If you have superior skills/equipment/knowledge/etc. to that of the bedroom warriors, then you should be able to show it. If what you have to offer is honestly superior than what the bedroom warriors have to offer, then you shouldn't be concerned with what they do, because they aren't affecting you in any way. However, if they are starting to affect bigger, more professional guys, then it's time for the bigger, more professional guys to step up their game and prove why they are the professionals.
I think you're misunderstanding where I'm coming from in this.
I AM one of the aforementioned 'bedroom warriors'. I don't have a stand-alone studio/project facility with a bunch of gear like Lasse, Oz etc.
I've made my entire career to this point by competing both with local guys who DO have professional studios and those who DON'T. It's the only reason I've been able to stay afloat.
The point Lasse and I are generally trying to make in this thread is completely unrelated to that. It has nothing to do with ability, or who's competing with who, or egos, or any of that shiz. You guys are grossly misunderstanding our perspective (if it can even be considered shared). To some degree we are saying different things, but the crux of my point is that the way the industry currently handles entry-level engineers is not sustainable, and affects things on the high-end more than you realize. Once again, READ, this has NOTHING to do with ability.
I want to build a facility dedicated to quality studio recordings, but the reality is that it won't be financially sustainable to do so. I'm better off this way because my overheads are lower. The reason is that there are people like me, except who are perfectly happy to record a band once in their lives, call themselves recording engineers, and offer recording services for $2 an hour to record in their 001 with no ambitions to improve either their skill, environment or gear. Bands get suckered in by these lucrative deals all the time. Nordstrom said it himself, they're all recording at home and then sending him the mix jobs.
This has painted Nordstrom into a corner because he couldn't financially sustain his once great analogue studio. All people want are recall on the spot, editing, tools that generally cover up how shit they are. This touches on Lasse's points, where one asks, at what point did everyone become entitled to record a demo? I know the guys here who don't do this for a living may not understand, but the bands that come through for recording about 80%, if not more, of the time are simply not ready. By the old standards they would've just been kicked out of the studio and told to practice for several months. But no, these days they will just go to someone else, who is cheaper, and has enough spare time off from school to edit their performances for peanuts.
This has also painted me into a corner because I can't expand like I want to. I'm at a certain point where I know what some gear will do for me, or what some rooms will do for me. I WANT to give that to my clients because I care about the end product, but the reality is that it would drive my overheads way up, and i would no longer be able to compete on-par with other bedroom warriors (which is hard to do as is). You guys are sorely underestimating the importance of the financial element in this. People are inherently bargain hunters. I was recently at one of the very best facilities here in Melbourne (2 SSL rooms, 1 Neve room, 1 mastering room) and they were barely booked. I spoke to the owner and he said the bookings have been drying up for the last several years. The only significant thing to happen was some Wolfmother listening party for the new CD as I was tracking in the other room.
So once again, the low-end is affecting the high end. The availability of cheap recording gear is destroying the art of engineering, and the professional industry. The less money there is going around, the more top-end facilities will close (you guys do realize this is happening right now, right?), the more pros will leave the game, the more the artform will degenerate etc. etc. It has NOTHING to do with who offers superior services. I've already made the point in here that nobody in their bedrooms is touching CLA, Staub, Grosse or guys like that. But that's completely irrelevant. It doesn't stop the industry going down the toilet. It's not the quality that people are after, it's the affordability. And with artists it's the prospects of your CD likely never moving more than a few dozen copies in today's climate that makes the entire thing even more dire.
It all relates to music becoming increasingly disposable, because now EVERYONE is in a band, EVERYONE is getting heard, EVERYONE is recording a demo on their mbox & NOBODY is paying for the music.
Once again, an industry like that is NOT SUSTAINABLE, for either musicians or engineers. Something needs to give.
Anyway, I should probably stop now. If you guys aren't getting it by now, I suppose you probably won't. The argument is starting to become circular.
Just when you formulate your counter-arguments, at the very least understanding that I'm not some grizzled old-guard 'pro' desperately hanging onto the last of his 2" reels. I'm part of the wave that's going to be the destruction of this industry, and I can see it, because I have front row tickets. I'm in between a basic home setup and something else. I've recorded here, in midrange studios, in high-end studios, the works. Once everything unifies and you see it holistically, as one giant mechanism, you realize that there are cogs which have stopped moving. It's choking up, and at some point or other something will need to give or both music and engineering will become purely hobbyist affairs.
