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G'day folks. To any of you interested enough to drop in - welcome. Hope you find the following interesting. If you already know this, sorry for wasting your time.

We have a great industry magazine here called "Audio Technology". In issue 18, Rick O'Neil of Turtlerock Mastering in Sydney ran his usual column with the moniker "What would an Australian know about sound?". Apparently Rick was slightly miffed about the reception he got when in Ireland.
In fact the first part of his article is a sustained tirade against the Irish. (point taken Rick but it's gonna be a while before anybody shouts you a Guiness man!)

Anyway in a fit of patriotic pique Rick ran the following (which as you can see I've quoted at length!). Most people would be aware that companies like Rhode Microphones and Fairlight had/have their origins in Australia. But there were a couple of surprises for me in Rick's article. Maybe some of you would be surprised to find out where some of your of gear originated.
But then again. what would I know right?

"At the end of World War 11, with Europe flattened and the rest of the world's industry scattered to the wind, the world's leaders set up trade agreements which lasted well into the 60's./ Different countries worked in different areas of expertise. The Indians would make the rubber, the Americans made the tyres. Meanwhile, Australians produced whatever they could (usually wool and wheat). But in one very interesting electronic trade agreement between America and Australia, amalgamated wireless A.W.A. and R.C.A. America figured a good use of resources was that America would make one kind of vacuum tube and Australia would make another. Both countries would label the tubes as if RCA made them all. RCA made most of the world's vacuum tube amplifiers (ie the gain stage) and AWA made more complex power and radio types. Some bright spark in AWA Sydney Australia invented a radio tube whose output could be varied depending on a sidechain circuit within it and created the vari-mu tube. This is interesting because when applied to RCA gain circuits (and with a lot of trickery), hey presto you have the makings of the best compressors/limiters ever heard. If you've ever heard a Fairchild limiter or a RCA BA6 that's the sound of an Australian vari-mu tube pumping away, and that was the sound of recorded music - nearly every record ever made and broadcasted prior to end of 1970 was flowing with one of our tubes. Open up any sound magazine and look for the word vari-mu, its still as popular as ever.

In 1970 some clever Australian chaps, Thiele and Small, took on the task of creating formulas for making predictable speaker boxes. Their formulas when applied to vented bass boxes are the primary design rules for low frequency systems. Every time you hear a subwoofer, you are hearing the sound of some Australian shaking your insides out.

Lets not forget the clever Australian Bruce Jackson who figured out in 1985 the digital rules as applied by the Sony Corporation were not right. And when everybody else was marvelling at the wonders of digital recording, Bruce, an Australian, was fixing the sound, getting rid of the harshness. His digital filters were retro fitted into nearly every Sony and Mitsubishi digital recorder and lots and lots of 1630 mastering system. Bruce's gone on to do other things now, but at the time his work established a premier digital audio company. You may have heard of it. Apogee Electronics.

And what about Avalon stuff? Winton Morro figured out way before anybody I ever heard, that outboard preamps were better then running through the console. He came into Festival Studio's (hey I've recorded there!-Stedel) in the late '80's with his beautiful boxes that use class A discrete circuits running on 80 volt rails (that's about the theoretical maximum voltage). His first couple of prototypes used to blow about one day in 10. When I asked him why he used 80 volt rails when they fail one time in 10 he said "because high voltage gives you massive headroom and massive headroom sounds better. I use 80 volt systems which I can nearly get stable most of the time, because 81 volts blows up everytime". The Avalon stuff has been rock solid for over 10 years now and because no one in Australia would support his vision for superlative sound, Avalon moved to America. So now we're in a weird position of lusting after American gear that in fact's really Australian.

Oh yeah...what about Duntech's speakers? Duntech are internationally renowned as being the best hifi speakers on the planet. Guess what? They make 'em in Adelaide."

Course if he's wrong, remember, don't shoot me - Im only the messenger.

