CAC

Chris' date=' the guy's obviously a fucking dickhead who nobody's going to take seriously. Save your breath.

Thread closed.[/quote']

Was that really nescessary.

This was a shame. Heres a guy offering (for free) to have a bash at remixing someones track. Essentially hes networking and who knows it could have lead on to something interesting for all parties concerned. For his efforts he was shot down almost immediatley.

I dont blame him for withdrawing his offer.

I have to say that during my time down south and abroad theres only one place I have experienced that has a small minded perochial mentality. yep, its Aberdeen. It was like this when I was a young guy starting out here. While there has been many improvements particularly with the quality of the bands theres still this lingering insular approach.

Come on guys work with each other. The benefits can very often be very worthwhile.

my 0.02 cents

I dont know who the hell to check out now I guess Ill have to check them all out

Cheers

There's a hell of a lot of self produced albums out there though.

I agree and there is absaloutely nothing wrong with that. Ive self produced tons of stuff myself and continue to do so.

Most A&R men I know aren't looking for a finished product' date=' but is does at least have to be "competently" recorded and mixed. If it came to the choice between spending 500 on a decent demo or 3000 on a highly polished demo, I'd save the 2500 (unless I was aiming at a small independent record company which would release it as is).[/quote']

Well the a+r types I know definitely prefer the finished product. . This is just my experience and the genres/fields I have worked in.

For 500 quid you could get a finished product. Theres little need to spend 3k recording a single. I was talking about bands who record multiple tracks as cheaply as poss over a 4 hour period.

I agree if the band are doing it for fun then they should record as cheap as poss. However if the band are serious about their craft they will at some point have to spend money on quality recordings.

Its always a bands right not to have their sound manipulated and theres nothing wrong with that at all. But the majority of bands have greatly benefitted from working with a producer. The Beatles being a perfect example. Funnily enough though Ive always found its unsigned bands who have the no producer please stance. Never really was able to work that one out.

From where Im sitting it looks like there are around 4 or 5 decent engineer/producers in Aberdeen.

1. Mark (MTA) has some major experience. Having worked with various name acts and John Lecke hes surely to have picked up stuff that wont be found in a book. I mean the stuff that took John years to figure out and was passed to Mark. Ive seen engineers completely transform themselves after working with a happening producer. I cant speak for mark but I reckon this might be how it worked out for him. regardless though his resume is impressive

2. Mark Nicol I believe is very talented. with no training whatsoever I ve heard some great stuff coming from his studio. Hes learned it all by himself which can be a great way to learn this game and if I dare say hes beginning to get a 'Sound'. Not everyone will like it though but not everyone likes Bob Clearmountains sound.

3. Captain Toms engineer is also pretty good. Ive heard some good and bad from Toms bit I dont put this down to the engineer. The bad is probably becausethe band isnt up to scratch or their recording six songs in over a 3 hour period. Theres also a sound comes from Toms which is probably the engineers doing. The engineer there gets V good results from the gea he has. While recording there is less than ideal conditions he knows how the room sounds and gest the best from it. My only suggestion would be a little upgrading of some of the gear (if poss)

4 Niall. Ive heard a lot from the mill since the 80's. Undoubtedly Niall has much experience. he knows his stuff and has a sound. The sound he has wont be everyones cup of tea. From what Ive heard its a polished sound (not a bad sound) but not suited for everything. A couple of things Ive heard have been a little tinny though. Overall if you spend a couple of days there you will get a decent recording at the mill theres no doubt about that.

5. The Byre. I havent heard anything from there yet but on paper the studio is the best equipped. I think Mark (MTA) is doing some engineering there. results could be V good if the band are prepared to spend the money.

A producer can be anyone. he/she doesnt need to know how to work gear or play an instrument (although thats rare)/ The most important thing a producer has is his ear and knowing what makes a good song. When a band is working with a producer for the first time there can be much friction. Basically a bands song can be totally re worked. Many bands find this hard to deal with, but the ones that can and do deal with it usually improve in every area ten fold. All a producer needs is a good band with an open mind and a great engineer. Put those three elements together and magic can happen.

