SPOT ON! Learn your tools. I own nothing fancy, but it all works. After doing this for 35 years, I feel like I can get solid results from what I have... and I still learn something new EVERY day. The Good Lord is blessing me with plenty of work, and the quality of my work keeps getting better all of the time, incoming and outgoing. Love your channel, Barry!
Amen - This says it all "you need to learn to use the tools that you have Master those tools focus on your skill set forget gear". If you obtain the sills and master your tools, you can create great things. Thanks for the words of wisdom and sanity.
the acquisition of equipment cannot be justified solely by the desire to have better sound quality. when I wanted to open my home studio I didn't want to just have a laptop placed on a table with free plugins installed. so I bought an Apollo 8 duo, a compressor and a preamp. a synthesizer and a master keyboard. I knew it wasn't this equipment that was going to give me good sound but I just wanted my studio to look like a studio. it was useful both for my comfort and for the respect of customers.
I have a rule where I only make large gear purchases with bonus money once a year. Definitely helps the GAS. At the very least, I’ve got a year between purchases to really think about what the best bang for buck will be.
I totally agree, first master your tools and then get the gear. I use to blame my gear but kept it with me because something told me I was doing something wrong. After I upgraded my interface to a better one I finally could appreciate and notice the difference it made to the recordings for my client. Then bought a mastering eq and paired it up the gear I already owned in my master chain and everything made sense. Gear does make a difference but you have to master your tools first in order to hear the differences it makes at a producer level. It's frustrating but worth it when you can clip the input level in analog, is a more pleasant sound that digital can't replicate.
I agree that many people won’t notice the immediate difference between plugin A and plugin B but just routing your audio through some machines like old reel to reel recorders or good preamps just changes the game. That’s a fact and even crappy engineers will sound 50% better just using some gear. I’d like it to be untrue but it’s a fact 🙃
Very good advice. I have come to my point of saturation on plug-ins. I finally decided what I need and stopped two subscriptions and kept two. They do literally everything I could use. The only place that I am expanding is into 8 500 series units. I am down to 1 16 space rack with the right tools for the job; not just tools. I do appreciate your advice, but I had already reached that answer. Have a great one Barry.
After owning several small studio setups would totally agree with Barry's assessment. This also applies to buying instruments such as guitars etc. If you suck playing a fairly inexpensive guitar you will not be better with a far more expensive instrument. It's the player or the engineer that makes the difference not necessarily the gear. Once you 'master' what you currently own you will be far better able to make a much more knowledgeable decision on purchasing an upgrade if needed. That being said, manufacturers hate this idea and go to great lengths to mitigate through promotional adverts and getting youtube like personalities to show off their gear etc. The one caveat is that technology moves very quickly now and I do think it is important to at least know where the industry is going in terms of formats, connectivity and such. The one piece of gear you cannot go wrong on is microphones. The better ones hold their value, if taken care of, and can produce finer results if used wisely and with some knowledge of miking techniques.
Thank you Barry. I have had a bad case of GAS lately. What we call an "Empty Love Tank" Sometimes what we really need is something else entirely. I am 63... :-)
I agree with this message. It's better to wait until you fully understand it before buying things. I talk about that on my channel as well. Don't buy a ton of gear. Learn how things work first. Most already have all they need at their disposal.
This is great! I love it. I have some gear from years ago that is all in mint condition. So I am working on location, location location... to be ready to use it. I can't put my old mint condition portable-studio on a cardboard box and synthesizer guitar etc. .. to use working on that! Basics basics basics .. this is why this message is so spot on. I may never need new equipment. I have interface and. Mac etc. but I can't even do that without developing a headache trying to run it ... when I want to play and record my ideas (at least a couple of steps above cell phone voice recorder (:-)). I even another portable multi track recorder, in mint condition and I don't even know where it is ......... thanks for this great video... I still enjoy seeing new stuff... not that I'll ever want one ...
Plugins and gear never helped my mixes. Listening and learning did though. room treatment before gear. Once you can actually hear what is going on gear may make a difference but it’s not the difference between a pro mix and a beginner mix.
Barry 💯! I’ve already made a commitment to myself that I will not buy any gear or new shiny plugins in 2024. Truth is I have all the awesome tools I need. Are there better tools to be had!?! Absolutely! But I have more than I need to make quality music. 2024 is about improving me. My skills. Thanks for being you man!