Kind regards on top down under
Stedel

Comments

anonymous Fri, 03/08/2002 - 02:22

Hey Stedel!!!!

What Rick says in his rant is very true. Rick has been around the block a few times and is pretty much on top of all things audio...

He does have nice studio in the milbar complex..
http://www.milkbarstudios.tv

It is a shame that we as Australians can be a bit short sighted when it comes to things related to Audio. What Rick relates to in is Avalon is so damn true. Wyn Morro must be laughing all the way to the bank as there is so much Avalon....especially 737's in studios here in Australia, we must have given him enough $$ to build his own retirement home.. lol

And many of Australia's finest Neve consoles have found there way to LA, NY or somewhere else. After the gear sharks went through Australia there are only a handful (less than 4) of classic neves now left in Australia.

But the coolest is never going to be sold. Its the one where i do a bit of [="http://www.hothouse.net.au/pix.html"]hothouse[/]="http://www.hothouse…"]hothouse[/] and it's still rocking after 27 yrs. [[url=http://="http://www.hothouse…"]8024[/]="http://www.hothouse…"]8024[/]

Ozzies ROCK!!!

anonymous Fri, 03/08/2002 - 03:57

Originally posted by chealy:
Can anyone turn me on to some great sounding Australian albums to check out?

Well now you see chealy...How would YOU feel if somebody said "Can somebody turn me on to some great sounding English albums to check out?"

You'd think what?
Nah doesn't matter...look out mate that bus is just about to run over you!!!

Anybody else out there hasn't heard any "great sounding" Australian music in the last 37 years?

Geez, yer bum's that interesting? :) :cool:

GZsound Fri, 03/08/2002 - 05:08

Speaking of Austrailia and sound, I believe the Rode mics have taken the industry by storm. Great product, very well made and getting great revues.

As to good Austrailian songs, I have the double CD of The Little River Band and those tunes have held up really well over the years.

Of course I'm old so what do I know?

B Callaway Fri, 03/08/2002 - 19:39

As an Aussie muso/producer myself, my view is that Australians over the years have been very good technically however they have lacked good "ears" in many cases. I got very frustrated many times with the "we don't do that here approach" and many other technically hungup rules. I know many other such stories. Many bands here either record o/s or use an o/s producer. Many local productions didn't cut it.

Sure the general sound of our productions has increased but lets not go overboard yet.

Sure we have many technical claims to fame in mnay idustries - do you know that airplane black boxes were invented here - true. The problem was there was no support locally :w: so off to the USA goes the patent.

But lets not gild the lily, we have to be confident that we can produce world class sounds not because we invented some good techo stuff.

Cheers
Bruce
University of Woolloomooloo

anonymous Sun, 03/10/2002 - 11:12

Originally posted by Bruce Callaway:

Sure the general sound of our productions has increased but lets not go overboard yet.

Sure we have many technical claims to fame in mnay idustries - do you know that airplane black boxes were invented here - true. The problem was there was no support locally :)
Kind regards to you in Woolloomooloo - used to live round there me self....well Darlinghurst actually...

:cool:

anonymous Sun, 03/10/2002 - 11:47

Originally posted by Bear's Gone Fission:
"Tie me kangaroo down, sport / tie me kangaroo down . . ." ;)

Bear

"Once a jolly swagman
Camped by a billabong
Under the shade of a coolabah tree..."

(then there was the squatter, the troopers (one,two, three), the jumbug, the tucker bag,
his billy, his mathilda, and of course, waltzing..and his ghost.)

anonymous Sun, 03/10/2002 - 17:20

Hmmm Bruce , Bruce , Bruce...

I've been wondering whether i should throw my two cents in about all this. I'll try not to go off on a tangent here while I make a couple of points. :)

Australia has a very small music market , especially when compared to the USA. A platinum album is 70,000 untis here compared to 1,000,000 over there. The size of our market has an effect on production budgets and the production infrastructure.

