On one hand, we have the advancement of technology which enabled us to achieve home records that are better than the demo quality of a full-on studio. And this we can achieve even with the most sparse setups (The AudioKontrol Room has
one audio input! most amateur home setups have two).
On the other hand, listeners are also less sensitive to the quality of recordings nowadays. Not only because of getting used to streaming/low bitrate mp3 quality, but because the producers (especially pop/MoR) end up arranging mediocre orchestrations and directing sometimes horribly amateur mixes (because they learned using Fruityloops/Ableton and never really grew out of it), and engineers are stuck with hordes of MIDI triggered samples and emulators, and well, mastering engineers are pretty much stuck with whatever material is sent to them and they can only do so much.
I think however, that big studios are here to stay. But of course, there won't be a lot of them, but I think that's good balance. Not all studios with rooms and acoustic treatments and huge consoles produce top notch results, so those on the lower end of the spectrum can shift to a more compact digital format. The big studios with great sound and quality can be the paragons of the local music industry.
As more musicians try the homemade record route, they will recognize that they cannot achieve everything in a home setup, and they will hit a lot of limits, and they will increasingly seek the sonic qualities only a big studio (whether analog or digital) can provide.
Also, two inch tapes rock! Iba talaga ang tunog, kahit sobrang basag ang nirecord mo!
I feel sad that Tracks has closed. I'd love to get some of the things they're selling, kahit for keeps lang, as a part of the local music history.
Gusto ko rin bilhin yung tapes ng Cueshe para tapos na.
