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EQ Magazine - Is it safe to read yet?


Roy

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I remember when EQ fist came out, it was great, lot's of practical info on using and maintaining gear etc. Then sometime in the 90s (sorry, forget which year) some butthole editor writes in his editorial that EQ magazine is only for professional recording engineers and everyone else shouldn't buy it. Well, me being a musician with a home studio didn't qualify so I cancelled my subscription and haven't bought one since. I've looked at them from time to time at the news stand and it appears that this policy still holds, lots of reviews of super high end gear, articles that tell me I need 20k worth of mics to record anything etc. Well, I just saw this;

 

https://www.b2bmediaportal.com/eqm/eqmsub.aspx?pageid=2&key=BPENEW2

 

...a subscription for 5 bucks. Tempting. Just wondering if EQ mag still doesn't want non-pros buying it and if it contains anything of interest anymore to a home recordist?

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Hi Roy:

 

I wouldn't say EQ is targeted at only professionals with big budgets.... we try to make sure there's lots of information in each issue that would be useful to someone such as yourself. I think it's a very cool magazine - but as a contributing writer, I'm a little biased. ;)

 

Tell you what - try it and if you don't like it, I'll personally send you five bucks. :)

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I did try it and I did like it but frankly, I was really offended by the editorial and hence, policy. Darn, I wish I knew the year this editorial was published. I still have the magazine but it's buried in a box somewhere.

 

Gotta admit, I just looked at the current ish online and it looks pretty good...no reviews of the latest SSL uber-console etc.

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EQ is kicking the rest of the rags asses right now IMO. GREAT interviews, nice and long and the one in the last issue spoke more about methods over gear and approach rather than gear. i love the interview on the guy, serj? im not a fan of his band really but really like to read about him. the interviewer had top notch questions.

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That was three editors ago, Roy.

 

You remember?

 

Hmmm...well...I dunno...5 bucks....hmmm

 

Yeah, of course I'm in. 5 bucks almost free, great deal. Sure sounds like things have changed back. I always thought MIX covered the highend stuff well enough anyway.

 

BTW - My guess is that the former editor is probably a well liked forumite here (I have no idea who it was). Even if he isn't, I regret the butthole crack (no pun intended....well, maybe a little). Having a different opinion than my own doesn't necessarily make one a BH (although it certainly increases the odds :)). I did think it a bit extreme though.

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As Executive Editor you probably won't find anyone more biased than me. But I will say that when I assumed the post last year, my first goal was bringing in more musicians because that's where the real audience is. We don't ignore high-end gear, but our target is musicians who record, which takes in a pretty broad range of interests. We hope to grow the magazine to the point where we have enough pages so that we can cover that full range in every issue.

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If you're talking about Mitch Gallagher, he did a great job with EQ and working with him was always a pleasure. At that time, the edict from the "powers that be" was that EQ was to compete with Mix as a high-end mag. Neither Mitch nor I felt that was the way to go, but we didn't own the magazine :)

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You're the editor now (sorry, I don't get out much these days)!?! Congratulations. I couldn't think of a better choice. Your articles were always a fave, straight poop. I was a subscriber for about the 1st ten years and I liked watching your studio evolve as you slowly went digital (ocassionally you would throw up a pic or I'd see it in the background). 5 dollar subscriptions might not be the best business plan but who am I to argue. :)

 

I don't know if it was Mitch or not, but I suspected that the policy was handed down from the money gods. Silly policy, silly to proclaim it like that too. I'm glad the direction has changed. I glanced at a few issues during the MIX-wannabe era, nothing interesting.

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If you're talking about Mitch Gallagher, he did a great job with EQ and working with him was always a pleasure. At that time, the edict from the "powers that be" was that EQ was to compete with Mix as a high-end mag. Neither Mitch nor I felt that was the way to go, but we didn't own the magazine

 

 

Is that the same 'powers that be' that decreed having the articles go from being printed with a serif type-face at a reasonable font size, to a san-serif type face and a font size that is smaller than it used to be? Either change would be one thing, but both make reading EQ a challenge for those of us with older eyes.

 

best,

 

john

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The cover is too slicik and it slides off the toilet tank too easily. Other than that, I think it's getting to be more useful to the recording musician who isn't primarily an engineer, and I think that's the goal of the magazine.

 

Like all magazines, it suffers from SAS (short article syndrome). Sometimes an author attempts to tackle a complex subject that can't be fully explained in 1200 words and details that might come around to bite you sometimes get left out.

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I really like EQ magazine, apparently my mail man does too as sometimes it disappears. Q: Did the Video issue come out that we'd been talking about???

If it did I missed it. To me EQ is right in the middle between home and Pro Studios. For me I'd like it as high end as it can be, but I do enjoy helping others with their situation and I'm glad EQ feels the same way.

 

I do understand boycotting a magazine. I choose to boycott People magazine ever since they glorified Mark David Chapman on the cover for killing John Lennon.

 

 

Russ

Nashville

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I do understand boycotting a magazine.


Russ

Nashville

 

It wasn't a really boycott, more like a request from the editor to stop buying the magazine. Weird. It felt like going to a party when I know I'm not welcome, so I stopped buying.

 

 

Anyway, it's a moot point now. :)

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The cover is too slick and it slides off the toilet tank too easily.

 

:D

 

Mike, tell the EDs over at Recording that the last few issues have been killer! I love the anniversary cover. :thu:

 

And the little red dot behind the "rec" on the latest issue? Cool.