I got very frustrated many times with the "we don't do that here approach" and many other technically hungup rules.

.

I'm not sure what you mean by this. I'm not trying to be a smart arse about this :) :D

D

anonymous Sun, 03/10/2002 - 17:37

Originally posted by Alan Hunter:
stedel,

The latest from those great minds "down under" might be a high-end amp by the name of "Halcro." They can be a bit pricey, but when you start to measure distortion by the billions, I guess you'll have to pay for it!

Cool. There you go folks. A reputation for high end taste, skill, attention to detail, precise and extremely quality consciousness and control, spunks, finely crafted, researched and executed designs, lusted after.

Hey I like me more already!!!!!!
AND WE'VE GOT A CRICKET TEAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Which I'm not sure how I feel about. I go with the late great Douglass Adams on this.

anonymous Sun, 03/10/2002 - 17:47

Originally posted by Ted Nightshade:
"Watch me wallabies feed, sport, watch me wallabies feed
They're a dangerous breed, sport, so watch me wallabies feed"

Actually I'm not aware that the wallaby is dangerous at all. The only danger maybe is that they possess an over abundance of cuteness which attracts millions of tourist. However some twisted people think this is a ghood thing.

Now Cassowary's. They're a different matter. This is a bird that grows to more than six feet tall.
They're like those raptors in Jurrasic Park. They'll stalk you, outrun you, and rip your guts out. Leterally, slash you wide open. There are on average three deaths a year in the Northern Territory from Cassowary attacks. Basically if one targets you, unless you;ve got a gun or a friend who just happens to have a killer boomerang or a spear and knows how to use them...fast..there's not much you can do.

How would you like that on your little funeral notice?
a. Cause of death - giant six foor bird.

:(

anonymous Mon, 03/11/2002 - 02:15

Originally posted by Curious G:
Great Australian bands that I love include: "Hunters & Collectors", "The Church" and "ICEHOUSE"

Thanks for the suggestions - must admit I'd forgotten about Icehouse ("Hey little girl..)
You may be interested to know that Hunters and Collectors seem to be available only on import in the UK. I'll check out The Church though - the latest album is available on through a well known Internet retailer.

anonymous Mon, 03/11/2002 - 14:05

Another Aussie death rant following....

Hey Dan.. good work tell it like it really is!

How is Velvet and the new AMEK going?

I am so sick of seeing this 'small town' mentality amongst enginners and uninformed people here in Australia.

Its true that there is no budget for records anymore. There is very little in top flight consoles (neve or SSL) here in Australia as most them were sold off overseas or were in studios that have closed recently or during the recession fo the 90's. In Australia there are around 15 SSL's and only 3 of them have been purchased in the last few years. The bulk of them are over 15 years old and still going strong. There is no 9000j in Australia....although one is coming int he next few months so it may bring Australia back to to some form of 'international' partity.

But what I am getting at here is that in Australia we have to make do with what we have got. Sydney or Melbourne is not like 'Hell A', NY or Nashville. Things just cant appear out of thin air!. More often that not it requires a few phone calls and a favour or something to get that one piece of gear that you or another engineer may need for a session. Even if the equipment was avaialble the engineers probably could not afford it due to budget constraints. I mean i know so many engineers that had had to fork out of thier own pockets becuase the budget was so small and they felt that they could not let product slip becuase of one peice of gear etc.. (but that is another thread in itself)

Basically we make great albums(IMHO) with little amounts of gear, lots of patience and emthusiasm!

Some great Australian Albums that were recroded andmixed here in Australia are..if you can find them.

Sandpit: on second thought
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=An3jueat34xh7
Snout: Circle high and wide
Paradise Motel: flight paths
Augie March: Sunset studies
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=Autf5zfi2eh3k
Ides of space: first translated in 1965

and coutless others

check them out..if you can.

PEACE
Wiggy

anonymous Mon, 03/11/2002 - 14:16

Yeha lets hook up for a drink!!!