Another bit of advice for bands: Stop recording 4 + songs in an hour. Recording in Aberdeen is cheap and recording fast demoes is a false economy. If you take your music seriously spend a minimum of two days recording one song. Labels are simply not interested in hearing bedroom style demoes these days. If you send them a demo that cost 50 quid to record how can a band be expected to be taken seriously by a label/agent etc. I have experience in this area and I can say for certain that crap sounding demoes are binned much quicker than the demo that sounds like a finished product. bear in mind a finished demo is much more attractive to an indie label.....and majors for that matter.

Here's a few to look out for' date=' there are many more, this is just off the top of my head:

The Videos - I already mentioned them electronica meets punk rock.

Right Hand Left - these are pure indie, very good musicians.

The Ghost of Bongo - very hard to pidgeon hole, but essentially bass driven funk. Again very good musicians and great material.

AKA The Fox - relocated to Glasgow I think, they are a jazz rock fusion with programmed beats.

Stroszek - they are an 80s electronica influenced band. Remind me a little of early Depeche Mode.

48K - they've had a tough time of it recently with illness and injury, but seemt to be getting back on their feet.

The Money Shot - not loved on these boards but I like them. Reminiscant of The Faces but rockier.

From Edinburgh but honorary Aberdonians are Deadendstereo. They are Indie, the songs are dark with soaring vocals.

From Glasgow - Miss The Occupier, a punk indie fusion, female lead vocals. Josephine you probably already heard of, but unfortunately it looks like they might be splitting up. their have a funeral gig at Drummonds soon. Also worth checking out are The Flying Matchstick Men.

EDIT: DOH how stupid of me. I forgot to mention:

Eric Euan - soft indie rock with 3 guitars and shared vocals. Very popular, very tight, and great material.

Red Man Walking - darker 2 guitar indie. Just released a CD. You can catch them on the 10th December in The Moorings.[/quote']

Hey thanks Flash for the suggestions. Ill be sure to check out these acts as soon as I can.

Cheers

Hi Flash,

Im interested in anything except thrash metal. But then again one mans thrash metal is anothers Abba.....Like all music the genre terminology change every six months. Punk to me is the sex pistols, but I have a feeling what is termed punk now wont sound like the punk I know.

Im more in to indie crossover guitar bands. Stuff like UNKLE is right up my street. But generally any band thats interesting I want to see them.

A good place to start will be the morrings CD. If MTA is ok with me coming down one afternoon that would be great. I will PM him.

Thanks for the info/advice

C

CAC' date='

OK I am satisfied that you and Nathan are 2 entirely different people, although obviously this did come as a surprise! I have deleted and ammended my earlier posts to reflect this. My appologies to both Nathan and yourself - I've been a tit.

I would appreciate it if anyone who has quoted me would likewise delete my quotes so that I don't look a complete tit for all eternity.

CAC - For what it's worth, I wasn't belittling your spelling, grammer etc... IMO they just have amazing similarities to user 'oceanrockstudios' who appears a few pages back on this thread. You both phrase things the same way and use a lot of the same words. If you check that out, and then re-read my (now deleted) post in that context, it should appear less offensive.

These forums are interesting in that the people here regularily encounter each other in real life... and anonimity is a major cause of grief! As you have already discovered I am one of the people here that is publicly accountable. In that I can usually be traced and located in around 5 minutes. There are people frequenting here that resort to multiple accounts. On one thread 3 'people' ganged up on me, and they all turned out to be the same axe grinding cocksuker LMAO! That's why I am oversensitive to anyone posting anonymously under multple accounts.[/quote']

Hi Flash,

No need to delete your posts....doesnt bother me. I agree you are a very public face on the forum.....kudos for that actually.

Forums by their very nature can create all sorts of bad vibes (sometimes). I always tend to think we all play a slightly exaggerated and cartoonised version of ourselves on forums.....or something like that.

Mind you Im no angel at all

Ill be popping down to the moorings someday and hopefully we can have a beer.....Anyway Im interested in seeing soundscape in action.

I can tell. I can see the email address he used to register as well as the IP details. CAC has only connected with one IP address which doesn't match the other user at all.

Thankyou.

OK - let me point this out once more for posterity. Look at CAC's public profile:

http://www.aberdeen-music.com/forums/member.php?userid=5320

Virtually all of this posts have been on this thread. This time yesterday he had a total of 4 posts to his name and half of those were anti-Byre.

