Why we wont be writing for audiotechnology anymore

[rick]

I hope you all enjoyed your christmas issue of that
Magazine ! ( not tape op the one that me and my friends wont be writing for anymore )
I just heard a rumour that made me wild
Apparently the reason you wont find andy stewart in the
Front and middle of the mag and me at the end
Anymore is because " we no longer feel we have anything worthwhile
To say "

Well !
I guess that is true
I have nothing worthwhile to say about the kinds of people
That would spread those rumours

Integrity is what you do when nobody is looking
And stupidity is when you think nobody is looking
In an group as small as the noise makers of australia

I believe the cat will be out of the bag for christmas

In regard to the integrity issue
Stick around as see i reckon
Its about time Andy had a say about his reasons
For not appearing in the last issue !
And i know it wont be because he feels he has
Nothing to say anymore

[jkhuri44]

how belittling....that sucks.

[Chinagraf]

Could be time for a mass subscription cancellation.....

[rick]

It could be time for a lot of things

[Brad]

Hear hear!

[danander11]

Could be time for a mass subscription cancellation.....

I sent them a note almost a month back to cancel mine, but they sent it anyways.. to the new address even.

Guess a phone call is in order.

[danander11]

It could be time for a lot of things

Turtlerock Magazine?

[Gian]

I didn't renew my subscription.

[rick]

Turtlerock mag ?
Nah besides being the forum name is also obviously
My studio business name and that means i have competitors , presumabilyfriends and lighted hearted foes
So that would cut out the places it could reach

That said There is now a group of writers .. Growing by the day it seems
That would and will do something else , something better ,more focused
On reality, more relevent in australian audio land


If the oppurtunity arose and with our sense of right and wrong
At the helm and the right sense of community and humour
who knows it just might be worth the effort
We will see
But the ongoing absence and departure of writers from
The mag is nothing to do with us having nothing to say

Integrity is... .....
You know the rest

[HA_DA_JA]

Just had a quick look at the magazine on line.
There seems to be more writers and reviewers that have replaced the few that have left.
So I guess the system just continues on and spits out more magazines.
Quite a similar process to a certain audio school I know.
BTW I stopped my subscription about 2 years ago.
The magazine became an extra expense I could not justify. Why buy it when I can read it for free.
I also collected so many boxes of magazines that were taking up space in the garage I could be utilising the space for more productive means like gym equipment, motorbikes and other items that cannot be justified.

[rick]

on the issues of the numbers of writers
trust me dale that is not the case

and as for the list well most people have their own wheels to spin and probably don't have as much front or a place to hang it as i do .
and the few are far more then few .. ongoing
but sure i absolutely expect it to go on and perhaps morph into something different
who knows they might make it better without us !

[Dallas]

Turtlerock mag ?
Nah besides being the forum name is also obviously
My studio business name and that means i have competitors , presumabilyfriends and lighted hearted foes
So that would cut out the places it could reach

That said There is now a group of writers .. Growing by the day it seems
That would and will do something else , something better ,more focused
On reality, more relevent in australian audio land


If the oppurtunity arose and with our sense of right and wrong
At the helm and the right sense of community and humour
who knows it just might be worth the effort
We will see
But the ongoing absence and departure of writers from
The mag is nothing to do with us having nothing to say

Integrity is... .....
You know the rest

There's always the option to e-publish (for Kindle, Nook, iPad etc). All you gotta do then is write (not a great need to be chasing advertisers or subscribers). There's no printing or distribution costs other than bandwidth plus you can start a whole anaolg vs digital publishing debate that can go on ad nauseum!! Appoint someone as editor to qc what gets published & you're away (& software to convert doc & pdf to epub format is cheap!!)

[Text_Edifice]

So here's a question – what do you (all) actually get / want out of an audio mag?

When ever I read AT / SOS / et al I inevitably skip through the review / news sections to the interviews / opinion stuff. Reviews, I assume, is one way to hook in advertising dollars but I generally dislike reading them as I've rarely seen a new bit of kit really critically evaluated (at worst it's "good for the money").

