More layoffs at Avid... and some questions for you.

[Phil O'Keefe]

I heard a rumor that Avid just laid off another 200 employees - approximately 10% of their current workforce. This is not their first workforce reduction - apparently they've had a couple of others over the last few years.

 

http://aeportal.blogspot.com/2011/10/another-round-of-layoffs-for-avid-200.html

 

Hopefully this just makes them meaner and leaner... but I feel bad for those who are now out of work.

 

What does this kind of event mean in terms of the long term health of our industry? I dunno - what do YOU think? If Avid closed shop (not that I think that's at all likely to happen), or if Apple went consumer-products-only and stopped making Logic, where would that put the recording industry? Would others step in and purchase those company assets and continue with development of the programs, or would they disappear like Studio Vision?

 

I guess I'm wondering how the changes in the music industry at large could affect the companies who have been developing the tools that have fed the home and project studio revolutions... and looking for YOUR thoughts on the subject.

[michael_B]

I've read a few times lately that Apple will be phasing out the Mac Pro all together. I wouldn't be surprised if Logic was eventually killed as well, it all depends on whether they are making money on it. Either way, someone will jump in to fill the gap. The dream of making music is perpetuated by companies that market their products to musicians, that will never stop. Not only that, with processors jammed into tiny contraptions, it you can already write and record an entire album on your iphone, so in the end my guess is that people will find a way with the tools they have, and life will go on.

[Zooey]

 

I heard a rumor that Avid just laid off another 200 employees - approximately 10% of their current workforce. This is not their first workforce reduction - apparently they've had a couple of others over the last few years. http://aeportal.blogspot.com/2011/10/another-round-of-layoffs-for-avid-200.html

 

 

Blog is wrong on one count: the last audio company acquired by Avid was not "System 5," but Euphonix.

 

Avid is kind of a special case. It no longer breaks out earnings by audio and video units, so you can only speculate on the health of the audio side of the business. It's also a public company (many of its competitors are not), so its constantly got its eye on the stock price.

 

I know a lot of people throughout the industry, and many are struggling in the poor economy. But even in this economy, audio companies are hiring if you've got the right kind of skills. Surprisingly, hardware seems to be as in demand as ever. Assisted DSP processing also remains popular (UA, anyway?) despite predictions every year for the past 15 years that it will be rendered obsolete by Moore's law.

[Lee Knight]

 

What does this kind of event mean in terms of the long term health of our industry?

 

 

What industry are we talking about? The one that provides tools for musicians to make music? If that's what were talking about, while my heart goes out to those losing jobs or whole companies for that matter, it won't effect making music.

 

The industry you refer to isn't my industry. I make music, not tools.

 

The consistent competition of features being added to DAWs is so down on the scale of importance to music. To the creation of it. I've always been aware of the huge chasm between the tool creators and the users. Not in a way of criticism, but just in the reality. And with that, you have musicians more concerned with the latest converters or time stretch algo than a cool use of rhyme or key change or guitar rhythm and tone or singer's attitude in a recent listening experience.

 

It reminds me of how we now read coverage of the movie box office for the weekend. Who honestly gives a rat's ass? I want to hear an opinion of someone I respect on a latest movie release perhaps, but what do I care, me... why do I care if it came in below expectations with regards to ticket sales?

 

I don't care. While I'm still empathetic to the industry, it isn't mine. And frankly, the MI world is not a musician's industry. It isn't and will never be. Let's not confuse that line.

 

We have all the tools we will ever need to write the greatest piece of music yet to be written. To record it, to perform it. To distribute it. If an industry wants to continuously refine those tools for profit... fine. I will gladly peruse and choose.

 

But I am anything but dependent on them.

[Lee Knight]

Having said all that^, I need to clarify. Those points, for me, still ring true for the engineer / producer. Is an SE or Rode or AudioTechnica mike really going to be so different from an AKG 414? Or a 67/87? SE, no disrespect, if you can make a great mike at a great price point, who am I to argue. I'll gladly reap the benefits of your business speculation as I hope you will. But I am not dependent on it.

