Youtube existed 10+ years ago but now it has taken over the main stream of metal music production.
A now fractured community.
This is self evident the guys who criticize the "death" of this forum and then immediately close with "check out my youtube channel!".. ugh.
Yes; it would have been cool if all of the "famous" legacy contributors (Andy Sneap, Eyal Levi, Joel Wanaseck, Andrew Wade, Brian Hood, Joey Sturgis, Glen Fricker, Ola England, Jordan V, etc) would have referred back to this forum for discussion rather than going their separate ways and (barely looking back) but (for the most part) to my knowledge, it did not happen. Every time Glen/ Ola/etc refer back to this forum its always "way back in the day"... as if this forum actually is dead. This forum created value in their lives at the time (10+ years ago) but they moved on to something else. To my knowledge most of them are rarely involved in on a daily/ weekly/monthly basis anymore, but I hope I am wrong.
Most of the mediums they participate in (youtube/ discord) now have a direct or indirect financial incentive (not saying they are evil for this or anything but it is what it is). They are doing awesome and I am genuinely happy for their successes.
If "famous"/ classic forum guys like (Sneap, Joey, Glen, Ola, etc) and newer up-and-coming producer/engineers (and presumably Youtubers since nearly everyone is these days) are going to participate, there would need to be financial incentive. Perhaps the guys at the level of Sneap, etc are are paid a fee for their posts. a section of the forum which pays these guys to continue to be involved on here. If they were posting and discussing the forum even once per month it would bring A LOT of attention to the forum, which would allow the owners to get a lot more money for advertising, which would pay for the articles/posts by the "famous" legacy group. This web site already decided to have forums dedicated to Sneap and Joey so its already in the works. Personally, I would like to see everyone in the same forum as it speaks to the humbleness (discussed further below) which is much more prevalent in metal (I like to think so) than many other music engineer types (i.e. gearslutz). This could be a direct financial incentive for them. Also indirect as they could refer back to their vids, books, etc. But this forum will need to evolve to accomplish this.
There could be positive days ahead. I can see there are still some bright guys on here sharing tips. Not as many as there used to be, but some. The guys who have been on here a long time need to be a lot more patient and understanding with younger members/ contributors. I have watched nearly all of the videos of this group of guys and they are always humble about questions (unless you are a bass player lol). Be a leader, not a whiner (i.e. everyone on here who posts "this place is dead") because that does not help in any way.
Younger guys need to make sure they are not asking questions which have already been posted 100 times. Be interesting, be original. Push yourself. Its harder for the younger guys on here but thats just the way it is.
Every community needs leaders.. This forum will need another generation of leaders if it is going to survive since all of the guys who got it up and running have moved on. Youtube is great, but I hope people do not forget where they came from. This could be a great place again for everyone to come together but it has to be a community wide effort. Just my 2 cents I would like to see this forum continue to be relevant and a success. It has a lot of potential. Just look at the "stars" who began here. Hopefully this post comes across as positive as its meant to.
- JD