I agree with Gill that Tape Op is a really cool read – and I think Australia, being geographically isolated, might benefit from a publication with a similar vibe and local content.

Personally I think online, rather than some sort of e-pub, would be the way to go and forget about making money off the thing. The market is tiny and the only way I could see it working as a commercial venture would be to attract ad money – and once there's ad money the issue of integrity looms large.

Trust Me, I'm a Scientist was mentioned a little while back and I think that's a pretty cool DIY online publication with a great community. So my other question is – if there was something similar (online publication, free to view, etc.) would anyone be interested in contributing, given it would be unlikely to pay much / anything?

[Manning]

I don't have much to contribute in terms of knowledge (being little more than a guitarist and pathetic audio engineering wanne-be), however I've got years of editing and proof-reading experience.

FWIW, in my opinion online mags best operate from a "small-but-regular" output perspective - ie. rather than release a new "issue" monthly, it's better to release a new article every couple of days. This build a steady, repeat audience. (This effectively defines them as "multi-contributor" blogs.)

This "small but regular" output also eases the pressure on everyone, including the (presumably unpaid) editor.

[Text_Edifice]

Completely agree, running issues of an online pub makes little sense from a publishing perspective.But time it can be equally stressful to have to keep chasing new material to post every couple of days. Depends on audience expectationsiI guess.

[Alistair]

When ever I read AT / SOS / et al I inevitably skip through the review / news sections to the interviews / opinion stuff. Reviews, I assume, is one way to hook in advertising dollars but I generally dislike reading them as I've rarely seen a new bit of kit really critically evaluated (at worst it's "good for the money").

Completely agree- everynow and then there is an interesting studio plug or software review, but I read about 8 pages in AT. The rest is just a waste of colour ink and glossy paper. I can read biased reviews for gear on a million sites on the web, I don't need them mailed to me as well!

Rick/Rob/Andy- I'll echo everyone else's comments and say that your articles were my favourite bits of the mag. Always educating/enlightening/funny.

It would be great to see a grass roots mag start up for the Australian scene- even when I disagree, it's always cool to see how someone else does the job. I'd be happy to help out with any web stuff that needs doing, building a pretty face around a simple blog format is a cool and easy way to do things.

[Manning]

Completely agree, running issues of an online pub makes little sense from a publishing perspective.But time it can be equally stressful to have to keep chasing new material to post every couple of days. Depends on audience expectationsiI guess.

Without thinking it through too hard, here's one way it could work.

At a minimum you'd need 12 contributors writing one article per month. You publish on a 3 day basis, 10 articles per 30 days. On that basis you wind up with two articles in the "bank", which can then be used to fill in gaps or (if no gaps occur), you increase the publishing rate towards the end of the cycle.

Contributors have monthly deadlines which are two weeks in advance of your planned publish date. If someone slips you have time to chase them up, and if they can't deliver you swap in one of your banked articles.

More contributors, or contributors writing more than one article can easily be factored in. Unlike paper press where printing costs are a concern, if you suddenly wind up with a surfeit of material you simply adjust your publishing schedule. And if you're running low on material, you swing in the other direction.

If however you are consistently running low on material, then you give up.

[Text_Edifice]

I edit an online academic journal in the UK and could repurpose the WordPress theme I built for them to manage the back end.

The other cool thing about online is that contributors don't have to just write. Video and audio are easy to include alongside or instead of text. I imagine contribution s would typically be interviews and these can be really easy to do with a cheap digicam or phone.

So, are there 12 of us who'd like to write it?

[Alistair]

And it's so much better when someones talking about production on a song and then you can actually hear it!

[Manning]

Nick F and/or Myles (and/or ...) for DIY
Alistair for... well you name it really.

[Text_Edifice]

Don't think it's really fair to volunteer anyone else. Writing an article a month isn't an insignificant commitment.

Figure if there aren't 12 volunteers willing to kick things off it's not feasible.

