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Andrew Scheps: "Lost in Translation: Audio Quality in Streaming Media" | Talks at Google 

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DonnyThompson Mon, 10/26/2015 - 02:45

Andrew is a great guy... soft spoken - but very well spoken, too; and extremely knowledgeable in the craft - and he's also very talented from the artistic POV. He's one of those guys who happens to be of the technically savvy type - but not only so... he's also worked in the studio trenches, and he has a high-quality audio portfolio to prove it.

I've heard him speak ( live once a few years ago at an AES regional seminar) and I've read many of his interviews. He's a wickedly smart but very laid-back guy, who I'd think would be cool just to hang out with. I also think he'd make a great instructor.
In fact, as this video shows, he kinda comes off as a college proff. I've personally learned a lot from watching his video interviews, and from reading articles where he's been a source of information.

Suffice it to say, he knows what he's doing, and that means that he also knows what he's talking about. I believe that he is someone who can be trusted as an accurate source of factual audio information and education.
There are so many audio "blow-hards" out there these days - people who talk a good game, but who haven't spent any time actually working or teaching in an actual studio/live audio/acoustical treatment occupation; and either they don't know what they're talking about, or they speak in such vagaries that it's hard to understand exactly just what they mean, because often, they don't actually know what they mean, either.

Adding into this group the amount of "experts" - those who simply do nothing more than regurgitate information that they've read without having fact-checked first, or who have heard about certain things that are often nothing more than hearsay, and while some hearsay can be reliable, it can also be inaccurate, too - and because these people don't actually know these things themselves, they are often perpetuating "myth" - or worse, blatantly wrong information.
Thankfully, we do have trusted sources out there in audio land, and I think that Scheps is most certainly one of those people. Thankfully, we have some really good sources of information here in the RO community, too.

( audiokid Boswell kmetal @Brien Holcombe pcrecord MrEase Kurt Foster etc, etc, ) :

RO has members among its ranks who know this to be true, and because they are aware of the "myth pushers", have done their best to educate those people who don't know - and sometimes, to even "re-educate" those who thought that they knew certain things, but who actually didn't. For example, there's a great discussion going on right now on RO about[[url=http://[/URL]="http://recording.or…"] clocking/jitter [/]="http://recording.or…"] clocking/jitter [/]... I've personally learned a lot from the thread. There were things I didn't know, but now do.

We have trusted sources here, because those individuals have taken the time and effort to learn about this craft themselves - either studying on their own or having been formally educated - and the information they know about - from recording and mic'ing techniques, to gear and gain structure, from compression to conversion, from mixing to acoustics, has made them part of the trusted group of professionals; because they speak from education, experience, and the application of the knowledge, who have actually worked in this craft and its related fields.
These people have dedicated themselves to audio, but at the same time, they have no hesitancy in admitting that there are things that they do not know, but who are always eager and willing to learn - even if they've been at this for a long time.
Show me an engineer who has made some mistakes along the way, but who also then learned from those mistakes; individuals who continue to learn, who have that unquenchable thirst for knowledge, and for applying that knowledge - regardless of age - and who researches subjects, who does fact-checking on what they've been told, and I'll show you a trusted source, or, someone who will eventually become one.

Having heard him speak, I get the sense that Scheps is cut from a very similar fabric ... He has no problem with admitting that there are some things he doesn't know - yet - but he is more than willing to be taught. When you keep yourself open like that, and dedicate yourself to continued education from other trusted sources, and when you spend enough time actually applying what you've learned, you're going to become a much more trusted source of information than those all-too-common "regurgitators" who haven't actually done any of the things that they talk about as "experts".

IMHO of course. ;)
-d.

DonnyThompson Mon, 10/26/2015 - 04:34

Sean G, post: 433307, member: 49362 wrote: Interesting to hear that he is completely ITB now...
it was only a few years back when he was on Pensados' Place he was still mixing on the Neve.

Hmm.. are you sure about that, Sean? If I recall that episode, he was tracking through his Neve, but mixing ITB. Maybe I'm thinking of a different video...

DonnyThompson Mon, 10/26/2015 - 07:50

I think he's been mixing completely ITB for several years now. He may even track sometimes using a more transparent pre than what his Neve console offers. I'm pretty sure he still has the 8068 desk. I think his is one of those rare models as well, or maybe he had it modded/customized for his own preferences. Either way, like the Sound City 8028 Neve that Dave Grohl purchased and installed in his own place, I don't think you'd be able to touch it for anything under a half million, ( even though Grohl has since stated that he would have bought Sound City's 8028 for a million if that's what they would have wanted for it) but, even with these guys both having such classic nice desks, one would think that he'd also want some different options for tracking as well.

Or, maybe not. Who knows? Maybe that's the way these guys track exclusively.

The thing with those large format consoles, though - if you own one, then you'd better damn-skippy straight know what you're doing with audio electronics, or, you'd better have access to somebody who does - because older desks like those are not maintenance free - no matter how much you baby them - and if components need replacing, and you're staying with parts original to factory specs, ( like anyone would replace a 1073 pre with a Mackie pre, right? ) the parts ain't cheap, either. ;)