Am I Insane When it Comes to Gear?

[Nystromfredde]

Originally Posted by henryrobinett

Let's say I have 400 good songs still in me. Maybe half have been basically written already but haven't been recorded. If I'm working hard between work, life and family I might have 10 hours a week to record. More or maybe less. It varies week to week.

If I'm limited in my gear, but yet it's top notch I might be able to record half of those tunes. Or I might get all of them. Maybe more, maybe a little less. But if I'm a curmudgeon and perfectionist and try out various mics and pres and compressors and DAWs and rooms, and amps and speakers to record a SINGLE GUITAR PART, for example, forget it. It'll take me 6 months to record one song and given my personality type, I won't be satisfied with THAT. Forget the other tunes. It'd be good if I get 6-10 song done.

My POV is to be prepared. Play my ass off. It starts in my mind and is realized in my fingers through my vision and my heart. I work hard on the musical part every day. THEN I have great, top notch gear to record it. It's not that I can't HEAR the difference between various pres and mics. I can. But I'll never stop, or start or continue if I allow that much confusion to enter into the creative process.

I see the choice of mics and pres, etc, less a part of the creative process. I see those more as creative DISTRACTIONS.

I use the ULN-8. I have some Millennia pres. I have a bunch of mics. I know what I like to use on acoustic guitar. Sometimes that mic is at my external studio and not at my home studio and I'm at home. So I grab what I have, which is still pretty good. If I play my ass off on the part, it doesn't matter so much. It's all about the music. It's all about the music. The music comes first. Almost everything else is a distraction.

+1

I see myself in this! And I guess a whole bunch of fellow slutz share this reality.

[JayPH]

Originally Posted by Eric Pederson

Sometimes I feel like pent up melodies or songs are bad for me too! Mostly emotionally

This is why I'm in the process of setting up my first humble home studio. I have 20 years worth of music in my head that is beginning to kill me. If I don't record it I honestly think I'm going to explode. I'm sure the entire process of building my rig, playing my music, recording it and producing it will be cathartic.

I just don't have a fecking clue if the stuff I'm buying is good but the music is the main thing like the OP says right?

[Bill@WelcomeHome]

Originally Posted by henryrobinett

But I've always been like this. I get my guitars and I don't shop for more. I get my rig and I don't shop. I have it so I use it. The only reason I got my present guitar rig, as you might recall Bill, was my other amps started crapping out.

Lately I have a friend who has been building me guitars. But I have my Strats, my Paul, my Gibsons, my Tele is on the way. I have my acoustics and a Bass. That's it for me, you know. I don't need no 'mo. I have my great converters, pres, comps, mics. That's it. I don't need no 'mo. They do the job. Is it possible I can find something better? Of course! Is it going to change the result of my music in any discernable way? I seriously, seriously doubt it. My gear is top notch and is going to sound great, if it is great, regardless.

Some people have to buy this years model. Some people have to buy stuff for bragging rights. I buy stuff to use. And I'm happy to wait until I can afford the right piece, rather than spend 20 weeks on line looking for the cheapest XXX clone for under XXX dollars.

When it comes to guitars, mics, and amps, I ended up with a lot of them, because I had a business. But now that I don't, I'm selling off/have sold off a lot of stuff. I have a custom made Pellow electric guitar and a custom made Santa Cruz acoustic. All the Les Pauls and the Strat are up for sale. The 1960 Melodymaker is up for sale. I will keep the Fender VI and the Gibson Firebird XII, the Gibson Custom Shop Lucky Strike 336, and a Heartfield bass. The rest will be gone.

So I kinda feel the same way that you do....I don't want 300 mic pres. I have 8 that work fine, that are good quality, and that is all I ever expect to need from this point onwards. And like that, with the rest of the gear once i unload some of it.

When you have a business, you need enough stuff to run it. It doesn't hurt if the stuff is good rather than bargain basement. But you still have to know how to use it, regardless of what it cost.

It is -so easy- to get distracted by the technology and never write those 400 songs. But that is not the fault of the technology. That is just an excuse for not doing what we know we should be doing. Like me typing this instead of building a jig to sharpen my jointer blades. (sigh...) or chasing down the hum in the right side of my new playback setup (hmmm...) or jumping the video to DVD, starting on the four live sessions I have to remix and edit, or downloading the latest remix of a friends new song upon which he wants me to work. (...............) But you guys are more fun.

[henryrobinett]

Originally Posted by Bill@WelcomeHome

It is -so easy- to get distracted by the technology and never write those 400 songs. But that is not the fault of the technology. That is just an excuse for not doing what we know we should be doing. Like me typing this instead of building a jig to sharpen my jointer blades. (sigh...) or chasing down the hum in the right side of my new playback setup (hmmm...) or jumping the video to DVD, starting on the four live sessions I have to remix and edit, or downloading the latest remix of a friends new song upon which he wants me to work. (...............) But you guys are more fun.

LOL! Absolutely. And it's not the gear's fault for wasted time. I hope I didn't give that impression! But it would have been my fault, and HAS been, for me to get side lined by the minutia of gear as the big diversion, thinking it's the secret elixir missing from my making great tracks. But if I spend hours upon hours upon hours creating that perfect synth patch and getting that perfect guitar tone and seeking out those perfect mic pre, comps, mics . . . hell's bells! Record the friggin song already. Sometimes it's just not worth it.

In my world a song is a song is a song. The song is what speaks. In the techno world it's different. I could use a Taylor, a Guild a Martin a Yamaha and it would still translate. It's not so much the instrument, (gear) as it is the song and the performance. The icing is the last small, but very important percentages in the production of the song. And sometimes the difference is trivial, normally when the song just isn't cutting it.

All that stuff is really nice to have. Don't get me wrong. If I had unlimited money I'd have all of them. But the gear is not really what floats my boat. The gear has purpose. The purpose that the gear is being USED FOR is what get's me excited. THE MUSIC - and I'm not losing sight of THAT.

If I had a crew working for me, like a production crew, engineer, guitar/amp tech, computer tech - I could afford to be very picky. I could give THEM the problems and I could just concentrate on the music, arrangements. I'd give orders and say yes or no - pass or fail. But as it is it's all me. I produce other people, write, arrange music, engineer, mix, master. I don't have the luxury of the demands of minutia.

[RTR]

Originally Posted by cdog

Yes. For those of us who are musicians, its important to focus on the music, People dont buy your music because you used XYZ mic pre or ABC compression.

YOu are right!! I am a musician, but since the day I found GS I have made maybe 10 songs ..I have a new set up every 6 months and sell it as used even though I have not used the crap..I have it bad!!!!And I am just now starting to try and get out! So here it goes!

Hi everyone.....my name is jason and I am a GS for no apparent reason at all! gear and engineers do NOT make a hit...the hit makes them!!!!