Music

[Fatal Error]

This from /.
http://slashdot.org/articles/04/07/0...tid=188&tid=95

I wonder if there will ever be a Sundance for music? Music should be like software, free or cheap enough that EVERYONE can have access.

[kungfuramone9]

I agree. And, coming from something of an independent music background, I think a lot more bands and artists are going to take advantage of deals like the one described in the article and offer direct sales of their music through direct downloads of mp3s. They Might Be Giants started doing this a few years ago; as far as I know they were the first ones to offer an album that was available *only* via download.

The great thing about web technology, CD burning technology, and digital recording technology is that it makes the process of creating and distributing music infinitely easier than it used to be. It's quite easy to record excellent quality music at home (one example that comes to mind is Moby, who does everything in his apartment on two Macs), burn it if necessary, and distribute online.

Power to the people.

[janne_oksanen]

Being currently ripped off by a semi-large record company I know the artists could use some of that extra cash that has been saved by cutting off the middle man and the printing/pressing costs.

But as long as there are no real professionals willing to work for free professionally produced music can't be free either. recording may be cheap at home but most bands still need a producer, you have to mix and master the album etc. Mixing and mastering is something I would not do at home if I want to make the recording sound anything like professional. So there will be some costs usually. I don't know what the deal is with that techno-shit but I bet they don't master their own albums either.

(No offence to techno fans, I just plain hate the stuff

[maccorin]

home is perfect for mixing/mastering.... all you need is a pc

good example:
the "And All that could have been" DVD and CD were both mixed/mastered on reznor and friends personal computers (at least according to the little plastic thingie that came in the dvd cover ;p)

PS:
by pc i mean mac in this case (although linux has some decent audio apps)

EDIT: come to think of it... i would actually say the opposite of you... A studio w/ it's controlled sound environment is _MUCH_ more important to the actual tracking then the mixing/mastering process.

[kungfuramone9]

janne_oksanen, I hear what you're saying about the necessity of spending money to get the best sound and I think you're right that the ability to home-brew everything is probably a lot easier for techno "bands" than actual four guys w/ guitars bands since you have to have a space to record the latter and you can do techno right on a computer.

That being acknowledged, I think the exciting thing about the music technology that's out there is that you need professionals way *less* than in the past and setting up pro-quality home studios is far cheaper than it used to be.

Point is: steps in the right direction. I can't remember the last time I bought a new major-label album...I refuse to support the RIAA and it's not like the artists get any of the money from album sales anyway.

[janne_oksanen]

EDIT: come to think of it... i would actually say the opposite of you... A studio w/ it's controlled sound environment is _MUCH_ more important to the actual tracking then the mixing/mastering process.

I'm talking about a metal production here. Drums are the only thing that needs room when recorded. Keyboards, vocals and bass have always been plugged straight to the mixing desk so you can just as well do that at home. Nowadays with the new modelling technology a lot of the guitar tracks are plugged to the line input too. But when mixing and mastering you do still need top-of-the-line monitors (read: _very_ costy), plus some sepcial equipment for mastering and _real_ professionals to do it.

Of course you _can_ mix and master yourself but it is more than likely to sound crappy. Just listen to our album and you hear what you get when record label goes cheap on you and gives you one producer/engineer/mixer/master-er to do all of it in an advanced home studio. (advanced home studio == about $50k worth of equipment).

[beezlebubsbum]

Boo to the riaa! They sit there and wonder why music piracy is so popular! You want to know why? Because the price of albums nowadays is ridiculous! Considering that Cd's are dirt cheap to make, and manufacture, I think it is a lode of malaki that they are as expensive as they currently are!

[beezlebubsbum]

anyone can make techno with a pc

[maccorin]

janne, if you've got 50K worth of equipmant and you still aren't happy with the production of your album, then your sound engineer sucked ;p

for monitors i use a pair of roland studio monitors, not very loud, but _very_ flat, which is what we all care about anyways ($500 each $1000/pair)

i don't anymore because of stupid ideals, but for tracking/mixing i used Digidesign's Pro Tools LE (w/ a 001 for hardware), the 24 track limit got a bit annoying for larger tracks, but there are other programs you can use.

Mastering just takes a pair of monitors (as you said) and a decent wave editor.

And while i'm not necessarily talking metal here, i _am_ talking rock, with similar instrument setups. Plugging your guitar straight into the console... ouch, do yourself a favor, borrow a friends marshal, go pick up a couple SM57 mikes ($70 each), and do it the right way ;p

[kungfuramone9]

beezlebubsbum, right on. I completely agree. I stopped buying CDs (well...stopped buying very *many* CDs anyway) when they broke 15 bucks each for a new disc. I just can't hang with that. When I found out how little of the money the artists actually see, all guilt vanished in the wind.

maccorin, just can't go wrong with a Marshall stack. :mrgreen: