I’ve often joked with friends that as I get older I like fewer people. I say this as a caveat to what I’m about to write because, even though I’m heading towards my sixties, somewhat jaded, and can have my moments of cynicism, even I’m surprised by the discourse found in forums and on social media in our industry.

I can sum it up in three words; misinformed, lazy, and angry. Research, hard work, and optimism are often frowned on, maligned, in many cases mocked. You might want to shrug it off after reading this, perhaps even leave a smart comment, however, I really do believe that on the whole, the audio industry is a lot worse off for it.

Let’s be clear, we are not alone dealing with these issues, I could write the same article about any industry or walk of life, I just happen to know and care about this industry. I’ve spent most of my working life in it and the health of this industry matters to me.

Think of this as an intervention. Although I’m not holding out much hope, the people who will agree with this are not the ones who need to change, the ones who don’t will continue on their path of least resistance, to who knows where?

Misinformed

Every opinion is equal and valid. That’s a lie. Simple as that. If you believe it then it’s likely that you suffer from the Dunning–Kruger effect. In his article for The New York Times, Errol Morris wrote of it; “If you're incompetent, you can't know you're incompetent ... The skills you need to produce a right answer are exactly the skills you need to recognize what a right answer is."

I wrote an article How To Ruin A Great Mix And Why Quality Matters, in it I spoke about how quality raises our expectation for excellence. In the comments community member Alan Hardiman suggested I read “Catastrophe Theory and its Effect on Audio” a paper written for the AES by the late Richard C. Heyser, who died in 1987. Great, I thought, this should be interesting. As I started to read through the paper I realised I wasn’t smart enough to take in most of what was written. I’m not uneducated, I just lacked the reading, study, and background to be able to first understand the subject matter and second then comment on it. I can’t have a valid opinion, it’s as simple as that.

It would be like asking my 9 year old daughter for her opinion on what pension I should invest in. She’s not stupid or uneducated. It’s simply the case that she’s not done enough learning or completed enough education to understand the subject matter. Her opinion would be pointless and add nothing meaningful to the debate.

Now this is where things start to derail and let’s bring this back to the audio production world. Let’s say I get drawn into a discussion on social media or a forum, it could be about 2 way monitors or compression values, or anything to be frank, believe me, in this age of febrile debate and those not even bothering to read past a headline before making a comment, there’s a debate for everyone to join.

I decide I’m going to have an opinion, but I don’t have the learning or experience to be able to debate meaningfully. So as not to lose face I start to watch a few YouTube videos, Google the subject, I recall something said in a forum. Suddenly I’ve gone from knowing very little to being a leading authority on whatever the subject happens to be in a matter of minutes. Have you ever considered how insane this proposition is? That someone who picked glue off their hands during science class is arguing with someone who’s got a doctorate in acoustics and both opinions are valid? Are you seriously suggesting that? Now you might be reading this and retort, ‘well that doesn’t mean they never make a mistake.’ You are right, but I’d lay money they know more about it than the average person who wants and often expresses an opinion. The two are not equal.

I never mind someone saying, ‘I don’t like the sound of 2 way monitors.’ or ‘I hate software subscriptions.’ That’s a perfectly valid response, that’s taste or your philosophy. You don’t have to give a reason for holding those opinions. However, once you begin to try and justify them with junk science or bad data you’ve got from a bigbob74 in a forum, a quick Google search, or a YouTube video, then you’re on shaky ground. The smart person shuts up and says nothing.

The problem is that smart is in short supply, so we have social media, forums, YouTube et al full of junk science created by people whose only qualification is a webcam, a keyboard, and an internet connection.

It’s OK not to know stuff, I perhaps know about .0000000000000000000000000001% of all there is to know. Taking into account the Dunning Kruger effect I probably missed off a lot of zeros with that estimate. Not knowing is OK, but sharing opinions and calling them fact is not. It undermines the combined knowledge of the entire audio industry.

If you really want to know about stuff then there’s a few things you need to do. Spend less time on social media, in forums, YouTube, and watching boxed sets and start reading some real books. It will mean going back to school, college, or University. Knowledge takes time to acquire and it takes a lot of hard work too.

Without the anchor of real learning and knowledge, we end up believing anything.

READ MORE: How Bullshit Took Over The Recording Industry - Why Critical Thinking Matters

Lazy

A new phenomenon that seems to be more prevalent is people asking lazy questions on social media. In effect they are asking someone else to do their research for them. Often it’s a question that would be answered with a web search and then finding a reliable source for the data.

There’s also posts such as “Hey hive minds… best microphone… go!” So in an effort to either have an opinion (see above) or to be helpful, people start to pile in with answers. How can anyone possibly ask such an unqualified and lazy question? If you think you are being helpful answering questions like this then you’re not, you are just encouraging lazy thinking.

