Anyone recall the days everyone wasnt trying to shamelessly cash in on everything?

[Line666]

Or is it just me

Don't get me wrong some of the products people are coming out with are nice and everything but I'm pretty sure there was a period of time where everyone wasn't trying to flog you their own line of drum samples, plugins or kemper presets branded with their own dubious 3 letter acronyms in some questionable exercise in ripping off Chris Lord Alge's marketing plan?

I'm not usually one of the rose tinted spectacles brigade but I recall previous to the point when engineers realised that other daft engineers were easier to pedal shit to than actual bands and that everybody has a paypal account that makes their pockets itchy. Stuff like this used to be put out there as giving back to the community - I remember picking up some ace samples on this forum for absolutely nothing which contributed to my development as an engineer and which I was extremely grateful for - now every tom, dick and harry (TDH®) has their e-stores up and running so they can flog shit in the equipment section like its open season. Blergh.

Thoughts?

 

[Mago]

I'm not sure if you refer to anybody specific, but most of the guys (if not all of them) I bought stuff from gave away samples/profiles for free too,next to their commercial stuff. They also charged a reasonable amount for a package with a nice amount of quality samples/profiles.

I can't ever remember to have gotten that amount of quality for free around here (I'm not as long on here as you though, so maybe that was way before).
There was always the one or other nice thing, but not everything shared was nearly as useful as most of the stuff I bought from fellow forumers.

 

[rapucore]

now every tom, dick and harry (TDH®) has their e-stores up and running so they can flog shit in the equipment section like its open season. Blergh.

Thoughts?

I totally agree with all you wrote about, great text.
This one had me chuckling, because it's so true

Pod Farm presets are killing me especially.
I'm not saying that they won't be useful for someone, but come on! I'm finding them quite funny.

One of the greatest things about this forum is the 'giving back something'-mentality.
Great mixing practices, awesome and useful tips for everything you could ask for,
superb freebie samples/IRs that make you want to pay for them etc.

For a veeery long time I've been thinking that I should make time to do atleast a song/month for mixing practice.
Just because of the fact, that a ton of great songs have given myself and a big percent of the users something to gain skills with.

Finding this forum a few years ago enlightened my perspective on recording/mixing.
I had knowledge of those, and had been developing my skills a few years, but I learned a ton of great tips that changed my methods (for the better).

Everyday I feel like I should be donating all my money to this forum.

I might be too OT, so I'll stop now haha.

Cheers.

PS. Mago had a good point. I've also bought a lot of stuff from people who gave away something free before selling.

 

[Line666]

I'm not sure if you refer to anybody specific, but most of the guys (if not all of them) I bought stuff from gave away samples/profiles for free too,next to their commercial stuff. They also charged a reasonable amount for a package with a nice amount of quality samples/profiles.

I can't ever remember to have gotten that amount of quality for free around here (I'm not as long on here as you though, so maybe that was way before).
There was always the one or other nice thing, but not everything shared was nearly as useful as most of the stuff I bought from fellow forumers.

It's not a call out of anyone specific and I realise there are a lot of guys who did hand out samples before moving onto commercial stuff which was great (Lasse, Jacob Veal etc etc) and theres nothing wrong with that - I just think there's been a lot of shameless commercialising recently by people who are just out there to flog the next quick fix.

Could just be me though, I kinda feel that there was greater emphasis on the shared learning experience a few years ago than now where it's all just 'oh you're having mixing issues - try buying my samples/presets/whatever'.

 

[rapucore]

Could just be me though, I kinda feel that there was greater emphasis on the shared learning experience a few years ago than now where it's all just 'oh you're having mixing issues - try buying my samples/presets/whatever'.

Excactly. +infinty

 

[Mago]

It's not a call out of anyone specific and I realise there are a lot of guys who did hand out samples before moving onto commercial stuff which was great (Lasse, Jacob Veal etc etc) and theres nothing wrong with that - I just think there's been a lot of shameless commercialising recently by people who are just out there to flog the next quick fix.

Could just be me though, I kinda feel that there was greater emphasis on the shared learning experience a few years ago than now where it's all just 'oh you're having mixing issues - try buying my samples/presets/whatever'.