Look at the idiosynchratic phrasing' date=' use of UPPER CASE, terminology, grammer, punctuation, general layout, use of smilies, pacifying sign off, subject matter, and check out his various 'hot words'.

Note that he has a big hard-on for both Protools and Digidesign and budget gear.

He refers to the engineer as the producer. He goes on and on about how the producer needs to be inspirational blah blah.

Unusually he hasn't criticised the point on getting the same sound as the big London studios but instead negated it.

In his first sentence, of his first post on this site, there appears the cover story about being out of the country for several years.

He has a tendancy to brag about working with major acts etc then not back it up with hard detail.

Is it just me, or is this a half assed attempt at a second account? In a novel it would be described as having poor characterisation, meaning everyone spoke and acted like the same person - the author!

DOH![/quote']

Flash,

After reading this I decided I should call you up for a friendly and civil word before this gets out of hand. I really dont trke kindly to be called a liar in any form. If theres anything I hate its liars....actually a pet peeve of mine. A chancer I most certainly am not.

Ive left my name with one of your work mates as you werent there. Check me out all you like. I have nothiong to prove to you or anyone else.

My reason for my first post isnt some sort of misdirection. I am in fact interested in hearing the best bands in Aberdeen. I have V good reason for this which you might be able to work out.

Your attempts at belittling my spelling and grammar is laughable. Its widely regarded as the lowest form of flaming in the internet. Get real. Im not writing a nobel peace prize novel. really who cares about the speeeling and Grummer and the But OthEr things heheh.

If you feel like giving me an apology that would be great. After all you have done nothing but belittle me and claim I am nothing more than a Liar.

And if you dont mind

Peace

PS: Its bad call to out someone publicly so dont do it.

CAC' date=' I get a little pissed off at anyone who comes on here and preaches at people and then tries to justify their somewhat dodgy advise with poorly diguised lies which is what I feel the guy in Aboyne did, I think The Byres comments can be a little heavy handed and overly opinionated at times but I cant really say very much about that as Im often the same, the thing is, he is quite open about what he has done and what he can do, you on the other hand appear a little secretive which doesnt encourage people to trust what you say, you appear to avoid saying anything which could reveal who you are, which kind of makes me agree with what Flash is saying..... wow me and flash agreeing about two things on the same thread, thats a first.

So I would suggest you reveal what you have done or who you are if you want any credability.

G...[/quote']

I understand and agree what your saying. I also think Byre is to opinionated. It would be cool if what he said was based on facts but from what I hav eread very little of it is. If He was posting this stuff at the PSW he would be laughed out o fthe forums within fiv eminutes.

As form my secrecy...Hmmm, Have I been secretive. I dont think I have. I have nothing to prove to anyone but in time I have no problem revealing my identity. Flash will know soon enough as I left my name with one of his colleagues at the Moorings.

I have nothing to hide and nothing to prove. If I actually came on here and listed everything I have done in this industry I would be laughed out of the forum for being a liar.....well look at Flash already. hes gone in to Sherlock mode..heheh,

Well, now for my next post

peace

ok' date=' If you really think PT is reliable :D not on any system I have ever used (that is loads) I cant risk studio time with it. I use systems that are solid and I dont have to worry about backing up every 5 mins. as for the converters. for the price there is much better. you will get the same for about half the price without the PT badge.[/quote']

What Pro Tools systems have you used? And what system do you use now that you consider is much more stable than PTs.

Which convertors is better than a Digi 192 at its price range. Have you actually done a shoot out comparing a Digi 192 Vs your better convertor?

Im interested to hear

Hello Byre,

what interfaces do you have for your HD3 system? Im genuiniely interested in this. I have a session I need to mix but require at least 16 analog outs, but preferably 24. Mixing in the box is not an option, it has to be through your fine console.

Come on sell your studio to me

Why dont you share some of your experiences with us?

All you want to do is tear anything I have to say down so Im reluctant to spread the full CV heheh..... In a nutshell Ive produced a shitload of records. I dont say this for any kind of ego trip nonsense. If I were to list my experiences I would be writing this the same time tomorrow. One thing I can guarantee you will get an absaloute 100% honest opinion and or advice if I understand the subject matter. I dont spout my mouth off on everything and anything. If I dont know something I certainly wouldnt try and advise anyone on that subject.

