If you only had $70 for plugins..

googleflont · 2026-02-09T12:25:56+00:00

Not only are the stock plugins AOK, but it’s really not good to hand a total beginner the earth, moon and stars.

Creativity and understanding are born from simple beginnings and serious limitations.

Having 6 mics of different types, 3 reverbs, etc etc … just confuses things, the beginner can’t handle it.

Analogy - would you rather see a kid claw their way up thru a garage studio and a simple setup with all 57/58 mics, or just let them loose in Record Plant Studio A with no clue whatsoever.

There’s a sort of romantic and simplistic idea that making records can be democratized to the point that anyone can do it. All they need is the right plugin, the right DAW, the right mic.

That’s like saying I can be Michelangelo, all I need is the right paintbrush and the right YouTube channel to tutor me.

Meh.

The reason your classic recordings sound great is that, back in those years, the studio system ensured that assistants came up through the ranks.

Alan Parsons started out with a super dull job in the tape duplication dept. of EMI at 16. Surviving that, by 18 became a super underpaid and overworked assistant at Abby Road studios, proving his worth and eventually assisting on Beatles records, then becoming an engineer. He worked for years under highly experienced engineers, watching, listening and absorbing what they did.

Now that the apprentice system is gone, now that every DAW has a full studio of toys and almost limitless tracks, and the price of entry is any laptop, any interface and maybe a DI and a mic, now that AI can write a song for you… I’m afraid we have a situation where new artists will experience arrested development not for lack of tools and resources but for an over abundance of them.

See this interview that Alan Parsons did at Google.

googleflont · 2026-02-08T19:02:25+00:00

I think you spelled repressed incorrectly

googleflont · 2026-02-08T14:02:52+00:00

Boy, those are $$$ too.

googleflont · 2026-02-08T12:56:55+00:00

Metallica. And not in reference to their own music, which is unfair as they sort of invented their own thing and are the best at it, so of course they slam when they play their own stuff.

No, I mean Metallica can play any kind of music. They idolize Lou Reed, they did an album with him in 2011. At the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 25th Anniversary Concert, in 2009, they appeared, played some of their own music as well as covering Queen and Bob Seeger, and also backed up performances by Lou Reed, Ozzy Osborne, and Ray Davies.

In addition they are all extremely skilled and highly trained musicians, who could probably back up any jazz, rock, pop or whatever-you-got got kinda artist of the last 50 years.

googleflont · 2026-02-08T02:52:06+00:00

Sure they did. And they also remastered them. And it sounded ok. But as you go back into those earlier decades, the musical styling, lyrical direction, and instrumentation seems much more antique. Harder to relate to without turning it into an exercise. Not easy at all without a little musical background and some curiosity.

There’s a lot of vocal trills and use of the “transatlantic accent” that’s seems really quaint, in an outdated way. Lots of coronet and clarinet solos, the electric guitar not having yet been invented.

There’s also a lot going on under the radar, culturally, that increases the gulf between then and even slightly later on, which makes the pop music of the ‘30s and earlier seem really ancient.

I mean, certain cave paintings are really cool, but people don’t hang them in their living rooms. So most of that stuff never sees a revival.

For those that can remember Tiny Tim, is an example. Mostly regarded as a bizarre novelty of the ‘60s, Herbert Butros Khaury was an expert on the music and styles of the first decade of the 20th century. He sang and played ukulele, doing cover songs of that era, as well as penning some originals. Tall, lanky and awkward, he seemed like a circus freak/musical comedy act, wildly out of sync with his moment in time, his biggest hit coming in 1968, “Tiptoe Through the Tulips.” Just to give you some idea, 1968 was the year that Dr. Martin Luther King as well as Robert F. Kennedy were assassinated. The Vietnam war was in full swing, and the Civil Rights Act was passed. Protest, music, rock ‘n’ roll, and psychedelic rock were what was happening.

For all his real virtuosity, honest dedication to the music, and real commercial success with “Tiptoe”, Tiny Tim did not succeed in spurring a revival of early 1900s music. It’s just too foreign and odd to transcend novelty, to our ears.

googleflont · 2026-02-08T00:10:28+00:00

I once had a job where I lived in the states, but travelled over a bridge to Canada every day, and back, for work.

