This is a pick up on Matt Finley’s great post on BIAB audiophile.

In order to keep from getting lost in the weeds I started a new thread reflecting on the audiophile post.

First, great post, Matt! Would love to hear some of your new music and albums. Shoot me some links!!!

Here is OP everybody.

http://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=434069#Post434069

Now, here comes the cannon blast. Picking up on the "can you use BIAB to make an album" topic.

Matt, overall, your post gets into a thorny issue. Essentially BIAB in its current 2017 state is profoundly “disruptive” as a technology and some people don’t know what to do with that. In 2008 Harvey Gerst was arguing that he used BIAB all the time for demos and didn’t understand the vitriolic comments people made about the product. He finally gave up. And think how far BIAB has come since 2008. BIAB 2017 is mind boggling insofar as the quality of the sounds that can be used in professional productions.

Looking at Harvey’s client roster you would assume that he would not use or promote a non-musical product. You would also assume he knows what he is talking about and is not a con artist. Bob Dylan does not hire con artists. Frank Zappa didn’t either.

http://www.itrstudio.com/about.html

Part of the lingering ignorance about what BIAB can or can’t do (and its evolution as a full-on production tool) has to do with the fact that the music world is crawling with con artists and hucksters and for many of those people BIAB would be seen as a threat to their livelihood and so some paradoxical and nonsensical stuff happens and stupid stuff is said about the product from time to time on other musical forums. But, 90% of what I see going on in music (or any other business today) is marketing hype. It is a triumph of marketing and spin over substance on a colossal scale, everywhere you look, in every nook and cranny.

Here is one classic albeit “micro” example of how this world of hype impacted me and a co-writer:

A friend of mine in LA and I put out an album a few years ago that we were really happy with. Then we got an unsolicited letter from a producer type who said that for $20,000 or something he could help us redo all of our songs to take us over the top “to the top of Golden Charts and sound just like Adele”--and he was very critical. So he sent us some links to his songs. They were HORRIBLE. I would never have posted a single one of them on the forum in my wildest dreams. But he thought he was fabulous. We said no thanks. My friend and colleague, by the way, writes on art, music and technology for a rather large publication I can’t mention. He was not impressed. But he loves the stuff I do with BIAB for sure.

So here is the part I still don’t get:

People will sit around with their synths and beat boxes all day and whip up some stuff I could never listen to and say it is “legitimate” because they did it themselves. God bless them if they want to make this stuff, but heaven forbid if you say you are using Band in a Box as a production tool. Some folks give you that look like “How dare you!” (especially producers or people who just dropped 20 grand in a studio) but then you listen to THEIR stuff and you’re like, “Ugh….well….how should I say this….”

I honestly think that BIAB is at a watershed moment in its history where it has to break across some kind of marketing chasm so that people can just go ahead and admit that it is a wonderful production tool.

But right now, I do highly suspect that other producers like Gerst are using it—but they never tell anyone. They keep it a secret. I don’t think it has to be kept a secret, really, but that is sort of where it is right now as far as I can tell. The people who truly understand the power of the tool just keep their mouths shut and go about their business.

Meanwhile, there is a deluge of snake oil salesmen hitting up every musician I know saying “If you pay me $20,000 I can make you sound legit.”

No thanks. I’d rather do it myself. And oh, by the way, I say to people who scream that you should “play your own instrument”: I do play my own instruments. And I use BIAB. So there.


Now we’re sticky....


smile

David Snyder
Songwriter/Renaissance Man
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