AudioMedia - December 2008 - (Page 5) leader I was once handed a microphone for repair and was promised a full and accurate description of the fault. I got a single piece of paper with just one word written on it; and I’ll leave you to work out which one (it wasn’t helpful). That’s a useful image, because in a spectacularly ignorant economic simplification, it would appear from most media coverage that everybody in the entire world is, financially, single-word-to-describe-problem-with-the-microphone…ed. I’m not an economist. In arguing the finer points of credit markets, inflation, exchange, and so on, I can just about get the better of a sheep. But for what it’s worth, the recent trade shows and meetings I’ve attended could be described as ‘economically nonchalant.’ It’s as if we’ve been in recession for ten years already, and the difficult financial climate has become background noise despite the squawks of headless chickens up-top. As an industry, we are acting mildly surprised that the rest of the world has only just noticed a problem. Maybe it’s that we’ve been grappling with financial adversity for so long that we’ve accepted it as the norm. We’ve had a lot to deal with. Whether it was the compression of the high technology bubble until it burst all over place – splattering everyone with weapons of mass production; or whether it’s the strange duality of warped commune and utter capitalism (dressed in jacket and jeans) that is the Internet (and the DRM, piracy, and deflation complications it brought). Whether it’s the splurge of cheap Tv with audio budgets to match; or… well… it’s a big list. Progress exerts incredible influence over the bottom line, though amazingly, we’re still here. So now we’re told: ‘it’s going to be a bit tricky in the financial department over the next year…’ And? ‘We’ll have to run faster to stand still…’ Uh-huh… ‘There will be casualties – some may not be adequately prepared…’ That’s nice dear… That's business as usual in the media industries. Coping with financial and market strain is something we’ve become very good at, which means we should be well prepared for whatever gets chucked over the wall next. There will be some who don’t make it through unscathed (as always), but there are signs of life around the technology infrastructure and production fields that may help to balance the outlook. I don’t want to be the annoying optimist who, while the group sits amongst the rubble and settles into comfortable misery, pipes up with, “Come on chaps, could be worse!” (in a chirpy tone). Mostly because I don’t want to get lynched. I simply want to offer context – a long history of making it work. I’m not certain what that poor microphone had been through, but in the end I had to concede that the single word was indeed a full and accurate description of the problem. So we went ahead and fixed it anyway (I think I just heard a sheep laugh in a derisive manner). Merry Christmas from all at AM. Paul Mac, Editor motU dIGItal PErformEr 6.0 REvIEW 46 cHrIStmaS SWaG IS bacK! R E A D E R CO M P E T I T I O N 52 AUDIO mEdIa is a Sustaining Member of the Audio Engineering Society. AUDIO mEdIa www.audiomedia.com aUdIo mEdIa (Europe), 1st floor, 1 cabot House, compass Point business Park, St Ives, cambs, PE27 5jl. telephone: +44 (0)1480 461555 – facsimile: +44 (0)1480 461550 GEar of tHE YEar ROUND UP 34 General E-mail: mail@audiomedia.com – Press release E-mail: pr@audiomedia.com Managing Director Angela Brown a.brown@audiomedia.com Production Editor Lanna Marshall l.marshall@audiomedia.com Circulations Manager/ Administration Jo Perriss mail@audiomedia.com Associate Group Publisher Nick Humbert n.humbert@audiomedia.com Design & Production Manager John-Paul Shirreffs jp.shirreffs@audiomedia.com Regional Sales Manager Bob Kennedy bkennedy@imaspub.com +44 (0)1279 861264 Editor In Chief Paul Mac p.mac@audiomedia.com Subscriptions subs@audiomedia.com UK £43 European (airmail) £60 International (airmail) £72 Payable in Sterling through UK bank News/AMSR Editor David Mackenzie d.mackenzie@audiomedia.com US Sales Manager Matt Rubenstein mrubenstein@imaspub.com +1 914 524 5045 toP tEn WIntEr dEalS P R O M OT I O N 24 the contents of this publication are subject to worldwide copyright protection and reproduction in whole or in part, whether mechanical or electronic, is expressly forbidden without the prior written consent of the Publishers. Great care is taken to ensure accuracy in the preparation of this publication but neither ImaS Publishing (UK) limited nor the Editor can be held responsible for its contents. the views expressed are those of the contributors and not necessarily those of the Publishers or Editor. the Publishers accept no responsibility for the return of unsolicited manuscripts, photographs, or artwork. © 2008 ImaS Publishing (UK) limited. all rights reserved. *Within broadcast & Production aUdIo mEdIa dEcEmbEr 2008 5 http://www.audiomedia.com http://www.nbmedia.com
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