Do you need the Scheps 73 EQ? Yes, you do!

[dg27]

Re: Do you need the Scheps 73 EQ? Yes, you do!

Yes, you have already established that line of reasoning.

It seemed that you may not have understood my point.

it does seem a bit elitist to say you actively avoid purchasing plugins because it detracts from le art.

Actually I didn't say that at all: I have plenty of plugins that I purchased separately. I just said that a plugin isn't going to save a crappy song.

And if your songs are good as acknowledged by the afore-mentioned metric ... there is nothing noble in depriving yourself the tools and options that can make them even better.

Some people ignore the fact that the material stinks up the room and get hung up on gear and processing, thinking it'll save the day. That was all I was warning against. Bad production can hurt an otherwise good song. But good production won't really save truly lousy song.

Whilst it's alright

Sorry: People from Brooklyn do not say "whilst." You lose credibility for that.

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Do you need the Scheps 73 EQ? Yes, you do!

Ha! Street cred ruined!
I love a healthy, mature exchange of differing viewpoints.

[dg27]

Re: Do you need the Scheps 73 EQ? Yes, you do!

The title of the thread was what made me chime in:

"Do you need the Scheps 73 EQ? Yes, you do!"

My first thought was that this sounded a lot like the dozen or so emails I get each week hawking some plugin. They always feature comments (like "Never leave home without it!") from some engineer I've never heard of who has worked with some artist or band I know or might even love. So the logic is "Oooh...he used this on so-and-so's latest album! I must buy this!"

My second thought was I wondered what your commission for shilling for Scheps might be.

I think a lot of people get sucked into buying stuff they don't need. That was my main point. This may be a great EQ and I may even try it someday, but that's not relevant. I don't think I'd be alone when saying that I could easily spend a few hundred shekels every week if I bought into the hype for every new plugin that comes along.

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Do you need the Scheps 73 EQ? Yes, you do!

I don't have many third party plug-ins, actually. [Anything over one is a collection, however. ]

It's easy for some people to think there's a magic bullet, I suppose, but I am not one of them.

But this thread is about an EQ plugin, not the philosophy of consumerism or comfort blankets.

I am not a fan of Neve preamps, they just don't do anything for me. Much prefer api or SSL. But the Neve EQ is very cool and a great tool if you are mixing rock music.

Combining it with the SSL preamp does some very cool things. I usually record guitar with both filters engaged and the 1073 is the first EQ I have used that brings the thump/body back in a very controlled way without having to resort to MB.

[dg27]

Re: Do you need the Scheps 73 EQ? Yes, you do!

But this thread is about an EQ plugin, not the philosophy of consumerism or comfort blankets. .

Who knew? All along I thought this thread was about you making your Scheps commission!

[El Dunco]

Re: Do you need the Scheps 73 EQ? Yes, you do!

Guys, come on. You're not really even disagreeing. Your viewpoints aren't mutually exclusive. Great production won't save a lousy song from being lousy and great songs can stand to benefit from suitable production. Simple. Performance and accurately capturing the best sound is absolutely the most important aspect. Everything else is window dressing and can be just great done tastefully when priorities are in order.

Aspiring producers pouring their money into things they don't really need and investing into the wrong parts of their setup definitely happens. Here's a good video to watch from people of all production experience levels.

[dg27]

Re: Do you need the Scheps 73 EQ? Yes, you do!

Great production won't save a lousy song from being lousy and great songs can stand to benefit from suitable production.

Aspiring producers pouring their money into things they don't really need and investing into the wrong parts of their setup definitely happens.

These were my two main points, really.

Thanks for the link.

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Do you need the Scheps 73 EQ? Yes, you do!

Yes, yes, we all agree. Isn't that wonderful?

Thankfully NONE OF US are the sole arbitrator of taste to decide what is terrible. The idea that nothing will make a 'terrible' song good is elitist pop psychology.

That's my point, it's all subjective. Let's not romanticize what we do, none of us are painting the Sistene Chapel here.

Fact still remains, I love this plugin and no amount of tsk tsking, big brothering, and last wording will change that so stop peeing in my Cornflakes!

[dg27]

Re: Do you need the Scheps 73 EQ? Yes, you do!

The idea that nothing will make a 'terrible' song good is elitist pop psychology.

Actually, no, it's common sense. A sheety song is a sheety song: I don't care how convoluted your process is: it won't fix it.

Fact still remains, I love this plugin and no amount of tsk tsking, big brothering, and last wording will change that so stop peeing in my Cornflakes!

Big Brothering?

You still haven't revealed what your commission is for your gushing endorsement.

[El Dunco]

Re: Do you need the Scheps 73 EQ? Yes, you do!

Yes, yes, we all agree. Isn't that wonderful?

Thankfully NONE OF US are the sole arbitrator of taste to decide what is terrible. The idea that nothing will make a 'terrible' song good is elitist pop psychology.

That's my point, it's all subjective. Let's not romanticize what we do, none of us are painting the Sistene Chapel here.

Fact still remains, I love this plugin and no amount of tsk tsking, big brothering, and last wording will change that so stop peeing in my Cornflakes!

Pretty sure you know me well enough to know what I mean by things production can't fix within a composition and besides capture/performance. Songs that don't live up to their concept, everyone can agree would be objectively bad and it's time to go back to the drawing board before you'd even want to fire up the plugins.

A by-the-numbers pop song that doesn't stick in your mind and isn't catchy fails at its own concept, so does a rock song that tries to rock and doesn't. Sure, those are obvious examples within some fairly tight parameters compared to the wide scope of songwriting in general and I get it that it doesn't have to be either but I'm no elitist. Every song, no matter how unusual it is, has a concept. Every song has something it is trying to achieve or express be it a mood, a feeling, an idea, a statement no matter how basic or abstract and I'm measuring the objective quality of the composition by how well it does what it intended.

I wasn't talking about you when I said aspiring producers spend money in things they don't need. There's a few plugins I find down-right indispensable, after ideal capture and performance and I'm under the impression you have similar priorities in mind. I was actually trying to stop the bickering but it seems I've made things worse. Sorry.

[dg27]

Re: Do you need the Scheps 73 EQ? Yes, you do!

Songs that don't live up to their concept, everyone can agree would be objectively bad and it's time to go back to the drawing board before you'd even want to fire up the plugins.

A by-the-numbers pop song that doesn't stick in your mind and isn't catchy fails at its own concept, so does a rock song that tries to rock and doesn't.

Every song, no matter how unusual it is, has a concept. Every song has something it is trying to achieve or express be it a mood, a feeling, an idea, a statement no matter how basic or abstract and I'm measuring the objective quality of the composition by how well it does what it intended.

This is what I was talking about. I'll take it a step further to say something else I have always believed: if a song's "mood, feeling, idea, or statement" cannot be expressed with only one guitar + one voice or one piano + one voice, then one should consider that its "mood, feeling, idea, or statement" isn't fully developed (and has failed).

I don't expect anyone to agree with this belief and I'm fine with that.