I catch your drift, but I think you're more struggling with that the community isn't as awesome as it used to be. Aka people you don't know trying to sell you their shit opposed to guys you know and respect giving away their stuff, right?

And yeah that and the preset thingy...but that has always been an issue, hasn't it?

 

[Jaymz]

Ever since the Kemper was released people have released their own personal sounds

and the phrase "time is money" has been around a long time...if you're putting in a good amount of your time/effort into something that somebody else can benefit from then im all for it.

 

[Line666]

I catch your drift, but I think you're more struggling with that the community isn't as awesome as it used to be. Aka people you don't know trying to sell you their shit opposed to guys you know and respect giving away their stuff, right?

And yeah that and the preset thingy...but that has always been an issue, hasn't it?

Nah, I don't buy the golden age thing - people left because they had said all that they wanted to say. This place has always been a hotbed for new talent rather than a roundtable for professionals - I don't expect that to change. I just think the relentless self branding that is such a prominent part of western and particularly american culture has become magnified to a degree where it has become unsightly and inappropriate.

Ever since the Kemper was released people have released their own personal sounds

and the phrase "time is money" has been around a long time...if you're putting in a good amount of your time/effort into something that somebody else can benefit from then im all for it.

I realise some people and in particular yourself, have vested interests here, all I am saying is that the phrase 'giving something back' has also been around for a long time Personal benefit for both learners and everyone else can be derived from the learning and teaching experience - which in itself doesn't need a cash value.

 

[Mago]

Nah, I don't buy the golden age thing - people left because they had said all that they wanted to say. This place has always been a hotbed for new talent rather than a roundtable for professionals - I don't expect that to change. I just think the relentless self branding that is such a prominent part of western and particularly american culture has become magnified to a degree where it has become unsightly and inappropriate.

I really don't see the problem you have with that matter, but maybe I didn't come across any examples. Care to link me up?
Apart from maybe one or two examples, I can't imagine that those would be enough for you to start a thread like this.
As long as there is no spamming (for sale section or elsewhere) I'm ok with people selling their stuff.

If I think it's worth it, I'll buy it.

If not chances are I also wouldn't use it if it was free (or the pricing was way off for my tastes).


There's a difference in creating toolsets for other engineers that they might find usefull, and sharing the one or other snare you sampled during a session, that you'd sample anyway.

 

[Line666]

I really don't see the problem you have with that matter, but maybe I didn't come across any examples. Care to link me up?
Apart from maybe one or two examples, I can't imagine that those would be enough for you to start a thread like this.
As long as there is no spamming (for sale section or elsewhere) I'm ok with people selling their stuff.

PM'd.

I want to say I'm not against people selling shit, I just think maybe more of this stuff should be shared in contribution rather than a scramble to grab some lunch money. It's like, shit, have some dignity - not everything has to be a cashflow opportunity.

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

Heh, yeah. I saw someone selling POD Farm presets on Facebook a while back and my first thoughts were "Shit, people are still using POD Farm?" and "Wait, you really need presets for that?"

Guess it's just a reflection of these times. With record budgets growing smaller and the competition being as saturated as it is, you gotta try and make a buck any way you can.

 

[Jaymz]

I realise some people and in particular yourself, have vested interests here, all I am saying is that the phrase 'giving something back' has also been around for a long time Personal benefit for both learners and everyone else can be derived from the learning and teaching experience - which in itself doesn't need a cash value.

YOU WANT DEM FREEBIES!

I see what you're saying....if people are releasing products with the sole purpose to raising cash (IE, putting a head and cab together, moving some settings and saving it as a "custom PODfarm preset" and flogging it regardless of it's quality) then yeah that might be frowned upon.

Although if I don't like something I don't buy it...and vise versa.

There's plenty of online "learning packages" where you pay a subscription fee for such learning and teaching experiences that are broadcast online. Do you feel the same about those?

 

[Line666]

YOU WANT DEM FREEBIES!

I see what you're saying....if people are releasing products with the sole purpose to raising cash (IE, putting a head and cab together, moving some settings and saving it as a "custom PODfarm preset" and flogging it regardless of it's quality) then yeah that might be frowned upon.

Although if I don't like something I don't buy it...and vise versa.