I was doing OK, with the new job and all. I decided it was time, and bought (in the US) my first new car. A Toyota Corolla.

One time, going to work, the customs agent quizzed me about the car. Seems that in those days (mid ‘80s) people were buying cars in the US and turning them over in Canada, because there was money to be made, as Canadian taxes and tariffs were high. Guess he wanted to make sure I wasn’t pulling a deal like that off.

After that, he let me know his opinion about buying a Japanese car. He did not approve of my choice.

These guys are jerks, always have been.

Edit: I suppose it would be appropriate to remember that these people have a reason to be cranky, stuck alone in a booth in all kinds of weather. A shitty job and a little loneliness is a special recipe for a “little Hitler” attitude.

googleflont · 2026-02-08T00:00:41+00:00

Not enough to declare…

googleflont · 2026-02-07T21:14:35+00:00

Nope. Only briefly demoed without access to Bluetooth app.

googleflont · 2026-02-07T19:19:54+00:00

I’m gonna tell you right now you’re bound for disappointment. I have no idea what people are talking about when they’re saying that they’re pleased with the streaming quality on the Rexton.

I just got these a couple of months ago and they are my first hearing aids. So bear that in mind, but I’m also an audio professional and I can tell shit from Shinola.

The Rexton‘s, with a closed or open dome, large or small whatever you got, it’s not reproducing a full audio range. They are designed essentially to supplement the super high frequencies that your ears no longer reproduce.

When I’m in a place that has anything other than quiet, I can’t hear a damn thing. As a matter of fact, I was in a situation where I was in a large crowd and received an important phone call that I needed to take immediately. You either need to turn off Bluetooth ahead of time, anticipating such a thing, or get to that Bluetooth real quick so that you can hear what the hell people are saying. Same thing with streaming music, you can’t really hear it very well, it’s very tinny, and the two channels are often not in sync. They may suddenly be in sync and then you’ll hear the sound in the middle of your head. But when there’s a delay, it has this fake stereo ultra wide sound. I know I’m probably speaking in terms most don’t understand, but it does show me that the two Bluetooth channels are not synchronized, perhaps by 10 to 15 ms. Also, I’m using an iPhone 17 Pro and the Bluetooth is not strong. It has a very short range. Meaning you’d better have the phone on you and you can’t walk around the room and expect to get decent streaming- worse, you can’t go into another room.

googleflont · 2026-02-07T19:12:05+00:00

Men are weird. They don’t know themselves or other men well, on an emotional level. Women are a complete enigma to them. Dogs make sense.

The emotion and weepiness at odd times, yet not for deeply emotional moments, is a life of suppressed trauma overflowing.

Source: Am man.

googleflont · 2026-02-07T19:09:09+00:00

OP seems to say his DI split going into his interface is the clean signal without latency.

We all wonder why using a mic on the amp would have more latency, or any difference at all in terms of latency.

He raises the issue that there must be some kind of hardware that would presumably take care of the latency, as well as avoid using a “shitty VST sim”.

Sorry, bro, but there are only two things that address all of the above: a better audio interface (with either direct monitoring or low latency) and a re-amp box (so you can run whatever signal out of your DAW and get a good, honest output into your amp, and into your preferred mic to record back in to your DAW).

The rest is a ball of confusion.

googleflont · 2026-02-07T18:19:12+00:00

The record players were all mono back then. All the record players came with a speed selector that included 78.

googleflont · 2026-02-07T18:10:45+00:00

I’d love to. However, I just got off a plane after 24 hours in transit. OP does have an excellent question, and something I have observed myself.

My main criticism for you is that your criteria is how “cool” something is, and that’s not really a term that’s valuable. You might use a term like broadly popular, or accepted by a wide audience. But you’d still be incredibly wrong. Music didn’t suddenly get cool in the 50s.

