That is not the norm. I only one that I have been in that I would call very nice is the Mayo clinic. I live with in a few miles of some of the best in country, and I design systems for hospitals from time to time, while they are no longer at the motel six level, they are far from even a Hampton Inn. Hospitals have always had things like chair rails and expensive fixtures just now architects have decide change from the 300 dollar fixture to the 300 dollar fixture that looks nice. The industrial plastic chair rail never did look nice. Better finishes are not a major cost driver in hospitals. The equipment and systems are the real costs. Maintaining them is extremely costly, if you have open a wall or even pop ceiling tile in a sterile area, it a major and costly endeavor.
All the wiring is too tight, most of them I can't see any wire labels, there is no service loop on any of them, the old phone guys knew how to wire. How do they expect to service any of it? What happens when you need to change or move equipment do they rewire the whole house? Thanks for posting the story I have few guys that tend to build systems this way and it really needs to stop, now I have some pictures of what is not acceptable. It can be both clean and serviceable.
The Datahand keyboard can fit in laptop, about the thickness of a powerbook 3400. I know because I built a prototype of a Datahand laptop about about 5-6 years ago while working for them. The left and right halves slid out, and as they did the palm rests would rise.
D.Nelson
Proof please? The average classical album costs between $100,000 and $500,000 to record (and sells 2,000-3,000 copies in its lifetime)
How do you come up with numbers like this? each album would have to sell for $200 copy to make this possible. If I'm releasing an album that is going to to sell 2000-3000 copies the total recording budget is going to only about $3000. Most major label budgets are in the 25,000- 60,000 range these days.
High cost for classical recording is only for full orchestras, paying 30-60 musicians for 3 to 5 days is most of the budget. A quartet would only cost a few thousand to record (with a known engineer)
Take one of the Rachels albums (on quartertstick records), recorded (very well I might add) by Bob Weston. Since Bob Weston in the Steve Albini "camp" I'm sure he charges very fair rates and probably does NOT take any "points" on the recording. I would be very surprised if the total recording costs are over $15,000. In fact if the sessions went well, I could see it being done for a little as $3000
Some of the best stuff I have recorded cost below $2000 including the mastering (by a "name" mastering engineer)
Recording engineers have saying "if the band is good a $10 tape recorder is all you need, if the band sucks millions of dollars worth of equipment isn't going to help.
If the "junior high orchestra" was good the $400 compaq is overkill
If I was recording Sun Ra arkestra I'm sure I could get the job done with the $400 compaq and a $50 mic
It's all about the performance
Most top 40 acts spend 5 times much on the first video then they do on the recording.
I run a small label, and at the moment I'm using napster as a promotional tool. I would like to see it turn into a fee based system at some point. But many people still want to own the disc, so I see it as a way to increase sales. You may find that most small labels have like viewpoint. For years we have made sampler discs and tapes, to be able to do the same thing at almost no cost is great for us. The love of music is what gets most of us started in the industry,and the RIAA viewpoint is very alien to us most of time. We know that most music is purchased by word of mouth, ie: trading, taping, and now mp3's.
As a side note I have been calling all the bands I know in the Phoenix area to create a underground music archive of the last 20 years on napster. And so far every band has been very happy to release material. I feel it is bigger crime to lose all that body of work through time, then the loss of few dollars to by the major labels. (if they really are lossing anything there is evidence that they are gaining sales) my napster user name is PrimaryRecords
Netwerk has been owned by capitol since about 1986.
But there are thousands of small independent labels to choose from.
Quarterstick, Projekt, BarNone, and Independent Project Records are a few more of them
I own a small label and with distribution through something like napster songs could cost around twenty to twenty five cents to download, and everyone could still get payed. The songwriter, the musician the label and even napster. There are only around 2 dollars in roylities on a full length cd (12 to 15 songs). For us small labels getting rid of physical media chould be great for reducing our costs.
That last line should read- and that if napster could be changed into a fee based service it would level the distribution playing field that they (the major labels) pretty much control at this time.
What about those of us that own small labels who see napster as a promotional tool? The RIAA does NOT represent us!! As usual the major labels are trying to kill a new technology, instead of looking at ways of using it. I feel the their bigger fears is that many of their existing recording contracts may not cover this new type of distribution method, and that if napster could changed into fee based service it would level distribution the distribution playing that pretty much control at this time.
