Rick's Articles

Sound Australasia - Volume 1 : Issue 3 (1997)

In search of Jurassic Park I hate ADAT’s. That's probably not the best way to make friends, so I'll try and be a little more specific. I hate ADAT’s, MDM’s, TDM’s, DSP’s, VLZ’s, DAT’s, SADiE’s, SSL’s, MMC, MTC, AES, EBU, SMPTE, DVD, MRC, etc, etc. In fact I'm going out on a limb - I even hate MIDI. It's not the technology itself that I hate; it's the acronyms - those cute little words that replace long lines of words, just so we don't get confused.

Well... I seem to run into a lot of confused people on a regular basis.

There was a time when recording was a mystic art practiced by professionals in expensive, complicated, purpose-built studios.

In this time, say, around 15 B.A. (Before Acronyms), you figured out what you wanted to record, hired a professional, went into a studio and, presto, without using acronyms (more or less) you got a recording you liked (more or less).

Nowadays it seems anyone can make a record, which I have to admit is a very cool development. However, with the almost limitless amount of tracks, options and sounds available, heaps of talented musicians are getting stuck in the sticky tar pit I call A.S.M. (Acronyms Shit Me). Most of these new machines are so cool they need a new word to describe what they do (an acronym), and give you so many options that sometimes you can't make a viable, well informed decision.

It gets worse... When something goes wrong, you can blame the machine itself. In the old days, when an engineer couldn't make the recorder work, he simply didn't know what he was doing. But when an ADAT chews your tape, everybody blames the technology. The reality is, it was probably the engineer's fault for not keeping the machine correctly maintained, but I'm gonna bet the acronym takes the rap. It’s not fair on the ADAT and it’s not fair on the guy paying the bill.

I want devices that allow me to maintain control, to take the heat if I get it wrong and to take the money if I get it right. Records aren't getting any more artistic, but there's a proliferation of poorly conceived and woefully executed recordings hitting the shops, making the consumer dubious of parting with their $30 on music instead of that case of beer. Not fair on the consumer not fair on the professional, not fair on anybody, really.

As for some of these acronyms, well, there's only one way to make a record without any MIDI problems: DON'T USE MIDI! Some days that option makes more and more sense. I can't tell you how many times I've walked into a modern MDM/MIDI-based studio, looked at the lonely M.E.P.P (Musician Engineer Programmer Producer) and seen a tired frustrated face with the only noise being the whirs of the drives, screens and boxes. Not very musically productive and not very artistically satisfying. But whenever I walk into an old dinosaur of a studio, there are people hanging around, a producer an engineer and several musicians, all living out some kind of artistic fantasy. There's plenty of noise, but it's the track they're working on. Any frustration is internal - because they couldn't play the part right, not because some acronym ate their tape or won't do what it did ten minutes ago. When the performance is finally captured, the satisfaction is addictive. That's why I like making records. I love the feeling of getting it right, of limiting the decisions down to a right or wrong option and then making it happen.

Finding out that you're right in a studio is a real buzz, if it was a drug I'd be addicted (in fact, it probably is and I probably am).

Contrary to current trends, my perfect studio of the future will be large; big enough to hold a band, a producer, an engineer and even room for some friends, with areas for people to perform and rooms for them to chill out.

It's going to be all digital because they are going to get it right. There will be lots of dedicated processors. Even though it will be possible to do everything in one box, the real professionals will be dividing tasks so the people and equipment that show the best aptitude for a particular thing will control that task and that interface - the musician will perform, the engineer will engineer the producer will produce and the boxes will help, that will be their job.

This studio will be free of almost all acronyms because everything will be so well interfaced you won't need a dictionary to sort out problems. It's also going to be expensive, but that's okay because the product will be superior to the cheaper acronym studios in every way. Musicians will line up for miles to realise their true capabilities, without being bogged down by options they don't understand, need or want. Professionals will do what we need them to do - make informed decisions, not read manuals.

It'll be the Jurassic Park of studios, combining the groovy aspects of the old with exciting new things in a way that is truly an evolution, not just some stalling moment in time - which is what I think acronyms have got us currently stuck in.

The digital acronym revolution is just like a mini ice age, but I know things are going to warm up. Sure I'm prepared to buy a few blankets, but I'm just not going to get caught out selling heaters...

If you think that in 15 years time everybody will have an ADAT (A Digital Audio Thingy) you're probably right. But if you think the professionals are going to succumb to the lowest common denominator, think again. In fact, why don't you race off to the shop and buy the latest DFA. While you're figuring out what DFA stands for I'm going off to finish another record.

Oh yeah, there are a few creatures that have managed to survive from the Jurassic period into the present day. I can't think of any acronyms, but for some reason, turtles spring to mind... 

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