Thursday, September 11, 2008

Duplication Frustration.

Here's a little tale for those of you already in the music business or just starting out.

Had a customer back in the studio telling me about his duplication woes.....

The duplicators have a mastering facility on their premises and were really upset that it was mastered somewhere else first. "They won't do a very good job" was the statement made at the time !!! (Interesting that such a blanket statement was made. Do they assume that nobody else is capable of mastering outside of their business. A very arrogant point of view indeed).
Additional comment were made about my customer having their artwork done somewhere else as well. You guessed it, they also have an in-house artwork facility.

"Tell me" I said to my customer, "You've had listening copies of the master for over a month now. Do you like it?"
"Yeah, it's great !" Came the response.
"You've played it to other people and they think it's good?"
"Everyone that's heard it loves it" said smiling customer.
"Well, at the end of the day if you, the customer, is happy with the results and the reaction from other people. Where's the problem?"
"The problem is that this guy is an arrogant dick, you don't know where else I can take my music for duplication do you?" said my very frustrated customer.

So here's the moral of this little tale.....

Never assume you know more about someones music that the artist. It's their creation and they are highly tuned in to the results.
Making blanket, criticising statements about their choices prior to and whilst seeing you is asking for trouble. What you are in fact doing is insulting their judgement.
Offer suggestions but don't criticise.

It's very common in this industry to bag other studio's work and equipment choices. This is a very slippery slope to get onto. (In fact I am probably a little guilty myself by posting this article, which is why no names have been included).

Accept the part of the creative process you have been offered. It is a privilege, no matter how much of the total project you are given.
.
.

No comments: