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#1
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The Decline of Audio Mags
Gang,
Last night I wrote an email to one of the major Audio Industry magazines. For the purposes of this post it doesn't matter which one, nor what my complaints were. I was surprised to get a personal reply from the editor about an hour later. As a reason for dismissing my point of view, he said that mine was the first comment of its kind he'd received. Say what? I assumed (oops) that magazines with tens of thousands of readers would get lots of mail - especially as convenient as it is these days to zip off an email. Apparently not. (This particular magazine prints very few "letters to the editor," but it may be that they run every one they get!). Now this is a real shame if you ask me. Surely I'm not alone in the impression that the overall quality of our industry rags has declined quite precipitously in recent months. Some have gone into political hackery and relegated audio to whatever space is left over; some have become faux counter-culture tracts; and none seems to care about preserving English as a means of communication.. Like government and wives, we may ultimately get the industry magazines we deserve. Especially if we don't speak up. Next time you read something that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand on end, consider telling the editor your thoughts. After all, these good folks work for us. Yours, Dan Popp Colors Audio USA |
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#2
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Dan Popp wrote:
Gang, Last night I wrote an email to one of the major Audio Industry magazines. For the purposes of this post it doesn't matter which one, nor what my complaints were. I was surprised to get a personal reply from the editor about an hour later. As a reason for dismissing my point of view, he said that mine was the first comment of its kind he'd received. Say what? I assumed (oops) that magazines with tens of thousands of readers would get lots of mail - especially as convenient as it is these days to zip off an email. Apparently not. (This particular magazine prints very few "letters to the editor," but it may be that they run every one they get!). Now this is a real shame if you ask me. Surely I'm not alone in the impression that the overall quality of our industry rags has declined quite precipitously in recent months. Some have gone into political hackery and relegated audio to whatever space is left over; some have become faux counter-culture tracts; and none seems to care about preserving English as a means of communication.. Like government and wives, we may ultimately get the industry magazines we deserve. Especially if we don't speak up. Next time you read something that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand on end, consider telling the editor your thoughts. After all, these good folks work for us. Yours, Dan Popp Colors Audio USA I'd guess that it was EQ you were refering to. I was appalled at some of the "writing" in the most recent issue. EQ has been on a pretty steady drop lately, but the current issue fell right off the table. And right into my trash. On the other hand, TapeOp has been steadily improving. -- -- John Noll Retromedia Sound Studios Red Bank, NJ http://www.retromedia.net |
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#3
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John Noll wrote:
I was appalled at some of the "writing" in the most recent issue. On the other hand, TapeOp has been steadily improving. TapeOp often transcends the elements it covers and in doing so adds life into the articles. As for the rest...I don't know...the concept of those magazines is so..uhh..*yesterday*.g. PapaNate |
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#4
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E.M.'s cover stories have been driving me batty lately. The recent amp modelling issue went straight into the trash after a very basic perusal.... I mean, c'mon.... the very cover itself says.... "FAKE !!" DM "Dan Popp" wrote in message ... Gang, Last night I wrote an email to one of the major Audio Industry magazines. For the purposes of this post it doesn't matter which one, nor what my complaints were. I was surprised to get a personal reply from the editor about an hour later. As a reason for dismissing my point of view, he said that mine was the first comment of its kind he'd received. Say what? I assumed (oops) that magazines with tens of thousands of readers would get lots of mail - especially as convenient as it is these days to zip off an email. Apparently not. (This particular magazine prints very few "letters to the editor," but it may be that they run every one they get!). Now this is a real shame if you ask me. Surely I'm not alone in the impression that the overall quality of our industry rags has declined quite precipitously in recent months. Some have gone into political hackery and relegated audio to whatever space is left over; some have become faux counter-culture tracts; and none seems to care about preserving English as a means of communication.. Like government and wives, we may ultimately get the industry magazines we deserve. Especially if we don't speak up. Next time you read something that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand on end, consider telling the editor your thoughts. After all, these good folks work for us. Yours, Dan Popp Colors Audio USA |
