# You Get What You Pay For



## noiseboyuk (Sep 28, 2010)

True or false?


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## Christian Marcussen (Sep 28, 2010)

Truish...


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## bryla (Sep 28, 2010)

No... somethings are also underpriced


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## Mike Greene (Sep 28, 2010)

Well, all I know is whenever a hooker asks for an extra 50 bucks and says "It will be worth it," it never is.


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## noiseboyuk (Sep 28, 2010)

Mike Greene @ Tue Sep 28 said:


> Well, all I know is whenever a hooker asks for an extra 50 bucks and says "It will be worth it," it never is.



That sounds like the definitive answer here...

The best I'd come up with otherwise was Falseish.


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## wst3 (Sep 28, 2010)

I think it is true... with a caveat, not everyone is out to get rich quick!

There are, for example, some frighteningly good deals in the small, specialized sample library marketplace. I think we get much more than we pay for in these cases, when we compare them to other libraries.

I can't be the only one that looked at the pricing for the Microhammer stuff and wondered what the deal was. Same goes for Sonokinetic libraries. 

Sometimes we get jaded. Back in the late 1980s a friend of mine brought an audio product to market at a stupidly cheap price. He went with straight cost plus, and that was the result. It tanked because comparable products were selling for much more. As a last ditch effort he tripled (I think) the price, and he could not keep them in stock. INSANE!

By the same token, a lot of people think that they can buy a microphone for $100 that will compare favorably with a microphone that costs $1000. That's a good example of getting what you pay for.

And sometimes it is hard to figure out. I used to think it was insane to spend that kind of cash on a microphone... till I used one.

If everyone priced things fairly it woò ‘   èÔ| ‘   èÔ} ‘   èÔ~ ‘   èÔ ‘   èÔ€ ‘


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## midphase (Sep 28, 2010)

Here I go and get myself in trouble now but...

I think there's an awful lot of overpaid composers in Hollywood top tiers, and an awful lot of underpaid but really better overall composers in the indie world.

So when it comes to talent, I think the price vs. quality thing is somewhat irrelevant.


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## noiseboyuk (Sep 28, 2010)

Last year I did an experiment. I bought in my £50 Samson mic into a voiceover booth in a TV studio, and recorded myself on both it and a Neumann U87. I edited together the two seamlessly to allow a blind A/B comparison, and tested in a colleague whose ears I absolutely trust.

Neither of us could tell the difference.

Now, the caveats - that was just on one voice, the noisefloor is markedly higher on the Samson which is apparent on very very quiet material etc. But to both of us who were listening (and I could have been biased of course), it was interesting to reflect that the £50 mic sounded, on the presented material, identical to a £1k mic. Is the £1k mic better? Yes. Is it 20x better? No. Do you get what you pay for? Hmmm.... I don't think you do, no. It's hard to conclude anything other than either the £50 mic is an absurd bargain or the £1k is overpriced.

Interesting example about your friend in the 80s though, wst...


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## Jaap (Sep 29, 2010)

midphase @ Wed Sep 29 said:


> Here I go and get myself in trouble now but...
> 
> I think there's an awful lot of overpaid composers in Hollywood top tiers, and an awful lot of underpaid but really better overall composers in the indie world.
> 
> So when it comes to talent, I think the price vs. quality thing is somewhat irrelevant.



You are in big trouble now.... :mrgreen: 

Joking aside, but I think you are right there. I think a lot of indie composers work extremely hard and get everything out they have to hope they get noticed and they get underpaid for it.

Of course there will be a few that think...."mm this doesn't pay much, lets deliver just some crap to make it fit the payment". I think the most who are serious about their carreer and take every job they can in order to make a step up will also try to deliver the best they can, even if it is for a crappy movie with an even more crappy budget.


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## NYC Composer (Sep 29, 2010)

noiseboyuk @ Wed Sep 29 said:


> Last year I did an experiment. I bought in my £50 Samson mic into a voiceover booth in a TV studio, and recorded myself on both it and a Neumann U87. I edited together the two seamlessly to allow a blind A/B comparison, and tested in a colleague whose ears I absolutely trust.
> 
> Neither of us could tell the difference.
> 
> ...



My vocal chain includes a Grace preamp, UAD plug-ins and...a $350 Sterling mic.
I figure the Sterling has saved me some serious cash-I've gotten some raves on my vocal sound since I started using it. In that case I got more than I paid for. It's nice and big and heavy-looking (s)

I bought Gypsy for-whatever the going sale price was. I've gotten no professional use for it as of yet, but I'm glad to have it in my arsenal. Did I overpay? 

Neither true nor false, just depends.


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## wst3 (Sep 29, 2010)

not trying to be difficult here, but I am curious.

You say at one point that you could not tell the difference, and later you say that the noise floor was higher for the less expensive microphone. Did the elevated noise floor not make it obvious which microphone was which?

