| My advice to the original poster would be to find one piece of gear that possesses a sonic trait, “color”, “mojo”, etc. that you dream about in your sleep and run your whole ITB mix through that. It could be a mic preamp, a compressor, an EQ, a mixer, a cassette 4-track, a vintage hi-fi preamp, a tube DI, a Casio SK1…anything. Just find something that makes the music you are creating sound like MUSIC and run your mixes through it. I think doing so can really bring an otherwise flat and 2D ITB mix to a whole new level of sonic joy. You’re going to have to experiment and listen and it will take much time…perhaps years. But you’ll know when you’ve found something that you connect with. And don’t get caught up in the popularity trends on this forum. There have been certain items over the years that people rave about. Some of them I was seduced into buying, but later decided they were not my cup of tea. It’s perfectly fine if you think the Gearslutz flavor of the week is boring sounding, or too dirty. Other’s sense of aesthetics is really irrevelant to the work you are doing in your studio. For instance, there seem to be a lot of folks here that work on what I would call “modern rock”. A lot of those guys are having great success using the Steven Slate samples in their mixes. However, despite all the rave reviews, that product would be totally useless to me since I don’t work on music that calls for those sounds. Gear is a very personal choice, and often it takes many years to figure it all out. Trial and error is really the best way to arrive at the best answer. Make Visa and Mastercard your new best friends.
Good luck!
Brad |