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glitchiebeats
New member
yea like the page is not coming up
Salem Beats
Ki from Salem-Beats.com
Business-wise, some of these studio setups make me cringe.
For a modern respectable producer who isn't sitting in the Soundclick/Rocbattle/etc. top charts, the ledger might look something like this:
GROSS SALES: +$1,000
AMOUNT SPENT ON EQUIPMENT: -$10,000
What some of you need to add to the ledger is this line:
EBAY SALES OF ALL REDUNDANT/RARELY-USED EQUIPMENT: +6,000
And I bet you'd find that you'd pad your wallet with no adverse effects to your music.
-Ki
Salem Beats
For a modern respectable producer who isn't sitting in the Soundclick/Rocbattle/etc. top charts, the ledger might look something like this:
GROSS SALES: +$1,000
AMOUNT SPENT ON EQUIPMENT: -$10,000
What some of you need to add to the ledger is this line:
EBAY SALES OF ALL REDUNDANT/RARELY-USED EQUIPMENT: +6,000
And I bet you'd find that you'd pad your wallet with no adverse effects to your music.
-Ki
Salem Beats
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Inverted314
BOOM BAP OR DIE
Rather see people spend it on keyboards then crack rocks though.
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youngjboy
Guest
That is fair to say. I believe that people will spend on what they feel they want or need. Business wise, i agree that $10,000 setups that make no revenue are not good business practices. It all depends on what the person is doing with it. For me, i have spent a lot of money on equipment and it is something i do in my spare time and on the side. I have a full time career, and music is not my main source of income. To each their own.
deRaNged 4 Phuk'dup
New member
I think the word "invest" get's thrown around to much. If you like making beats and want top shelf gear, who cares what you're making in revenue. That's like telling a hardcore gamer he shouldn't invest in all this extra crap because all you need is an XBox 360 to play. If you want the "Customized XBOX", "Arcade joysticks", "60 inch HD TVS", "Surround sound systems", "wifi headsets", special "gaming chairs", ect. who am I to tell you not to get it? The problem is the guys who can't face the fact that even with all this, some lil kid can borrow his cousin's XBox for a week and beat your high score on an old black and white TV.
Salem Beats
Ki from Salem-Beats.com
This is mostly in response to the studio pictures that show redundant/duplicate gear. I think that in today's production climate, 80-90 percent of your gear should be within one arm's length at any given moment. I'm not against pouring large amounts of money into gear (investing in quality), but I think that many people could benefit from limiting the # of devices that they use. Quite a few people become easily sidetracked by marketers and become gear collectors instead of musicians. This is just my friendly wake-up call to keep people honest with themselves.
I believe that there are quite a few people on these forums who would like to believe that they're turning a profit out of their craft. Too many people, however, will tell you that they "made $1,000" by making music recently. It's a bit of a half-truth if it took you $5,000 to get to that point. If you're just doing it as a hobby, it doesn't really matter -- but if you're attempting to make sales, winning the game of sales starts first with making yourself profitable. Am I one of the only people here who finds the business side of music just as interesting as the music itself?
Music or crack rocks. Those are your only choices:
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Inverted314
BOOM BAP OR DIE
Yep.
The irony comes in the idea that if your music becomes good enough, you will eventually resort to crack rocks anyways.
I agree with you on the redundancy though. I see a LOT of dudes with a Fantom, Motif, and a M3. Or FL, Ableton, Logic, Pro Tools, and Reason lol.
3 MPC 2000XLs, one to hold up the 15" monitor, one to make beats, one as an ashtray.
deRaNged 4 Phuk'dup
New member
@Salem, once you put it that way, I can definetly agree. 
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youngjboy
Guest
There is redundancy in probably 90% of setups. I fall under the category of people with redundant gear who do it as a hobby. I work full time and enjoy my music in my downtime. At times i wish i had a smaller setup as all the midi routing, cabling, etc can get time consuming and ruin creativity. Instead of making music, you are trying to figure out why you are playing notes and not hearing anything because of all the midi routing....the multiple ins, out, and how many thrus you have used
In the end, people like what they like and many of us are probably gear collectors. In reality, yes....all one should need is a few pieces.....maybe a DAW, controller, monitors, and soundcard.....but you see people with 3 DAWs, many VST plugin programs, maschine, a pad controller, 2-3 laptops, and in one situation. Then on the hardware side, we see 2-3 workstations, multiple MPC's, etc.....when all one should need is one workstation.
It all just depends on what the intents is. It just makes me laugh when people say that having a room full of ROMplers is redundant, but have a room full of VA and Analog synths as if it is any different. I don't see it as any different to have a room full of hardware or a hard drive full or plugins...redundancy is the same.
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reddy1985
New member
Excellent analogy.
Salem Beats
Ki from Salem-Beats.com
If you have gear you've been considering selling because you rarely touch it, this is the best time of year. A lot of people buy gear that they think they will like, but when it shows up, it's not quite what they expected. They keep it, though, because they don't want to feel that they're losing money by selling it for a lower price than they paid. If you never use it, however, you're losing the entire purchase price instead of just a portion. Sometimes you have to lose a bit of money just to learn what you like and don't like. Look over each individual item of gear you own and make a mental note of when the last time was that you used it.
