Religion, Politics and Plug ins.

Just this week a major developer of plug ins announced another line that instead of enhancing our craft of mixing, dumbs it down. First there was the plug in that will ride the fader for you when you get tired. Now, it’s a series of one control to mix certain specific problems in a mix in case you get tired of tweaking.
I spoke out against the company because I felt that the direction they are heading takes away from the craft. It used to mean something to be an audio engineer. Study, practice and application, failures and discoveries. Now, all Billy has to do is download some software and just like instant pudding…*Poof* he’s a recording engineer.
I don’t really care about the fact that he’s recording his buddy’s band for twenty bucks. I wouldn’t want to work with that any way. What I do care about is how the perception of a craft that I spent and continue to spend a lifetime learning is being so marketed and stripped down to the point that there is no art in it anymore.
Where is the joy of discovery? Where is the development of your own skills. That doesn’t happen with one shot fix all software. I used spend hours working on drum sounds, and now the clients are very happy that I did that because I’ve developed a skill to get great drum sounds.
I’m not trying to discourage bedroom musicians from recording and producing their stuff, on the contrary I think we could really use an infusion of great indie music. I’m not even trying to discourage people from using quick fix plug ins. What I am trying to discourage is engineers becoming lazy and relying on quick fix single shot plug ins to develop their sound. The field is over saturated with people who want to mix the next Grammy winning album.You won’t get there from here. It’s going to take education on how real processing works, education on proper recording techniques (they can most certainly be done at home) and most of all experience. Serious clients pay for experience. They can get the tools anywhere but it is your EXPERIENCE that makes you unique! Develop your skills and apply them and you will get far!
 It was interesting to me the reaction I received after my rant. I some church tech people send me nasty DM’s on Twitter, but I had nothing but support from the pro audio community working in studios every day. It’s all in perspective, like I said.
They say never mix religion and politics, but I’ve learned never to mix religion and plug ins too.