I've been "playing" with my home studio for years and have bought and sold a lot of toys. Only recently did I have this conversation with myself. I now only have what I believe I need without breaking the bank. For the most part I do everything in the box but I have a Cranborne EC1 (great mic pre), an ART Voice Channel and my Motu M4. Between that and a couple of good headphones and mics, I will continue to learn in the box!
I'm an old guy also, The gear I buy now is to make what I do better, and what I mean as better is faster. The faster I mix the better my end product is. There is some that I buy for a certain sound. But I started all this on tape. I know what sound I want, and how to get it. Just buying something because someone says it is great doesn't help you put out better music.
I think there's many factors involved with buying gear that need to be considered. First and foremost is, will that piece of gear accomplish something you can't already? Secondly, is it priced within your ability? That second question is something only you can answer? Can you afford it? And is it something your even capable of using? Many times when more than one of these questions can't be answered honestly, you should probably hold off on the purchase.
Say it again for the ones in the back! I did this for 4-5 years with a scarlett, sm7b, and not a single piece of hardware. Gear is for tracking and after that, it's really just a workflow tool and a studio aesthetic. It gets you to a place YOU ALREADY KNOW HOW TO GET TO, with ease. It will not make you a better engineer, producer, or artist. Don't get me wrong, I learned a lot from owning different hardware, and it's an eventual, inevitable step of the journey, but it took a long time to even understand why I would use it versus using the tools I had in the box.
I accidentally took the approach you’re suggesting here by default, since I grew up without much money haha… couldn’t afford any major gear when I was learning, let alone until years and years into my development as a producer/engineer... Wasn’t until I had around 15-20 years recording experience that I finally started investing in world-class equipment for my own home studio. Sure, I wish I started investing this way long ago, but I do feel grateful knowing that I didn’t just go buy a ton of expensive shit before knowing how to actually use it!
FACTS! after doing recording and mixing for 3 years I finally got a good sounding track (the rapper even complimented on how good I made him sound). I have the same gear that I have since the beginning. However, I mixed that song on UA plugins that I recently purchased. Mainly those plugins made me to take decisions by listening and not by looking. I guess it works both ways. Skills and gear should go hand in hand sometimes. Sorry for rambling. Thank-you Barry for the advice.
Don't waste your time on cheap awful sounding instruments. I've been a performing keyboardist for 56 years, lost my vintage studio in a divorce of 2008. Since then, living in poverty and trying to make music on Casio synths, Medeili keyboards, cheap Akai samplers, cheap digital pianos. I worked with these instruments for 15 years, attempting to get good sound, trying to save it with 35 years as a recording engineer, trying to hide the defects of the instruments. Been a sound designer since the late 1980s with synths, know subtractive and FM very well, and I just took on sound design on Kurzweil's VAST OS last year. Plus, I know processors and how to build effects chains and effect parameter to the best they can be. But as the mix was completed there was nothing that could help the sewage coming out of these instrument outputs. So last year I dumped everything I had that sounded bad and replaced it with good average synths. NO, I did not buy a Moog One, or a 16 voice Prophet, or flagship workstations, just good solid analog and digital synths, sampler, and plain old Mackie VLZ mixer with Zoom MS70CDR pedals in the aux loops. And now I am finally getting better recordings; this year going to add a MAC with Logic for mastering and that should be all I need for great sounding recordings. Been using a 20 year old DAW for mastering, thinking my experience could make the difference, until I went to a friend's house to set up a recording template for her singer/piano songs. She had the latest Logic, so I use the compressor and EQ from that to master and it was so easy to finish, within just a few minutes I had dialed in a great transparent finished sound. My old DAW processors were so much work to get good results, it would take days to find a good enough master processor/effects chain. But in Logic, it was just a few minutes and I had something better than the 20 years of work in my DAW. I was shocked, been told for so long it is not so much the equipment but the engineer in making good recordings. (My studio is 100% hardware of instruments, processors and a 24-track hardware recorder, no computer).
