Infinite Studios, Zero Excuses
In the last decade or so, we've found ourselves in a great space as audio creators and facilitators. The world of infinite tools and choices is both a gift and a curse. We're no longer confined to one studio with a couple of outboard pieces at our disposal, or priced out by the sheer cost of recording in general. Today we have unlimited outboard gear emulations through the world of plugins, and we can visit (figuratively speaking) three studios in a day without leaving our seat. I can open one application, Cubase in my case, and load up an SSL (4000G, 9000J), a Neve board, or something more exotic — at the moment I'm exploring the Sound Techniques Alpha Range recording console.
This flexibility is a beautiful thing in theory. And because we're consumers by nature, it's easy to put a couple of dollars down to travel the world and check out different rooms through simulation plugins like Slate Digital VSX, Waves NX, UAD Ocean Way Studios, or dSONIQ Realphones. As you can tell, there are a lot of choices, and never enough. Developers and coders rejoice, while us creators pull our hair out — if we have any.
Stop Dicking Around With Plugins
Couple that with learning the workflow of each console emulation, your chosen DAW, and then figuring out what you actually like as far as sound and the endless interfaces you have to choose from. It's time-consuming and mentally draining, to the point where everything starts to sound alike and redundant. Cubase, for instance, gives you a channel strip on every channel — gate, compressor, EQ, de-esser, saturation, limiter — plus a stack of plugins emulating hardware and digital outboard gear, a ready-made studio dropped in your lap.
The Plugin Con We All Fell For
For years I chased 3rd-party plugins looking for that elusive "studio" sound we're all promised the moment we buy whatever new plugin is being endorsed by some of the best and most popular engineers — the ones with an arm's length of credits behind the claim that this is the one thing they use on every mix, the thing they "can't mix without." I don't think they're lying about using these tools. But I do think we've been sucked into a vortex, chasing something close to what they have, when most of us have never worked with the caliber of artists and musicians they have. To put it bluntly: we've been duped. Today's "at home" engineer is really a hobbyist with aspirations of reaching the heights of a highly requested mix engineer — and, to be honest, most people have never even heard of most of the names we hold in such regard.
You Know Quincy. You've Never Heard of the Man Who Made Thriller
When I was young, I heard — and saw — Quincy Jones, and knew he helped make Michael Jackson's finest work. I never heard of, or saw, Bruce Swedien, the actual man behind the best-selling record of all time, Thriller.
Underpaid, Unrecognized, and Selling You a Fantasy
So why all the hoopla over these engineers? Why do we trust what they say about these tools? Truth is, they're the backbone of "that" sound behind the artist. They're the hands of the producer, and in many cases, the punching bag of the whole recording process — underpaid and unrecognized for years. Many of them have since been pulled into the consumer market by software developers and aggressive marketers preying on our naivety and curiosity. Even the pros who genuinely want to teach end up doing more harm than good, because the cause and effect of their process isn't there. Who's steering the ship? What's the budget? Is there label pressure? Nope. I'm in my boxers tweaking a mix I started a month ago, because a new plugin just dropped and it's probably the missing piece in the 4th vocal chain I'm trying on a song I wrote, produced, and performed myself.
Are you seeing the problem?
Stop Beta Testing Your Career
Coming to this realization has made me re-evaluate what I'm actually trying to achieve. Do I want to be a career beta tester, unfulfilled and broke — or do I want to finish projects, mine or a client's, efficiently, with confidence, and a better return on the time I put in? The choice is mine...
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