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May 30, 2015 editorial: comments

  • 15 replies
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Topic May 30, 2015 editorial: comments

Can You Have Too Much Gear?

Is there such a thing as too much gear for your studio? The reflexive answer would be “no,” but I wonder...

In the days where recording equipment was all or mainly hardware based, the amount of physical studio space was a limiting factor in gear acquisitions. You’d need room in your rack for that new compressor, or the floor space to fit that new keyboard or amp, otherwise buying them would be pointless. But today, with so much of our gear being software based, space is much less of an issue.

For most of us, the biggest limiting factor is financial, but putting that aside for this discussion, my point is that if you continually acquire new processors and virtual instruments and so forth, you could end up with only a surface knowledge of how to use them. You could be the studio version of a “jack of all trades, master of none.”

For example, if you have only three software synths, it’s much easier to learn the nuances of programming them, or at least effectively tweaking them, so that you can really gain control over them sonically. But if you have 10, and they all have different programming architecture (which is probable), you’re much less likely to work with any one of them enough to get to that deep-tweaking level.

I recently had to mix a song in a DAW that I was only vaguely familiar with. It felt like I was swimming in molasses compared to working in my usual DAW, where I can get around really fast. It drove home the point to me that it's much easier to be productive when working in a familiar software environment.

Of course, some gear is simple enough that you can master it instantly, but so many products today, especially in the software realm, are complex and require that you put in a lot of time in order to get the most from them.

Far be it from me to say one shouldn’t lust after and acquire cool new products. I’m hardly immune to Gear Acquisition Syndrome. All I’m saying is that sometimes, you can get more out of spending time with the gear you have, than you would buying something new.

Do you agree? I welcome your comments on our Forum, or you can message me directly at (Mike Levine).

Have a great week.

Mike Levine

U.S. Editor, Audiofanzine

 

 

2
Agreed - limitation is often the mother of productivity!

jelsonic – royalty free music

3
I agree with jelnet, I think that's why pink floyd and Jimi were able to get such mind-blowing sounds that one might say we're far ahead of their (and perhaps our) time.

That said, I'm a HUGE victim of GAS. Just made some of my biggest purchases (in my case, more as a musician than a mixer) but I've promised myself to study the manual and really get the most out of my gear before getting anything else, and if I DO see something else I need, then I MUST sell something to even out the scales :)
4
How correct is your editorial of this week...!!! I am in a position to have gathered so much equipment (VST instruments and synths etc) that i can claim that i do not know every synth i have. This is also my "fear" when i write a review for Audiofanzine. This is why i could not write a review immediately for Vienna Boesendorfer. I do not want to be unfair with an instrument or a collection etc. and give a review that is not based on my experience. Especially when are working people “behind” these companies… The only thing I can stress in my defense is that I have not the “knowledge” to create sounds and arpeggios and effects etc. and as a result I am buying almost every fair enough collection I see, of course after a small research in our forum and in others.

[ Post last edited on 05/30/2015 at 10:52:21 ]

5
I'm a hobbyist musician/producer and I believe that there is a such thing as too much gear from my perspective. I say this because in the last few years I've noticed that I can't focus on music so much because I'm distracted from all the gear that I have. As soon as I purchase something the next best thing appears on the market and then I focus on saving up to get that gear. So then when it's time to make music I have no direction. Do I start with the new gear I just installed in my studio? Do I focus on the synth I bought 2 years ago and still don't know how to use correctly? I just recently decided that there will be no more gear in my studio until I fully learn how to use everything I currently have.
6
"Far be it from me to say one shouldn’t lust after and acquire cool new products. I’m hardly immune to Gear Acquisition Syndrome."

For me, I am a virtual instrument junkie! I got a ton, and duplicates to boot. I got more basses than I know what to do with, just about every big band library there is, and ethnic instruments I never even thought of having. I just recently bought an orchestral library 'just because' someday I hope to do music that would need an orchestra.

I NEED HELP! :oo:

My guess is there are two kinds of Sample junkies. Those who use the in-house ones that come with their DAW or Sampler and maybe a few 3rd party libraries, and then there are those who prefer the 3rd party Samples and not use, or hardly use, the in-house libraries. I prefer the 3rd party Samples and honestly never even think to check out if a in-house Sample is available. I deleted those libraries anyway. (As a footnote to this, let me also say that the in-house Samples were instrumental to me until my own 3rd party library was big enough to suffice for all situations.)

Regarding usage I do have my favorites and those I know fairly well. I like to do all genre's of music which is one reason my Sample library is so big. I am a professional, but I do strictly my own product line of products, so I'm not under any time constraints though I hope some day to break into the field where I can submit my works for others to use.

Rich

webpage: www.livingwatersjazz.com

7
Quote:
I just recently decided that there will be no more gear in my studio until I fully learn how to use everything I currently have.

That sounds like a good decision. Good luck, and happy manual reading. :mdr:
8
Quote:
I just recently bought an orchestral library 'just because' someday I hope to do music that would need an orchestra.

Wow, Rich, you've got it bad. Sounds like you need a sample-library intervention. ;)
9
:-D
sounds like something for the AAoGWH
Hi .... " silents..... "
I'm Rich ....... and I'm addicted .........

-All

Hi Rich

... Oh well face it .... you are not alone :)

Spoiler - Click here to read more



ok enough fun.
I have here more than enough gear and i learned to understand every piece of equipment.
How are they build and what they do and why it is working.
There for i'm able to use pieces of equipment in places and situations for which they are not build.
This saved me in more than one situation where equipment failed while needing it.

And that brings me to the footer / sign of my posts :)

It's not about what you got to use ....    but how you use what you got...

[ Post last edited on 05/31/2015 at 06:03:39 ]

10
Well said, Angelie, thanks! I like the hidden "spoiler". :-D