business. It was one thing for singers, songwriters and musicians to have a "four track" at home to put down ideas, but thanks to Digidesign these same folks think they can get the same quality recording in their basement or bedroom. I can't count the times I've put up tracks to mix and right when the lead vocal comes on, there is a dog barking, a phone ringing, an airplane flying over and the dreaded, air conditioner kicking on, with no other choices it stays part of the Album. Now a lot of the major studios, not just in Nashville are closing down. I use Pro Tools every day in the studio and I understand what it does and why it is being used, but lets keep the Record Business at a business, not in a basement where business taxes are not being paid, incorrect working enviroments exist and of course no quality control, just less expensive (not better) albums are being made. If I were putting my heart and soul into a project, as an artist, I would want it to be done with the best of the best, not "hey so-in-so has a studio at his house that you can get for $25 bucks an hour" with a computer operator, not an engineer. Now back to Digi. What's up with the constant upgrades, both software and hardware. Can they not get it right and leave it alone? Most major studio owners, as of 10 to 15 years ago have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars, up to millions in their rooms, in consoles, tape machines, outboard gear and microphones. These "staple" items can carry the studios for 30+ years with great quallity sounds without needing major upgrades(we are still using gear today from the 40's and 50's), but Digi is never happy. They've got something newer and better and hey, lets add shiny-er every month or so. Newer downloads(usually at a fee) add just another cog in the wheel, new hardware (Mix to HD to what's next) and for what, to make the music sound better or to make studios more compatibly with each other. Give me a break. I have worked on dozens of Pro Tools systems in this town and no two of them are exactly the same. I remember once upon a time you could take your 2" masters to any studio in town and whether or the machines were alinged, 30 or 15 ips, with or without Dolby or DBX, you could put those tapes on the machine and record music. Now it's a matter of what version are you running, are you on Mac or PC, do you have all the same plug-ins(don't even get me started) that I have at home, not to mention you can have your work on any number of hard drives any number of studios at one time(talk about trusting who you work with. that has unauthorised pre-release not to mention the chance that some could release outakes, mistakes and bloopers). Everytime I have to reboot the computer I think, We never had this problem on analog. I challange anyone worth their salt as an engineer to cut tracks on an analog tape machine and their DAW(Pro Tools / Nuendo / etc) of choice then sit back and A/B the two. I'll let you draw your own conclusions. Also, thanks to Digi and the other DAW makers, the recording schools are teaching that the recording business started with Computer based recorders. They're teaching that you give us $20,000 and we'll tell you that you can buy a Hard Disk system for another $5,000, throw in the Chris Lord-Alge plug-ins and you to can be a world class mixing engineer, without 20+ years of experience. I don't think so. I haven't worked with an assistant on intern in years that could even run an analog tape machine..... Now a personal note. I grew up a studio brat, and there was always something really cool about "going to the studio". To me there still is. This is why I choose not to go the home studio route, but rather go to work everyday at the playground for engineers and producers, a commercial recording facility. I hate seeing the classic rooms with so much musical history going away. I read about the NY and LA scene, but I get to see things here in Nashville like Emerald and Masterfonics for sale. The Soundshop (one of my haunts) for sale. Omnisound which was recently sold at least will stay a studio for now. It seems that "Music Row" is turning into "Condo Row". Don't get me wrong, there are great rooms popping up every few months. Kudos to John McBride at Black Bird Studios who has built a great complex complete with all the Cool Analog stuff to match the modern DAWS systems. No stone left unturned over there... Maybe it comes down to this, the talent level isn't what is was years ago. Artists need to be tuned, drummers need to be lined up to the click, Background singers don't want to perform the same part again to give it that human feel, they want an exact copy flown to the other chorus'. Artists used to have to PERFORM!!! No wonder music sales are down. You can't fool all the people all the time. The music listening audience knows if it's something they like, they know how a song makes them feel and/or takes them to a place in time. And they know this even if they're listening to an MP3 verson of the song on 1" Mac speakers or earphones. Music is about this (points to heart), not about what can we make or buy to fix it. Imperfect records have what is called "character"!!!!!!!!! (imagine if Willie Nelson had Pro Tools when he did "Stardust" one of my favorite albums). Think about it........ In summery, Make music the the best it can be. Make music that someone will want to hear in the next decade. Just because you can dosen't mean you should!!! Whew!!! Thanks for letting me vent. Please reply with all your HATE MAIL here!!!!!!!!!!!! And PS: they shut 'em down in LA, it's just a matter of time.............