Do you own a lot of recording equipment? If not, do you wish you did? Do you spend your evenings and time sitting on the John pouring over the latest Sweetwater or Musicians Friend catalog? I know I have. Don’t be ashamed. It all looks so darn cool doesn’t it?! And heck, these days you can actually afford a lot of it thanks to this recording revolution we are living in.
But what of the gear you own (and even use) do you really need to make quality music in your home studio? Do you need all of your microphones? Preamps? Probably not. Now don’t blow me off just yet. I know what you might be thinking. “This question is irrelevant because of course I don’t need everything. It’s just nice to have choice.” Fair enough. But I have a hypothesis. All that gear in your studio might just be weighing you down. The more stuff you have, the less productive you’re bound to become.
Via Steffan Scherz Flickr
If There Were a Fire…
One day when I was young, I remember a friend’s mother telling me how much she loved her photo albums. They were of great value to her as she appreciated all the memories they brought back. She told me something I still remember to this day, “Graham, if there were a fire in our house, my photo albums would be the one thing I’m sure to grab.”
If there were a fire in your house or studio, what of your equipment that you could carry would you grab and run? If you knew you only had a few moments to grab the most important elements of your studio what would they be? Here is what I would grab, in order of importance: my iMac, Digi 002 rack, some AKG headphones, and my trusty Behringer B1. It would be a heavy handful, but those four items are all I need to make great music.
What You Really Need
Take a closer look at what I chose. My computer (including software, obviously), my audio interface, headphones, and one microphone. Minus some cables and a stand, that is all you need to record great music. I’ve written about it a few times already, but it doesn’t take much to put together a top notch signal chain. If that’s the case, why then do we keep adding to our arsenal? Why do we keep buying stuff if what we have already gets the job done?
There are some legitimate times when we need a certain product or piece of gear to do something that you can’t do with your current setup, no problem. But what I want you and I to be absolutely clear on is knowing what we truly need in our studio and then using it like crazy. Get the most value out of your software, your audio interface, and your microphones. Practically speaking, learn more about your DAW and all the features it offers. Use your interfaces built in mic pres instead of acting like they are garbage. Make sure you actually know good mic placement technique before you accuse your $100 mic of giving you bad recordings.
If you want to make better recordings in your home studio then trust me on this…don’t get caught up in the hype telling you to buy more stuff. Buy what you need, but then get on with what got you into this in the first place, your love for music.
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My name is Graham Cochrane and I'm the founder of The Recording Revolution, one of the world's most loved audio recording and mixing blogs with over 200,000 readers each month. 
Graham, I dig what you are saying here. Yet with some speculation. Certainly, smaller and more efficient is way of contemporary recording. (it is my bread and butter!) I certainly agree with “work with what is essential”. However, there is no denying if you have some great pre’s added in your signal chain, your good sounding tracks turn to GREAT. The days of big studios are numbered because they have such heavy overhead due to the fact they have every toy ever built in their rooms. However, I will never discourage someone, if they have the ability to put a good API pre in line – DO IT! I make my records right now with my iMac computer, Digi002, Focusrite Octopre and some great Polk monitors with Crown power amps. Its all about the front end, which begins with solid players.
That said, if there were a fire – the first thing I grab is my custom built Strat. My wife got it for me as a wedding gift and there are only 800 others in the world like it. Everything else can be replaced, but I am grabbing my guitar.
Make the most of what you have, absolutely! Especially when it comes to mics. But as a self proclaimed mic junkie, I gotta say, having mic choices makes everything else easier for recording and mixing. If everything is recorded with the same mic, it all tend to have the same sonic imprint, which builds up to a big pile of mush. Then you need more processing to help differentiate the tracks. Mics that help bring out the unique essence of each source help you record better by presenting your AD with a more optimized signal and help you mix better by giving the ears a rich diversity of tonal characteristics. And if you shop for used mics, all the better in my book. Mics and good analog gear tend to hold their value better over time. Not so much with computers, hardware or software.
Dave, Randy – Great points from both of you. Obviously if everyone had boutique pres and a healthy mic locker there would be more sonic choices available to us (some great ones at that). The problem is that most home studio users/musicians tend to think that they need that kind of equipment to make great recordings. Which they don’t. Just trying to get people to be realistic and to think more about the music than the equipment. Thanks for your comments!
Agree 100%. I have a couple of friends that have been actively purchasing ‘state-of-the-art’ equipment so they can improve their productions. The result? … just a delay in making great music or perhaps no music at all! A good example of this is this college (I’ll reserve the name) that owns a $1.5 M studio with all the bells and whistles and actually a good teaching program and great professors. With an SSL top-of-the-line console, unlimited channels through the most expensive ProTools HD systems, all kinds of microphones including those Neumann $7,000 mics, all the preamps you can think of, etc. … and I still haven’t heard any decent work from neither the faculty nor their students that would show the quality these tools are supposed to deliver. I believe it is a shame.
