Glenn Fricker's Opinion.

Tell the that to the 1%.
The Edge decided to sit in on this guy's rig...I guess the tone & rig "didn't matter" to him...ha ha ha ha ha ha



You missed my point completely. I was addressing Fricker's comment about the fact that "99% of the audience doesn't know if you have good tone, so why spend all that money on hoity toity gear?" You just made my point, it doesn't matter if the 99% don't know if the tone is good, the 1% know, (myself and The Edge included) and that's all that matters. ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha eesh... are you 12?
 
My tone is my tone. It's what motivates me and makes playing exciting. Not for the"99%" anyway . If they don't like it , ask for a refund and put the shirt on eBay
 
There could be a car related analogy here too...

Do you buy a high spec expensive car because everybody will appreciate and admire it (and make you feel good about yourself)? Or do you buy it because it feels better and makes you a better driver.

It's a bit of a loose analogy and breaks down if you examine it too closely (hmmm... some expensive cars breakdown too but that's another topic entirely) and probably takes a diversion into the realms of ego but...
 
who really buys gear for anyone other than themselves and they personal inspiration? i don't care if the audience can tell the difference, I can....and that's all that matters.
 
I have a funny experience and can relate to the comment about guitar tone and expensive gear.

I play in a couple bands and had back-to-back rehearsals one Sunday. I used an Axe FX rig for the first band as we were taking them to Spain for a show and for convenience, used the same setup for my other band's rehearsal later on, rather than having to bring my usual JVM/G System rig in addition.

The Axe FX sounded great for the first rehearsal and everyone agreed. Second band rehearsal, the other guitarist, who is gear/tone obsessed, completely railed on my guitar tone through the Axe FX and ordered me to never bring it to his band's rehearsals or gigs again. As Glenn said: serious reality check needed for local gigging bands!
 
The point cited above about 40 amp models is ultimately not anti-Axe-Fx but anti-too-many-tones. In fact, to be honest, if I were a sound guy and someone presented me with 40 different amps for one show, I'd be equally displeased.
This. So much this.

Just because I have hundreds of amp models to choose from doesn't mean I have to use them. To be honest, I couldn't even tell the difference between all the recto models we have.

He does have a point. Most of the big artists are known for a specific signature sound. Using a different amp model on every song can be fun, but it's also pretty pointless when you think about it.


Also, his ranting about modellers is not actually about the modellers themselves. In fact, if you watch his video about modellers and the Axe FX, he pretty much appreciates it. He's more ranting about the people using it and how they just can't shut up about it. And I absolutely can't blame him for that.

Besides, this guy loves stigmatizing for fun. It's his style.
Watch any random video about him and you will notice what I mean. Especially if you are a bassist. Obviously, he's not actually thinking that bassist are retards. But he loves to poke them for making fun of comment reactions of pissed and angry people who don't get sarcasm.

I regret the fact he praises bias and disrespects modelers...I prefered when he was just the guy to remind us that amps still exists ^^
He doesn't disrespect modellers. He just hates the POD, but pretty much said that he wouldn't mind working with the Axe or Kemper if anyone of his customers brought one. Also, his review about Bias was pretty much along the lines of "it's awesome for it's price and interface." and that he would have loved having it back when he couldn't afford gear. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that statement.
 
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The Axe FX sounded great for the first rehearsal and everyone agreed. Second band rehearsal, the other guitarist, who is gear/tone obsessed, completely railed on my guitar tone through the Axe FX and ordered me to never bring it to his band's rehearsals or gigs again.

He sounds like a first-rate asshole.
 
who cares? he has a right to an opinion, just like everyone else. just like if you prefer vanilla to chocolate
 
First post alert! :)

We kind of ended this thread on the first two pages and agreed that Glenn talks like that to start debates to get more clicks and make a living that way. I have nothing against that and I'm also happy for him that he's getting more clients now with his YouTube persona so there are people who like his approach.

However the smart thing to do from our perspective is to treat him like RR. No not bash him but simply ignore him. We are only supporting him with threads like these and making him want to post more stuff bashing this forum since it gets him more attention = more money. So when he posts his next video let's all try to fight the urge to share the video on this forum. That's the way this thing stops.

I actually think he likes Axe-Fx. I just might be that he sees our weakness which is that we always feel the need to defend Fractal when someone says stuff like that. Think about it guys. His Bias FX video got him 26 thousand views. So he made $25 dollars approximately with that video. (plus what Positive Grid paid him) That's an informative video about gear. This video however has nearly 70 thousand views in 5 days so he made three times more money with this video already that is just his opinions and not necessarily information per se. So why wouldn't you continue milking that cow when it works and you get money for it. Us talking about this video gets him more views.
 
