NEW BUSINESS MODEL! ARTISTS SCREWING THEIR FANS!

Yeah, I'm with Albini on this one. And her numbers are totally bogus to compound the issue. And don't get me started on paying the god damn lighting engineers and not paying the musicians - exactly how Style over Substance can you get?

And to make things worse her band are supposed to be a total mess. A friend of mine was dragged by his girlfriend and some of the songs had 3 or 4 false starts, 15 minutes of talking between each song. She took requests from the audience, looked up lyrics on an iPhone and did shitty attempts at the songs. Apparantly the bassist, exasperated, eventually shouted "CAN WE PLAY SOMETHING WE KNOW!?"

It's like a big joke where the punchline is that people paid to go see it.

You think people will start to turn on Kickstarter as a joke ? Theres gonna be alot of desperate artists or scammers looking to make some easy money .

Totally agree with you, jordanvoth.
Skrillex claimed to have produced an album with a notebook and a pair of headphones. That's it. Nothing else, no further mastering.
I tend to believe him, it's plain electronic music, not rocket science, so why not?
And it SOLD. Alot.
(You may like or dislike him or his music, but in fact, many great records were made on very small budgets i guess every band could raise, the time bands knew their stuff and played in live on the fly in a few hours, without the possibilities to pre-produce at home like today.)
i remember the first 12 song recording and rough mix i did with my rock band in a local studio the early 90's we paid round 3000 Deutschmark i.e. 1800 USD for that time...and we were not really fast, and it was really OK for a budget production...(unfortunately it has never been downmixed, i guess the drummer bought the 24-track tapes so we may be able to do this later....but well...it never happened, the band cracked up before...sigh, young hard rockers. lol.)
Well, and nowadays you have much more possibilities and options to make a record....

We played live and saved up enough money to pay the studio. Period. And it was hard, because you often don't get enough to even pay your expenses as a newcomer, so what? That way you get practice and know your stuff when you go recording finally. That's the way to do it (in my opinion).

There's some confusion going on with DIY'ers coming to the studio with the DIY state of mind from their basement still loaded. Suddenly as their payed engineer you're fighting beside them. It's like: "We're not a commercial band. We want you to be part of the record".
Because they do it for fun, so do you.

Fuck that. I'm not an artist. Engineering is a profession.

Sorry if I'm scattered. This topic just gets me boiling.

Here are some records I've produced with no government grants or kickstarters. Not a dime exchanged hands.

Farewellfortune.bandcamp.com

Chasememanhattan.bandcamp.com

Dangercat.bandcamp.com

I've done lots of them.
Kickstarter is bullshit

It depends on the goal, is it an ensemble or a solo artist? Are they essentially looking to document their music or are they trying to present a different illusion? Are they aware of what the illusion they want is and what it will involve in their part?

We've all had those guys saying they want vocal harmonies, but can't write a harmony part or want some cool licks but can't play them and don't want others to play them. Or just say give me synths and strings and stuff. The less of that, the lower the budget can be for the same or better results.

I would say 15-30k is a good small budget depending on the project details. Less then that and corners will start to get cut in most cases. More then that and you are talking about label money and money will start to get wasted anyway. haha

Hey jordanvoth,
that's exactly what i meant with "possibilities" to make a record nowadays.
These kind of possibilities were simply non-existant two decades ago.

Let's face it - most "bedroom/basement studio" productions are not worth the hassle, they sound just plain bad. Most - but not all.
I heard many budget productions made in pro studios, that were pretty shitty, too, especially if these were the first studio sessions ever for the musicians. Most of the time, i guess they should have had an experienced producer at hand. They stumble upon simple obstacles, not beeing clear about what they want at all, beeing nervous, about their budget, studio time, getting in trouble with avoidable stuff...
Some of them didn't even know what the other guy of the band is really doing - because their rehearsal sound is so bad! ("What the f*ck are you playing?" "Same stuff that i play since 2 years!" "But this is total shit!")
And as an engineer you have to be careful and avoid hurting their little egos, so it does not end up in a disaster area.
Like: "Ehm, interesting off-beat...........is this intended?"
Or: "It would sound even better if you could replace your beloved bass strings from the first concert by a fresh set...maybe we should make a lunch break in the meantime.....?!"
Well, often enough not the studio's fault...
Some bands manage to get a complete LP ready in one week to 10 days - all inclusive up to the mix. Plus an unattended mastering. (Not much to do, if the mix is great.)
If the band is good and know what they want, production can become affordable. Without playing around with other people's money. If they find a label that throws it's money in - no problem. But public fundraising/kickstartin....not my cup of tea....

Best regards,
Martin