Where are you all?

Stedel?
PTPerson?
Dan.. i know u live in Sydney
I am in Melbourne

anyone else????? chime in

faialing that we could ask Jules to sat aside and ozzie corner of the forum for us to hang and bitch to each other in....hmm just like chix!! :D :D :D :tu:

anonymous Tue, 03/12/2002 - 03:41

Originally posted by ok computer:
i know its not what the post was originally about but i couldnt help but notice most people seem to reference old "classics" - ACDC and so on...
for chealy and anyone else i second Augie March, "sunset studies" if u want an indication of a modern australian recording. my favourite recording to date.

Again Augie March albums do not appear to be available in the UK - am I detecting a trend here? At least I can justify my ignorance...
;)

anonymous Tue, 03/12/2002 - 18:31

Yes chealy you might be noticing a trend.

What daniel_c and others have said is true..but that only tells half the picture. I'm not sure that it's appropriate to talk about it here in length on Julian's forum - which is after all about gear rather than "stuff"...so I'll do this incompletely and in parts:

PART ONE:
Bruce made the comment re quality of Australian engineers and their attitudes. That may in some cases be true. But it is hardly a situation that is unique to Australia. How many young bands, or even established artists, sign contracts that slam them into working with people they feel do not provide a sympathetic enough platform/knowledge to understand the nature of the sounds, or the "feel" of what the performers want to convey?
And for every false "Golden Ear" who are really cheap coated nickel you meet here, then there are people like Paul McKercher and others - some are friends of mine - who I've worked with who are the real 24c deal. No the issues are deeper.

1. Australia is a foreign country. Despite what my parents and us kids were told by Australia House
when my family applied to emigrate at the end of the sixties (wasn't my idea..leave England in 1969? Yeah great idea. NOT!) it is not "just like England", and no I didn't "fit in easily". It is a totally different culture with it's own richness, idiosyncracies, success's, triumphs and shame. Many Australian Artists,Sound Engineers, Designers, inventors etc. prefer to stay here, wishing to celebrate the Australianess of who they are and what the place is about. This is a decision I myself made many years ago. In some ways however, to stay in Australia, to wish to reflect your culture in your work,to enjoy living here is the worst career move you can make.
Why should this be the case?

Australia like many post colonial countries is partly schizophrenic but this is caused by environmental factors - (Australian's are not genetically predispossed to schizophrenia...well I hope not!).

On the one hand we wish to celebrate our uniqueness, our cleverness, our strengths - on the other there is a cultural "cringe" that kowtows to any overseas trend. At least you don't see too many bands advertised as "Australia's answer too...." anymore, (OK you Aussie BOF's - eg. - remember "The Pink Zoot"? Rick Springfield - Australia's answer to Pete Townshend? C'mon!!!!!!!!!!!). Still there is a screening that goes on re where, how, who, what form, and why your work makes it on any reasonnably large scale (and as daniel_c points out, large is a relative term). This is not just a subjective issue of self esteem, but is a hard edged reality of marketing, R&D, support, playlists, content, and the globalisation of just about anything you care to mention.

Now these last few points, in total, are also not unique to Australia..but within this broad picture, there are particular things that prevent more of you from hearing Australian Artists, buying Australian product, and even people getting their stuff out in the first place.And please, it's not because it's all crap.

Some Australian bands, musicians,songwriters, for
instance deliberately stay so.
A good example is the band "Midnight Oil". (please what follows is just MHO OK?). great live band. Have produced some great albums (although for me they seem to be wearing lead boots recently), and have produced some stunning imagery in their lyrics...but are you gonna move to a band that sings about cockatoo's? No? Then **** you. See we do that. Bad attitude? Well Peter Garrett the bands frontperson, I hear from a reliable scource,
(which is "Stedel speak" for don't sue me)has just lobbyed to get a Heritage Order placed on the old Festival recording studio's in Sydney.
If you lived here, if you knew the history of the studio's (most of you up here would not have heard of it), you would think...wow...yeah...cool. That's part of our history, yeah rock and pop music..not just toilet paper to be thrown away,
-might get him into all sorts of s*** though, y'know, standing by the things you believe in.
:cool:

anonymous Tue, 03/12/2002 - 22:59

Originally posted by wiggy neve freak:
Yeha lets hook up for a drink!!!