First post alert! :)

We kind of ended this thread on the first two pages and agreed that Glenn talks like that to start debates to get more clicks and make a living that way. I have nothing against that and I'm also happy for him that he's getting more clients now with his YouTube persona so there are people who like his approach.

However the smart thing to do from our perspective is to treat him like RR. No not bash him but simply ignore him. We are only supporting him with threads like these and making him want to post more stuff bashing this forum since it gets him more attention = more money. So when he posts his next video let's all try to fight the urge to share the video on this forum. That's the way this thing stops.

I actually think he likes Axe-Fx. I just might be that he sees our weakness which is that we always feel the need to defend Fractal when someone says stuff like that. Think about it guys. His Bias FX video got him 26 thousand views. So he made $25 dollars approximately with that video. (plus what Positive Grid paid him) That's an informative video about gear. This video however has nearly 70 thousand views in 5 days so he made three times more money with this video already that is just his opinions and not necessarily information per se. So why wouldn't you continue milking that cow when it works and you get money for it. Us talking about this video gets him more views.
completely OT : how do you make money with youtube videos, if you care to explain ?
 
I subscribed to his youtube channel because of this thread... he really does give out some good technical advice in between the faux shock jock stuff.

He does at times and I've watched some of his videos as well and some were really good. I just came to a conclusion that I don't think he is a reliable source of information. Sure he's got a studio and all but seeing him play guitar and his drummers play drums did not seem professional. Not that you have to be the best player to be a good audio engineer but in this case when a metal guys doesn't know how to palm mute properly and then starts comparing different modelers I'm not taking his word for it. How can he have a reliable opinion on which modeler is good etc. if he doesn't know how an amp is supposed to react when palm muting. I know it might seems like a small issue but that's one of the biggest problems I've had with other modelers besides the Axe-Fx. I'm not going to start a comparison war again but that German toaster didn't palm mute anything like the real amps I.. toasted with it. The screaming is simply not funny to me. "Real" metal guys are not angry... like f.ex. Ola. I hate that stereotype. I don't eat spicy food to show other people I'm a badass. I don't listen to metal music to seem like a badass. All IMO.

So for me it's a place for "entertainment" rather than a place where I would get solid information from.
 
He does at times and I've watched some of his videos as well and some were really good. I just came to a conclusion that I don't think he is a reliable source of information. Sure he's got a studio and all but seeing him play guitar and his drummers play drums did not seem professional. Not that you have to be the best player to be a good audio engineer but in this case when a metal guys doesn't know how to palm mute properly and then starts comparing different modelers I'm not taking his word for it. How can he have a reliable opinion on which modeler is good etc. if he doesn't know how an amp is supposed to react when palm muting. I know it might seems like a small issue but that's one of the biggest problems I've had with other modelers besides the Axe-Fx. I'm not going to start a comparison war again but that German toaster didn't palm mute anything like the real amps I.. toasted with it. The screaming is simply not funny to me. "Real" metal guys are not angry... like f.ex. Ola. I hate that stereotype. I don't eat spicy food to show other people I'm a badass. I don't listen to metal music to seem like a badass. All IMO.

So for me it's a place for "entertainment" rather than a place where I would get solid information from.

He definitely is not expert on all things audio. TBH when the Pod first came out, I was in a circle of friends and band mates who thought it was being a p#ssy not have real amps on stage. It's just old fart syndrome lol

(My same friends thought it was vagi to listen to hair metal too.. until they saw all the Betty's at the shows... then EVERYONE put on spandex and started sucking their cheeks in... lol)
 
completely OT : how do you make money with youtube videos, if you care to explain ?

By monetizing your account. It depends on many things but essentially you make like $1 per 1000 views so if you want to make a living with it you need a lot of views. Essentially those ads that you see on YouTube only appear on videos that have been monetized. Companies/people can make ad plans with Google just like on Facebook. They select a target group based on your Google search history and find that you are interested in guitar gear. Then when you're watching f.ex. Glenn's videos you get ads from various different companies that selected "guitar gear" in their ad plan. When ever an ad is being played on top of a video someone makes money. Some people make a living creating a reality show of their own life.

Check this video out:



Chappers just posted a video of that guy playing his lap steel and got 100.000 views and gave this guy the money. Now that he made this video he got like 400.000 views so he made $400 with this video giving this guy £100. So... essentially you could create a channel that is completely based on doing nice things to other people and create a snowball effect where you make money by doing nice things to other people. That's the ultimate life goal right there. :)
 
So... essentially you could create a channel that is completely based on doing nice things to other people and create a snowball effect where you make money by doing nice things to other people.
Or you can be one of the clickbait douchebags and make ten times that money with way less effort in content creation. ;P
Cause, mind you, this is the internet we are talking about.
 