An important point I think you should understand is that I have no commercial studio for hire, I dont work in one, I dont play in a band.....there is no alterior motive with me. DO you know what I mean?

Advise by its nature must contain a good deal of opinion

I agree, but not when the so called advise is actually full of ill informed data which is supposed to be accurate information. I suppose most advise would be called wisdom. But were not just talking about wisdom here are we.

(I Said)

Byre gave that guy a good hammering. All hes doing is trying to make a living and he probably has a passion for what hes doing. What you said to him was just designed so that he would give up. That was not very fair at all

(You said)

Were back to opinions here, what I see here is a different opinion, I have a bit of studio experience also and have seen reason to not be overly keen on pro-tools, I believe there is more user friendly software out there, and there are some reliability issues.

EH...."Opinions??" Its in plain black and white what Byre said to the small studio owner. He bullied that guy very heavily. You think thats fair do you ? The small studio owner has a studio because hes probably Passionate about music/recording. No one is going to get rich from a budget studio so it has to be for the love of music. Dont you think? Isnt th elove of music the reason we all get in to this in the first place?

So my advice isnt good huh. I made these points in a paragraph. I will make it easier to understand. This is for bands looking to book a studio.

1. Listen to demoes that have come out of the studio. If they are all crap then you will get crap. If so find another one. If you find one and SOME stuff is good, and some is bad YOU have to wonder was it the engineer or the band? well, if its the same engineer that recorded the good stuff then its almost certainly a bad band. No engineer can polish a turd...............Is that spelled out clear enough for you? Thats what I orginally said.

2. The engineer is crucial. I mention engineer AGAIN because this is very important. There are all sorts of engineers good and bad. Avoid the ones who run through the motions and have no flair for the craft. Its easy to learn how to basic engineer, its a wholly different matter to record a band successfully and hone in on that bands sweet spot. BUT, as always if a band is crap no engineer can make them sound good.

So, I think that advice above which I actually said before is pretty sound.... I could go on and list equipment to look out for, but I will still say its down to the engineer and his abilities as to how good a recording will be (and of course the bands playmanship/songs). One thing that that Byre and Myself will certain agree is on is that crap can be recorded in even the best of Audiophile studios. Obviously this could be a combination of bad engineer and crap band. But the band has to record somewhere and those simple guidelines are usually sufficient. Come on man thats what made me do my first recording in a studio many years ago (the engineer). His was undoubtedly the best studio engineer in Scotland. Not becasue the gear was the best but because the he was amazing and INSPIRING........ We heard some stuff from the studio and that was enough for us to decide. It aint brain surgery.

Peace

Nope Byre, sorry your just not tickling my ivories. Like you Ive had much experience in this industry which has been filled with all sorts of highs and lows. I understand your catious stance but your so catious you actually come across as very negative and un inspiring. Clearly you have much experience but on the other hand your dishing out what is supposed to be advise but is in fact your opinion which is full of dis- information. This has little to with pro tools Im talking about in general. I cant pick up on all your points but they really are not accurate at all.

Everything in life is a risk and there are no guarantees with any business. But that doesnt mean all studio duties should be left up to you. You gave that guy a good hammering. All hes doing is trying to make a living and he probably has a passion for what hes doing. What you said to him was just designed so that he would give up. That was not very fair at all.

And yes, I definitely will come by your facility some day as I reckon your in need of some inspiration yourself. OH, and why you havent cleaned up in this area. Your facility is undoubtedly the best kitted out. BTW, which convertors do you have for your PTs HD3 system?

Finally, I just want to say to any band looking to record in a studio. Check out the latest stuff they have recorded. If its crap you will get crap in return. Dont just think it will be different for you because your band is better. Check what comes out of these studios. If you like what you hear go and record there. And I cant emphasise the Engineer/Vibe enough. Its not just about equipment.......and if your band is crap no studio/engineer/vibe can fix that.

peace

Sorry but I disagree with you. The only bad convertor Digidesign sold was the 888/24. The HD 192 convertor is an excellent convertor which has been proved many times. There has been a multitude of Shootouts between the Digi192 and convertors of the same price range and I have yet to see one person say the Digi 192 is a crap convertor. When convertors get to that level you would need to have amazingly golden ears to hear any difference between the 192 and an apogee. In fact the general consensus is that the 192 sounds very good and cant be faulted at its price range.