I'm so glad I watched this video after I bought a new RME Fireface UFX III a few weeks ago! Didn't really need it, but boy am I happy with it. Got it for a great price ($2595 US new) and it'll be something I keep for years to come and could probably sell it for not much loss. Now i'm going to stop! ha ha
Barry - I love your videos man - i thin 75% of us are in "comfy" clothes with a shirt on - 20% have a a t-shirt or hoodie on and the the 6% would be REALLY embarrassed if the accidentally stood up lol... Im in the hoodie t-shirt baggie gym pants category... Thanks for another awesome video. Guys if you are not gonna listen to logic, and you feel compelled to throw money around... Throw some to Barry or myself we'd appreciate it!! ;)
Barry I'm and old fart to. This same principle applies to plugins also. Over the years I have purchased tons of plugins. I just built me a new pc, and went to reinstall my plugins. Man I realized how much excess I had. To all out there Barry is seeking to help you. LISTEN!!!!!!!!
I've had some bad luck with audio interfaces. Just bought an RME PCIe interface for the latency. I struggled for a long time with latency on cheap interfaces, firewire, usb and then the drivers not working with newer OSs. It should be considered good ethical business practice to support drivers up to the latest operating system that computer can take. I feel bad for the guys with the TDM hardware PCIe cards that *should* easily work in a 2019 Mac Pro, but lost support in 2012. M-Audio also abandoned their customers. Never again.
I have some inexpensive gear, I use a simple Focusrite Scarlet interface, and a Rode NTK mic...I did buy one expensive piece of gear my Universal Audio LA610 MK2, it make a huge difference in my vocal tracks. It was exactly what I was looking for to bring my vocal tracks to the front and warm them up. Its the only expensive piece of gear I got, and really all I need
Well, it's hard not to get hooked on the whole gear aquisition thing. I've been working on recordings and mixing for around 13 years now. And I started by working in the box of course. Bought a lot of plugins that I didn't use a lot. Then switched to some hardware gear, and I do prefer that. I was trying to get like one super awesome channel strip, and then a second one and then some stereo bus stuff. I do like the workflow with analog stuff. It's not really so much about the (better?) sound, but also the breaks I have to take during printing tracks and the fact that I have to make decisions and working with hardware knobs instead of looking at a screen. Luckily my place is quite limited and I cannot fit any more gear in here.
I have no talent. I buy gear after gear. My music absolutely sucks compared to established artists and most amateurs. I know all about GAS. I buy gear to keep from walking up and down the street kicking cans. There is nothing like a piece of gear built like a tank. The way the knobs and switches feel. Knowing what that piece of gear is capable of. There are those or us that don’t take ourselves that seriously. A thousand years from now, it won’t matter if you were a fantastic artist or if you did nothing but buy gear. It’s like a painting. People buy million dollar paintings and can’t paint a lick. Some of us paint with gear. Some of us just have it.
Honestly this video is exemplary of why I don't trust gear youtube...you look at the title of the video, and then look down at the video's description field and it's FILLED with sweetwater links.
Come on man, that’s is not fair. Do you want me to spend all this time and money and make nothing? You make next to nothing on views. So, the point of the video is don’t buy gear, it’s develop your skills “before” you do that. Geez!
@@BarryJohns Trust me that I see part of it as intentional irony. I find there to be nothing wrong with advertisement and making a living doing this stuff, but I also look at geartube as being highly duplicitous about this sort of subject. I know you guys mean it when you say "stop buying gear" because it truly IS an issue with a lot of us, but some self-awareness and transparency of your position is also important. I apologize if I came off like a raging d---, but I do feel like something should've been said.
@@user-jq4fz6co8bthe video is not sponsored so no need. You realize that I can put Amazon or a ton of other options for affiliate links. When my videos are sponsored it will be made very clear. Those links are setup to automatically be added to each video I post. I even made a video about all of this: Sweetwater - We Need to Talk czcams.com/video/anYNhfkFN5g/video.html
TO ALL MY FELLOW GEN Z AND MILLENIAL ENGINEERS ..... keep/START buying gear . gear isnt a cheat code. but having physical audio gear will build your appreciation for what we do . and encourage learning audio from the fundamentals to the top. you will make this process faster if you have some physical gear you will be incentivized to learn what ever machine u bought . it will bring concepts and things you see in the box full circle. start with a solid mixer 8-12 track make sure its usb so it can be used as your interface as well also an outboard compressor . buy gear to LEARN and develop a genuine love for this art form . LEARN THE FREQUENCY SPECTRUM . UNDERSTAND HOW HUMAN EARS PROCESS IT AND ALWAYS HAVE SOME GEAR TO MANIPULATE IT MANUALLY WITH YOUR HANDS . REPLICA AND EMULATION GEAR MIXED WITH TOP LEVEL PLUGINS CAN GET YOU AN INDUSTRY STANDARD SOUND, BUT YOU MUST LEARN BASICS OF AUDIO OR YOU WONT ACHIEVE TOP QUALITY PRODUCT . if you ever find yourself in an industry tier studio to work, you dont want to be they guy that doesnt know how the patch bay works....
