Hey Old Soundman:
I keep up with all of your writing, and I’ve got to say: you sure seem to hate us youngster sound guys.
You know, the ones who go to expensive schools, so we can be brainwashed into believing 5.1 surround is the best thing for music, and louder is better.
You said it, not me.
As a spokesperson for us young sound guys, I must say this. We are not the idiots you make us out to be.
Yes, you are!
I personally am going to a school to get a firm grounding in audio production without all the trial and error.
Trial and error is the only route to true knowledge. You must try. And you must err. It’s the only way. Do you want to be an audio producer at Fox News or something? Do you think that will get you a dream date with Jillian Barberie?
Our parents tell us that we have to get degrees because no one will hire people without degrees these days. (Sadly true in any field.)
Not in the field of ice cream truck driving. Have you never seen the film “Tree’s Lounge”?
School is a way to get us working with the stuff that sounds good, and not the Radio Shack-brand four-channel “D.J. mixer.”
What’s wrong with that? Get on the mic! If a white guy like Eminem can do it, so can you. “My name is Josh, I go to Full Sail, they taught me not to touch that 48-volt rail!”
We can’t just “go out there and start working.”
Yes, you can, what the heck are you raving about? Go to Beercan Billy’s Boathouse down by the lake! Pay some dues! Oh, but you don’t think you have to pay any dues…
No one is going to let us touch their equipment anymore, because they think that just because we don’t have 20 years of experience we are absolute idiots.
(Insert sound of muffled chortling.)
Just to show you that I’m not here to completely chew you out, I’m going to let you in on a little secret. I agree with you about zoned dual mono.
Now you’re talkin’, Josh.
Music in my mind doesn’t have to ever be more than this, and shouldn’t be more than stereo. Those 5.1 (expletive deleted) can sit in the middle of their speakers and pretend that it sounds better, but most of my personally enlightening moments have come from listening with a good pair of headphones.
And enjoying your “freedom smoke,” yes? Then you read “Get Your War On” – right?
Anyone can sit around and whine about my arguments all day, citing examples, which do exist.
Read the great philosophers, Josh. Sartre. Camus. Bill Hicks.
But while you old guys do that, most of us youngsters will continue to do what we do best, which is keep an open mind, try new things, and keep learning. You couldn’t ask for anything more.
I dare you to answer this.
Josh
You should have bet me something, Josh, but that is what full-grown men with the courage of their convictions do. O.K., so totally pickled alcoholics at greyhound tracks in Florida also do it, as well as chain-smoking grandmas in Vegas at the slot machines.
You still should have bet me something! Because I could be collecting on it right now.
Luv -
The Old Soundman
A great bass will groove tight with the drums and support the guitars...
I am also an old soundguy having been at it since 1971.
One thing I can say for the schools, you get out of them what you put into them. The grads I have worked with are all over the place when it comes to actual knowledge, yet they have their certificate or diploma.
The ones that asked a lot of questions rather than being awed by all the pretty lights seemed to be pretty decent sorts. Bigger problem is all of them needed some real world experience to get to the true basics of this biz. Sound checking the snare drum should not take half and hour.
Too many had the attitude that "Hey I went to school for this so I know what I'm doing" when in fact they barely had a clue. The few that realized they only had a license to learn are the ones most likely to have a career in sound.
The one item most lacking in all of the schools is what to do when things go wrong (and things will go wrong).