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I wrote for Keyboard when Greg was there, but I thought there was a brief moment right before Roland that Greg was going to EQ. Regardless, I look at the point when Greg was at Keyboard and Mitch was at EQ as the golden era of CMP.

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Well, everyone's going to have their take on the "golden era". Some people felt Keyboard was never as good as when Dominick Milano and Tom Darter were at the helm, with Jim Aiken doing a ton of articles. Some people liked the regime of EQ run by Hector LaTorre.

Magazines are living entities, and do change (for better or worse) based on who's at the helm. But these are all subjective thoughts. Since it woudn't appear that Greg and/or Mitch are headed back to their respective former magazines, I'd like to focus on the future.

- Jeff

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To me, the peak for EQ Magazine was back when Roger Nichols did the back page. Sometimes I wouldn't make it back to my house from the mailbox before I read Roger's column.

The next downturn EQ took after Roger left, in my opinion, was when the format changed. I still don't like the new look, it hasn't grown on me.

Mostly what determines whether I like an audio mag or not is who writes the articles and how useful they are. A guy I've never heard of or haven't seen credits on platinum albums for MIGHT be giving me good advice, but then again he might be mostly a journalist and not so much an experienced engineer or musician.

Still, I'll try something that looks interesting, what the hell - IF it's of practical value to me. For example, a plug in for some audio software I don't have and don't plan to buy isn't going to be useful to me no matter how good the article is. And I can see that being a real problem for the magazine since recording technology is exponentiating in all sorts of directions. Hard to put out a magazine with most of the content interesting and useful to everyone. I guess EQ could take the approach of Popular Photograpy: 10 pages of content and 90 pages of ads. I'm surprised they don't give the subscription away, I think it's like $5/yr.

Gear reviews I have mixed feelings about. Like a bad car wreck, I reluctantly look at them. But like a bad burrito, they give me GAS and leave me with the feeling someone's just blown smoke up my ass. I mean, a magazine that takes ads can't be Consumer Reports. They're going to soft pedal any minuses about a product rather than piss off their advertisers. Witness the MAudio Tampa "latest best thing" preamp, for one example.

I used to be more in contempt of reviewers and magazine writers until companies started giving me gear. Then, I understood fully. You want to write the truth both good and ugly, but you have relationships with these folks and you know them as people sincerely believing they're putting out a good product and trusting you to give it a fair evaluation. So you hesitate to write anything, sometimes.

It's a tough call. I've been an EQ subscriber for years, but honestly I get more magazines each month than I have time to read, and, since I can't make myself pitch them when the new issue comes in, they create a storage problem. For a while I was scanning the most useful articles and compiling them on to DVD, but man, who has time for that?

So I think I might not be renewing several of my audio mag subscriptions this cycle, and EQ is no longer my favorite. Still, it's like an old friend, so who knows.

Terry D.

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I must commend Eugene for making an appearance over at MusicPlayer. Though much of his thoughts trouble me, I must again admit I do not feel the blame is entirely his, if any.

The Editor role seems to have become a dangerous role the way fine Editors have come and gone such as Mitch Gallagher.

However if what Eugene says is true, that the number of readers and subscriptions and newstand sales are up, he is doing his job to the higher up powers that be that are not interested in quality of content, but rather quantity of dollar bills in their accounts.

So we`ll just have to suck it up or unsubscribe. I get EQ for free and am grateful but I also must admit, though it costs me nothing financially, I have not learned much from it on an audio level in much time and now that the Editor is getting "streetwise" or whatever Eugene referred to his writing style as, I will seriously have to consider whether it is worth even having this publication in my house.

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You know, if I had some technical background I would feel worthy to write for EQ but when I consider the fact that I have no knowledge of any technical aspect of gear, I know its better to leave me out.

If they need an article on songwriting, or something abstract, I`m game!

Also, I wouldn`t view my posts as complaints, I prefer to think of them as a gauge from a long time reader who still cares about the magazine tremendously.

I think thats a better stance than indifference.:thu:

In which case, I could care less and wouldn`t say a word.

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Originally posted by robmix

Well, I just hit Eugene with an email. Rather complain, I'm all about affecting change and would love to contribute to EQ in whatever way they find acceptable.

 

What if he responded that he would like to publish pictures of you in each issue dressed up as the mollusk of the month? What if he asks for a DNA sample so that he may clone you into a bio-electric antrhopo-MIDI interface? What if he asks you to attend the National High Shcool Band Competition and stuff subscription packets into the conical bores of large brass instruments as players exit the stage? What if he asks you to slide a variety of new papers he is considering for the magazine accross your fingers in order to evaluate their potential for causing paper cuts?

 

I guess what I'm getting at is how deep is your devotion... how true is your love... how far are you willing to go?

 

-Peace, Love, and Brittanylips

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Originally posted by Anderton

>


Hmmm...interesting, Eugene just asked me for a DNA sample last week. Do you know something I don't know?

 

My brittanyLIPS are closed....

 

(although Eugene assures me that every Craig AnderTone HMI (Human MIDI Interface) will ship with a military grade dongle to prevent unliscenced downloading and replication.)

 

-PL&B

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