Where are you all?

Stedel?
PTPerson?
Dan.. i know u live in Sydney
I am in Melbourne

anyone else????? chime in

faialing that we could ask Jules to sat aside and ozzie corner of the forum for us to hang and bitch to each other in....hmm just like chix!! :) :cool:

anonymous Tue, 03/12/2002 - 23:33

WORD!............

Thats was great work Stedel!

and yes that wanker from school of audio engineering now own the Festival complex.. or more to the point the monstrous 1081 Neve that used to reside there along with all that tasty outboard and tube mics etc.

There are some truly uncelebrated engineers that have come from Australia, and there are two that live and work in US/Europe who are and have allways kicked ass.. Tony Cohen of Nick cave and the bad seeds fame and Victor Van Vugt (mixed PJ harvey's last album and many other great productions inlcuding Bad Seeds and Beth Orton)

keep it coming!!

Also if you are having trouble getting Aussie CD's from overseas sources.. try these sites.

http://www.whammo.com.au
http://www.chaosmusic.com

PEACE
Wiggy

anonymous Wed, 03/13/2002 - 03:22

There are some truly uncelebrated engineers that have come from Australia, and there are two that live and work in US/Europe who are and have allways kicked ass.. Tony Cohen of Nick cave and the bad seeds fame and Victor Van Vugt (mixed PJ harvey's last album and many other great productions inlcuding Bad Seeds and Beth Orton)
keep it coming!!

Excellent stuff Wiggy! And thanks for the music links...

anonymous Wed, 03/13/2002 - 03:41

Originally posted by max:
there are a lot of nice pubs in newie

Yeah, what's the old one that's near the station like these days, the one on the harbour? Last time I was there it was like some Gothic palace. Great venue for bands. The rooms upstairs, where we stayed, were...something else. Don't quite know what.... but..nastier. My folks live up your way...
but we're getting even further away from these people in Melbourne. Wonder if they'd go for a tour of The Hunter? D'yer wanna ask them?
:cool:

anonymous Wed, 03/13/2002 - 04:38

Stedel's Aussie Rave: Part Two (one of three).

I don't quite know what the following relates to - possibly difficulties Australian bands can face.

One of my closest friends is Aboriginal C&W singer Roger Knox. Gundawwindi is a small country town on the north west Queensland and New South Wales border. A few kilometers outside of Gundawwindi is an even smaller town called Boggabilla.Just out of Boggabilla the tarmac finishes. After about 15 kilometers of dirt road is Toomelah Aboriginal Mission. At least that's what it was like around the time I first met Roger. Roger comes from Toomelah. His people are the Camillaroi tribe.

In the 1930's an Anthropologist named Elkin was advising the Australian Government on it's policies towards Aboriginal people. They, the Aboriginals, were it was concluded, dying out. Adult Aboriginal males had the mental capacity and stage of development of a 15 year old Anglo male. It would have been only a matter of time before Aboriginal people were extinct - regardless of the settlement of Australia by the Imperial Majesty and Wisdom of the British Empire. The Mission's were established partly to "smooth the dying pillow" (a phrase then used) and to conveniently round up all Aboriginal people, who were stripped of their land, their culture, their language, their customs. Aboriginal people were not given the right to vote (this didn't happen until the mid-late 1960's). Aboriginal children were forcibly removed from their families "for their own good".( It was just fortunate that "their good" coincided with being suitable for cheap domestic slave type labour in affluent "Australian" households).Phil Noyce's new movie "Rabbit Proof Fence" deals partly with some this policy.