By monetizing your account. It depends on many things but essentially you make like $1 per 1000 views so if you want to make a living with it you need a lot of views. Essentially those ads that you see on YouTube only appear on videos that have been monetized. Companies/people can make ad plans with Google just like on Facebook. They select a target group based on your Google search history and find that you are interested in guitar gear. Then when you're watching f.ex. Glenn's videos you get ads from various different companies that selected "guitar gear" in their ad plan. When ever an ad is being played on top of a video someone makes money. Some people make a living creating a reality show of their own life.

Check this video out:



Chappers just posted a video of that guy playing his lap steel and got 100.000 views and gave this guy the money. Now that he made this video he got like 400.000 views so he made $400 with this video giving this guy £100. So... essentially you could create a channel that is completely based on doing nice things to other people and create a snowball effect where you make money by doing nice things to other people. That's the ultimate life goal right there. :)


Saying it's 1 dollar per 1000 views is not an accurate answer. I have been making videos professionally on YouTube for about 4 years now. Your CPM goes up and down depending on the time of year and how much advertisers are going to pay. It will never be as low as 1 dollar per 1000 views. It's usually between 5-10 dollars, or in December when it can go upwards to 20 per thousand views. For instance, right now I'm looking at my analytics and a video I posted has got just over 100,000 views, and I have made $989.96 dollars from it so far, because most of the time the CPM has been around 10 dollars for me. Now, another video of mine that has around 100K views has made me $432.77 to date. So the average CPM on that is just over 4 dollars. Then again, another video I have that has around 100K views has earned me $1,356.21 to date. I have videos with way more views than that and make more or less.

So, that is also just assuming that people are not using adblock. But, people do. It's not exactly X amount of dollars per 1000 views. It's X amount of dollars per 1000 monetized views. If somebody uses adblock, that is no longer a monetized view. According to my analytics, 41% of my viewers are using adblock, because only 59% of my views are monetized views. So, the CPM's I estimated above, actually are higher than what I said, because I did not factor in the adblock viewers.

Adsense also pays different in different regions. For instance, I'm in Canada and Canada is one of the highest paying regions along with parts of America. Mexico on the other hand, get's the shaft.

I have literally never gotten paid 1 dollar for every 1000 monetized views. That is way too low. Right now, at a low paying time of year, my CPM is at $7.68 and July August and September are the lowest paying months of the year. Wait until December comes when it shoots up to 20 dollars or MORE. In December I make 3-4 times what I make typically in other regular paying months.
 
Saying it's 1 dollar per 1000 views is not an accurate answer. I have been making videos professionally on YouTube for about 4 years now. Your CPM goes up and down depending on the time of year and how much advertisers are going to pay. It will never be as low as 1 dollar per 1000 views. It's usually between 5-10 dollars, or in December when it can go upwards to 20 per thousand views. For instance, right now I'm looking at my analytics and a video I posted has got just over 100,000 views, and I have made $989.96 dollars from it so far, because most of the time the CPM has been around 10 dollars for me. Now, another video of mine that has around 100K views has made me $432.77 to date. So the average CPM on that is just over 4 dollars. Then again, another video I have that has around 100K views has earned me $1,356.21 to date. I have videos with way more views than that and make more or less.

So, that is also just assuming that people are not using adblock. But, people do. It's not exactly X amount of dollars per 1000 views. It's X amount of dollars per 1000 monetized views. If somebody uses adblock, that is no longer a monetized view. According to my analytics, 41% of my viewers are using adblock, because only 59% of my views are monetized views. So, the CPM's I estimated above, actually are higher than what I said, because I did not factor in the adblock viewers.

Adsense also pays different in different regions. For instance, I'm in Canada and Canada is one of the highest paying regions along with parts of America. Mexico on the other hand, get's the shaft.

I have literally never gotten paid 1 dollar for every 1000 monetized views. That is way too low. Right now, at a low paying time of year, my CPM is at $7.68 and July August and September are the lowest paying months of the year. Wait until December comes when it shoots up to 20 dollars or MORE. In December I make 3-4 times what I make typically in other regular paying months.

Yeah exactly. That's why I said "it depends on many things". That was just something I heard in a YouTube tutorial about monetization but it could've been old etc.
 
Wow, now I feel stupid for actually having a regular daytime job...

Also, I'm feeling even more stupid for having a 70k views video on Youtube and never getting a single cent out of it.
 
