Re: Martin MLA pricing?
I don't see any gear ''killing'' the industry.
The only one who can kill our industry is ourselves. There are a lot examples where crew or companies jump into jobs for less money than they are worth.
I don't have a problem with cheap crew and companies but with cheap and good working crew and companies.
I agree that hobbyists have a lot more choices when it comes to gear and they are really using their choices. Why not? I can remember bands with PAs doing audio jobs on the market, later some rental companies raised from that business. Most companies are considered medium to top runners on the market now and they play against the new cheap competition.
The medium format digital desks (from 32 inputs) are lightweight, affordable and capable compared to medium format analog gear. So, what does that tell us? A FOH console is still a tool, the value is zero when nobody is using the console in a good way. So even more it's in the hand of the crew to proof their value. I, personally, don't need high priced gear to show my worth, it just has to do the job. As an example, a good mixing engineer can easily out-perform a hobbyist on a low-priced console. If not he has to change the industry and sell insurances or whatever. The same logic applies to rental companies, when the jobs are going well clients are more likely to pay the asked for price. Otherwise they can rely on hobbyists.
It's up to us, let's raise the quality bar, educate ourselves even further, always think of creative solutions, keep up good work ethics. When we do this nobody can kill our industry.