I’m expecting soon to see someone post something to the effect of, “So, I’ve literally just had my new audio interface delivered today, it’s sitting in front of me, I was wondering, what is included in the box?” I’ve used the words so and literally as they seem to be de rigueur for these kind of questions.

You might think I’m exaggerating for effect, but there are plenty of questions that are equally lazy.

If you want to know what something sounds like then go get some demos, read reviews from reputable sources such as Sound on Sound, Mix or other equally well informed sources. Even before you do that, draw up a list of requirements, how can you possibly choose the ‘best X’ if you don’t know what you are trying to do? Of course ask the advice of others, but throwing a value question out to the universe in the hope for some clarity is frankly absurd.

It is said there are no such thing as a stupid question. That may well be true, but there are plenty of lazy ones which help no-one, especially the one asking the question.

Angry

I recently did something I soon regretted. I went to a popular online audio forum to see how a new audio interface had been received by the audio community - that was a dumb mistake for me to make.

How are some people allowed keyboards and an internet connection? The quality of the discourse was woeful. The brand bravely tried to address some of the questions, but it was like watching them try to play chess with a chimp. I think they eventually gave up and realised they were wasting their time. It highlighted the issue in my first point, those with little or no knowledge or information expressing an opinion. It really does make me wonder when any of these people get time to record and mix, some of them are so prolific in forums.

However, it highlighted another modern trend and that is debate that is underpinned with constant anger and cynicism. It seems someone could drop a fully wired hardware based studio worth a hundred thousand dollars for a dollar and plenty would complain.

I’m not suggesting we shouldn’t ask genuine questions of manufacturers about a new product, but can we quit the rage? No one is sitting in an office rubbing their hands together like Mr Burns from the Simpsons trying to rip people off. At least no one I know, and I know most of the brands that are often treated like war criminals in forums.

Why the anger? Why the rage? It’s possible to disagree without being disagreeable. It’s possible to critique without being personal. There’s an entire book about why half the people seem to be angry online, it’s to do with unresolved anger in their lives that keeps getting triggered by the latest issue, however small it may be.

And for the love of everything that is sacred, read past a headline, or a claim that someone has made, before daring to comment. It’s the least any of us should do.

Perhaps it’s the febrile nature of these platforms that encourages such an attitude to discourse? Whatever it is, it means that me and anyone I know avoids these places like the plague. It’s such a shame, I got a lot of my early knowledge and support for Pro Tools from the DUC, but I rarely visit now and when I do my worst fears are confirmed. A decade on it’s the same people with the same attitudes racking up tens of thousands of replies to numerous posts.

Where To Now?

There is little point in me writing about a problem without suggesting possible solutions.

Let me start with a proverb, “Fires fail for lack of fuel.” In other words, if we continue to encourage these attitudes then they continue to thrive. However, if we challenge bad thinking, laziness and cynicism when we see it, then there’s a small chance of turning the tide.

One could look at the issue and think it too huge to beat. The same could be said of global warming, a problem that seems so huge and any effort we make so pointless. That reasoning may be valid, but what is the alternative, just lie down and die?

It starts with us challenging bad thinking and bad attitudes, it won’t make us popular, but this isn’t the aim. If you don’t like confrontation then leave the places that this stuff takes place in. You wouldn’t keep going to a bar where there were constant fights, so it might mean leaving a forum or social media group. If enough people vote with their feet then these places die.

There are some excellent examples of communities that exhibit much more positive discourse, although I’m reticent to name them for fear of them being overwhelmed by poor quality community behaviour.

I’d also suggest that we need to return to non-binary thinking. A lot of debates about gear and methods revolve around absolute words like best, worst, good, bad, wrong, right, always, never.

Music and sound creation is rarely summarised in such ham-fisted ways. Even if someone asks a question like ‘what is the best microphone for kick drum’ try and put the emotional brakes on by using words like suitable or appropriate, or by offering an answer that is less final. You might respond with ‘I’ve had great results with an RE20, but I’ve also had good results with a D112. The size of the bass drum determined what I used.” It’s worth remembering that this is art and many of our answers are simply preference and decided on by the circumstances. To try and convey art in such clumsy black and white terms does our craft an injustice.

In some ways it seems idiotic that we even need to be having a conversation about good discourse, it’s the stuff I teach my 9 year old about, not my adult children. However this ship is listing precariously and needs some urgent correction.

I refuse to allow this amazing industry, with some of the sharpest and creative minds on the planet, to be overwhelmed by misinformed, lazy, and angry discourse.

What about you, will you be the answer to the problem?