However bad the above may have been, it was still better than the previous policy, which was stated in the declaration of Australia as being "Terra Nullis", that is, "unhabited". Aboriginal people witness to murder and massacres by white settlers could not testify in a Court of Law. They had no souls you see. And of course you'd look bloody silly in an International Court claiming that your lands had been stolen when officially you didn't even exist.

It's hard to imagine all this, people see the blue blue skies, the golden beaches, the price of a rich red steak and fink, well it ain't half bad here - there are far worse places in the world where people have suffered and still suffer real hardship, they say. At least that's what the Clash said (bless they're little hearts - I liked The Clash - really nice guys) when I and some Aboriginal friends of mine, had lunch with them one day in Sydney and told them all this.

The Clash did however end up inviting an Aboriginal - Gary Foley - to speak at their concerts over here. Gary was a gifted orator and was the best support act the Clash had ever seen. (IMHO). Gary also starred in one of Phil Noyce's early movies,
"Backroads", made round about the period I first met Phil at a place called The Filmmakers Co-Op, in Darlighurst, Sydney.

When I met Roger I was playing in a band with some of the best Rock - Jazz players in Sydney. The band was the "baby" of guitarist John Robinson. These guys were all great players...much better than me.. but John had heard something in my playing that he really liked, and asked me to join the band.

Trouble was, these guys were into Chic Corea, Herbie Hancock, Jaco Pastorius, John McLoughlin,
Aaron Copeland, Stravinsky, and Jimi Hendrix...BIG time. I was into Hendrix, and I didn't mind the other influences, but I was coming from a Marc Bolan, Robert Fripp and Brian Eno, Fairport Convention, Beatles, Rolling Stones, John Lee Hooker and the Supremes way of thinking...if you know what I mean.

Roger had just started to perform around Tamworth (where he lived). Tamworth is known as "Australia's Country Music Capital". Country and Western is a big deal for many Aboriginal people. They love it. I started to have "sessions" (not drugs you nongs - music) in Rogers kitchen with him. Apart from the fact that it was pretty unusual for white people to mix with them, it was even stranger that there was one playing guitar in their kitchen. Roger and evrybody thought I was really cool cos I could play a piece of music called "Classical Gas" by Mason Williams. To this day people still ask me to "play the Gas". So I'd start to play these C&W songs. And a bit like what has happened to me on Stephen Paul's Forum with poetry, it sparked some regressive gene I never knew I had in me. Unknown to me I was actually good at C&W guitar. Very good.
This was a shock to me ("Get it on bang a gong, your cheatin' heart"?) and even more of a shock to John and my fellow band members, as when it came to be my turn to take a really fluid 2,000 notes per minute guitar solo, out would come this Scotty Moore - Robert Fripp - Stedel hybrid.

anonymous Wed, 03/13/2002 - 05:36

Stedel's Aussie Rave Part 2 (two of three).

I left the band. Which was a shame. I liked the guys, my playing was getting better, and John was well connected industry wise (a little bit of Aussie Rock trivia - John had had a hit over here with his band "Blackfeather". a song called "Seasons of Change", which featured alongside John's great guitar, a recorder, played by non other than original ACDC front man Bon Scott).Ah well, like Freddy King sang, I was living on the highway now.

A couple of years went by. Roger had started to play some of the more serious C&W spots, and had got a lot of support from Tamworth C&W Radio, particularly from a guy called John Minson. I had learnt the whole of Elvis's "The Sun Sessions" LP and was desperately trying to make some sense of all this, (I found learning "Little Wing" by Hendrix helped). Roger was offered a spot on a Tour of the Missions around the top of the Northern Territory. This was quite a lucrative circuit for the white C&W artists that played it, and this was the first time an Aboriginal performer had joined them. All the people on the Missions loved Roger, the tour was very succesful, and Roger was asked to go on the next one.

Have I told you Australia is a BIG country?