 

I will gladly stock up on more tools of the classic and expensive variety if need be. So, while the cost and functionality of tools do effect the user's industry to an extent, that effect is lessened when there are extremely well designed tools already in place. Innovation's fine. Welcomed even. But not necessary.

 

Adele's album 21 could have been recorded 40 years ago. The latest Black Eyed Peas? Of course not. And while it is great to have those innovations at hand to forge new sounds, as i said, I don't think it is mandatory for great music.

 

The only thing dating ZZ Top's Tres Hombres is drum tuning. Think about that.

[WRGKMC]

Its a down economy and margins on some products are paper thin.

XCompanies either grow their way to keeping their market share

or they shrink their workforce to remain profitable.

 

Its a cold hard fact that with the freedom to make a good product and big profits

flip side of that coin is you can fail just as easily and loose it all if you dont provide

products and services customers want and pay for. Theres no gaurantees the gravy

train lasts forever. When a company becomes too large, looses its edge, and lets

competition gain marketshare, they either got what it takes to get customers back and

get new customers.

 

It is surprising its happening a month before Christmas though. Most companies do pretty

good "if" they have a strong some entry level products line they can sell at low cost.

Its easire to sell one high end unit vs a hundred low end to make a profit, but during economic times

like this, it makes the strong companies stronger when the weaker companies collapse.

[ido1957]

It's a publicly traded company and as such must bend to shareholder pressure - i.e. layoffs are standard practice... I have a Sputnik mic. There's a flood of manufacturers on the market. This looks like a good company for a takeover...

 

Avid Technology, Inc. (Public, NASDAQ:AVID) Range 6.82 - 7.07

52 week 5.76 - 23.35

Open 6.98

Vol / Avg. 479,263.00/389,446.00

Mkt cap 263.71M

P/E -

Div/yield -

EPS -0.67

Shares 38.44M

Beta 1.08

Inst. own 98%

[BushmasterM4]

Layoffs are another way of weeding out the bad employess too. Companies will say they are taking a financial hit because of the market just to get rid of bad seeds.

[nerol1st]

While I get it's a part of business lay offs just rub me wrong. Doesn't matter I guess because Avid won't be getting any more of my money any time soon. I think the upgrade price to 10 is absolutely atrocious.

[SoundWrangler]

...I think the upgrade price to 10 is absolutely atrocious.

Agreed - IMHO the PT10 upgrade price is out of proportion to the improvements it offers, and with the current state of the economy and our industry it seems like the wrong time to get $$$-grubby with your user base. 30% less for the upgrade and I probably would have already purchased it by now, instead of whining about the price online...

[MrJoshua]

Well, to knock the spam post off as the last post in this thread...

 

I felt like the upgrade price for HD was too high as well. So, instead of doing the upgrade, I picked up MIX core card for $200 off eBay and used the Avid hardware exchange to swap it for an HD Native card with HD10 for $1,500. Yes, that's higher than the upgrade price alone, but since my TDM hardware will no longer be supported after this version it gives me a more future-proof path forward. I installed HD10 in my HD|3 Accel system and it's trucking along. It seems to play nicer with my UAD plugins at buffer sizes below 1024. And now I have a Native card waiting to go into a system when it becomes necessary. I decided I don't need the extra horsepower of an HDX system since I rarely need more than one headphone mix for tracking (and if I need more than one I can always bypass any latency-inducing plugins, drop the buffer size below 128 samples and run another headphone mix that way - I did it for years on an LE system before going to HD) and working with mainly rock mixes should be just fine on a native system. We'll see how it works out, though. For now I'm happy using my TDM hardware with HD10.

 

Also, if you haven't tried HD10 you should give it a shot. The disk cache options are pretty sweet, and the clip-based gain (yes, I KNOW it has been available in other programs for years) will make it a lot easier to bring up a phrase or two in the mix or balance between takes if the guitar player turned up or the singer stepped closer to the mic.