Nice to see em back.

I used to be a manager for the largest audio retailer in Europe, right around the time FR went under. One of the guys there, Aussie bloke I think, knew all the FR guys really well and was basically given the entire back catalog. He offered it me for something stupid like 500 quid at the time and I had no where to put all those records. Probably could have made a fortune on discogs if I'd have sat on them for a decade or so lol.

quote:

Originally posted by DJ RANN Nice to see em back. I used to be a manager for the largest audio retailer in Europe, right around the time FR went under. One of the guys there, Aussie bloke I think, knew all the FR guys really well and was basically given the entire back catalog. He offered it me for something stupid like 500 quid at the time and I had no where to put all those records. Probably could have made a fortune on discogs if I'd have sat on them for a decade or so lol.

kind of random but i was reading an interview about lenny kravitz the other day and i found it fascinating how he learned sound/production of records/ he knows the mic levels/mixing levels/reverb/delay/phase ....all by ear ...trial and error he didnt go to school or have a tutor and he also played like 95 percent of the instruments on his albums , he just doesn't have very many hits like a prince ,hendrix , beatles , led zep etc and other similiar bands in his class so he doesn't get the credit


Lenny was a nut for detail. He was such a rock star genius, he bought the Beatles Studio Console that was used to make Sgt Pepper's lp. He figured out on his own how to configure his instrumentents and get that sound




I've always maintained his albums are undiscovered treasures.

Last edited by LoveHate on May-08-2018 at 17:06

quote:

Originally posted by DJ RANN Nice to see em back. I used to be a manager for the largest audio retailer in Europe, right around the time FR went under. One of the guys there, Aussie bloke I think, knew all the FR guys really well and was basically given the entire back catalog. He offered it me for something stupid like 500 quid at the time and I had no where to put all those records. Probably could have made a fortune on discogs if I'd have sat on them for a decade or so lol.

I get the general impression there is a massively vast knowledge to tap here...
Yeah sounds crazy now not having taken that offer. I'd have been donating part of my income to you so to speak, lol, having recently begun collecting some stuff including older FR.

Also LH don't hijack my one own serious thread

my apologies

ps i listened to both tracks , and the bassline is the center of attention on my laptop speakers ! so i can imagine how it must sound on proper speakers. its also refreshing to hear trance that is just soundscapes and textures and has other subtle details... as opposed to the standard epic breakdown...

Last edited by LoveHate on May-08-2018 at 22:26

I know it sounds funny to us younguns, but prior to the 1990's there basically were very few schools on the planet that taught anything to do with studio engineering.

It was all on the job. It was only really when SAE took off in the late 80's and really 90's that people could actually go to a school to do a diploma in audio engineering.

Prior to that, there were a few (literally) that had degree courses on things like DSP or Broadcast tech, but there was no such thing as taking a diploma course to learn how to audio engineer.

Everyone learned on the job, by starting as a runner/tea boy and hope that you got to sit in on sessions. There's still a lot of studios and post facilities that work like that.

It doesn't surprise me that Kravitz might have learned that way, although i always take these stories with a big pinch of salt; it's often they knew someone in the industry that let them shadow them or taught them, which is really the most important part of these school courses now.

Apparently, Kravitz's mum was a fairly successful TV actress and he grew up in manhattan the moved to LA - He went to beverly hills high school where Nic Cage and Slash were his classmates. So essentially he had time and money to practice music, then kinda got mentored by Henry Hirsch, a pretty well known engineer/producer.

So although he didn't have formal training and did learn on the job, if you have time and money not to worry about living and just pursue music, then combine it with contacts who are willing to teach you, that's some of the best education you can get.

As for that desk, I think Abbey had been trying to sell it for quite a while. It's all great to have vintage kit like that but being completely dickish about it, the signal to noise ratio probably isn't close to what you get now, it's probably far less flexible than a desk half it's size, and those things require a ton of hands on maintenance, nearly to the point where you have an on staff technician to keep it running. It'll be great sounding, and the history is immense but sometimes those things can be a hindrance, especially to a working studio like Abbey where down time = serious revenue loss.

quote:

Originally posted by Midlothian I get the general impression there is a massively vast knowledge to tap here... Yeah sounds crazy now not having taken that offer. I'd have been donating part of my income to you so to speak, lol, having recently begun collecting some stuff including older FR. Also LH don't hijack my one own serious thread

Well it was at a time when that type of music had fallen out of favor (it was the early zeros so bland, virtually perc only prog from people like pole folder were the flavor of the day) so a garage worth full of trance records wasn't that appealing to me living in a tiny 1bed in north london lol. I already had (still have) most of the FR records that were decent so it was literally an investment.