I hear you, and I get it, but hear me out - no. lol I'm not the most advanced mixing and recording guy, but I enjoy gear and some of it is a lot of fun. I just recently got the Crandborne Carnaby. The thing isn't life changing, but for $500 it makes certain things sound awesome with minimal effort. I didn't miss the point though... honest. It is good advice.
Do high-quality instruments and microphones count as gear? I know you can make a cheap guitar recorded with a SM57 into a cheap interface mixed with stock plugins sound good, but you can't necessarily make it sound like your favorite record. (Or can you?) If all I own is a nice pair of jeans and a white shirt, I can always look good, but I can't ever look like I'm wearing a suit. Is that not an apt analogy?
Hi Barry, curious if you’ve observed anything extra peculiar around UAD support lately? Tickets being left open for weeks, dismissive reps, lots of issues left unresolved? I ask because it would be great to have someone with your reach look into it.
The best gear you will ever have is your ear and your creativity - until you max out those, anything else is marginal improvement AT BEST. Learn what you have, and use that to it's greatest potential - I record my vocals using a USB mic in a room with scraps of shipping foam stuck to the walls, and have folks say it sounds incredible...
I have not been able to figure out how to say the things you've just said I can't figure out how to make any money in this business because I have been doing it so long that I've come all the way back to hardly nothing and if I tell people that who's going to buy nothing the musical industry is having a field day with back and forth between analog and digital and it's going to stay that way for a while
"If I just had that X compressor, or y pre-amp, my recordings might sound good." Man I have fallen into that trap so much. Sometimes it gives you analysis paralysis where you don't finish anything, and/or you don't bother digging in and learning the gear you have, or the process of how to get the best recording your gear and space (and playing) can provide.
100%... Bigerst lie in recording circles is that you need this Magic Bullet widget and that will take over the finish line. and its not. never will be... its KNOWING and EXPERIENCE which does, and they dont sell that at the store.
i’m somewhere between wanting to sell all of my gear and buying a buss compressor to finish my setup 😂 i have a Cranborne EC2, WesAudio NG76 and an Audioscape Opto. i think an Audioscape Buss Comp would cover my essentials for vocals and mix buss. Barry, what do you think?
1:11 i can see that mixer better here, nice thing ....i need a peace of gear bcs i have nothing for a while ....hade to concentrate on playing instrument i lost it from all looking into screens and equipmnets and programing long ago ....but i need to record stuff now and .....every pece of gear is missing something mpc's x's lack memory other lack quality of preamps and conversion of digital signal and some lack big screen ...or is not standalones that you can put intosome daw later ......why dont someone just make one peace of gear that man dont need anything beside so that he can stop thinking about gear at least for a decade ....like i hade pause ....and still they have made not one unit that is complete ...good ting i didnt waste my money (i dont have 😅) on many ...like many i see done and is pissed offbcs still have to waitfor new version of it to pay it much and get same notcomplete workstation that lack memory has limited plugins or something else ....thy just dont want to make it but to ontinue make us buying ....well i havent bought nothin over 10 years that is result of it ....and maybe i'll skip it on ....everygear i found to like has some flaw ....why should i buy it when it will not keep me satysfyed but thinkin of new gear? .....hmm and all computer Daws are online update kind off ....me want to buy it on fkcn CD or memory stick and work my work OFFLINE so that spywear would not be stealing my studio work .....or melodys or ideas ........i shit on online them want to keep us on it ........and in WI-FI that distract human conchsness .....why im writing this .......sorry frustration 😅 after miths of studing what to buy and dont neeed any later updates but is full and complete ....music sound reached top 20-30 years ago before digital atrfofy we is getting out of in last years
I’m running off an old 828 mkII with the firewire 400 and two cable adapters since Mac doesn’t officially support it anymore, and I don’t think I can update my computer. Can I buy some gear? 😂
Dude, I love your channel. You're like the recording uncle I never had but always wished for.