As for reliability. You must be joking? PTs is probably the most reliable DAW out there. I dont know about LE systems or the M powered range but I have had no problems ever with PTs. Suer its crashed on me but definitely nothing on the scale of Say Logic. BTW, usinf Logic as front end for PTs is a recipe for disaster.

Bottom line is that there are far more commercial releases which are recorded on Pro Tools than any other format/daw. If its good enough for major acts its good enough for me.

Flash,

make your point whatever it is.

You should take your own advise...

You should make your point without the personal insults.....it makes you look like a 14 yr old....in fact quite a lot of your post makes you look a bit immature.

I agree with you. I have edited the post. If I still look immature then so be it.

Thanks for all your replies. I will definitely check out the names mentioned.........BTW, I wasnt asking about POP bands for TOTP. I just meant does anyone here a local band and think "Hmmm they sound like they could be on TOTP" or even A listed on radio one. Maybe its just me but I dont consider the guitar bands Im hearing on Radio One to be Pop bands. sounds all indie/gtr to me.

Cheers

We charge 100 extra a day for ProTools HD3 with engineer. Are you sure you really need it?

There seems to be a great deal of mis-information here about ProTools.

There are three types of recording and editing packages:

1. Black box

2. Harware based' date=' but using dedicated software on PC or Mac

3. Software only on PC or Mac

The main platforms in all these are as follows:

1. Fairlight, Radar, Tascam, Mackie, Alisis. Fairlight and Radar cost about 12,000 and up and an Alesis costs just 800 for the cheapest version.

2. Pyramix, Sadie, ProTools, Soundscape. These all use the same Motorola chip set, but each has its own software. Prices start around 5,000 for a complete Soundscape system and Pyramix can cost over 50,000

3. Software only systems abound in the hundreds and you can use just about anything, though the very good Logic works only on Apple (because Apple bought it!) but there many good packages that cost almost nothing. Logic costs about 1,000.

We are a commercial studio and have somthing in every one of the three sections. In section one we have a large Radar 48 track system that covers all our tracking needs. In section two we have Soundscape, ProTools HD3, and ProTools Light. In section three we have Audition, CuBase, Nuendo and a host of others that I canot remember. (We also have a reel-to-reel, the way God intended.)

Each system has its strengths and weaknesses. Although the London Post Production scene is pretty much ProTools or Pyramix, 60% of all films made in Scotland are done on Soundscape. Soundscape is very fast for audio editing, but is only now having some MIDI tracking added to the software. Logic is massive for MIDI, but I would be reluctant to use it for audio. Radar is the only game in town for audio tracking, but is slow for editing, so we end up exporting things to either ProTools or Soundscape just for the cuts and then bringing them back in again to Radar for the mix.

The choice of platform is largely driven by what the engineer is used to and happy with.

What you say about the Aberdeen scene is true for the whole of Scotland. Apart from one or two studios that belong to friends, I cannot comment on the studio scene and I have never been into an Aberdeen studio. Glasgow has a bit of a media industry (if industry is not too grand a word for it) serving the few films and the BBC. Aberdeen should have something going on around Gampian TV, though my guess is that these are just guys with an HD3 rig somewhere and not a full-blown studio.

You cannot blame Aberdeen or the studio owners for the lack of facilities. Putting up a propper music studio is numbingly expensive (think 500,000 minimum!) and unless you can attract an international cientele, commercial failure is guaranteed.

Three quarters - no, even more - of our work comes from outwith Scotland. Germany, Iceland, New-York and of course London, they all come here, but hardly anyone from Scotland.

That are many reasons for this: Firstly the Scottish music scene is poor. There are very few venues large enough and I cannot think of a single club that holds more than 500 people. That means that you will only ever get small acts.

Then all the good acts leave for London or New York. Here you are lucky to get MU rates for a gig.

