Thursday, June 24

The Goods on Audio/Musical Gear


Are you thinking about investing in a piece of audio gear or musical equipment anytime soon? If so, than you are going to benefit from this information greatly.

If you're starting as a recording engineer, beat-maker, or even a guitar player than invest on the beginner level. What I mean is that you don't need anything fancy or expensive when you first start off. A person who is starting to learn guitar is not going to go and spend $3,000.00 on a guitar because there would be no point to that. Just because a guitar is worth $3,000.00 DOES NOT mean you will sound good on it. I've seen people go and spend a-lot of money on gear that they don't know how to operate. In my mind they are just trying to show off but in reality its embarassing cause they only how to use 10% of that gear or only play 15% of that instrument. Please! please! don't be that guy cause you will waste a-lot of money and time. A good substitution is as simple as getting a Squier ($200) guitar over a Fender custom guitar ($2,500). Now as you get better and build upon your skills than slowly upgrade to a nicer guitar when the time is right. Nobody wants to play on a $200 guitar after 10 years of playing anyways.


Now getting into audio engineers and their studio equipment. Professional engineers use quality gear to give you "big record" sounds that compete with other records. Beginner engineers can start off learning on some descent gear since technology has made a-lot of things possible today. In the 90's witnessing a home studio was a rare thing but digitally you can do everything off a computer or even a laptop somewhere on the bus. I feel that our generation is lucky because engineers before us didn't have all the user-friendly gear to record music wherever they wanted. They had to work in a professional studio and plug/patch up everything because everything was analog. Before you could just press "record" on the computer, engineers had to print all of their mixes on tape machines. Just imagine how difficult they had it where we can just whip out our computers wherever and make music. I think that is one of the BIGGEST advantages that we have over old school engineers because times have changed and so has technology.


Here are some basic things you need to start recording The basic set-up is simple, but it is up to you to learn the functions and capabilities within the DAW (Digital Audio Workstation).


- Computer ( Apple or Windows)


- Audio Interface (M-Box 2)


- Microphone (Wide Variety)


- D.A.W. (Logic Pro or Pro Tools)


- Studio Monitors (KRK 5 or Yamaha HSM)



Pressing the record button is one of the easier things but it goes way beyond that. Play with the different plug-ins or even learn how to mix properly. There are many techniques and skills that need to be learned in recording which can sometimes take years to master. With that in mind don't go out and blow $5,000 on gear that will do you no good if you don't know how to operate it 100%. Instead take the time to research/learn about the gear and choose wisely for your budget.


Once you start getting good and decide you want to upgrade or build upon your studio, go for it! Don’t just go out and buy AUTO-TUNE because everyone has it, figure out what the plug in does and learn how to properly use it. This goes for every other studio equipment from a classic MPC to an Avalon pre-amp. Knowledge is pretty powerful stuff and if you carry enough of it you will save/make a lot of money. Remember focus on getting quality but don’t over due the quantity.
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