SPOT ON! Learn your tools. I own nothing fancy, but it all works. After doing this for 35 years, I feel like I can get solid results from what I have... and I still learn something new EVERY day. The Good Lord is blessing me with plenty of work, and the quality of my work keeps getting better all of the time, incoming and outgoing. Love your channel, Barry!
Amen - This says it all "you need to learn to use the tools that you have Master those tools focus on your skill set forget gear". If you obtain the sills and master your tools, you can create great things. Thanks for the words of wisdom and sanity.
Sounds so simple and obvious, yet it is neither. Good video man. Talent doesn't require a certain type of gear or manufacturer.
the acquisition of equipment cannot be justified solely by the desire to have better sound quality. when I wanted to open my home studio I didn't want to just have a laptop placed on a table with free plugins installed. so I bought an Apollo 8 duo, a compressor and a preamp. a synthesizer and a master keyboard. I knew it wasn't this equipment that was going to give me good sound but I just wanted my studio to look like a studio. it was useful both for my comfort and for the respect of customers.
buying gear is fun, and it also can create an environment that puts you in the “headspace” for great recording and mixing. you gotta be inspired too….
Exactly so if I want new gear I will get new gear.
I have a rule where I only make large gear purchases with bonus money once a year. Definitely helps the GAS. At the very least, I’ve got a year between purchases to really think about what the best bang for buck will be.
I totally agree, first master your tools and then get the gear. I use to blame my gear but kept it with me because something told me I was doing something wrong. After I upgraded my interface to a better one I finally could appreciate and notice the difference it made to the recordings for my client. Then bought a mastering eq and paired it up the gear I already owned in my master chain and everything made sense. Gear does make a difference but you have to master your tools first in order to hear the differences it makes at a producer level. It's frustrating but worth it when you can clip the input level in analog, is a more pleasant sound that digital can't replicate.
Great advice. Fewer options of tools to choose from = more precision and creativity.
This is so true for lots of people!! I've been there. I'm being very very wise with my gear decisions these days. Much ❤️ BJ!!
OMG so many people need to hear this. Master your skills.
I agree that many people won’t notice the immediate difference between plugin A and plugin B but just routing your audio through some machines like old reel to reel recorders or good preamps just changes the game. That’s a fact and even crappy engineers will sound 50% better just using some gear. I’d like it to be untrue but it’s a fact 🙃
I usually recommend buying the books from the author Bobby Owsinski first.
Very good advice. I have come to my point of saturation on plug-ins. I finally decided what I need and stopped two subscriptions and kept two. They do literally everything I could use. The only place that I am expanding is into 8 500 series units. I am down to 1 16 space rack with the right tools for the job; not just tools. I do appreciate your advice, but I had already reached that answer. Have a great one Barry.
I can’t stop , I enjoy researching and buying more than I do using
After owning several small studio setups would totally agree with Barry's assessment. This also applies to buying instruments such as guitars etc. If you suck playing a fairly inexpensive guitar you will not be better with a far more expensive instrument. It's the player or the engineer that makes the difference not necessarily the gear. Once you 'master' what you currently own you will be far better able to make a much more knowledgeable decision on purchasing an upgrade if needed. That being said, manufacturers hate this idea and go to great lengths to mitigate through promotional adverts and getting youtube like personalities to show off their gear etc. The one caveat is that technology moves very quickly now and I do think it is important to at least know where the industry is going in terms of formats, connectivity and such. The one piece of gear you cannot go wrong on is microphones. The better ones hold their value, if taken care of, and can produce finer results if used wisely and with some knowledge of miking techniques.
After 40+ years of playing the same '62 P bass I have a new Jazz V and I am just having a good time.
Thank you Barry. I have had a bad case of GAS lately. What we call an "Empty Love Tank" Sometimes what we really need is something else entirely. I am 63... :-)
I agree with this message. It's better to wait until you fully understand it before buying things. I talk about that on my channel as well. Don't buy a ton of gear. Learn how things work first. Most already have all they need at their disposal.