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#5
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Its not easy to find in the USA, but Resolution is the best audio mag around, no contest. They give the impression that they are the 2nd coming of the old Studio Sound. They finally went online with most of their content a couple of months ago. www.resolutionmag.com |
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#6
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With the possible exception of tape op, I'm under the impression that
most audio mags are basically gear pimps. Al On Thu, 17 Mar 2005 02:27:45 GMT, Dan Popp wrote: Gang, Last night I wrote an email to one of the major Audio Industry magazines. For the purposes of this post it doesn't matter which one, nor what my complaints were. I was surprised to get a personal reply from the editor about an hour later. As a reason for dismissing my point of view, he said that mine was the first comment of its kind he'd received. Say what? I assumed (oops) that magazines with tens of thousands of readers would get lots of mail - especially as convenient as it is these days to zip off an email. Apparently not. (This particular magazine prints very few "letters to the editor," but it may be that they run every one they get!). Now this is a real shame if you ask me. Surely I'm not alone in the impression that the overall quality of our industry rags has declined quite precipitously in recent months. Some have gone into political hackery and relegated audio to whatever space is left over; some have become faux counter-culture tracts; and none seems to care about preserving English as a means of communication.. Like government and wives, we may ultimately get the industry magazines we deserve. Especially if we don't speak up. Next time you read something that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand on end, consider telling the editor your thoughts. After all, these good folks work for us. Yours, Dan Popp Colors Audio USA |
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#7
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"John Noll" wrote in message
I'd guess that it was EQ you were refering to. I was appalled at some of the "writing" in the most recent issue. EQ has been on a pretty steady drop lately, but the current issue fell right off the table. And right into my trash. I found a recent copy of EQ at an audio club meeting last weekend. At least one of the feature articles was bad technically that were it posted here, it would have been ripped to shreds in hours. |
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#8
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I can just about lay out the entire year for each and every
magazine...except Tapeop of course.... Here goes... January...NAMM Preview possibly, or the German Show...I forget the name. Feb...How's about a "Recording Drums" issue here. March...New Gear from NAMM issue. April...Is it too early in the year for the annual "How to Master Your Recordings" May...Latest Soft Synths June...How to Record Guitars July...SDC Shootout!!! Aug...LDC Shootout. Sept...Adding Life to Vocal Recordings, or How to... Oct...Mixing Tips and Tricks Nov...Software Shootout....Cubase, Audition, PT...Which is best? Dec...Christmas Ideas Under $20, $50 $100 and ? Did I miss any critical issues? later, m |
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#9
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Dan Popp wrote:
Surely I'm not alone in the impression that the overall quality of our industry rags has declined quite precipitously in recent months. Some have gone into political hackery and relegated audio to whatever space is left over; some have become faux counter-culture tracts; and none seems to care about preserving English as a means of communication.. Recent months? I think things declined when R/E/P went away and nothing has been the same since. Like government and wives, we may ultimately get the industry magazines we deserve. Especially if we don't speak up. Next time you read something that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand on end, consider telling the editor your thoughts. After all, these good folks work for us. I can say that since 9-11, the page count on the various magazines that I write for has been reduced substantially in order to cut costs, because advertising revenue is down and newsstand sales are down. Everybody is trying to find some way to shave a dime and folks are accepting some advertising that they might not otherwise have taken. One of of the small press high end publications that I write for may or may not even still exist. I can't get a straight answer out of them whether the next quarterly issue is coming out or not. By all means, write in, but don't forget to buy magazines either. --scott -- "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." |
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#10
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After all, these good folks work for us. Critiques of editorial content notwithstanding, your argument is flawed, as the above statement just isn't true. Almost all magazines work for the advertisers that spend the big bucks advertising. This of course presents an almost inevitable sway in editorial content to favor said advertisers, sometimes deliberate, sometimes unconsciously. Don't bother pointing out exceptions, that isn't the point. JHH |