Slashdot Mirror
That is not the norm. I only one that I have been in that I would call very nice is the Mayo clinic. I live with in a few miles of some of the best in country, and I design systems for hospitals from time to time, while they are no longer at the motel six level, they are far from even a Hampton Inn. Hospitals have always had things like chair rails and expensive fixtures just now architects have decide change from the 300 dollar fixture to the 300 dollar fixture that looks nice. The industrial plastic chair rail never did look nice.
Better finishes are not a major cost driver in hospitals. The equipment and systems are the real costs. Maintaining them is extremely costly, if you have open a wall or even pop ceiling tile in a sterile area, it a major and costly endeavor.
For pointing me to an organization my kids would rather be in.
Not that most construction is not already made by adding layers of materials on top of layer placed before it.
The three US auto manufacturers switched to metric in the early 80's. There hasn't been a car built in over 20 years that is not metric.
All the wiring is too tight, most of them I can't see any wire labels, there is no service loop on any of them, the old phone guys knew how to wire. How do they expect to service any of it? What happens when you need to change or move equipment do they rewire the whole house? Thanks for posting the story I have few guys that tend to build systems this way and it really needs to stop, now I have some pictures of what is not acceptable. It can be both clean and serviceable.
The Datahand keyboard can fit in laptop, about the thickness of a powerbook 3400. I know because I built a prototype of a Datahand laptop about about 5-6 years ago while working for them. The left and right halves slid out, and as they did the palm rests would rise. D.Nelson
Proof please? The average classical album costs between $100,000 and $500,000 to record (and sells 2,000-3,000 copies in its lifetime) How do you come up with numbers like this? each album would have to sell for $200 copy to make this possible. If I'm releasing an album that is going to to sell 2000-3000 copies the total recording budget is going to only about $3000. Most major label budgets are in the 25,000- 60,000 range these days. High cost for classical recording is only for full orchestras, paying 30-60 musicians for 3 to 5 days is most of the budget. A quartet would only cost a few thousand to record (with a known engineer) Take one of the Rachels albums (on quartertstick records), recorded (very well I might add) by Bob Weston. Since Bob Weston in the Steve Albini "camp" I'm sure he charges very fair rates and probably does NOT take any "points" on the recording. I would be very surprised if the total recording costs are over $15,000. In fact if the sessions went well, I could see it being done for a little as $3000 Some of the best stuff I have recorded cost below $2000 including the mastering (by a "name" mastering engineer) Recording engineers have saying "if the band is good a $10 tape recorder is all you need, if the band sucks millions of dollars worth of equipment isn't going to help. If the "junior high orchestra" was good the $400 compaq is overkill If I was recording Sun Ra arkestra I'm sure I could get the job done with the $400 compaq and a $50 mic It's all about the performance Most top 40 acts spend 5 times much on the first video then they do on the recording.
I run a small label, and at the moment I'm using napster as a promotional tool. I would like to see it turn into a fee based system at some point. But many people still want to own the disc, so I see it as a way to increase sales. You may find that most small labels have like viewpoint. For years we have made sampler discs and tapes, to be able to do the same thing at almost no cost is great for us. The love of music is what gets most of us started in the industry,and the RIAA viewpoint is very alien to us most of time. We know that most music is purchased by word of mouth, ie: trading, taping, and now mp3's. As a side note I have been calling all the bands I know in the Phoenix area to create a underground music archive of the last 20 years on napster. And so far every band has been very happy to release material. I feel it is bigger crime to lose all that body of work through time, then the loss of few dollars to by the major labels. (if they really are lossing anything there is evidence that they are gaining sales) my napster user name is PrimaryRecords
Netwerk has been owned by capitol since about 1986. But there are thousands of small independent labels to choose from. Quarterstick, Projekt, BarNone, and Independent Project Records are a few more of them
I own a small label and with distribution through something like napster songs could cost around twenty to twenty five cents to download, and everyone could still get payed. The songwriter, the musician the label and even napster. There are only around 2 dollars in roylities on a full length cd (12 to 15 songs). For us small labels getting rid of physical media chould be great for reducing our costs.
That last line should read- and that if napster could be changed into a fee based service it would level the distribution playing field that they (the major labels) pretty much control at this time.
What about those of us that own small labels who see napster as a promotional tool? The RIAA does NOT represent us!! As usual the major labels are trying to kill a new technology, instead of looking at ways of using it. I feel the their bigger fears is that many of their existing recording contracts may not cover this new type of distribution method, and that if napster could changed into fee based service it would level distribution the distribution playing that pretty much control at this time.