The Record Industry's Decline

[Tactics]

props to this whole post but I just wanted to add that

Well, not making it for yourself. That's like holding conversations with yourself. But I like the idea of making music only for people that you know personally. This is like the electronic underground returning to a kind of folk industry stage, where the line between artist and audience is erased - clusters of artists develop around certain styles with less closely aligned members hopping from group to group. Hey, the future of music is atomic theory!

I tell you, the best thing I ever did in my life was to accept that I would never make money from music. It freed me to do something genuinely productive with my life, instead of hanging around in dead end jobs waiting for my music career to 'happen'. And now I make music with people I know in mind, rather than to some abstract commercial imperitive, and I've improved light years as a producer.



Couple of things. First, let's not forget that while the great studios of yesteryear were used to make some superb records, they also made a lot of fucking terrible ones, while talented artists were unable to get thier work on tape because A&R men controlled the keys to the studio. I think we take digital recording technology and the access it gives us for granted these days

Second, you don't need a technically pristine recording to document a performance or make an exciting record: no one listens to old blues recordings and thinks 'shit, I wish Alan Lomax had done this on a 48 track Neve console'. No one listens to hardcore records and critiques the snare sound.

And I disagree that the techniques of making great recordings are dying out. More people than ever before are going to college to study music technology and learning the basic principles of mic placement, acoustics and signal processing. The increase in gigging and the lack of money available from major labels will mean that more artists are coming into the studio fresh, focussed, well rehearsed, communicating easily and realistic about what they want to achieve. Making a good record in those circumstances is not difficult. The 'voodoo' of the great producers of the past was in taking a group of fucked up individuals who were barely speaking to one another, and were too sidetracked by internal politics and money to have given much thought to the music, and somehow getting a great record out the other side. Which is rare skill, definitely, but it only existed becase of the unnatural major label enviroment that surrounded it.

I agree that mastering is unnaturally loud these days, but who cares? If people are dumb enough to want that, then fuck 'em. What matters is what's on the original recording. If that's OK, then someone in the future can always go back and do a new master when sanity prevails.

your second paragraph is where a lot of ppl round me (myself included) are headed

it sounds a bit like stupidness but...just music as art or whatever...just a expressive, creative activity for ppl to hear and enjoy

now the only prob is to find something good/fun/not soul crushingly boring to do for dough

 

[barry_abs]

your second paragraph is where a lot of ppl round me (myself included) are headed

there's still money in it if you've got something enough people want..

i'm happy enough doing music in my spare time, meeting like-minded folk via myspace.. maybe one day i'll get some paid sync work but i won't lose sleep if i don't..

 

[Martin Dust]

And I disagree that the techniques of making great recordings are dying out. More people than ever before are going to college to study music technology and learning the basic principles of mic placement, acoustics and signal processing. The increase in gigging and the lack of money available from major labels will mean that more artists are coming into the studio fresh, focussed, well rehearsed, communicating easily and realistic about what they want to achieve. Making a good record in those circumstances is not difficult. The 'voodoo' of the great producers of the past was in taking a group of fucked up individuals who were barely speaking to one another, and were too sidetracked by internal politics and money to have given much thought to the music, and somehow getting a great record out the other side. Which is rare skill, definitely, but it only existed becase of the unnatural major label enviroment that surrounded it.

I agree that mastering is unnaturally loud these days, but who cares? If people are dumb enough to want that, then fuck 'em. What matters is what's on the original recording. If that's OK, then someone in the future can always go back and do a new master when sanity prevails.

Great post, and your right, too many people now know the right way to do things (is there such a thing?) and should perhaps become better at doing things wrong. Lets all be better at being wrong Some people have a nature talent for mixing down than others, I know within our group Richard is much better than Ken and I but he'll never get the fucked up stuff we add to the mix and boy does it cause some agruements.

Mastering Loud for some reason now equals better but we all know that's a load of rubbish.

 

[Gabba Flamenco Crossover]

I wouldn't say that music MUST be super big studio productions

No, I didn't think you would, and I don't think there's anyone on the board who really thinks that .

I was just clarifying that the big studio, big producer model is inseperable from major labels, because they are (or were) the only ones with the money to sustain it. I love all those big producer stories too and the big studio vibe, and I don't want to see it go... but if it's an inevitable side effect of the decline of major label control in music, maybe it's a price worth paying, y'know? Having big studios without major labels would be like having the renaissance without the Medici - not gonna happen in the real world, unfortunately.

On the adjacant topic of a decline in recording standards... I don't think that's an automatic consequence of the end of big studio culture, or at least I hope it won't be. While music technology courses have boomed over the last decade, I think most of the smarter students are now aware that their chances of converting a MT degree into a full time studio job are effectively zero. Hopefully, those students will start to gravitate towards degree courses in related areas, like electronic and communications engineering, or acoustics, and graduate with viable career options and a much better grounding in the science of music production than they would get from most MT courses.