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You missed my point completely. I was addressing Fricker's comment about the fact that "99% of the audience doesn't know if you have good tone, so why spend all that money on hoity toity gear?" ha ha ha ha eesh... are you 12?
We'll have to agree to disagree. I was messing with you, but it's true on both accounts. If you're achieving great tone/expression and the audience is paying attention, the 99% and the 1% know if you have a good tone. And the 99% know if you're speaking to them emotionally with that good tone (playing with a lot of expression/emotion). Audiences are far more sophisticated listeners than we think. My degree is in Music Therapy and I've gigged for a living for about 20 years, so I understand this on both intellectual and experiential levels.

If you do enough research, you'll see it yourself. Audiences and venues vary, but once you factor out the gigs where bands are background music or similar, and you factor out the influence of singer and rhythm section, you'll notice a trend where guitar players who nail a well-known tone (and expression of that tone) get far more audience reaction than players who don't. It's obvious to me because I've seen it so many times.

I've paid the bills since 1997 as a solo act, and from '90-'92, living on the road performing in cover bands across the midwest, west, canada and alaska, where I worked with 5 different lead guitar players and saw competing bands across different touring circuits.

I get your perspective though. If all you see are players that don't nail tones, and/or players in venues (nailing tones or not) where they're background music, then all you see are audiences that APPEAR to be clueless about good tone.

If you're seeing cover song players failing to nail a tone in a venue where the audience is paying attention, then the alleged cluelessness of the audience is misleading; they're not clueless...they DON'T CARE because the player has failed to nail the tone/expression they know is in their favorite song...the tone they remember and connect with on multiple levels.

Apart from education and observation since 1986, I've experienced this personally since picking up electric guitar in 2003. Factoring out the influence of my own fun/excitement at gigging with better gear/tone, the closer I've gotten to the tone & expression of a well known guitar part, the more positively the audience has reacted. Moving to the axe-fx in 2007 and dialing 50+ FW upgrades across standard, Ultra, and II, has made a real difference in audience reaction and ability to secure gigs.

But what do I know, I'm only 12 years old - LOL.
 
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We'll have to agree to disagree. I was messing with you, but it's true on both accounts. If you're achieving great tone/expression and the audience is paying attention, the 99% and the 1% know if you have a good tone. And the 99% know if you're speaking to them emotionally with that good tone (playing with a lot of expression/emotion). Audiences are far more sophisticated listeners than we think. My degree is in Music Therapy and I've gigged for a living for about 20 years, so I understand this on both intellectual and experiential levels.

If you do enough research, you'll see it yourself. Audiences and venues vary, but once you factor out the gigs where bands are background music or similar, and you factor out the influence of singer and rhythm section, you'll notice a trend where guitar players who nail a well-known tone (and expression of that tone) get far more audience reaction than players who don't. It's obvious to me because I've seen it so many times.

I've paid the bills since 1997 as a solo act, and from '90-'92, living on the road performing in cover bands across the midwest, west, canada and alaska, where I worked with 5 different lead guitar players and saw competing bands across different touring circuits.

I get your perspective though. If all you see are players that don't nail tones, and/or players in venues (nailing tones or not) where they're background music, then all you see are audiences that APPEAR to be clueless about good tone.

If you're seeing cover song players failing to nail a tone in a venue where the audience is paying attention, then the alleged cluelessness of the audience is misleading; they're not clueless...they DON'T CARE because the player has failed to nail the tone/expression they know is in their favorite song...the tone they remember and connect with on multiple levels.

Apart from education and observation since 1986, I've experienced this personally since picking up electric guitar in 2003. Factoring out the influence of my own fun/excitement at gigging with better gear/tone, the closer I've gotten to the tone & expression of a well known guitar part, the more positively the audience has reacted. Moving to the axe-fx in 2007 and dialing 50+ FW upgrades across standard, Ultra, and II, has made a real difference in audience reaction and ability to secure gigs.

But what do I know, I'm only 12 years old - LOL.
I get your point, but I beg to differ; not all cover songs are created equal. Obviously, some sounds are extremely recognizable even for the audience and obviously, they will instantly feel more familiar with the song you cover if you pick the right sounds.

Let's take; for example, the intro to "Living on a Prayer". Obviously, you can get quite close with a Wah. But if you use an actual talkbox sound, the audience will go nuts in less than a second. "Heh, I know this!" is a strong emotion to evoke on a concert.
You know how people go apeshit crazy if after a longer random synth intermission you suddenly play a familiar riff with a familiar sound. "Whoohooooo...!" and then you bathe in applause for a minute before actually starting to play that song.

But the point is: the amount of songs in which that happens is very limited. Mostly to 80's rock covers, when effects were everywhere on records.

Depending on what you play, sound might or might not matter. And if you don't cover at all, it couldn't be less important.
Also, even on songs where it does matter: what people will recognize mostly isn't the amp ... it's external effects like chorus, wah or a heavy delay.
 
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