Bottom line... it is the craftsman, not the tools. I have gotten really good results with really cheap gear. It has taken longer, and my instincts suggest that I'd getter better results with better gear, but sometimes that has not been an option. And I have worked with folks that could record with a tin can and string - as with so many things, it comes down to knowledge, experience, and talent.

But, at least for microphones, there are other factors to consider:
1) that U87 will outlast the typical Chinese capsule microphone may times over. 20 times? Could be. I still use (when I can get my hands on them) U-67s and 77DXs that are probably older than I am!
2) Given five 'high dollar' and five 'inexpensive' microphones the former will sound a lot alike when new, the later, not so much.
3) Resale value - ok, I've never actually sold a microphone (gad!), but if I had to, I'll get more than I paid for most of them, and that doesn't take into account money I've earned using them.
4)ò â   èêM â   èêN â   èêO â   èêP â   èêQ â   èêR â   èêS â   èêT â   èêU â   èêV â   èêW â   èêX â   èêY â   èêZ â   èê[ â   èê\ â   èê] â   èê^ â   èê_ â   èê` â   èêa â   èêb â   èêc â   èêd â   èêe â   èêf â   èêg â   èêh â   èêi â   èêj â   èêk â   èêl â   èêm â   èên â   èêo â   èêp â   èêq â   èêr â   èês â   èêt â   èêu â   èêv â   èêw â   èêx â   èêy â   èêz â   èê{ â   èê| â   èê} â   èê~ â   èê â   èê€ â   èê â   èê‚ â   èêƒ â   èê„ â   èê… â   èê† â   èê‡ â   èêˆ â   èê‰ â   èêŠ â   èê‹ â   èêŒ â   èê â   èêŽ â   èê â   èê â   èê‘ â   èê’ â   èê“ â   èê” â   èê• â   èê– â   èê— â   èê˜ â   èê™ â   èêš â   èê› â   èêœ â   èê â   èêž â   èêŸ â   èê  â   èê¡ â   èê¢ â   èê£ â   èê¤ â   èê¥ â   èê¦ â   èê§ â   èê¨ â   èê© â   èêª ã   èê« ã   èê¬ ã   èê­ ã   èê® ã   èê¯ ã   èê° ã   èê± ã   èê² ã   èê³ ã   èê´ ã   èêµ ã   èê¶ ã   èê· ã   èê¸ ã   èê¹ ã   èêº ã   èê» ã   èê¼              ò ã   èê¾ ã   èê¿ ã   èêÀ ã   èêÁ ã   èêÂ ã   èêÃ ã   èêÄ ã   èêÅ ã   èêÆ ã   èêÇ ã   èêÈ ã   èêÉ ã   èêÊ ã   èêË ã   èêÌ ã   èêÍ ã   èêÎ ã   èêÏ ã   èêÐ ã   èêÑ ã   èêÒ ã   èêÓ ã   èêÔ ã   èêÕ ã   èêÖ ã   èê× ã   èêØ ã   èêÙ ã   èêÚ ã   èêÛ ã   èêÜ ã   èêÝ ã   èêÞ ã   èêß ã   èêà ã   èêá ã   èêâ ã   èêã ã   èêä ã   èêå ã   èêæ ã   èêç ã   èêè ã   èêé ã   èêê ã   èêë ã   èêì ã   èêí ã   èêî ã   èêï ã   èêð ã   èêñ ã   èêò ã   èêó ã   èêô ã   èêõ ã   èêö ã   èê÷ ã   èêø ã   èêù ã   èêú ã   èêû ã   èêü ã   èêý ã   èêþ ã   èêÿ ã   èë  ã   èë ã   èë ã   èë ã   èë ã   èë ã   èë ã   èë ã


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## noiseboyuk (Sep 29, 2010)

All valid points, wst. In our test, the level of my gob was easily enough to set the gain at a level where the noisefloor wasn't apparent - as I say, that's really only for very quiet sources (like foley work) where you hear it.

I've no idea how long the Chinese mic will last. FWIW Neumanns do go wrong over time to be honest, but it's all repairable (and that is a major difference). Of course THEN you have to offset repair costs vs buying a new £50 mic!


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## madbulk (Sep 29, 2010)

noiseboyuk @ Tue Sep 28 said:


> Mike Greene @ Tue Sep 28 said:
> 
> 
> > Well, all I know is whenever a hooker asks for an extra 50 bucks and says "It will be worth it," it never is.
> ...



You think they just give out warnings around here like candy? No. You gotta bring it. Day in day out. Work ethic, Son. Man's a legend.


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## George Caplan (Sep 30, 2010)

noiseboyuk @ Tue Sep 28 said:


> True or false?



yes. i bought 1,388,888 shares in a bank for .72uk pence sometime last year and sold them about 6 mths later for 3.75. o-[][]-o


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## Hannes_F (Sep 30, 2010)

On the long hand you get what you wish for ... but frightenly excactly that ... that might be trueisher.


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