I hope this will happen because if we are losing current cadre of professional sound engineers and producers then the quality recordings of the future will have to be made by knowledgable amateurs, and the obvious people to fill that niche would be those who work in related fields of engineering, but want to be involved in music recording in thier spare time. This is like a reverse of the original white coat studio engineers of the 50s and 60s, who mostly drifted into studio jobs from things like telecoms or radar engineering

Regarding the equipment, even non-digital equipment is way cheaper in real terms now than it's ever been, and more readily available, as companies adjust to the amateur market - for example, there are far more modular analogue synths sold now than there were in the 70s. And the point about studio time also applies to studio equipment, which is that good musicians need far less of it that bad ones. Most multitracked recordings are made that way not to expand the boundaries of the recording process, but because the band aren't capable of playing a decent take in real time. All you really need now to record a small group is between 6 and 12 mics (depending on your approach to drum micing), the same number of preamps, a decent a/d convertor and a laptop, plus some monitor speakers - if you were canny, you could get that for about £4000.

The loss of dedicated recording rooms is a bigger problem, because that's something that very few amateur producers will ever get for themselves. But again, those rooms only got built because of the demands of the record industry, which wanted recordings to be made acoustically flat - this defers decisions about ambience until the mixing stage, so that the A&R and various other company executives get chance to stick thier ill-informed oar into the process. Once they're out of the equation, why shouldn't artists be making decisions about room ambience at the recording stage? The rig described above is portable, so there's no reason why the engineer couldn't set up iin a space where the artist liked thier sound and felt comfortable.

This is happening at the moment, but it's quite marginal. It would be really good to see it expand to fill the gap left by the closure of the big professional studios. If the margins of music become more important relative to the centre (the long tail), then hopefully the recording process can become more flexible, intimate and artist-centred without sacrificing technical standards. Here's hoping.

too many people now know the right way to do things (is there such a thing?) and should perhaps become better at doing things wrong. Lets all be better at being wrong

Seen. But sometimes you have to know what's right to be wrong in the right way (!?!)

 

[sodiumnightlife]

Seen. But sometimes you have to know what's right to be wrong in the right way (!?!)

Its just like my mum explained to me when i was wee:

"The reason Picasso could draw things that didn't look right and it be called a masterpice is cos he knew how to draw first. You, however, don't!"

 

[U-Basstard]

http://www.slicethepie.com/

discuss.

 

[Martin Dust]

Seen. But sometimes you have to know what's right to be wrong in the right way (!?!)

Sometimes but most can't get past the "learned".

 

[Edward]

Seen. But sometimes you have to know what's right to be wrong in the right way (!?!)

yeah.... If you imagine a graph of IQ along the bottom and % of population with that IQ up the side, you get a bell curve. I reckon all the amazing music is made by people right at the bottom or right at the top - if you know nothing or everything you can possibly make great music effortlessly. the rest of us in between have to struggle harder....

I did piano lessons for about a year and in some respects it's been really useful and in some respects really awful as far as my composition goes. I have since had to develop all sorts of techniques to stop myself from playing the "right" notes.

I have a friend who has no musical knowledge but great taste, it takes him ages to do anything but he makes great things I would never think of. on the other hand i can get the simple bits done really fast, but doing the really original stuff takes me l-o-n-g.

Once I played a really good guitarist a track and he told me one of the chords was "wrong". It was hard not to laugh in his face :-/

About slice the pie, I think the people running the website will get some money, a couple of bands might get some too, people investing will all lose out.

 

[Chef Napalm]

I have been really enjoying the last couple of years' aphex twin stuff on 180g classical pressings, wouldn't you like to hear a Plastician tune mastered and pressed up properly?

Who would have guessed when they started pre-ordering for that ridiculous binder that it would wet the appetites and imaginations of so many fans. That Analord series must have been a watershed for Rephlex. I'd be shocked if they've ever gotten as much press as they did over that. Marketing genius, I say.

should perhaps become better at doing things wrong. Lets all be better at being wrong

You know, I've been thinking for some time that you, edward, and mms should start a how-to thread on independant labels. Now I'm think it should be more along the lines of what NOT to do (i.e. the pitfalls to avoid).

How about it lads?

 

[Martin Dust]

You know, I've been thinking for some time that you, edward, and mms should start a how-to thread on independant labels. Now I'm think it should be more along the lines of what NOT to do (i.e. the pitfalls to avoid).

How about it lads?

I'd be more than happy to help, it's not that complex, you just have to be prepared for people to treat your work like "fruit and veg" and not pay for it. If you did a spread sheet for the starting a record label your accountant would never let to register the company

 

[Martin Dust]

I did piano lessons for about a year and in some respects it's been really useful and in some respects really awful as far as my composition goes. I have since had to develop all sorts of techniques to stop myself from playing the "right" notes.

