There’s a major issue in the music industry. It’s largely what drives the industry. I’m not sure who’s really responsible for it but I think we’re all responsible for falling into the trap of it at some point in our own journey.
In order to produce, record, mix, or whatever it is you’re interested in doing, it requires an investment to some degree. You need a way to get sound in to and out of your computer, a way to listen to your music, a way to record, a way to manipulate things in the computer.
Most people starting out will do some sort of research whether it be online, chatting with friends who are already in this world, or by going to your local shop and talking to a sales person. You probably have a limited budget especially if you have no idea where this journey will take you. You probably start off with something like an SM58, basic Focusrite interface, and some inexpensive monitors like the JBL, Kali, or KRK. At this point you’ll probably also decide on a DAW to work in.
Once you have the basic gear and can get going with you music making, you still need to learn how to use the gear. It’s a steep learning curve depending on how far you want to get into it. This means more research. This is probably the point where the industry needs to radically change. The problem is the endless hole that people get sucked into. Most resources like forums and YouTube videos only discuss gear. When you look up what a compressor does, you’ll learn about all of the awesome compressor plugins you don’t have. All of the awesome outboard gear that you need to get great sound.
Are there some cool plugins around? Yes. Is there some outboard gear around that’s awesome? Yes. Do you need it? No. Is it what you should spend most of your time talking about with other engineers? No. Is it going to make your work better? Probably not.
In my personal experience and what I’ve seen others talk about, a large part of progressing in your career is getting beyond the gear and moving the conversation on to other things. For a long time I was focused on the gear and it took some mentorship as well as being around other professionals to get past that point. If I didn’t have those experiences over the course of about a year, it would’ve taken me probably 10 years to make that same jump on my own.
Yes, you need some gear to work. There’s no getting around that. What’s important is figuring out what you really need both in terms of what you can currently afford and what you ultimately want to have. Most people seem to prioritize the wrong things entirely. The most important part of any system is the monitoring. That mainly consists of the speakers and the room. Without that, you’ll have no idea what you’re doing unless you have a lot of experience knowing how to work with compromised monitoring. If your monitoring system isn’t great, why are you buying plugins or outboard or a new mic pre? You probably already have tools that are good enough for that.
When starting out you probably can’t afford to build a nice room and great speakers so some level of compromise will have to be made. Once you have the basic gear to get started then this is where everyone should evaluate their priorities otherwise you’ll be stuck in the endless loop of buying new gear and the only thing you’ll probably talk about with other engineers is gear. This is probably the point where you should invest in your business, save for improving your monitoring, or not spend at all because it won’t give you any meaningful return.
If you want to work in this industry then you’ll eventually need great monitoring. There’s no way to get around that. Speakers like ATC seem like they’re a fortune (far too overpriced in my opinion but that’s a separate issue) and when you’re starting out it may seem like something you’ll never be able to afford or like it’s an unnecessary luxury. At some point you’ll hopefully be at a point in your career where you need something on that level. Without planning for that you might have 10 awesome mic pres costing a lot more than a pair of ATCs and terrible monitoring. In today’s world this probably applies mostly to plugins. How much is that $2 Waves plugin going to help your work? How is it going to help you develop your business?
Once you have great monitoring figured out then perhaps you might want to get a piece or two of outboard. Things that really add value to your work. How many plugins can you really actively use? In my mixing work I probably use at most 10 different plugins on a large session and those 10 plugins are probably the same 10 I use 90% of the time. With mastering, I use a different set of tools but again, I don’t have 50 plugins to browse through and find whatever is popular this week.
Nowadays when I see a studio with a huge desk or console and walls lined with outboard I immediately know that whoever owns that has the wrong mentality and it’s likely no fault of their own. What does a great studio look like to me? Nice speakers, copious amounts of treatment around the room (no foam), and no large desk. After that then perhaps there can start to be some outboard gear or things like that but those fundamental things should be there from the start at any great studio.
When I first started out I had the biggest desk I could find to put in all of the gear I wanted to buy. I also had all of the foam on the walls. This is what the internet told me I need to do. It took a long time and a lot of research to move beyond that and eventually have the smallest possible desk which I’ve had for quite a few years at this point. It’s great to see people like Jesse Ray Ernster and Unf*ck Projects making a push for that more recently. If I were just starting out now with no gear I’d probably not buy 70% of the gear I’ve owned. If I didn’t have the right guidance a few years ago then I’d own even more unnecessary gear and software.
What’s the solution to this problem underlaying the entire industry? I’m not sure. Probably mentorship from engineers who have gotten past the point of being fueled by gear. Of course if you’re just starting out and you don’t live in a major music center, that’s going to be tough to find. Unfortunately there’s too much on the internet saying otherwise so any new resources will have a hard time getting through. This blog post was largely inspired by the Conversations podcast where this is one of the many topics discussed. It’s a lot of content to get through but for anyone interested in progressing through their journey in this industry, I think it’s a time commitment worth pursuing.
Having said all of this, it’s always fun to experiment with new gear and I may occasionally post about whatever new tools I’m trying out. Just do so with caution and remember that it’s only a small part of where our attention should be.
In response to the title of this post - you probably already have all of the tools you need. There are probably better things you can do with your time and money instead of looking for the latest flashiest plugin. I’m certainly no expert and still have a lot to learn but feel free to reach out to me if you want to discuss where might be the best place to invest for your studio and career. Hopefully I can give some advice that’s a little better than what you’d otherwise find online.