anyone else read that article in Tape Op about Sufjan Stevens?
His guerrila recording techniques. recording at 32 and not at least 44.1. Dumping tracks 2 tracks at a time into PT from a 4 track...manually overdubbing drums and lining them up by eye. using nothing but 57's...
If the article is 100% geniune, then it really does say something about gear, or, perhaps the need of high end stuff to make a really nice sounding album.
now, there will be arguments on how good that album sounds, but I can say this: I doubt many people on this board would detect how "amateur" the tracking and mixing were done. It really sounds much better than the methodology behind it would dictate.
possible bottom line: good gear might only be for those of us who need a lot of help with mixing since the better the gear up front, the easier it is to mix.
And, or, Sufjan Stevens is the greatest enginneer to have ever lived.
if you havnt read it, read it. its facinating.