In the words of Chris Anderson, blogger extraordinaire and author of The Long Tail:

“Never underestimate the power of a million amateurs with the keys to the factory”

Within the realm of music production,  modern technology has indeed democratized tools once only accessible by professionals, and the consequences have been nothing short of extraordinary.  I know for a fact that the power and affordability of modern technology is one of the main reasons I passionately reconnected with music after nearly a 15-year hiatus.   Amateurs like myself do this for the love of it (after all, the word “amateur” is derived from the Latin amator, “lover”, from amare, “to love”).  And, we will continue to play a vital role in the music technology industry because, collectively, we amateurs represent the majority of the market!

All good and well, but what if you’re just getting started, or like me, getting back into it after a long time away?   Where the hell do you begin?  Putting aside the challenges of rebuilding your playing skills, there remains a substantial learning curve to acquire the additional skills and tools necessary for high-quality music production.  Sure, you can go a certain distance with freebie stuff – like GarageBand – but you’ll likely outgrow these before too long, and find yourself swimming in a sea of pro- audio equipment choices…

No problem right?  Just venture into your local professional audio/music retailer and you’ll receive exceptional guidance and professional consultative support, no?  I mean after all, we’re talking about PRO-AUDIO gear, this is a whole different ballgame than the moronic level of service you find inside of consumer electronics superstores, right?   Unfortunately, not!

Here are some vivid testimonials that pretty much illustrate today’s reality:

GearSlutz.com is perhaps the world’s largest online community for musicians and producers alike – here you’ll find everyone from famous Grammy Award winning producers to beginning students.  The common ground: sharing insights about music technology and studio design.  But here’s something else you’ll find if you venture into GearSlutz’s Moan Zone section:  By far, and I mean by a healthy margin, the single most viewed topic and ongoing discussion thread is none other than Stupid Things You’ve Been Told at Guitar Center! This is not the first thread of its kind, but this one has been growing for over a year, and now has over 88,000 views and 873 contributing posts! To put it in perspective, the #2 thread has just over 15,000 views and 305 posts, and that’s just as of this writing.   What this tells me is that my own experience with large equipment retail chains is far from unique.

A slippery slope lies ahead for the impassioned amateur musician setting out to build even a modest home studio.

Take a read through some of these posts and you’ll not only be seriously entertained, but also dismayed.  How is it that the largest music equipment retailer (here in the US) can get away with such dismal sentiments from the most experienced and authoritative segment of the market?  The answer unfortunately is that there’s are a lot more unknowingly ignorant consumers, or even worse naive parents of budding young musicians, than there are “connoisseurs” that comprise the likes of GearSlutz.com.  As entry-level consumers continue to fill the market, large retailers rely less on “upper-end” prosumers.  This trend, of course, begins with the manufacturers; today top-end stuff is more likely to be produced by a niche company, such as Bricasti and Barefoot Audio (two of my indispensable favorites) using niche distribution channels such as VintageKing and powerful word-of-mouth marketing.

While the tools have been democratized, quality has been crapetized

So anyone embarking on this journey must proceed with caution.  Fortunately, you can do lots of homework on sites like GearSlutz, and I would highly recommend everyone begin there.  If you’re reading this post, you’re likely already aware of this “market gap” – bravo!   My additional recommendation is to hire professional help.  In the present economic climate, there’s lot of talent that would gladly lend a hand for relatively modest fees.   Start by following the posts of frequent authoritative contributors and when you find someone with the expertise you’re seeking, write them a “private message” requesting help – more often than not, you’ll be pleasantly surprised!  In my view, there are only two choices: spend money or invest money – they are not same.

The Links section (right sidebar) lists the online forums I frequent – I suggest you try some of them, and if you have any recommendations, let’s discuss!

This entry was posted on Monday, February 9th, 2009 at 10:27 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.