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#11
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Arny Krueger wrote:
"John Noll" wrote: I'd guess that it was EQ you were refering to. I was appalled at some of the "writing" in the most recent issue. EQ has been on a pretty steady drop lately, but the current issue fell right off the table. And right into my trash. I found a recent copy of EQ at an audio club meeting last weekend. At least one of the feature articles was bad technically that were it posted here, it would have been ripped to shreds in hours. _EQ_ is over. I wrote "No" in the "ya still want this for FREE?" box. -- ha |
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#12
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#14
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Scott Dorsey wrote:
By all means, write in, but don't forget to buy magazines either. And by all means, stop buying them, even if they're free, when they are obviously no longer worth the trees murdered to hold the ink. -- ha |
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#15
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John Noll wrote: Dan Popp wrote: Gang, Last night I wrote an email to one of the major Audio Industry magazines. For the purposes of this post it doesn't matter which one, nor what my complaints were. I was surprised to get a personal reply from the editor about an hour later. As a reason for dismissing my point of view, he said that mine was the first comment of its kind he'd received. Say what? I assumed (oops) that magazines with tens of thousands of readers would get lots of mail - especially as convenient as it is these days to zip off an email. Apparently not. (This particular magazine prints very few "letters to the editor," but it may be that they run every one they get!). Now this is a real shame if you ask me. Surely I'm not alone in the impression that the overall quality of our industry rags has declined quite precipitously in recent months. Some have gone into political hackery and relegated audio to whatever space is left over; some have become faux counter-culture tracts; and none seems to care about preserving English as a means of communication.. Like government and wives, we may ultimately get the industry magazines we deserve. Especially if we don't speak up. Next time you read something that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand on end, consider telling the editor your thoughts. After all, these good folks work for us. Yours, Dan Popp Colors Audio USA I'd guess that it was EQ you were refering to. I was appalled at some of the "writing" in the most recent issue. EQ has been on a pretty steady drop lately, but the current issue fell right off the table. And right into my trash. On the other hand, TapeOp has been steadily improving. -- -- I do know that there have been some "changes" at EQ, including taking their former editor, Mitch Gallagher, and their resident guru Craig Anderton off the payroll and making them "freelancers". They have a new editor who is not from the audio industry... sound familiar? Seems to be a trend for companys to try to improve the bottom line this way. Inevitably it backfires and they'll either close the magazine or wake up and realize what's going on... To a large extent, EQ has always pimped gear and been very marketing focused. However, what's kept them alive IMO is decent editorial and general eye candy (remember those cool photos they used to do with vintage and rare microphones? I think it was called "MicroPhile" or something like that). All that being said, I think the publishing industry has suffered quite a bit since 9/11/01 and probably even before that. Advertisers have looked at many different alternative means of reaching their audiences, not the least of which is the Web. So while some are going the way of EQ, i.e. the "corporate fix", some are reinventing themselves to find new ways to be viable (like Tape Op). Kinda similar to business in general, no? Karl Winkler Lectrosonics, Inc. http://www.lectrosonics.com |
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#16
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#17
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"Scott Dorsey" wrote in message
... I can say that since 9-11, the page count on the various magazines that I write for has been reduced substantially in order to cut costs, because advertising revenue is down and newsstand sales are down. Everybody is trying to find some way to shave a dime and folks are accepting some advertising that they might not otherwise have taken. According to editors at both of the magazines I write for, a lot of the advertisers have decided to put more of their advertising dollars into websites rather than magazines, seeing more immediate paybacks. As Scott says, this means page counts are down, so the news hole is smaller. If the news hole is smaller, there are two ways an editor can deal with that. One is to keep articles the same length, but buy fewer of them. The other is to buy the same number of articles, but make them shorter (and usually shallower as a result). Most editors will choose the latter course, because they want to maintain the variety of articles -- a magazine with 8 features in it will stand a better chance of appealing to a newsstand buyer than one with 4 features, because there's twice the possibility of finding a topic that appeals to a particular reader. Whether the shorter article satisfies the buyer is, of course, a whole 'nother question. Peace, Paul |