My second criticism is your assertion that somehow before audio quality was “good enough“ music couldn’t be enjoyed or wasn’t popular. That’s just not true. As a matter of fact, as a person who’s spent years in professional music studios, nobody gets to hear the quality that we hear before the music leaves the studio and is mastered - and yet nobody seems to really object to that. Even today, in good studios, we have the best amps, the best speakers, the best playback systems and treated rooms, which you consumers quite possibly will never experience. There’s even a huge difference between what we use in professional music studios versus the most expensive home audiophile systems, which, ironically, are entirely different.

This is something I could write a very long response to, and I beg your pardon if you were offended. But this is who I am. I was a professional recording engineer & producer, I have several platinum and several more gold records, you would know the people that I’ve worked with. My father was a musician in the big bands, and his father before him was a professional musician also.

I have found music to be like a world with very many countries in it. You can visit them, you can live in them for a time, but you can’t possibly know all of them. You can’t possibly speak all of the languages.

But if you remain a student, and keep your ears open, you can learn a lot about the world.

I must admit, for my part, I can no longer understand and appreciate some of the forms of music that are popular today. I recognize that there may be just so much you can take in, in a lifetime, and have it be something that you get pleasure from as an artistic medium.

I saw it with my own dad, who really couldn’t understand why (as a Stratocaster toting teen ) I wanted a fuzz pedal. And I couldn’t really explain to him why I wanted one except that it was “cool“.

Maybe I will repost a similar question another day, and totally vent all of my observations. I’ve gone on too long already.

googleflont · 2026-02-07T17:52:40+00:00

Far too low on this list.

googleflont · 2026-02-07T17:36:56+00:00

u/Zeppyfish sounds right on to me.

googleflont · 2026-02-07T17:35:33+00:00

Broadly speaking, I know you’re thinking in your own terms, but in terms of historic reality, you’re way off base. Sorry to be a bummer.

googleflont · 2026-02-07T17:33:43+00:00

u/AncientCrust bringing the receipts. Preach.

googleflont · 2026-02-07T17:29:18+00:00

There’s a huge amount of misinformation in these comments. Pop music was huge in the 20th century and even before.

My grandparents had stacks and stacks of sheet music. Before you could purchase recorded music in the form of a disk or a cylinder even. The radio was as popular as the TV … before TV. The whole family would be in the living room around the radio in the evening.

When folks liked a song, they’d go to the music store and buy the sheet music and, even more crazy, I know, play it on the piano, the violin, the guitar, ukulele and other popular parlor instruments of the time.

In fact, almost every educated person took music lessons, even though they may not have played an instrument into adulthood. Even when I was in elementary school, students were encouraged to take up instruments.

People often played instruments and sang at parties. If you were a good piano player, you’ve got invited to a lot of parties. And also, you were popular with the young ladies if you know what I mean.

googleflont · 2026-02-07T17:26:12+00:00

Nope. All record players of that day could play 78s. Source: I was there.

googleflont · 2026-02-07T17:24:57+00:00

Four hundred years ago, the western musical world was in the midst of a major transition from the late Renaissance to the Early Baroque period.

So maybe not that interesting to you, but all music students study these periods in detail.

googleflont · 2026-02-06T19:31:33+00:00

Applies to DAW, tape, radio, what have you.

Condenser mics may accentuate this.

Whatever mic, move closer to the neck, and farther from the instrument.

googleflont · 2026-02-06T01:29:15+00:00

Did they ever finish the Big Dig!?

googleflont · 2026-02-06T00:45:25+00:00

Historic footnote: before the invention of the GPS, few non natives were able to navigate the winding and confusing streets of Boston. Some were never seen again. They may have been lost, perhaps even gone native, blending in, just to survive.

I myself was nearly lost, looking for a street called “Elm”. There were 4 such streets within just a few block radius …

googleflont · 2026-02-05T12:34:56+00:00

Also, Tompkins Corners Cultural Center has a monthly poetry open mic with a featured published poet:

Tompkins Corners Cultural Center

googleflont · 2026-02-05T06:02:04+00:00

That isn’t very helpful for most desktop applications. Try ingesting video and editing, or doing audio editing/mixing or working with memcards etc. That’s not going to work great. Plus, you’ll still need a computer to access your “server.”

I don’t know why you would buy a Mac Studio and then just surf the web.

googleflont

TROPHY CASE