So the second tour leaves Tamworth by plane. We all wave them goodbye. This first plane develops engine trouble and has to make a forced landing. The tour party then splits into two groups, each group of four or five going to two smaller light aircraft.
Rogers second aircraft crashes. The pilot and the bands drummer, who was seated in front of Roger, are killed. Roger suffers terrible burns head to toe and is hospitalised. His hands close up and he is unable to play guitar again.

When he is released from hospital he spends a year bedridden, having to wear a full body stocking. He can't leave the house. His kids are around (he has a fairly large family) and there's a couple of crappy "box guitars" and some old half toy/half real-instrument drum set. I start to show a couple of Rogers boys (the oldest must have been about 14 -15) some things on guitar. The youngest ones fight for the drums.
We all start to play and sing songs together. An electric guitar and a half dead amplifier appear from somewhere.

Roger goes back to the Mission and gets some "tribal medicine". By the end of twelve months Roger is talking about performing again. But he has to start right from the beginning again, and has no money. So he decides his kids are gonna be his band. They call themselves "Roger Knox and The Euraba Band" (Euraba is Cammilleroi for "healing").
We work on their playing. They start doing gigs. Most of the band (apart from Roger and one other) are under age for the places they play in.

Anyway, the band gets really tight, and they start to get good reception. Eventually they cut an album, and are invited to tour Canada. No plane crash this time. Everybody's happy about this. Roger and Euraba continue to play, we organise a tour around Moree and Toomelah with The Warumpi Band (whose singer, George, once fell in love with my mum one night...but that's a long and other story). Roger and his kids are still playing.
His oldest son, Buddy Knox has now got a bit of a reputation of his own, good enough for Bob Dylan to invite him to play with him on his last tour over here.But they are Camilleroi people, this is their tribal sacred land, and they aint gonna live in Nashville.

Roger and his kids constantly seem to overestimate
how much I showed them, a lot of folk up around Rogers way, even some of the younger Aboriginal Rap and Hip Hop performers think I'm some sort of guitar legend. It's embarrasing. I have my moments, that's true, but I think I'm a pretty average player. So when you hear phrases like "The Heart Of The Country", and you start to really understand what happened to Roger and his people, the Cammilleroi, and hundred of other Aboriginal tribal groups, when current Prime Ministers refuse to say sorry, you can maybe undertand why a song like "Your Cheatin' Heart" struck a chord (or should that be four chords?). Or why "Treaty" by Yothu Yindi is not just a great dance track.
:cool:

B Callaway Wed, 03/13/2002 - 22:39

Well glad to see I got the debate going ;)

For the record, technically hungup meant the way they treated their artists not the way they treated their gear.

Many of the great recordings of all time didn't have the best gear either so its down to how you can extract the best from the artist and the equipment. As an artist in studios here, I have struggled against the technical bent of many engineers. Many artists I knew who are/were successful also struggled with these issues, that's why many of them brought in o/s producers or went o/s to record.

Its akin to how the Rolling Stones in the 60's wanted to record at Chess Records because they left the "dirt" in that the English studios at the time took out.

Yes there are some great recordings made in Australia, however we have to keep the bar as high as possible.

My measure of a great recording is how well the artist is represented, not how well the gizmos/frequencies are represented. If they are there and sound good, its a bonus.

Have a good one.....
Cheers
Bruce

anonymous Sat, 03/16/2002 - 01:35

Originally posted by PTPerson:
Howabout us Aussies meet up for a drink?!?!?

:)

Hi folks. For any of you remotely interested in me Aussie Rave part 3 sorry for the wait. I'll post tomorrow. In the meantime.....

PTPerson...look this post was about credibilty etc. etc. for Aussie ingenuity. Now over on Greg Malcangi's Pro Tools Forum there was this attempt for RO Forum members to get together for a drink ("Lame Idea"). They failed...miserably. How is it going to look if we Aussies (particularly with our reputation) fail? :)

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