[rick]

Make no mistake writing 3000 word articles without
An agenda or a theme is not an easy job
Nobody i have got into writing for AT ( and thats just about everybody whose words you like
) are trained journalists in any way so the bottom line
Is after 15 years or so you have to wonder why you
Would do it under less then ideal circumstances
But keep the ideas flowing i reckon
Nobody will be taking the aussie pool of good audio writers
For granted ever again i assure you

Something will fit and float - it always does

[Alistair]

I guess that is the advantage of jumping on something like Tape Op- there is a bunch of content there that can be augmented with local stuff. I think this is a cool idea, but I wonder if 12 a month is a bit optimistic.

[Text_Edifice]

The thing I like about tape open is that it wasn't started by a studio guru. More a hobbyist and it built into something really interesting as Larry and others followed their passion. In that regard I don't think a Rick O'Neil or Rob Squire are the best people for the job - experience rich / time poor (no disrespect intended).

I'd rather 12 folk who are passionate about making records and all that goes along with it try and find an interesting project or idea or place or person once a month (or less) to share with the est of us.

[Text_Edifice]

Also online content needs to be shorter than print for screen reading and freeform essays need experienced writers so I'd assume some direction would be helpful.

[Ben M]

my 2 bobs...FWIW
The Tape op model is one that pretty much translates the interviewee's outlook with basic (leading) questions to get the conversation flowing. In other words it's all about the person being interviewed and not about the writer. With a couple of pics relating to the topic's expressed. This way the articles are dictation of the conversation and therefore easier to write. For 2-3000 words I'd suggest these conversations would need editing down if anything.

As Dave says the Word press layout is a good format for this kind of online delivery. Very manageable and easy to edit.
I'm editing my website ATM using a word press layout...very easy.

The basic model for audio mags litters them with the latest/greatest audio trinkets but ultimately gets in the way of good articles (again IMO). I can't think of one mag that doesn't sort sponsorship/advertising of some sort. Wether online or in print. They seem to go hand in hand.
I think this is what ultimately leads to the demise of mags that start out being good pubs and the "meat" or interesting articles seem to decrease until it's left as a couple of articles with loads of advertising. Thus lowering their integrity.

I've noticed http://www.sonicscoop.com is on this path. Justin Colletti who publishes this site also has http://trustmeimascientist.com which I like because it promotes the scene, artists, studios, prod/eng and essence of what's interesting in his hood and doesn't seek ads and sponsors. Basically it's a blog.

Anyway, not sure what I'm getting at....just my 2 bobs

Maybe I'm just trying to say that ads and sponsors will always get in the way of integrity.

[Text_Edifice]

Agree with the focus being on the interviewee not the interviewer and think this would be a good way to get content - as I was getting at previously this means that contributors don't have to be experts, just inquisitive. Also interviewee's don't need to be 'famous' or big names to be worthwhile. I reckon 1000-2000 words with a pic / video / audio is plenty.

Think about it this way - it's an excuse to introduce yourself to whoever produced / engineered your favourite recordings and pump them for details ;-) It should be fun, not a chore.

I think it would be interesting to have a no reviews policy –> I don't think sponsorship / advertisement is a bad thing but when you review the same bits of gear your being paid to advertise there's going to be a perceived (if not actual) conflict of interest.

[Ben M]

I think it would be interesting to have a no reviews policy –> I don't think sponsorship / advertisement is a bad thing but when you review the same bits of gear your being paid to advertise there's going to be a perceived (if not actual) conflict of interest.

Hey Dave what about reviews of old interesting gear that's not sold commercially anymore? That could be an interesting outlook on the whole reviewing gear thang.

And "conflict of interest" was the phrase I was looking for. Good one.

[Dallas]

I think it would be interesting to have a no reviews policy –> I don't think sponsorship / advertisement is a bad thing but when you review the same bits of gear your being paid to advertise there's going to be a perceived (if not actual) conflict of interest.

My 2c - I'd rather have no advertisers & have reviews, even if the reviews are along the lines of "here's my new bit of kit, here's something I recorded on it, here's the same source thru an mbox & a SM57 (you get the idea)"

[Text_Edifice]

Ben if you can convince another 11 guys to write a thousand word interview a month you could probably write whatever you like I reckon ;-)

What I think would be more interesting is looking at the story behind some of the Aus manufacturers.