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#18
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On Thu, 17 Mar 2005 06:02:44 -0800, mwood5nospam wrote:
I can just about lay out the entire year for each and every magazine...except Tapeop of course.... Here goes... January...NAMM Preview possibly, or the German Show...I forget the name. Feb...How's about a "Recording Drums" issue here. March...New Gear from NAMM issue. April...Is it too early in the year for the annual "How to Master Your Recordings" May...Latest Soft Synths June...How to Record Guitars July...SDC Shootout!!! Aug...LDC Shootout. Sept...Adding Life to Vocal Recordings, or How to... Oct...Mixing Tips and Tricks Nov...Software Shootout....Cubase, Audition, PT...Which is best? Dec...Christmas Ideas Under $20, $50 $100 and ? How accurate, yet depressing. I would like to see a magazine with articles such as: 'How to avoid buying new gear!' 'Analysis of the best pop arrangements of the past year, and how the production backed them up.' 'PRS, MCPS, PPL, MU, PAMRA? What are they, and which are essential?' 'How much do studios charge in your area, and are you charging too little?' 'Long term archiving techniques' I guess I won't see those articles as they would take a great deal of research and knowledge compared to reviewing soft synths. Sigh. Back to google groups archive and rec.audio.pro.  Did I miss any critical issues? later, m |
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#19
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"Jay Kadis" wrote in message ... In article , (Scott Dorsey) wrote: By all means, write in, but don't forget to buy magazines either. --scott Buy? They fall all over themselves giving them away! Frankly I wouldn't pay for any of them. Take a look at an old issue of Recording Engineer & Producer and then tell me there are any decent audio recording publications left. Sound On Sound. geoff |
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#20
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play on wrote:
With the possible exception of tape op, I'm under the impression that most audio mags are basically gear pimps. Audio/Media isn't. Recording isn't THAT much of one. Electronic Musician is also less of one than most of the others. There are other small market magazines like Tape Op that mostly cater to the vintage audio community, like Sound Practices and Vacuum Tube Valley. And there is AudioExpress which is a new incarnation of the old Audio Amateur. But none of them are R/E/P. --scott -- "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." |
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#21
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"philicorda" wrote in message
news  I would like to see a magazine with articles such as: 'How to avoid buying new gear!' 'Analysis of the best pop arrangements of the past year, and how the production backed them up.' 'PRS, MCPS, PPL, MU, PAMRA? What are they, and which are essential?' 'How much do studios charge in your area, and are you charging too little?' 'Long term archiving techniques' I wrote a two-parter covering archiving techniques for "Recording". Others have written about how much to charge. The others...no, they haven't showed up much. Peace, Paul |
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#22
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On Thu, 17 Mar 2005 20:54:36 +0000, Paul Stamler wrote:
"philicorda" wrote in message news I would like to see a magazine with articles such as: 'How to avoid buying new gear!' 'Analysis of the best pop arrangements of the past year, and how the production backed them up.' 'PRS, MCPS, PPL, MU, PAMRA? What are they, and which are essential?' 'How much do studios charge in your area, and are you charging too little?' 'Long term archiving techniques' I wrote a two-parter covering archiving techniques for "Recording". Others have written about how much to charge. Which issue(s) were the articles on archiving in? The others...no, they haven't showed up much. Peace, Paul |
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#23
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John,
Please explain how a magazine with zero readers would retain advertisers. Yours, Dan Popp Colors Audio USA John Halliburton wrote: After all, these good folks work for us. Critiques of editorial content notwithstanding, your argument is flawed, as the above statement just isn't true. Almost all magazines work for the advertisers that spend the big bucks advertising. This of course presents an almost inevitable sway in editorial content to favor said advertisers, sometimes deliberate, sometimes unconsciously. Don't bother pointing out exceptions, that isn't the point. JHH |
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#24
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Dan Popp wrote:
John, Please explain how a magazine with zero readers would retain advertisers. By faking their distribution figures, which is what some of the free magazines in the past have done. The more reputable ones have independant auditing of subscribers by BPA or some similar organization but not all of them do. And the auditing is no guarantee. --scott -- "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." |
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#25
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In article writes: As Scott says, this means page counts are down, so the news hole is smaller. If the news hole is smaller, there are two ways an editor can deal with that. One is to keep articles the same length, but buy fewer of them. The other is to buy the same number of articles, but make them shorter (and usually shallower as a result). Most editors will choose the latter course, because they want to maintain the variety of articles When I was first approached about writing for Recording, I told the editor at the time, Nick Batzdorf, that I felt that most magazine articles about technical subjects in the magazines I read (I wasn't a regular Recording reader at the time) were too short to really provide much information, that I wanted to be able to write articles that were long enough to cover the subject comfortably and not leave the reader looking for something else. Nick was fair enough to allow me that freedom and did very little to restrict what I wrote, either in size or scope. I, in turn, tried to pick subjects that I could cover in less than about 50% more than the space that he really wanted. Today, I'm not writing as much for a couple of reasons. First, I figure I've already said about all I know about on subjects I feel comfortable covering. It's still important that people read about those things, and there are new authors who are covering many of the same subjects with their own style and spin. So at least many of the fundamentals that I think are important are still being covered every couple of years so they'll be available to the newcomers. Second, the current editor is more fussy about length and frequently asks me to shorten articles. It's frustrating to have to take out stuff that you think is important. If you'd like to read a couple of my reviews that were too long for anybody to publish (the TASCAM US-122 review appeared in Recording in a shortened form) you can visit my dinky little web page that I set up because it was free and it gave me a place to put some stuff that I wanted to pass along. http://mysite.verizon.net/mikerivers -- a magazine with 8 features in it will stand a better chance of appealing to a newsstand buyer than one with 4 features, because there's twice the possibility of finding a topic that appeals to a particular reader. Whether the shorter article satisfies the buyer is, of course, a whole 'nother question. Peace, Paul -- I'm really Mike Rivers ) However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over, lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring and reach me he double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo |
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#26
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Scott Dorsey wrote: Dan Popp wrote: John, Please explain how a magazine with zero readers would retain advertisers. By faking their distribution figures, which is what some of the free magazines in the past have done. The more reputable ones have independant auditing of subscribers by BPA or some similar organization but not all of them do. And the auditing is no guarantee. --scott Scott, I'm sure you didn't mean that a magazine with absolutely no circulation could fake a readership of hundreds of thousands and keep up this fraud forever. I don't doubt that shenanigans go on, but as Lincoln said, "You can't fool all the people all of the time." Advertisers are paying money, ultimately, to get results. No readers = no results = no advertisers = no magazine. We have both met people like John who seem to cynically believe that the "real" product is the advertising. Instead the real product is indeed the product (the magazine, the race car, the radio station). That product's success in the marketplace - how well it meets the needs of the consumer - will determine how successful the advertising can be. In the end, readers are in control, despite the fakery you mentioned. Yours, Dan Popp Colors Audio USA |
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#27
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On Thu, 17 Mar 2005 18:37:32 -0500, Mike Rivers wrote:
In article writes: I would like to see a magazine with articles such as: 'How to avoid buying new gear!' I sort of wrote that one. It was the last article in my Oops Wrong Button series in Recording, in which I encouraged people to try breaking the "unlimited number of tracks" habit and recording an 8-track project (with lots of info on how to make it sound like more tracks, but emphasizing the importance of alwys having the end product in mind) That's the kind of thing I want to read. Looks like a subscription to 'Recording' is in order. (And a few back issues.) 'Analysis of the best pop arrangements of the past year, and how the production backed them up.' I see a lot of articles about pop recordings, but I find that i get little useful information about them. That's a good idea, though, if treated right. I would really like to read articles and analysis of more traditional pop string/brass arranging too. There must be a load of other people out there who are not scared of a little music theory as well. 