Smart shoppers on are getting ready to buy Christmas presents for people, etc. You'll get a higher price for your items on eBay during the fall holidays than any other time.
For me, simplification helps clear the mind.
From now on, you should tally the total cost of your studio setup and include the total alongside your picture.
Seems like it would be fun to do, at least.
Smart shoppers on are getting ready to buy Christmas presents for people, etc. You'll get a higher price for your items on eBay during the fall holidays than any other time.
For me, simplification helps clear the mind.
From now on, you should tally the total cost of your studio setup and include the total alongside your picture.
Seems like it would be fun to do, at least.
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Ick Beats
Nicholas Hadfield
So I have been really contemplating about what to buy next. I have a mac with logic, At2020 microphone, some computer speakers from 2004-2005? No keyboard. No machine. Just ask if you're wondering about anything else.
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youngjboy
Guest
I am to the point where i have became satisfied with my setup and even have though about downsizing. To a certain degree i am a gear collector. Then i have pieces that are kind of sentimental like my EMU MP-7....every time i get ready to sell it, i back out.
I think i will always have some sort of workstation around, just because i like to turn it on and just play with out having to play through a controller and program, although i think that eventually i will downsize to just a workstation, and DAW, minus the essentials such as monitors and sound card.
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BLPstudios
New member
My Studio.... Keep in mind that i'm only 15 before you criticize Lol
Need A Piano...
Stanton STR8-60's and a Behringer DJX 700
Custom Desk. Built by me and a friend.
Behringer Eurorack MX3242X
MPC 1000 - 128mb
*Elvis Presley Used Guitar Pic*
Recording Booth Black Light
Check Out Some Of My Beats:
http://soundcloud.com/blpstudios
Need A Piano...
Stanton STR8-60's and a Behringer DJX 700
Custom Desk. Built by me and a friend.
Behringer Eurorack MX3242X
MPC 1000 - 128mb
*Elvis Presley Used Guitar Pic*
Recording Booth Black Light
Check Out Some Of My Beats:
http://soundcloud.com/blpstudios
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Xabiton
Cupcake God
damn you're 15 with more going on in your lab than I ever have in the almost 9 years I've been making beats at 28 years old.
BLPstudios
New member
haha thanks man I really appreciate it, Hard work pays off, that's practically what I live by. This equipment has come from my hard work. Imma start doing some youtube videos on beatmaking just to try to get me some exposure as a youngin' haha. But check out my soundcloud. Thanks again.
JOEYCUTLESS
O.G status user
IMPRESSIVE...you are on the right track and focused...nice set-up lil homey
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hollandturbine
New member
Xabiton
Cupcake God
I've been that way with my EPS for some time now. I still have my M3R, Cd3000i, and EPS sold all my other hardware. Well and my mpc that I never fixed. I won't sell the EPS even though I haven't touched it in months. I still love it. Just been using Reason for the past year and a half stand alone.
Not everyone making music is looking at this as an investment or a profit thing though. So rather than making people feel bad about how they spend their money why not just let em be. Who cares if they made $200 in sales and have 100k worth of hardware? If thats how they want to get down I say let em. Gear is fun anyway and they could always have some random useless vice that they could be pouring money into.
great analogy. Everytime I go into gamestop theres a guy there always dumbing out over collectors edition games. I have never bought a collectors edition game of anything. I might when Mass Effect 3 comes out but thats only for the added free DLC that comes with it. I don't want to miss out on any cool armor like I did when ME2 came out.
Salem Beats
Ki from Salem-Beats.com
Musicians often overspend. Spending money on gear is a good way to ignore your own responsibility for improving your music-making technique. For those of us working 40+ hours a week with very little free time, spending money helps us feel that our hard work is helping our hobby somehow. It's a fallacy. After a certain point of building up your studio, buying free time will do more for your music than buying gear.
It's the same in cycling, my other major hobby. I do group rides with a "fast group" locally, and the slowest of the group are often the ones with the $5,000 bikes. The ones who end up leading the group are riding around on $600-$1,500 bikes and focus on their own technique. Professional cyclists get as many $11,000 throwaway bikes as they want only AFTER they have demonstrated overwhelming talent.
P.S., I did buy a Maschine recently, but I sold my MPK Mini, padKONTROL, Nocturn, Orochi, and Ergodex (basically my entire mobile setup) to do so. I'll post some pics of my corner setup whenever I can find that damn phone.
It's the same in cycling, my other major hobby. I do group rides with a "fast group" locally, and the slowest of the group are often the ones with the $5,000 bikes. The ones who end up leading the group are riding around on $600-$1,500 bikes and focus on their own technique. Professional cyclists get as many $11,000 throwaway bikes as they want only AFTER they have demonstrated overwhelming talent.
P.S., I did buy a Maschine recently, but I sold my MPK Mini, padKONTROL, Nocturn, Orochi, and Ergodex (basically my entire mobile setup) to do so. I'll post some pics of my corner setup whenever I can find that damn phone.
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