Spend any time in forums and on social media and it doesn’t take long to find some bright young person fresh out of recording college full of ideas and opinions. Conversely you’ll also find long established producers and engineers who were making records (when they were still records) before the young guns were even a twinkle in the eye of their father, expressing some jaded view about how no one does anything right anymore.
Of course I’m using some exaggeration for effect here, but it is fair to say that there’s the passion of youth and the cynicism of age splashing around in gallons.
When I was 15 I used to spend my Sunday afternoons sat listening to a friend I had called Walter, he was 65 and he would impart his wisdom to me as we sat and talked. I think we both benefited greatly from our times together, he died years ago and I miss those times we shared. The truth is, no one is entirely right or entirely wrong and if we took the time and common sense to stop and listen, then I think we would all be a lot better off for it.
So, I want to offer both young and old a chance here to share what they feel they want to say to the different generations.
To those of you just starting out, what would you like to say to those of us a bit further down the road? To those who have been doing this longer than they care to remember, what would you like to say to those just starting out?
This is us trying to create a safe place where we can all share things to make us all better at what we do and hopefully benefit the industry as a whole. Young or old, if you think you have nothing to learn then you may be in the wrong place - to the rest, the floor is yours!