Hi! Actually, the "Talent" plug-in was released some time ago:
http://news.harmony-central.com/Newp/2002/Talent.html
Most of the top seling acts today have used it.
Analog vs Digital. Go on about it til you are blue in the face. Here is a somewhat wacky alnalogy :
Bob, 65 years old. Used to the chocolate ice cream that Mom made, from scratch. Eaten it all his life. He then tries some "mass-made" choco. Ewww.
Todd, 10 years old. Never had home made ice cream in his life. Used to eating mass made ice cream. He tries some of Bob's mom's home made- ewww.
Who is better- the Stones or the Beatles- after all, the Stones are still here, and the Beatles are almost all gone now. Hmmm- guess the Stones are better...
Gee...maybe it comes down to taste?
Next- most of the "Pro Tools Wonder Recordings" being referred to: These are possibly recorded into PT, but each individual track is sent out discretely to a desk (Neve, SSL, etc) and then the summing is done there. Supposedly, this is to blend in that "analog flavor," and tries to keep the analog people happy. You can find oodles of articles written on why this is "best," and asking 100 people their opinions on 100 songs recorded and mixed over 100 different formats and techniques used will result in widely varying opinion.
Add this into it all:
http://www.3daudioinc.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi
The "Awesome DAW Sum" section is a decent place to start the "enlightenment process." Alot fo the people on that forum are very accomplished engineers/producers.
On top of all of this, is economics. Recording studios in general have seen some hard times. The record industry in general is prime target in many discussions as to why this is happening. With the advent of affordable recording solutions for the amateur musician/recordist, a huge number of people are able to record at home now. Does the dream of being able to get into a "major recording studio to do it right" exist in the same percentage of musician's minds as 10-15 years ago? Hmmm. So the studios need SOMETHING for a reason to use them instead of "doing it yourself." Hmmm....experience? nah. Wisdom from years of working with people? nah. I know!!! Let's force everyone to think analog is better, no matter what!!! Average person could NEVER afford this equipment, so let's tell them the EQUIPMENT is better, and that they should come here just for that!!! People do not want to waste time thinking for themselves. So, let's just believe what they are saying, and spend the extra time and energy saved on thinking about all that for something else.
BTW- compare the $$$ spent on "top of the line" analog gear to a "full-blown Pro Tools system. People complain about the cost of a top-flight Pro Tools system- kinda funny after comparing the two that someone would even THINK of complaining, huh?
Most music produced today for the common, POPULAR market (pop, top 40, hip-hop, rap) will be listened to on formats that are technically horrible: mp3, CD. Uh oh- I hear grumbling. Yeah, you are used to it. The younger the audience, the less likely they are to even understand WHY they should complain. I grew up on phono and reel-to-reel. The cassette to me was great convenience, but sounded awful. CD offered greater overall clarity than phono, but nowhere near as "warm." (uh oh- opinions again...) Thus, the final product of any recording will inevitably end up on some form of digital media, and a technologically limited one at that. If the "flavoring" added to the recording is done prior to mastering, does it matter if it comes from real tape or a digital plug-in emulating that "sound?"
To me (opinion), the phrase "Analog is back" is simply a catch phrase (gee- dont we love them?
) being used to try to convince a digital generation that they are missing out on something, much like Bob tried to show Todd what he was missing out on. I have spent time listening to stuff off mp3.com and similar places. To me, alot of it is horrible. People with enough cash to grab a computer and some software, and try to engineer/mix/record/produce/master their own material. Add the proliferation of "loops" into the pit, and now we have a new building being constructed by neighborhood kids from the scraps of a bunch of other buildings. Much like you hear "bitch" or "ass" on TV today, people are used to it, so it becomes part of everyday, public speech. People are numb to it all.
It is all a viscious circle. Studio "A" sees N'Stink coming down the road, with Warmer Borthers carrying them. "A" can charge an arm and a leg, cause the WB guys are "paying." The gear "A" uses is expensive (because "A" uses it). WB then charges way more than they should for the final product. Joe Schmoe wants the CD, but there are 10 others he wants also. Well, lets just hit kazzam and dl it for free. WB screams bloody murder. Joe Schmoe then decides to buy a new app, "LSD," which allows him to grab loops and make his own version of N'Stink. "A" turns around and says- uh- wait!!! You cant do that! You have to come here to have it sound good. Which brings us right back to the topic (yesh, really). Joe's recording doesn't need analog. It needs some talent, and some people with experience, wisdom, and some focus to enable that vision to get into some form that can be duplicated and offered for public consumption.
If Mozart were around today, and used synths to compose instead of a real piano (he is on the road, hard to lug that baby grand into the Ramada), would his music have less impact? Would he then "suck?"
Back to the analogy with Todd and Bob. Let's see what happens when Todd makes HIS own homemade ice cream. You wanna try it? Doesn't matter if he uses analog or digital. Give Bob's Mom new equipment to make her homemade ice cream. Let her make two batches. Which tastes better? Uh oh- you mean to tell me that SOME people like the original batch, and SOME people like the new way she makes it? Gee - imagine that. It actually comes down to personal taste. Take that a step further. You have now had a chance to try both, and prefer the original a little more. Will that stop you from eating the new kind if the original isnt available at that moment you crave some of Boib's Mom's ice cream? Shoot your own nose off to spite your face...I'll keep my nose so I can smell the wagon of $hite being offered as the latest snake oil to cure what ails me.
BTW- I just wrote this using digital equipment, with an analog front-end. If you would like an all-analog version, you can send me $100 and I will "warm it up" by re-writing it using analog equipment only. I suggest that you do this- it reads much better that way.
Sorry for the length and the lack of cohesiveness (and spelling, punctuation, and grammatical errors). My analog proof-reader is sleeping...and I assembled it from stuff I found elsewhere... Nikki