'PRS, MCPS, PPL, MU, PAMRA? What are they, and which are essential?' Yeah, I'd like to know that, too. Paul Reed Smith, Mega Cycles Per Second, P-Pop Limiter, A kind of metal used for magnetic shielding, and a coffee beverage? Hehe! They are all organisations that deal with royalties and things in the UK. I seem to be ending up with points on some tracks nowadays, and though I am PRS registered, apparently I need to contact some other acronyms and register as well. I think they weigh the amount of paperwork you send them and pay out accordingly. As the lines between engineer/producer/artists are getting so blurred I figure I should understand this stuff. 'How much do studios charge in your area, and are you charging too little?' Mix used to do that a long time ago. Today it's too hard to define what a studio is. Well, a survey and some examples would be handy all the same. 'Long term archiving techniques' Dave Martin wrote an article about that in, I think, Audio Media. Come to think of it, I haven't seen an issue of Audio Media in about a year. Did it go under, or did I miss another subscription renewal notice? I used to read Audio Media in my local library. It has vanished from there. What I want to know is why is it so hard to read the publication date on the cover or spine of most magazines? I have a shelf full of magazines and when I'm looking for a specific issue, I often have to search all over the cover to see where I'm at in the stack. |
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#28
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"philicorda" wrote in message news
I wrote a two-parter covering archiving techniques for "Recording". Others have written about how much to charge. Which issue(s) were the articles on archiving in? Geez...I'm embarrassed to say that I don't know, because although I know they're here someplace, I can't find them. Sometime in 2001, I'd guess. The title was "Making It Last". Peace, Paul |
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#29
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"philicorda" wrote in message news On Thu, 17 Mar 2005 18:37:32 -0500, Mike Rivers wrote: Dave Martin wrote an article about that in, I think, Audio Media. Come to think of it, I haven't seen an issue of Audio Media in about a year. Did it go under, or did I miss another subscription renewal notice? I used to read Audio Media in my local library. It has vanished from there. I received a copy last week, regularly. February issue, European edition. It's still a decent magazine. Predrag |
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#31
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Heck, the box set of.. What the heck... Pet Sounds?... brain... (more
coffee...) with all the pre-finish spec mixes and such is just jaw=dropping in both hearing isolated parts AND in the look at what a gestalt genius Wilson is about just simply 'knowing' what it all needs to be down to the least interlocked piece. I keep going back and just listening/studying anything by TOTO, Motown collections, Tchaikovsky, like going to the museum to just sit and stare and study Renoir or Rembrandt. On 3/17/05 7:30 PM, in article , "philicorda" wrote: 'Analysis of the best pop arrangements of the past year, and how the production backed them up.' I see a lot of articles about pop recordings, but I find that i get little useful information about them. That's a good idea, though, if treated right. I would really like to read articles and analysis of more traditional pop string/brass arranging too. There must be a load of other people out there who are not scared of a little music theory as well. |
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#32
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On Fri, 18 Mar 2005 00:30:22 GMT, philicorda
wrote: On Thu, 17 Mar 2005 18:37:32 -0500, Mike Rivers wrote: 'PRS, MCPS, PPL, MU, PAMRA? What are they, and which are essential?' Yeah, I'd like to know that, too. Paul Reed Smith, Mega Cycles Per Second, P-Pop Limiter, A kind of metal used for magnetic shielding, and a coffee beverage? Hehe! They are all organisations that deal with royalties and things in the UK. I seem to be ending up with points on some tracks nowadays, and though I am PRS registered, apparently I need to contact some other acronyms and register as well. I think they weigh the amount of paperwork you send them and pay out accordingly. As the lines between engineer/producer/artists are getting so blurred I figure I should understand this stuff. There are plenty of people in a similar position to you on the Sound On Sound forum - try visiting http://www.soundonsound.com and going to the Music Business forum if you need some help. 'Long term archiving techniques' Dave Martin wrote an article about that in, I think, Audio Media. Come to think of it, I haven't seen an issue of Audio Media in about a year. Did it go under, or did I miss another subscription renewal notice? I used to read Audio Media in my local library. It has vanished from there. I got the latest issue last week with Nuendo 3 featured on the cover. Cheers. James. |
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