Been there and got the t-shirt Another thing that once fucked me right up was buying too much new gear at once, didn't do a single thing for a year!

 

[Edward]

Re: how (not) to run a small label.

If you want to know how to run a successful business, I am not the man to ask! I have never even taken a wage from my label.

I could tell you some technical stuff about accounting and dealing with pressing, distribution etc.
But basically I've always gone for "fun/easy life/spend time making music" over "money/work hard/spend time on marketing" blah blah.
It's all about the music innit?

By the way, when I contrast "work hard" with "easy life" - I will add that I do not consider making music to be work. I "work" very hard on my music but it's a pleasure.

 

[kidkut]

I was having a think about this today and i thought it would be interesting to see how many 12-16 yr olds dj and of that how many own turntables as opposed to cdj's, laptops etc.

Back when i was 15 although there were some early consoles about the art of dj'ing didnt have as much competition for the affections of a teenager as today, i'm thinking of the plethora of gadgets/comps etc that are now available.

Maybe sales being down in general could be down to not as many heads coming through from the grass roots level?

With that in mind, maybe the technology should come down in price, Technics have stayed pretty much at £400-500ish for a second hand pair for as long as i can remember, hell they hold value better than a car!

Nintendo wii - £160 retails or some thing vs £500 notes for technics?

 

[viktorvaughn]

I was having a think about this today and i thought it would be interesting to see how many 12-16 yr olds dj and of that how many own turntables as opposed to cdj's, laptops etc.

Back when i was 15 although there were some early consoles about the art of dj'ing didnt have as much competition for the affections of a teenager as today, i'm thinking of the plethora of gadgets/comps etc that are now available.

Maybe sales being down in general could be down to not as many heads coming through from the grass roots level?

With that in mind, maybe the technology should come down in price, Technics have stayed pretty much at £400-500ish for a second hand pair for as long as i can remember, hell they hold value better than a car!

Nintendo wii - £160 retails or some thing vs £500 notes for technics?

Think Technics have dropped a bit - more like 300-400£ now.

I'm sure if that's the rise of CDJs, E-bay or what though...

 

[Edward]

That makes no sense to me.

There are enough crap DJs who don't really love music already.
If it's a toss up between music and video games, they should fuck off and play video games.

People who are good at creative stuff do it because they have to, there is nothing else thay want to do, they couldn't NOT do it.

 

[mixed_biscuits]

People who are good at creative stuff do it because they have to, there is nothing else thay want to do, they couldn't NOT do it.

I know of some people who have the same attitude - but bereft of the talent to profit from it. *ahem*

 

[barry_abs]

well the leeds "recording studio for sale" that went up on ebay died without a single bid..

80 grand though - who's gonna pay that in this day and age?

 

[Edward]

Seems ridiculously overpriced, you don't get to own the building or anything!

 

[DJ PIMP]

People who are good at creative stuff do it because they have to, there is nothing else thay want to do, they couldn't NOT do it.

It's an addiction. Artists are junkies for the muse!

I would cut off my rajah before I'd give up music.

 

[claphands]

That's not purist baloney, it's common freakin' sense. The conclusion can only be that vinyl will be the only remaining physical music recorded music format in the not-to-distant future.

As for your collection:

@ 128kbps (itunes quality), 1 min music ~ 1MB
@ 320kbps (near-CD quality), 1 min ~ 2.5MB

60GB = 60,000GB
60,000MB
60,000MB/2.5MB = 24,000 minutes of music @ 320kbps (that's 400 hours, almost 17 days)
Average 12" mix = 6 minutes
24,000mins/6mins = 4000 songs
Average 12" single = 2 songs
4000/2 = 2000 records

I am at this very moment looking at 1000+ records in a 36"wide X 72"high X 14"deep cabinet. I don't remember the last time I listened to some of them. The pact I ended up making with both my wife and myself was that I would not expand beyond that cabinet. I mean, really, who needs 400h of music? If you've got that much, it's time to do a purge my friend.

Apologies if someone has made this rather obvious point (also addressed to the 2000 cd post following your post), but looking at - let alone listening to - thousands of records when they are encoded in fucking vinyl is obviously more daunting than listening to thousands of albums worth of mp3s.

Fuck I probably have a thousand subgenres worth of music on my computer. I have the benefit of listening to awesome music ranging from obscure (and new to me) mid-90s gangsta rap from Arkansas to my favorite dark mpb albums from the 1960s. Why would I purge? Joe Popular Music Consumer probably finds the idea of a having "1000+ records in a 36"wide X 72"high X 14"deep cabinet" worthy of a purge," but you aren't Joe Popular Music Consumer and we (whatever we 60 gigs of mp3 people are) aren't you. I personally am okay with your desire to limit your collection to your records cabinet, but it seems absurd that a music lover/collector would would take the next step and be critical of those who have MORE music than they.