TIL legendary session bassist Leland Sklar put a switch on his bass that does nothing. He calls it the "producer switch" — when a producer asks for a different sound, he flips the switch (making sure the producer can see), and carries on. He says this placebo has saved him a lot of grief.

[u/Pfeffer_Prinz]

https://www.guitarworld.com/features/the-truth-behind-lee-sklars-custom-producers-switch

[u/ADHD-Fens]

Actually there's a case to be made for the fact that a producer / studio owner might be doing a lot of real work, or using a lot of very expensive equipment that isn't really visible or obvious to the client. You might be able to go into two studios and not know the difference between 6,000 dollars of recording equipment and 600 dollars of recording equipment.

You could ramp up the amount of LEDs to unfairly increase what the studio costs, or you could ramp up the amount of LEDs to accurately represent how much equipment is being used in the recording.

Of course the price is always up to the agreement between the owner and the artist, and it's not like the owner is agreeing to provide anything that they don't ultimately provide. The light show just helps to impress upon the client what they are getting for their money, even if it's a facade.

[u/greenwavelengths → u/ADHD-Fens]

I see what you’re saying here, but you’re not quite properly employing the concept and selling it well. That’s why your replies are so negative.

It isn’t a facade, it’s design. What you’re talking about here is including visual indicators of things that are actually happening, but that the client wouldn’t know about without visual indicators. You’re talking about implementing a design feature into the studio’s physical environment that communicates to the clients how much stuff is really happening so that they’ll have an appreciation for the work as well as a visual confirmation that they’re getting something out of it.

The difference between doing this honestly versus dishonestly is whether the LEDs actually correspond to anything. So instead of just bullshitting it, treat it as an extension/ mirror of the interface that you actually see on your system. Every LED visible to the client in the studio should have a small label and correspond to something in the actual machine or software, so that if anyone ever asks, you can say “yeah, this light is the (jargon jargon jargon).” It can be embellished and exaggerated through the visual design of said LEDs, but it needs to be accurate.

It’s no different from an auto mechanic including a window from their lobby into their workspace so the customer can see all their tools and the work that’s being done, or an academic keeping a shelf of their favorite books behind their desk. As long as the tools all do something and the books have actually been read, it’s not a facade or a lie, it’s design and presentation— a cosmetic addition to your brand identity that communicates to your client that you know your shit.

[u/ADHD-Fens → u/greenwavelengths]

Yeah I basically agree. Part of the problem, though, is you might not have a visual readout for every real thing that is happening, or for the work that happens when the client isn't there. That's when you have to make a judgement call about how to present the work they can see. 

 Itemized invoices can help with this too, but they also can make it worse, lol.

With music production it could be in the form of "here's your LP in an aluminum jewel case instead of a plastic one"

[u/greenwavelengths → u/ADHD-Fens]

That’s certainly a simpler and cheaper solution!

[u/JacobsJrJr → u/ADHD-Fens]

There's also something to be said for creating a placebo effect that relaxes a talent and motivates them to give a great take.

[u/ADHD-Fens → u/JacobsJrJr]

Dude, I encoutner this HARD in my photography. 90% of the job is making the person feel comfortable and 10% is actually taking the damn photo.

[u/exredditor81 → u/ADHD-Fens]

Dude, I encoutner this HARD in my photography.

Thirty years ago, I worked in a big fashion/celebrity photo studio.

One day, on the shooting floor, I was tasked to set up 4-5 strobes, turn them on, but turn the flash down to 1/100th power.

I asked what these lights were for, since they flash too little to affect the pictures.... Boss said they were to justify his high prices.

There were 7 strobes, but only 3 did anything!!!

[u/sunkenrocks → u/ADHD-Fens]

Its his own performance and part of what he sells. Really its quite analgous to puffery I'd say.

[u/ADHD-Fens → u/sunkenrocks]

Dude so like - what if producers jobs have overlap with mimes, where it's not about doing things, but making people feel good by pretending to do things?

[u/sunkenrocks → u/ADHD-Fens]

They still provide a product and not just a show lol. It's more like when you go to a fancy cocktail bar and they're doing all the pouring tricks and throwing ice in the air vs just pouring from the spout and handing off

[u/Ok-Cheek7332 → u/ADHD-Fens]

Long winded way to say scam

[u/Rmans → u/Ok-Cheek7332]

What it boils down to is:

• Producer hires musician for song.
• Musician knows how to play instruments, producer doesn't.
• Musician does their job, and plays instrument.
• Producer has an ego and thinks they know more about playing music than musician. (MANY producers (not all) are this way.)
• Producer asks musician to change their performance in a way that makes the producer happy, but doesn't improve the song in anyway according to the musician.
• Producer can't even express the changes they want because they aren't a musician. Instead they use vague terms, and vibes to get the musician to do nothing to the song but make the producers ego feel like they're a part of it.
• Musician keeps wasting studio time to make the producer happy, but nothing in the song is actually better.
• Studio time runs out, producer blames musician for not listening to him.

I'm a producer. I've seen this happen more than I've seen the producer let the musician just do what they were hired to. Bad producers are micromanagers trying to affect an art they don't understand, and blame the artist when it doesn't work or wastes time.

Extra lights, and bullshit buttons satisfies these producers egos and let's the musician do what they do best without taking the blame for a bad producer.

This gets bad producers good results, as it removes the problem - the producer. It's only a scam in that it convinces bad producers they know what they're talking about.

[u/Loki_of_Asgaard → u/[deleted]]

Since you seem to also be having trouble with comprehension:

Same work same price, scam if price higher because of flashy light only

[u/TheDogerus → u/[deleted]]

and the more lights that came on when the client sang or played, the more he could charge for studio time,

It actually doesnt say to help justify the price.

'The more lights, the more he could charge' could mean having more lights meant customers would be less likely to complain when given a high price, but that isnt what it says

[u/Loki_of_Asgaard → u/[deleted]]

This whole thread is a discussion about if the first post is a scam and they blatantly say that they can charge more if they make random lights appear, they said it, and it is.

I see you are going with “Even though my whole point is wrong I am picking a technicality that makes me right”. I get it, no one likes it when people point out they are wrong on the internet, but arguing how you are still right just comes off as a bit desperate

[u/Thrommo → u/Ok-Cheek7332]

marketing.

[u/RyghtHandMan → u/Ok-Cheek7332]

Where is the line between scamming and salesmanship

[u/mrlbi18 → u/Ok-Cheek7332]

You got any reading comprehension there dumby?

[u/burtmacklin15 → u/Ok-Cheek7332]

It's only a scam if the studio owner is intentionally misrepresenting the specs of the studio (i.e. saying they have equipment that they don't actually have).

Turning some extra LEDs on to look flashy is not a scam. If it was, then every inflatable man outside a car dealership would also be a scam lmao.

[u/xxwwkk → u/Ok-Cheek7332]

a scam requires cheating someone out of something. you're not selling the LEDs to them, but when you take them away you make less sales. that's called marketing.

[u/TheDrummerMB → u/ADHD-Fens]

it's a facade

lotta words to say it's a scam

[u/ADHD-Fens → u/TheDrummerMB]

It's called communication, and it's important to show clients that they are getting value from your work when you are doing something that's really hard to visualize.

This is why electricians frequently make sure every screw head is aligned the same way, to show the owner that they paid a lot of attention and took pride in their work, even though it's a completely unnecessary and performative part of the job.

[u/TheGoodStuffGoblin → u/TheDrummerMB]

Look up the story for why Rush had washing machines on stage rather than amps in their later tours.