Legendary 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.
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[–] 1 point 1 week ago (1 child)

What she would do is walk up to it, type a little, agree that it felt off, take a small flathead screwdriver, stick it through an opening in the side or back of the case, pretend to adjust something, she’d take a cloth, damp it with some of the light oil they used on all the intricate little mechanisms in old computer hardware, wipe the key caps with it. Then say “Okay, try that” and inevitably they were happy with it.

50% chance that this actually changed something, namely the smell of the device. the machine would have an unpleasant smell and people would complain about it without knowing what it is. she goes over it once and now it smells nice, and people are happy. doesn't need any screwdriver for that, that's just for show.

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  • She wasn't cleaning it, she was applying a thin sheen of oil to the keycaps, to slightly alter their texture. That would make the act of touching and removing your fingers from them feel slightly different. Most of what it did was satisfy their need for attention.

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