Still no surround in LE?

[Kuba Pietrzak]

Hello,
I think it is all about the business climat in the western world. Everything is moving to PR of China, where you can produce everything for 1 oz. of rise/person/day. There is, I would say, THE BIG JUMP FOR THE CASH (sorry, it's an Polish idiom, but surely everybody understand it) - e.g. producers want to earn lots, lots of money working on one movie only, in order not to work for the rest of their lifes... It is not important the quality, the next project, tomorow, the day after tomorow, the next year...
Now, it is important now, how much money thay can save by cutting costs on everything thay can do...
Do something that will bring you, let's say, 10 mln$ and forget about working for the rest of your life...
This is what business people are thinking about now
Did you read the May issue of Mix magazine - WHO CARES ABOUT THE QUALITY? The conclusion is, that when the art meets the business there should be the conflict. The artist is asked how many copies there will be sold, even before the begining of working on the album... The director or producer is asked by the business people about the audience that is expected to come and see the movie...
For the business people it does not matter if they are selling computers, washing powder, cars, music, films, any other goods - this is just the business, there is the target audience, there are focus groups, there is the strategy... THERE IS CORPORATION... money are just money
If you add to our basket problems with piracy (mp3 and Divics) - there should be the industry crisis
I cannot understand why it could happen, that devices such an mp3 players or DVD players with Divic ability are produced.. This is like legalisation of piracy
I remember the days, when I came to the studio for the first time, and after it I was sure I wanted to be sound engenier - the studio was like the temple of the art and the guy behind the board was like the priest in this temple; I was very impressed...
Now the situation seems to much, much different
Best regards and sorry for my English
Kuba

[pindebraende]

Froyo wrote: Mix magazine article on EP III

Sorry for hijacking the thread.

In which issue is this article?

Best regards

Pindebraende

[Ducky]

WOW, the philosophical aire in this thread is amazing.

The simple fact remains, mid and high end DAWs have surround track meters and a a little panning control over a 5.1 mix. As long as Digi tries to keep that out of the "wanna-be engineer's" hands, they will loose market share on their low end DAWs (the LE/MP jet set). Digi's lost out on a grand from me as I paid Sony for their ability to do surround 'creatively'. I can always use Digi gear for the 6 tracks needed for a true surround DAW package.

Who knows, maybe Digi will wise up in 7.x LE/MP. Not holding my breath, but configuring a master fader with however many tracks seems like a natural progression of the LE line. Not holding my breath though, as Sony has been getting my upgrade budget. Who knows, maybe my Digi hardware will simply become an ASIO sound card

[kperry]

Yikes! I spawned a monster philosphical thread! Personally, I'm not opposed to the idea of keeping the Digi product line somewhat stratified.
However, the management of the facility asked me about adding a "B" mix/edit rig that we could roll in and out of the screening room / DVD commentary stage that we're currently building. An LE-based system would let me spend some more on a proper B-chain, which is more expensive to upgrade later. (And then convince them to upgrade to TDM later....) Unfortunately, while I've also mixed surround in Pro Tools (TDM) before there was surround, I don't think that the mixers that work around here would be at all pleased with those kludges. Now I just have to convince them that we'll just have to expand the budget a bit....

[Noiz2]

A question not a political stance, but why would the lack of surround be an issue with commentary tracks?
SK

Yikes! I spawned a monster philosphical thread! Personally, I'm not opposed to the idea of keeping the Digi product line somewhat stratified.
However, the management of the facility asked me about adding a "B" mix/edit rig that we could roll in and out of the screening room / DVD commentary stage that we're currently building. An LE-based system would let me spend some more on a proper B-chain, which is more expensive to upgrade later. (And then convince them to upgrade to TDM later....) Unfortunately, while I've also mixed surround in Pro Tools (TDM) before there was surround, I don't think that the mixers that work around here would be at all pleased with those kludges. Now I just have to convince them that we'll just have to expand the budget a bit....