Then, to put it very bluntly, the music industry in Europe is fucked. There are all kinds of theories behind this and I have my own theory:

The standard of music made in the UK is crap because the standard of musical education has fallen to rock bottom. I am 55 years old, so I wnt to school in the 50's and 60's and back then everybody had to learn to read music and play an instrument. Almost every second home, rich or poor, had a piano, organ or harmonium in the front room, so there was a real knowledge of music in the general population. Even if you did not particularly aim for a musical career, you got music lessons and mother used to show the kids how to pick out a bit of Beethoven or Mozart on the living room piano.

Also everybody sang hymns everyday at school and went to church and Sunday school on Sunday. Making music was something everybody did from a very, very early age.

Now nobody goes to church (I can't blame them!) and music is just noise on MTV. Add to that the total rubbish that is shown on TV like 'The X Factor' which permiates the myth that even untalanted and ugly people can make it in the music business and the result is that nobody sees the need to learn an instrument or read music.

America is different. They still go to church and they still learn music at school. That is why there are so many great new bands coming out of the US, but almost nothing from Europe. If you learn to sing harmonies in church, then singing harmonies on stage is easy. If you learn to play organ in church, then rocking on a B3 is easy. If you have to practice scales to a metronome at school, then keeping time in a band comes as second nature.

And talking about a great new band from the US and rocking on a B3, have a listen to this lot (mp3 players to the ready)

[url']http://www.wdr.de/cgi-bin/mkram?rtsp://ras01.wdr.de/rockpalast/govt_mule/govt_mule.rm

Cheers

www.the-byre.com

P.S. I forgot to mention, that band is a new band called Government Mule. Best thing I've seen and heard in years!

Anyone reading this please take it with a huge pinch of salt. I cant go over his points I would be here for ever but be assured that most of what is written is complete rubbish.

And oh my god. The reek of negativity is very strong.

I must disagree with Flash and agree with some of what Cloud says here and the reason is as follows:

There is a complete mismatch with and an utter disregard of reality by most people running 'demo rooms' project studio' (call them what you will.) There is a real belief that somehow a cheap desk can do what an Amek' date=' Neve or SSL desk can do. Many in the project World honestly believe that somehow a budget mic will sound every bit as good as a Neumann or Brauner. They actually and honestly think that somehow a set of plugins in ProTools, CuBase or CoolEdit will give the same results as a rack full of hardware costing tens of thousands. They believe that thier garage or bedroom conversion will sound as good as the main room at Air.

I'll put this bluntly: You can no more build a commercial studio for a few thousand, than you can start a taxi company by bolting two bicycles together and calling it a car - or start a JCB hire company with a bucket and spade.

Most musicians have got their own project studio where they can record into CoodEdit or PT-Lite and do some bar-beat editing - most will have their own PA mixers and a load of stage mics like SM57s and 58s. They are looking for something that they do NOT have - like good mics, a grand piano, a big room that sounds nice, a proper drum room, a real monitoring system, a choice of multitracks, good 5.1 monitoring with a choice of systems and so on. They certainly do not need what they have already at home in the garage!

That is why demo studios struggle to get clients.

There is a complete parallel universe thing going on here. This other universe is sadly being fed by the home-studio industry and they (i.e. the manufacturers of semi-pro kit) perpetuate all kinds of myths and good old fashioned untruths in order to sell their boxes.

These myths include out and out lies like:

- Many hit records have been recorded at home on a computer

- Plugins can do everything real studio hardware can do

- A hit record will make you rich

- You don't need to learn about music to succeed

- Samples are as good as the real thing

People spend huge sums of money chasing these myths. They buy channel strips and tons of software and all kinds of Chinese microphones from the likes of AT, Rode, SE etc. and waste vast amounts on mickey-mouse monitors from Behringer, Mackie, Samson, etc. Worst still, they attend courses in audio technology, believing that there is a career out there (somewhere) for them, not realising that there are about 50 full-time, commercial recording studios in the whole of the UK.

Just as there is no number of bicycles you can tie together to build a taxi company, there is no number of cheap mics or Yamaha desks you can install to build a studio. There are standard pieces of kit that every studio has to have to attract clients, just as a London taxi company has to have an Austin Taxi, or a JCB digger hire company has to have a line of JCB Site-Masters.

