> STUDIO APRS
Recording is no longer the preserve of experienced professionals with access to costly equipment
Ch-ch-ch-changes I
Rob Hughes speaks to Peter Filleul, executive director of the Association of Professional Recording Services, to find out what the trade body is doing to help strengthen and support an ever-evolving industry…
t’s not just in recording circles that you’ll hear the phrase: ‘it’s not like it used to be’, nor, by any means, is the feeling of being ridden rough-shod over by progression exclusive to this industry.
The APRS
embraces change, recognises how the industry has evolved for the better, as well as the worse, and contemplates how the working
conditions of audio professionals can be improved.
Having also been deputy editor of Audio Pro’s sister magazine, MI Pro, I’ve listened to many a 50-something owner of a ‘bricks and mortar’ musical instrument retail business complain about the unfair competition posed by the internet. I’ve also had it on good authority that one such character did so with his feet on the shop counter with a cup of tea in his hand. Let’s be honest, from an outsider’s point of view, it’s quite obvious that this attitude gets us nowhere. Convincing the older generations of audio professionals to
take a more positive stance on the way the industry has evolved is one of the numerous objectives set out by the Association of Professional Recording Services, with the aim of helping to shore up the industry. The trade body recognises the unproductiveness of this attitude and has endeavoured to instil some optimism by way of its regular discussion and technical workshops. These events represent an opportunity for professionals from all corners of the industry to share ideas, ask the advice of experts and engage in discussion, arming attendees with the kind of know-how needed to succeed in an increasingly saturated market. “The influx of digital and the move from the analog to hard disk recording has completely democratised the whole
46 audioPRO May 2011
process,” says executive director Peter Filleul. “There used to be a lot of very well experienced studio owner types who would record in their own maverick way. But now there are thousands of people who know much more about multi-track recording and are vying to be heard – not just in the popular music sector, but also in the orchestral sector and local events; choirs, ensembles and so on. So there are an awful lot more people in the business now.” The absence of negativity in Filleul’s words is palpable. The APRS is not here to be wistful and lament the business of yesteryear – quite the opposite, in fact. It embraces change, recognises how the industry has evolved for the better, as well as for the worse, and contemplates how the working conditions of the audio professional can be improved in the here and now. Naturally, education figures highly on its agenda in this respect – while equipment is much easier to come by than it was 20 years ago, recording expertise is not something that can be acquired in an instant from a shop. Yet it is this that makes an engineer stand out from the crowd. “I think there are two aspects here; there’s the ease with which you can create a recording now, even on a basic computer with a relatively cheap microphone and a preamp, and there’s the skill involved in doing it well. It is possible to make multi-track recordings at home, but to do so effectively, you need to have is a basic understanding of acoustics – about why things sound the way they do and how they sit
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