Hand on the heart and two fingers on the bible everyone... how do you finance your neverending gear purchases, studio building etc ?
I've taken the long road, buying gear when I can afford it (read: drooling at all the stuff i want and swearing when I don't have the cash to get it) but now half a lifetime later I have a quite nice studio with all the essential stuff to make nice productions, recordings and mixes. And I have zero debt. I'm happy about that since I can make a decent living in this crazy business and I can sleep well at night. And I can have periods of no income since now I'm "6-12 months ahead" financially. And I can take my son on vacation
But on the other hand... I'm sooo tempted to just go get what I feel I'm missing and turn my nice studio into a kick-ass studio. But that would involve some credit/lease/whatever external financing, and that scares me tutt So, honestly, how do you do it ????? I notice that a lot of you guys have gear worth ****loads of money so not out of envy but out of curiousity I'll just pop that question.
Oh, and there's a difference of course. I don't run a commercial studio, my place is my private space for my one-man-business of songwriting and production. So anyway.., should I pay the bank a visit or should I give it another 10 years ??
My money-saving tips so far :
- I don't spend a lot of cash on anything computer/software-based since it's worth nothing in a year. Even a car is a good investment compared to software. I get a DAW that's solid and stay there for as long as possible BUT I'll spend more on good converters instead, they make a bigger difference than having 15 more plug-ins to choose from.
- I browse the net a lot for 2nd hand bargains and I've found a lot of them. Idiots who don't know what they're selling are a goldmine

Sometimes it's stuff I need and use, sometimes it's something I know I can trade in for what I really want. This way I actually paid about $200 for a $2000 compressor..
- I spend the most cash on pres, eq's, mics and compressors that will hold their value well.
Please share your tips & thoughts.