There's plenty of online "learning packages" where you pay a subscription fee for such learning and teaching experiences that are broadcast online. Do you feel the same about those?

I know you're just joking but just in case anyone thinks that's a valid criticism I don't need dem freebies - I have enough income to not need to rely on freebies - I just think for the people most of these things are normally pitched at they'd be better shared at least on occasion. And yes, you can just not spend money - which is fine too.

In regards to the online learning packages - I've only really been exposed to these in regards to guitar playing etc and yes they too are normally a shameless cash in with no actual teaching experience - someone does a video of them copying a particular style and then breaks it down slowly and provides a tab - that's not really teaching because it provides zero insight or interaction. If you provide a teaching experience with actual interaction and insight then I don't see why it's wrong to charge - just like I don't think its wrong to charge for an actual cohesive product developed from the ground up - but if its for like a snare samples or 5 cymbals or a pod farm preset, or some half well known engineer spending half a day micing a kit when they would just be watching porn instead or something then just give it up and give something away for free. With stuff like that its better to just shoot for the gratitude than get into pissing matches over wether it's worth the pocket change.

 

[Mago]

thanks for the PM Öwen.

Just wanted to mention, that I have no problem with sharing stuff I would have done in the first place, but doing anything "bigger" and more thought through requiers a lot more efford than just uploading something you had ready anyway.
I think it's important to see that difference and the value in that kind of work.

Edit: ah well missed your last post. So we're heading towards the same direction there with the last sentence. You're right with that one of course.
Maybe minus the half known part. I don't care for names as long as the quality is right.

 

[Jaymz]

or some half well known engineer spending half a day micing a kit when they would just be watching porn instead...

 

[JeffTD]

It's hilarious how accurate this picture with that quote is...



I don't think you're wrong or overreacting or are overly rose-tinted, Owen. I've noticed the same thing over the last 2-3 years and it's endlessly frustrating. I get that people need to eat but what happened to actually recording people as an audio engineer?

 

[Clockwork]

The only time I see free drum samples now is when someone bumps an old thread to say the download link is dead .

But I guess a lot of stuff that used to be free was made by people for their own use, like axe fx presets, drum samples etc... that they made along the way in one of their productions that they thought they would share as opposed to now where people make these things exclusively with the intent to sell them. It's kind of a bummer.

 

[Erik Monsonis]

Guess it's just a reflection of these times. With record budgets growing smaller and the competition being as saturated as it is, you gotta try and make a buck any way you can.

This is my situation right now. I remember the times where I had to use a calendar to keep track of bookings. Nowadays I can guarantee maybe one to two months of work. After that I can't tell if I'm gonna have any income at all.

So I recently put my POD Farm go-to presets (which I've been tweaking and using for the last 5 years or so) for sale at a friend's store.

I understand that this is the attitude that pisses some people off, but at least I advertise it in the Merch Stand section only and limit the Facebook spam.

Cheers!

 

[Winston Wolf]

So I recently put my POD Farm go-to presets (which I've been tweaking and using for the last 5 years or so) for sale at a friend's store.

Have you sold any?

 

[The-Zeronaut]

Now everyone is selling drum samples...
OK..there is a lot of awesome stuff (lasse, nashville snares, etc)
but i´ve seen people selling stuff that i wouldn't even download for free....

If you are gonna sell something make sure its good
(or at the same level of the stuff that is already being sold by another people)

Or even impulses...i´ve heard a lot of stuff that isn't even on the same league of the impulses
released for free by Ryan (catharsis) and Mickrich (he is an awesome dude).

But there´s a good side to all of this...
Because everyone is selling something, prices have gone down...
Lately i´ve bought a lot of awesome drum samples for 5$ (or even less)...
when a couple of years ago you could only buy slate samples (almost) for a lot more.

Even bass vsti´s...trillian cost like 199 or 299...and now we have a few great sounding bass vsti´s
done by some dudes in their bedrooms or small studios (in comparison to spectrasonics or something like that)
for 20-30$ (FrankTheSmith, Zombass,Colossal bass, etc....)

You can have great plugins for little money (Valhalla or hornet)
who the hell is gonna spend 300/400 dollars on a single plugin anymore? ( YES UAD..IM LOOKING RIGHT AT YOU)