In article , Iain Churches
wrote:

"Trevor Wilson" wrote

Coupled with hopelessly engineered recordings, a SET amp can mask all
the rubbish inserted by engineers and musicians.

Trevor. Not being in the record business yourself, you probably have no
idea of the competition within the selection process which enables one
to take even the first step in this business. Having worked for major
labels for a great many years, and been involved in selecting candidates
for training, I can tell you that only about 1% of those shortlisted
ever get to the second interview level. There are no vacancies in the
recording business:-)

I am sure the above is correct. There is probably a similar situation in
the 'meeja' where loads of people are eager to be actors, producers,
newsreaders, etc.

However the snag is that the "competition" does not necessarily guarantee
the quality of the results thus produced. Witness, for example, the recent
discussions regarding absurd levels of automated level compression on some
rock/pop CDs, etc.

Thus the action of "competition" only selects on the basis which drives it,
which *may* alas, have little to do with quality, or with any real
understanding of relevant engineering, etc.

Likewise, the demands made upon session musicians who play on the
records we make, are considerable. Can you play 64 bars from a written
part at tempo "vivace" with simultaneous transposition up or down a
minor third, prima vista without a single mistake. Makes your
profession of audio retailing look pretty tame, doesn't it? and also
probably explains the "would have been" flavour to your post:-)

The above skills would clearly be very valuable for many musicians. However
I wonder how many superb musicians would fail in a "competition" on such a
basis - yet have made recordings of, say, Jazz or Blues, which have become
highly regarded and have endured?

Be careful what you wish for - you may get it. :-)

Slainte,

Jim

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