To Rick: re. AT Issue 81

[nado1969]

Hi Rick

Loved the article this month. Could not agree more on the whole anon thing online. I always use my name, or derivative of my nickname with link to my identity in sig or profile. I figure if you can't back up what you say, or aren't prepared to stand behind your comments, then bugger off. I hate the "anonymous" internet with a passion.

Never read much Kurt, but may now. As a kid (teenager) I read Cat's Cradle and Sirens of something - can't really remember it was some time ago! Asimov was where I buried my early nerd-mind, I believe I may have read everything he's ever written, and much that has been written in dedication to him. L Ron Hubbard wrote some great stuff too, but then I realized he founded Scientology...doh! Arthur C was another one, but I do wonder about some recent unsavory allegations....

Now comes my problem. One album per year. Great concept and got me thinking. I'll be honest, I've never completed a full album! (There, laying my soul on the line with honesty....lol). I've played on albums, co-written songs, co-mixed and played on a mate's solo album this year, but the vast majority of my work (as a home based dude with a day job) is one song at a time one or two clients at a time. These tracks may end up on Myspace, on an EP that the client puts together, or absolutely nowhere! I am currently putting together an album of songs for a local primary school - tracks I've recorded/produced over the last 3 or more years featuring kids aged from 6 to 12. I may talk to you about mastering it when it's ready!

My idea based on your suggestion is to find an artist/band to work with, and offer to do a full album with them - start to finish. I even have one or two bands in mind. As an exercise in self development and just for the experience, I may offer to do it gratis / for cost. One per year? Don't know about that - I have trouble fitting in the work I have!

So Rick, thanks for getting me thinking. I just hope your (Fletcher's) suggestion doesn't send me broke! It's hard enough paying for my audio toys as it is....

Cheers....

[rick]

cheers
i am going to get in SO much trouble over that article - i have my flack jacket with me 24/7 at the moment

it may have read/ been edited as one album
but i really kinda meant - get your name on one real released record per year
it doesnt matter how many songs it was more a "in principle thing"

i understand even that would be really hard / impossible for many , but not everybody is living large are they?

so if you couldnt get something out no problem just remind yourself that you dont actually make records before you go out to bat was the message that i am sending..

[nado1969]

Yeah, I get the gist of what you mean. In principle! I've still taken something useful away from the article, and it may help not only with self development but in drumming up new business.

[Chinagraf]

It seems to me the only people who would be offended by that article are the pretenders.... (no not the band)

[AnthonyMF]

Pretty awesome article really. I learned as a teenager, that keeping your mouth shut on the internet can do wonders for not ruining your reputation! When I was 13, I played drums in a band, and we caused a slight stir in a band comp we played, with a local music forum post dedicated to "Who the hell were those kids?!"

Of course, being 13 I thought this meant I was wicked hot, despite being the weakest link in the band, and even created the forum name "Drummerfrom*******" (Band name censored due to excessive teenage stupidity)
Wow did that ever backfire! From the age of 13 to 15 I systematically went about destroying any chance of having creditability or a good reputation. I spent the next few years staying out of the scene, and hoping to eventually escape my damage.

These days I've learnt that I'm pretty much in the lower mids of the real forum/internet/audio hierarchy. (The lower ranks being filled with the pretenders and fraudsters) And even that might be thinking too highly of myself. Having done a fair bit of time(relatively speaking) in various studios around Perth, used an SSL E/G 4000, and used plenty of high end preamps, compressors, mics, etc, I'm still too wildly inexperienced to be offering much advice.

It's a pretty good concept you've got there Rick. I think you older guys have an advantage in that, there wasn't an internet to record and distribute to the masses, your teenage social misfortunes. I've just finished my first album, after having done EP's & singles in the past, and for the first time I've had an artist who's budgeted for someone else, a pro, to master it! So perhaps I can consider opening my mouth a little more often, so to speak.

[graemeh]

Not much I can add here except that I agree with all you said in your article rick, and thanks for reminding me about Kurt - I've got all his books somewhere in the shelves and it must be time to dust them off and turn back time for a while...
...and i'll whack on my old vinyl aja too and look out over the clifftops from my villa..
..so it goes..

[stosostu]

Great article Rick, and if the truth hurts, tough.

