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Has the Demise of Big Studios Hurt Music?


Anderton

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After all, they were so expensive that they automatically filtered out a whole lot of musicians. On the other hand, a lot of my favorite tracks of recent times probably weren't recorded in big studios but in the kind of Pro Tools/Sonar/Live/Logic etc. kind of gear we have.

But I think the question emcompasses more than gear, because of the huge social component that big studios offered. I'd come for a session and watch Jimi Hendrix finish up while Chris Wood was hanging around, then at the end of the session, Vanilla Fudge would walk in for their session. Somehow, I don't think that kind of scenario happens very often at home studios...

And there was also the element of having a dedicated engineer and producer so artists could stay in their left brain.

I don't think the issue is gear, because by and large today's gear has better specs. Bigger studios did have better acoustics, but if you were recording guitar amps cranked up, that didn't make much difference. It did for those using "minimal mic" drum miking, but a lot of folks just stuck a ton of mics on a kit anyway.

Hmmm...thoughts? And maybe a related question is how many people here actually recorded in the big studios of old. Are you nostalgic for them?

 

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It depends on what you call "music." I think that most people will argue that music today is better than ever.

What the demise of big studios has changed is the way some recording projects are done. No more booking the resort in the Rockies for three months while you write your songs, you do it at home, or take your iPod and a mic to Tahiti with you. And much of the big orchestral sessions for things like film and TV have been replaced by a composer with a powerful computer and a huge sample library.

 

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Anderton wrote:

 

 

After all, they were so expensive that they automatically filtered out a whole lot of musicians. On the other hand, a lot of my favorite tracks of recent times probably weren't recorded in big studios but in the kind of Pro Tools/Sonar/Live/Logic etc. kind of gear we have.

 

But I think the question emcompasses more than gear, because of the huge social component that big studios offered. I'd come for a session and watch Jimi Hendrix finish up while Chris Wood was hanging around, then at the end of the session, Vanilla Fudge would walk in for their session. Somehow, I don't think that kind of scenario happens very often at home studios...

 

And there was also the element of having a dedicated engineer and producer so artists could stay in their left brain.

 

I don't think the issue is gear, because by and large today's gear has better specs. Bigger studios did have better acoustics, but if you were recording guitar amps cranked up, that didn't make much difference. It did for those using "minimal mic" drum miking, but a lot of folks just stuck a ton of mics on a kit anyway.

 

Hmmm...thoughts? And maybe a related question is how many people here actually recorded in the big studios of old. Are you nostalgic for them?

 

 

 

I don`t think the demise of big studios has hurt music but I do think the internet has. If we could try to imagine the world again without internet and "sharing" for a moment... I think its fair to say that CDs would still be selling quite well. I also think we would hold our musical heroes more reverently. The internet has leveled the playing field on many levels, making just about everything disposable because its so easy to find a replacement. 

And to answer the 2nd question, I do miss working in a large studio but it has nothing to do with the gear, its more about "the event" that a session was. Now, with everyone owning gear, recording is no longer an event, its just something you do like surfing the web. I think that element of that "sacred" moment in the studio has been lost. I miss that.

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Yes I do think the demise of big studios (super studios) has hurt music in many ways.  In my regular ghost appearances here... err.. I mean guest appearances here I often allude to what I see as the bar being lowered in the music world.  Anyone can make music and have it heard through this miracle of the interweb and anyone does!  And as someone mentioned already, the very idea that music today is better than at any time to me is evidence of how far off peoples perceptions are.  It goes back to some of my pet arguments, such as that plug-in you're using doesn't really sound like the hardware it was made to replace... you only think it does because we no longer have easy access to the hardware to compare it to.  So with out getting too long winded here. I basically see a gradual loss of standards as medium size to large studios started going by the wayside and everyone really believes they can now do it in a box... with little to no training... and even less understanding of basic audio 101 concepts.

 

So yes, in that way we've certainly lost something... a whole library of knowledge in the minds of those who are no longer with us and that appears no longer necessary... and yet it is vital.

I've seen a lot of great music come out of small studios, home studios, project studios, etc, so it can be done and it is being done, but on such a small scale.  Any hope for larger scale of collaboration, invention, production, creativity as we've see in years past?  No... we can officially ring the death null for that way of life and all the good and bad that went with it.  And it is a loss.  There are some expressions in the music/recording arts that can't be born any other way, and so they will not be born.

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Beck wrote:

 

 

And as someone mentioned already, the very idea that music today is better than at any time to me is evidence of how far off peoples perceptions are. 

 

I hope you didn't interpret what I might have said as suggesting that music today is better than ever. I may have said that there's more music today than ever, but probably about as much good music as ever.


It goes back to some of my pet arguments, such as that plug-in you're using doesn't really sound like the hardware it was made to replace... you only think it does because we no longer have easy access to the hardware to compare it to. 

 


 

Why is this important? Consoles and signal processors don't make great records, engineers and musicians and singers and arrangers and writers all together make good records. A bad singer will make a bad record. A bad compressor (in itself) won't make a record bad. Most plug-ins do the job they're designed to do.

What may be a problem is that people who have never made great records are using great tools and thinking that their records will be great because of all the great records before theirs were made using those tools. While that's not hurting music other than creating more stuff to search through to find good music, it isn't contributing to great music.

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Anderton wrote:And maybe a related question is how many people here actually recorded in the big studios of old. Are you nostalgic for them?

 

 

 

Yes, and looking back I don't think most of us who were successful in doing our own thing with project/home studios back then ever expected or desired to eliminate large studios.  It was much better to be part of that smaller group back then that could actually record in home and small studio environments as well as the then state of the art.  Keeping in mind that I think the state of the art back then was far superior than it is now.  So the fact that nearly anyone can try to pull it off today with any minimal computer-based DAW doesn't mean things are better.

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