[Noiz2]

Aside from the surround/ stratification issue I would like to see Digi focus a bit more on the med/high end and post users a bit more and not try to slug it out with the slew of consumer DAW's. I don't think they can dominate that market but they could spend a lot of $ and time trying. Also I do think there is room for something between a $2K 002 and a $13k HD system. Maybe that would be something that two sides of the prior debate could agree on. If HD is going to be the "mixing" platform then a really solid "editorial" platform would be a nice addition.
SK

WOW, the philosophical aire in this thread is amazing.

The simple fact remains, mid and high end DAWs have surround track meters and a a little panning control over a 5.1 mix. As long as Digi tries to keep that out of the "wanna-be engineer's" hands, they will loose market share on their low end DAWs (the LE/MP jet set). Digi's lost out on a grand from me as I paid Sony for their ability to do surround 'creatively'. I can always use Digi gear for the 6 tracks needed for a true surround DAW package.

Who knows, maybe Digi will wise up in 7.x LE/MP. Not holding my breath, but configuring a master fader with however many tracks seems like a natural progression of the LE line. Not holding my breath though, as Sony has been getting my upgrade budget. Who knows, maybe my Digi hardware will simply become an ASIO sound card

[jimlongo]

Aside from the surround/ stratification issue I would like to see Digi focus a bit more on the med/high end and post users a bit more and not try to slug it out with the slew of consumer DAW's. I don't think they can dominate that market but they could spend a lot of $ and time trying. Also I do think there is room for something between a $2K 002 and a $13k HD system. Maybe that would be something that two sides of the prior debate could agree on. If HD is going to be the "mixing" platform then a really solid "editorial" platform would be a nice addition.

Yes. Right now for me that means a MIX/6.4.1 system. I guess that is what the LE/DV Toolkit bundle is aimed at. Perhaps another bundle with a little more would fill that niche.

I think though that the low end market is going to be a focus of Avid and its shareholders. That is a huge market. They don't split out the income that way, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's as big (or bigger) a profit center as TDM.

[Noiz2]

I think though that the low end market is going to be a focus of Avid and its shareholders. That is a huge market. They don't split out the income that way, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's as big (or bigger) a profit center as TDM.

It probably is a lot. I've gust seen too many companies loose focus going for the buck and let there core market fall...
I'm just hopping.

[Noiz2]

Someone posted this in relation to a thread on a list I frequent, thought it applied quite well here.


>While we're on the subject of fun, having nearly beaten this subject
>half to death...

>>I hate to break the news to you, but this subject's zombie has roving the Earth and eating the brains of innocent children for >>several days already.


A smile

[jimlongo]

this talk of "lowering the bar" on standards and McDonald's and Corporations has me of two minds.

Yes there is two worlds out there. There is the PR of China and other places where TV and film and music is happening and we know nothing about. You know AVID makes products in Chinese and Japanese. We don't think about them often because we are an largely English speaking web forum. But that's another huge market. Will standards be lower, sure they might be, but I don't underestimate the ability of others.

Also while there may be some places where standards are lower, there is also the other end of the spectrum where standards are always going higher. The creativity and professional level of soundtracks are freakin' unbeleivable at times. The bar is being raised continuously. So there is a lower and higher bar, more dynamic range. Growth to use an economic term.

The TV/FILM/AV market like BigSteel and many other industries is looking for greater efficiencies [secretcodeword]lower expenses[/secretcodeword] and we are part of the world, we can't escape it. There is a lot of restructuring going on, it will hurt some people and help others. Myself, I feel you have to ride the wave a bit, change constantly. I remember when they told me in grade 2 way back in the early 60's . . . the big thinkers said you have to be prepared to change your career maybe up to 5 times during your lifetime. Well I've never really changed careers, but the niche I'm in and the way things are done has changed at least that many times already. You have to keep reinventing yourself. I've always been in a sense on the outside, and so I don't have a lot of sympathy for those on the inside who worry.

This is very good thread, it has provoked a lot of thought. Hope everyone has a nice day.