I'll probably never get my name on a real album, even though, like you, I am currently building a studio from the ground up. Not as grand as yours, no doubt, but it is multi room and occupies about 100 square metres of floor space and 3.6 metre ceilings. I have a reasonable grasp of acoustics, and after 40 years, there's not much on the electrical/electronics side to phase me. My gear is, and will be, much lower cost than yours, but I've never felt that 'gear' per se was the be all and end all of a recording, I have heard, and been involved in some very good recordings made on fairly limited equipment. The essential part was knowing the limitations of the equipment and the personnel and extracting the maximum performance from each. I'd love to have racks full of API/Neve/SSL but I know my limitations, and short of winning lotto its not going to happen.

However, I make a point of not commenting on recording discussions to any great extend, simply because I know that my knowledge is limited, and most of what I'd say would be something I'd heard elsewhere, and not any personal experience or knowledge.

Where I do tend to jump in, is in discussions of electronic equipment, particularly the technical side, and even more particularly if it involves valves. That is what I learned electronics on, back in the 60's and 70's and what I have made a career of for the past 40 odd years. I have no claim to genius, but I do have a good grasp on most topics. I am continually dismayed by the stuff I read on various forums on these topics that is just garbage, or at best uninformed. So, in my field, I guess I feel the same way, folks shouldn't comment until they have fixed their twentieth valve amp/pre/eq/compressor etc in the last 12 months.

However, I believe we will both continue to live in unrequited hope, and continued arse scratching dismay.

[rick]

I hope the feedback stays running this direction
its a hard thing to do - print stuff like that article

If it struck a chord write to AT and tell them
it will keep me in their good books untill i play up again

[GlennS]

I liked the article too. It's like saying "don't forget to make music" in the same way you would say "don't forget to breath".

Rick, FWIW, something you wrote years ago had the most profound effect on me. And that was advice to take a holiday at least once a year, even if you think you can't afford it. That article led to my first holiday in 5 years & I've been taking holidays ever since. Thanks for that advice.

[rick]

who could ever afford a holiday ?
but you cannot afford not to i reckon

[GlennS]

Exactly your point then, still a great point now.

[rick]

great thing glenn is i have no idea what article your talking about , but i know it sounds like something i would say
so i will take the compliment
i have written so many of those things i dont know when i am writing one wether i have written it before
andy says it doesnt matter write it again - just make it better this time

[DOMC]

as always Rick your articles are a great read - thank you, keep it up

[waitup]

I reckon deep down the self proclaimed internet audio experts feel inadequate because they can't remember the last time they actually really put the mic in that magic spot the guitar amp or cut together the perfect vocal from all the bad ones, and posting inflammatory comments on the boards makes them feel a little better inside.

Somehow this message-board is pretty much devoid of those types, and I reckon most of the posts on here are made while the track is bouncing or the band is having a cigarette.

Rawk Awn TurtleRawk.

[rick]

you can only assume so
but i am not so sure that some of the interweb trolls feel anything but joy with their public outings

[waitup]

Oh well... At least of us here find gating the kick drum more fun that writing bullshit on teh interwebz...

[DOMC]

holy shit..gating a kick drum... I searched youtube for hours and didnt find that
woooooaaahhhhhhhhh

[waitup]

holy shit..gating a kick drum... I searched youtube for hours and didnt find that
woooooaaahhhhhhhhh

Ha!

[Lee]

I always enjoy your articles Rick as they are equally educational as they are humorous. I'm curious wether this was intentional but I discovered a spelling mistake in the article while I was investigating StephenSt. Croix. The first mention of him is spelt correctly "Stephen" while the next is spelt "Steven" I searched using the later. It turns out on wiki that this Steven St. Croix has his own list of credits.

[rick]

i wouldnt know which version is right
his real name is not st croix either its marshall so you might want to run that as well
total legend of a man all the same

[Lee]

Just so it's clear I wasn't trying to point out a simple spelling mishap but you could imagine my surprise when I typed his name in to wiki based off the spelling from AT mag and began reading the accomplishments of a male adult film star thinking "this cant be him". I kept reading thinking maybe the audio part would come soon. Thats what made me check the spelling again in AT.

[rick]

male adult film star
he might have has a sideline to pay the bills !

[Chinagraf]

"My God...look at the size of that microphone!"

[NathS101]

"is that a microphone in your pocket or are you just happy to see me??"

[Dallas]

holy shit..gating a kick drum... I searched youtube for hours and didnt find that
woooooaaahhhhhhhhh

http://youtu.be/ShafW7KYT-E

Ok - shoot me now!!!