While I’m not against investing in tools that would enhance the quality of your work, I believe we all need to try to make great music with what we have before going crazy about all these other stuff. It will teach you what is it that you don’t need. If you can’t come up with a great recording using an mbox and a ‘cheapo’ mic, chances are you might not get it at all, regardless.
Graham’s point here is to encourage others to do the best they can with what they have instead of wasting both their creativity and resources unnecessarily.
By the way! The picture in this post is hilarious, It really goes with the article!
You make an excellent point Luis… the gear doesn’t automatically improve the sound of recordings! Or as Michelangelo put it, “A hammer and chisel do not a sculptor make.” The application of the recording tools is far more important than the tools themselves.
I’m not advocating gear lust, “more is better”, or that home studios need to be constantly adding mics to get good quality recordings. All I’m saying is, while you COULD use a butter knife instead of a screwdriver, you’re going to have an easier time turning screws if you get a screwdriver. And you would definitely benefit from having a few different types and sizes of screwdrivers.
Graham, I totally agree that we must not let the gear get in the way. It is my opinion that having more mics doesn’t automatically mean they will distract you. It is valuable to remember not to get bogged down by the technology, and I think it is also valuable to have several mics so that you have appropriate tools to get the job done well. I bet Michelangelo had more than one chisel.
I like to wow people with a great recording then let them
see what gear I recorded it on….it fun to see the wheels spinning.
Hey Randy! Yes, I believe you have a pretty valid view and I respect that. My comment here was not in reference to what you guys had posted before. I was just sharing my very own experience in support of Graham’s advice regarding making the best use of what you got to make great music.
There is a reason why there are all kinds of mics out there for different applications and the quality ranges from earth to sky. I can’t argue against that. And if you can afford investing on them without hesitation, then go for it!!
Luis, I’m just trying to widen the discussion. And no married man (such as myself) buys mics without hesitation. 🙂
The vast majority of mics I own were purchased on ebay for well under $200 each. Some were less than $50! Several of my ebay mics turned out to be pretty versatile, others are specialists.
my SM57 was only 50.
Hey Randy! We’re cool! I truly enjoy the discussion as well. As I mentioned before, you have a very nice perspective on this and I’m not trying to go against it…
Keep it up! This is a lot of fun and at the end, we all learn something!
I’m honored to be surrounded by such wise people on this blog….thanks for all your comments!
i would grab my crappy laptop first, which, even though it’s about 4 years old and an Acer, actually has been a great little machine for recording. then, if i could, i’d grab my lexicon lambda and an SM57 with a stand (it’s already mounted, most likely!) or maybe i’d leave the Lambda so i’d have an excuse to get that firewire rig i’ve been ogling while reading on the can! 😉 heck, maybe i should just get a pickup and install a ramp at the studio window, just to be prepared…
there ya go.
great blog, Graham, really apprecite the work you do!
mark
knowing what you’d leave really tells you what needs upgrading aha.
if you have all the equipment where/what/website do you go to on your computer in order to record
Next week I’ll be posting an Acoustic Guitar Mic Shootout if anyone is interested in hearing some mic differences (http://www.google.com/profiles/coppinger7). Thanks Graham, Dave, Luis and Gale for the discussion.
That’s cool Randy. Look forward to it!
A couple things: I hesitated for a while, because it’s not glamorous, but the best investment I ever made in my home studio was acoustic treatment. I spent $400 and it makes a world of a difference. Also, I have found that sometimes the music I’m doing gets in the way of the music I SHOULD be doing. I go to jams and open mics, sing at church, etc., so I’m doing a lot musically. Sometimes, though, I should stay home and finish the song I started or practice and record that last guitar part. So many distractions, it helps to figure out what you really want to accomplish. Since I have limited time, one of the best things I did when recording my first album, was to put aside many of the other musical distractions.
Laptop, PreSonus Firestudio Project, MXL V67G, SM57, drum mics, and maybe a bass trap (just kidding). That’s about what I’ve got, except for monitors. They aren’t very good though.
Hey, I have a question, I’m about to get some Akai RPM8 monitors, and I want to use an electric guitar, a microphone, stuff like that to make music (I use logic and live) the question is, what interface do you recommend? Or do you really recommend an interface? I have a APC40 and a MPK49 controllers.
I definitely recommend an audio interface of some kind. Anything from PreSonus, Focusrite etc. will be great for you.
I’m a song writer/singer. I’m going shopping soon for own studio. My mom or dad doesn’t know what I need, but I have an idea lol. I just need someone who already knows what to get or already have studio equipment! Can someone just give me like a list of things, brand names..etc
what’s an audio interface? Do I need the audio interface and the DAW??? so confused 🙁
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