State of the industry - Roy Gregory Editorial
- Thread starter Elliot G.
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Jeez guys - take a breath... Okay, okay - and purely in the spirit of generating some clarity - why write the Glass Ceiling piece now?
Two reasons: firstly, because there are signs that it's cracked already and getting close to shattering; secondly, because as that happens, those relying on or profiting from its existence are getting more desperate, more aggressive and increasingly out of order.
Two reasons: firstly, because there are signs that it's cracked already and getting close to shattering; secondly, because as that happens, those relying on or profiting from its existence are getting more desperate, more aggressive and increasingly out of order.
This whole script is ROFL British sitcom material.
@spiritofmusic the two of us need to do better next time else we will lose our show rating
I must ‘confess’: we indeed raised the bar (or did we really??)
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Well, it was a limbo bar, so pretty easy.
You say that, but this has been going on for the entire year I have been a subscribed, right up to my very last issue. There are many other problems with this magazine beyond the fact that one man writes all the reviews, so many of which are so cookie cutter that they even mention the same tracks in the same part of the article so you can literally swap product names and read the same words over and over.
Probably an over simplified comparison. I lived in Jackson, WY., marketed as Jackson Hole. A sign at the top of Teton Pass states "the last and best of the Old West".
That certainly seemed true when I first moved there in 1981. Fast forward 36 years when I retired and moved to Alto, NM. Housing prices are now $1,000 per square foot, very few locals (including law enforcement, medical personnel, etc.) can live there due to prices and lack of inventory. The business interests continue to dominate and further compromise whatever is left of the valley's community character. The very thing that initially attracted folks to move there has been destroyed by greed and money.
The good news is 97% of Teton County is in the public domain and money cannot buy the incredible beauty of Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks and the Bridger Teton National Forest.
That certainly seemed true when I first moved there in 1981. Fast forward 36 years when I retired and moved to Alto, NM. Housing prices are now $1,000 per square foot, very few locals (including law enforcement, medical personnel, etc.) can live there due to prices and lack of inventory. The business interests continue to dominate and further compromise whatever is left of the valley's community character. The very thing that initially attracted folks to move there has been destroyed by greed and money.
The good news is 97% of Teton County is in the public domain and money cannot buy the incredible beauty of Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks and the Bridger Teton National Forest.
Who could blame him though. He is a good author, funny and writes well. But who could review 10 products every month in a way that would mean anything to anyone.
I still prefer Monty Python; but only just
My fave cut and paste from Sircom is how the component he's reviewing "combines the best of brand A, w the best of brand B, w the best of brand C".
Almost every review I read of his does this, it's like an AI program combined w Groundhog Day lol.
No wonder he can knock out so many reviews at a time, he just has his machine w well worn phrases at the ready.
Almost every review I read of his does this, it's like an AI program combined w Groundhog Day lol.
No wonder he can knock out so many reviews at a time, he just has his machine w well worn phrases at the ready.
Ha! Ked and I are what the Python boys left on the cutting room floor, surreal but tediously boring and predictable all at the same time.
No, I don't cut and paste my work, and if I handed my workload over to AI, it would be grammatically better.
One of the more common complaints directed at high-end audio reviews is the absence of comparisons. Because of my throughput, I can go some way toward making those comparisons – or at least allude to them – through commonalities. It's often functionally impossible to perform direct comparisons in high-end because of logistics and swap-out times. However, with exposure to so many bits and pieces, I can work up something that comes close to a comparison, which doesn't involve having an orthopaedic surgeon on speed dial.
Yes, that means reviews can end up self-referential and 'meta', but I maintain it's a helpful shorthand that most people who have got this far can understand. I feel it's as relevant as relying on the limited vocabulary and overused analogies we have in audio reviewing; I have to do that in reviews where I can't apply some direct comparative benchmarks. Some (myself included) have attempted to extend this vocabulary by introducing neologisms and even terminology from music and music technology, but there is a lot of pushback whenever we try.
Similarly, we are limited to drawing parallels to cars, cameras, and watches because even though they are desperately trite, they are also universally understandable. When you use anything else in an audio review, the resulting analogy can appear awkward, calculated, or parochial. Worse still, if you try to avoid using analogies altogether, you can seem aloof in some regions.
In truth, I would like to review fewer products, but my workload is an unfortunate by-product of chronic insomnia. Writing tens of thousands of words a month gives me something to do at 4 am and it's slightly healthier than drinking myself unconscious regularly.
Now... if you excuse me, I have to catch up on all the work I didn't do thanks to my latest tussle with COVID-19.
Yes, thank you for participating. I am glad you are on the mend, and wish you a speedy recovery. As I mentioned, I think you are a very good author and write well and are no doubt capable of writing profusely each month. What I question is the experimentation, listening time and overall time spent with each product when doing ten reviews a month. The writing quality is Not an issue, the review process is. How do you move so many products in and out of your listening room? Or, as I suspect, these arent in-house reviews but rather day trips to dealers or something else? Personalily, i dont think i understand a component until it has sat in the system a long time. Amd that implies i understand the rest of the system, the room and the music…. That said, even if I did understand, I couldn’t write as well as you.
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