Hey Flash! Could you sell home-brew in paper cups in your bar? How about bar stools from Ikea? Or a PA made from a hi-fi from Asda? Na, I didn't think so!

Hey, don't shoot the messenger - it's the way it is.

Cheers - Andrew

[url']www.the-byre.com

I keep running in to your posts. In EVERY one you are totally negative about EVERY aspect of the scene in Aberdeen. I cant stand to see is someone like you sapping the life out of budding (mostly) young musicians. Your the absaloute epitomy of DONT EVEN TRY.....DONT EVEN HOPE. Yet through all your negativity you always underline your points with an ad for your own studio. I dont know why anyone hasnt pulled you up, but I can only guess that most on this board lack the experience in this soul detroying industry as you clearly have.

Heres a little thought for you. WHO THE WANTS TO TRAPES OUT IN THE COUNTRY TO RECORD.... where do you people get this idea that we need tranquility when recording. Shit man, I need a vibe when recording. I dont care if its in a sewer, if its got a vibe thats what I want. The ability to nip out for a Mcdonalds or go to a club after recording a happening session is something bands like doing. I cant very well do that in Auchtermithy Can I?

Its not just the vibe of a studio that can get the creative juices flowing. Did you forget aboput the engineer. You have not mentioned how important this fact is one time on any of your posts. But you certainly mention Soundscape and tout it as if its some sort of biggie recording medium which its not. Your kinda weird actually. You have a great equipment list consisting of tools, Radar, Logic, soundscape, Pyramix, Radar Maybe even Fairlight MFX? and some other stuff. BUT, I bet very few have heard of Pyramix or Soundscape or Radar. Yet I bet most have heard of Pro Tools, and everytime you or someone on teh board mentions Pro Tools (i mean your expensive HD3 system) you always seem to shy from it, or mildly put it down. In one thread you actually said "I have a PTHD3 system but I will charge you 100 pounds per day extra to use it, and amazingly you go on to say 'Do you really need that"' ????? And the question sounded to me like someone was looking to hire a studio with a PTs facility. Didnt it cross your mind that seamless compatability was an important factor in the question. And is that the way you encourage bands to use your PTHD3 system in your studio.? Not exactkly good PR is it.

However, in this thread you really went for the jugular. Big deal if the guys small studio advertises London Quality Sound (even though theres no such thing). what harm is he doing?. Basic bully boy tactic. How do you know hes not good at his craft? You also make a big deal that the quality of the recordings is down to the equipment. Actually your equipment list doesnt excite me one bit. You have very few botique toys....... You come across as all big n corporate yet your hanging around forums where unsigned bands hang out and basically piss all over the scene and the studios which I suppose you percieve as your competition. But way you bothered? Youve got clients all over the world. Why bother posting constant negativity? your not inspiring anyone. BTW, I have to mention. I produced/mixed/engineered a track that charted at number three in the UK charts. I mixed it using a Mackie SR24. A complete pile of crap you will agree. In your world budget gear cant work, doesnt work. What do you have to say about that then?

Frankly im suprised that you get work from abroad, and have the facility you have. Personally I think your general attitude stinks and god help any band that gets the life drained out of them after a weary recording session with you. They will definitely pack it in and get a real job.

My advice to you is try and INSPIRE. If theres youthful or even elderly wannabes here then surely a man with your experience could actually consider dishing out some inspiring advice. Go on, im sure that if you dig deep enough you could pull out some remnant of your optimistic youth and share some of the wisdom without a lecture.

really, your running rampant around here and making as much sense as this guy

someone has to set a balance when you post one of your heavily slanted and ill informed opinions. keep cool dude

Ive been away from the country for a number of years and Im interested to know the pulse of the local music scene again. In particular Im eager to check out the what might be considered the best of what Aberdeen has to offer. I seem to get an impression from the forums that heavy/thrash metal is the thing just now. Or am I wrong? personally im not in to thrash metal bands so I hope there are alternatives.

Which bands are taking their shit seriously?

Any local bands getting national medial exposure?

Is there a band who you think sound like they could be on TOTP. I know it may sound cliche....

Ive only been back in the country a few weeks and have been listening to the radio and am impressed by what indie guitar bands are doing at the moment.

So, if you have a personal local band which one would that be.

Cheers