 

I hate to be always sucking Recording mag's ass, but it's exactly what AlphaJ described, only it's been that way for years. I learned the most from Recording.

 

I think that EQ, Tape Op, and Recording make a great trio. We need to get Larry Crane over here.

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He's not talking about Mitch. I know the exact editorial he's referencing.


Think earlier. 1997 or so.

 

I was actually wondering about that. I didn't picture Mitch talking like that. But, he was the ED for EQ for a long time, so I didn't know. Thanks for clearing that up, Jeff. :thu:

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tapeop to me has this pretention to it IMO. they really segregate the "pros" and "amateurs" it seems as black and white when really there is the whole gamut of grey. they do have some good interviews, but i do grow tired of what seems like the same "hero" interview over and over. it just reads the same after a while.

 

i acually have to renew my EQ sub. i gota thing that said the end was near, but i seem to be getting EQ mags quicker and quicker! does craig ever sleep? or have i hit a FWD button on my life somewhere? whos sitting on my remote dammit!!!

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I don't know that Tape Op does that. Sometimes, it seems that Tape Op actually encourages people to try and make great recordings no matter what type of gear or recording environment they have access to. That kind of says the opposite of the segregation thing you mention here.

 

But everyone is going to approach the vibe of a magazine (or web site or whatever) in their own way. I think that most of the audio mags are doing a good job right now, including Mix and EQ and Tape Op and so on, and each offers something a little different to the readers. That's just my take.

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Hi all...

 

We revamped the magazine specifically to educate home-studio musicians, and players who record. This content evolution works synergistically with all the MPN "player" magazines -- GUITAR PLAYER, BASS PLAYER, and KEYBOARD -- and it also works well in band situations where the members might share EQ's helpful recording info amongst themselves (including the vocalists and drummers). This is why we introduced the TECHNIQUES section focused on specific-instrument recording tips, and added "Home Cooking" sidebars to the features to literally "drive home" the techniques discussed/used by the professionals EQ speaks to. Craig, Matt Harper, and I are really sweating the details to ensure EQ delivers essential and almost by-the-numbers recording applications for MUSICIANS.

 

However, EQ is not out of the woods yet. Reader support for the new direction has been really astounding, and we all appreciate the good feelings, kudos, and constructive criticisms. However, all tech mags are having tough times these days, and EQ is no exception. We've been holding at 100 pages per issue, but we may have to swing down a bit here and there to deal with the revenue and expense requirements of our parent company. But the staff will always maintain the content format that so many of you have now come to respect.

 

And if you really dig the revamped EQ -- Please tell a buddy. We can use all the industry and reader buzz we can get. It has been a long hard road, but we're still here, and I believe (bias alert) that EQ is better than ever. The new content will really help you make better recordings. Honest. Check it out!

 

Cheers,

Mike

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I don't know that Tape Op does that. Sometimes, it seems that Tape Op actually encourages people to try and make great recordings no matter what type of gear or recording environment they have access to. That kind of says the opposite of the segregation thing you mention here.


But everyone is going to approach the vibe of a magazine (or web site or whatever) in their own way. I think that most of the audio mags are doing a good job right now, including Mix and EQ and Tape Op and so on, and each offers something a little different to the readers. That's just my take.

 

 

i dunno, maybe its in the interviews? gear reviews? i dunno.... its just something there i cant put my finger on. i mean its free so i cant really complain, but it hasnt been a fulfilling read lately for me. EQ has been interesting at least, maybe its just because they are covering ground no one else is right now so its refreshing.

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Thanks for visiting, Mike :)

 

FWIW Mike has been, uh, "instrumental" in evangelizing and articulating EQ's musician-oriented mission inside the company. He was the main reason I came onboard (and not just because he said my dog might disappear under mysterious circumstances if I didn't). He was totally into the concept of broadening EQ's audience, and frankly, without his contributions and advocacy EQ would not have gotten the editorial boost it so desperately needed, nor would the makeover happened as rapidly, or as coherently, as it did.

 

The turning point seemed to be with the Pete Townshend issue, where we finally had enough pages to do things like run long interviews. Then the next issue saw the introduction of the Techniques columns (which I'm pretty sure was Mike's idea) which has also been a hit, because it guarantees there will be something in every issue for guitarists, bassists, keyboardists, vocalists, drummers, and mixers.

 

But Mike's right - we still need all the support we can get, because EQ had a long, long way to climb. More support = more pages = more content = more support = more pages = more content = more support...you get the idea!

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You're the editor now (sorry, I don't get out much these days)!?! Congratulations. I couldn't think of a better choice. Your articles were always a fave, straight poop. I was a subscriber for about the 1st ten years and I liked watching your studio evolve as you slowly went digital (ocassionally you would throw up a pic or I'd see it in the background). 5 dollar subscriptions might not be the best business plan but who am I to argue.
:)

 

Actually Matt Harper is the Editor, he's the glue that holds the thing together. I'm the Executive Editor, which in practical terms means I do a lot of the writing and determine the direction of each issue in conjunction with Matt. We also have a division of labor; he handles the personality features and assigns reviews, while I ride herd on the more applications-oriented material.

 

In my initial proposal as to where I thought the mag should go, in addition to broadening the audience I also wanted to encourage more of a community vibe. That hasn't really happened yet although when it has (like the miking madness techniques piece that was based on posts people made here in SSS) it's gone over very well. Matt and I have also kicked around bringing Indie World back into the mag, which went away with the previous editor...more pages will let us do those kinds of things. While we're all grateful that EQ is getting such a good response these days, there's plenty more we want to do.

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