How has cheap gear affected your studio?

Wjniemi

New member
It used to cost a fat stack of dough to own a passable studio.

Now you can get into it for a few hundred dollars and if you are patient you can turn out some recordings that are passable to excellent.

This is a double-edged sword, IMO. Those of us who were early adopters have possibly many thousands of dollars in our studio (I have about $250K in recording gear, instruments, and software).

I'm not complaining or ranting. It's always been my goal to encourage original works by talented people. When I started in 1978, I would record anybody's original song for $10.

So... your thoughts?
 
I was involved in a similar discussion on another forum earlier. There's definitely something fun about going into a studio with a ton of hardware. But, it's really great to have cheaper, more versatile, and smaller equipment. Sometimes vintage junkies will take the old stuff off your hands.

Basically, there's a lot of nostalgia, but it's probably for the best (creatively/accessibly at least) that recording is cheaper now.
 
Agree. And this isn't a new discussion... I remember it back when I bought my first Tascam 4 track. I guess the difference there is that a narrow track tape format could never approach the quality of contemporary professional tape gear like today's cheap AD/DA approach the pro stuff.

I've been thinking of getting rid of my outboard gear. Nobody in my market wants to pay for a OTB mix. There's a guy here who has a beautiful 24 track 2" studio. Expensive, but that's a tape sound. I record to digital and mix through a 1989 AHB mixer & outboard gear to an Otari half track tape. Not as cool as the 24 but still sounds better than ITB IMO. But...it ends up digitized at the end. :-).

On on one forum a person suggested that the tape deck was functionally the same as a plugin. Well, perhaps, but I've tried the Slate and the BandLab tape plugins and they're not even similar. IK multimedia has a group of tape plugins on sale right now. I might see if there's a demo.


The hardware is neat, though.
 
When I started in the mid 90’s, I had a 4-track, and I had to be creative when doing overdubs. Being limited helped me with arranging music. Even now, I don’t have a ton of gear, but I’m able to create what I want.
 
My Studio cost about $1500, and as of right now I dont think I know enough about making music to need any more than that. As I learn and grow Im sure so will my studio, and my want for more high end equipment. Alot of what we buy these days is just software but Im sure having the real hardware in your studio is much better, thats why its still kind of pricey.
 
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