You also have to realize that at that time, record shops were dying - it went from over 20 dance music record stores in central London, to only about 2 within the space of 5 years. The last big names like Plastic fantastic and Eukatech were only just hanging on and were gone by 2006, so even trying to flog old records from a defunkt label was going to be tough.

Thing is, it wasn't just the records I think - I think it was the rights/IP too. As I understand it, they were basically in debt and just wanted rid of it all. I have no idea what happened to it all in the end.

quote:

Originally posted by DJ RANN what happened to it all in the end.

Really hoping here they have all the rights - I wouldn't mind them putting the back catalogue up digitally even though I'm looking out for the physical products. I noticed on their facebook page some post where they were arguing with someone being obnoxious about them not being on Bandcamp, where they responded that they are currently under distribution agreement to work like this, i.e. release digitally for now. Curious to find out how they're running the label and where it's heading. Their website is still "coming soon". In fact there's some 4D stuff they released back in 2015 already, and interestingly an X-Dream remix 2CD in 2017. But I get the impression the Discogs entry on their label isn't exactly complete so it's difficult to see what's what, especially as there's at least one more recent 4D release I can't find on BP...

damn that was beautiful RANN, thanks for sharing that, it's definitely great to get a pro's perspective, it made me think of maslow's hierarchy as well.

Last edited by LoveHate on May-09-2018 at 22:47

Thanks bro. I'd forgotten about maslow's hierarchy, but yes that's basically the gist.

Not to say you can't make it and let;s not forget some of the greatest music comes out of strife and extreme hardship (think blues and gospel from slaves etc), but having those basic life necessities make it a lot easier to be creative.

There's a surprising amount of major music stars that come from wealthy families:

Adam Levine is from a very wealthy LA family (his parents owned a retail empire, and one uncle was a producer and wrote the West Wing, the other a well known author and jounalist).

Ed Sheran parents own an art consultancy and his mum is a successful jewelry designer.

Taylor Swift comes from a wealthy family (her dad was in wealth management and VP of some finance company, her Mum was a fund manager).

The rolling stones were all upper middle class kids and Jagger was studying Finance at the London School Of Economics when the Stones formed.

Carly Simon's Dad was the founder of a huge publishing company.

Ariana Gande's Dad owns a large design group.'

Steve Aoki father founded the Benihana Restaurant empire.

Psy (Park Jae-sang), He of Gangnam fame, is the son of Park Won-Ho, executive chairman of DI Corporation in Seoul.

So many these days get the chance becuase they don't have to worry about basics.

I think the gallaghers said that Oasis would have never existed if I hadn't been for the dole (social security) so they could sit around and just play music.

quote:

Originally posted by DJ RANN Jagger was studying Finance at the London School Of Economics when the Stones formed.

Reportedly as one of the first generation of students after the School was founded in 1895.

Beautiful stuff though - this tops an evening spent wikipedia'ing. Makes me wonder what the general picture would be of our legendary prog and trance stars.

quote:

Originally posted by DJ RANN Thanks bro. I'd forgotten about maslow's hierarchy, but yes that's basically the gist. Not to say you can't make it and let;s not forget some of the greatest music comes out of strife and extreme hardship (think blues and gospel from slaves etc), but having those basic life necessities make it a lot easier to be creative.

well im glad i never bought a psy or maroon 5 record

yeah it seems that a "grass roots" beginning is something that really only used to be revered in genres like hip hop where the artist turbulent origins were just as important as the music itself, and if it was discovered that you were a kid from the burbs or went to a private school you lost a lot of credibility , i use past tense becuase it doesn't seem to matter in any genre nowdays, for instance drake is a hit machine but was exposed for having "ghost writers" and it was known early on that he was from an affluent neighbourhood in toronto and starred on the show degrassi before rap etc but i guess whats important is output ..plus next to jay-z he's had one of the longest streaks ontop .