Great Freudian slip at 6:42…” If you want to Nive Deep” ie “if you want a Neve “
😜
This is great! I love it. I have some gear from years ago that is all in mint condition. So I am working on location, location location... to be ready to use it. I can't put my old mint condition portable-studio on a cardboard box and synthesizer guitar etc. .. to use working on that! Basics basics basics .. this is why this message is so spot on. I may never need new equipment. I have interface and. Mac etc. but I can't even do that without developing a headache trying to run it ... when I want to play and record my ideas (at least a couple of steps above cell phone voice recorder (:-)). I even another portable multi track recorder, in mint condition and I don't even know where it is ......... thanks for this great video... I still enjoy seeing new stuff... not that I'll ever want one ...
Plugins and gear never helped my mixes. Listening and learning did though. room treatment before gear. Once you can actually hear what is going on gear may make a difference but it’s not the difference between a pro mix and a beginner mix.
5 o’clock somewhere 😂 🍺
When I find myself in times of trouble, Brother Barry comes to CZcams, yelling words of Wisdom, Don’t buy gear, Don’t buy gear :)
that's hilarious!
I have to admit, you are right. Ultimately what you hear is what is important, not the gear.
Thank you so much for all your advice. Master what you have first so you know what you need
Barry 💯! I’ve already made a commitment to myself that I will not buy any gear or new shiny plugins in 2024. Truth is I have all the awesome tools I need. Are there better tools to be had!?! Absolutely! But I have more than I need to make quality music. 2024 is about improving me. My skills. Thanks for being you man!
In today's recording environment you can make professional sounding albums on a cellphone with garageband. I have seen it and heard it done.
Barry..part of the hobby is GEAR!!
This is about when to invest, not that you should not.
😂😂 the "before you buy beer" part just took me out😂 great job on the vid
Better than stop buying gear was what followed i.e “Stop analyzing your situation” @1:20 😅
Thank you for reminding me Barry, I haven't gotten tracking links for every piece of gear I bought on Reverb this week.
I've been "playing" with my home studio for years and have bought and sold a lot of toys. Only recently did I have this conversation with myself. I now only have what I believe I need without breaking the bank. For the most part I do everything in the box but I have a Cranborne EC1 (great mic pre), an ART Voice Channel and my Motu M4. Between that and a couple of good headphones and mics, I will continue to learn in the box!
Those black glasses look good on you, Barry.
I'm an old guy also, The gear I buy now is to make what I do better, and what I mean as better is faster. The faster I mix the better my end product is. There is some that I buy for a certain sound. But I started all this on tape. I know what sound I want, and how to get it. Just buying something because someone says it is great doesn't help you put out better music.
I think there's many factors involved with buying gear that need to be considered. First and foremost is, will that piece of gear accomplish something you can't already? Secondly, is it priced within your ability? That second question is something only you can answer? Can you afford it? And is it something your even capable of using? Many times when more than one of these questions can't be answered honestly, you should probably hold off on the purchase.
Solid advice. As a matter of fact, it should be the theme in 2024
Say it again for the ones in the back!
I did this for 4-5 years with a scarlett, sm7b, and not a single piece of hardware. Gear is for tracking and after that, it's really just a workflow tool and a studio aesthetic. It gets you to a place YOU ALREADY KNOW HOW TO GET TO, with ease. It will not make you a better engineer, producer, or artist.
Don't get me wrong, I learned a lot from owning different hardware, and it's an eventual, inevitable step of the journey, but it took a long time to even understand why I would use it versus using the tools I had in the box.
I accidentally took the approach you’re suggesting here by default, since I grew up without much money haha… couldn’t afford any major gear when I was learning, let alone until years and years into my development as a producer/engineer... Wasn’t until I had around 15-20 years recording experience that I finally started investing in world-class equipment for my own home studio. Sure, I wish I started investing this way long ago, but I do feel grateful knowing that I didn’t just go buy a ton of expensive shit before knowing how to actually use it!
I saw this video and I bought some new gear using your link on Thomann ;-)
Awesome, thank you!
FACTS! after doing recording and mixing for 3 years I finally got a good sounding track (the rapper even complimented on how good I made him sound). I have the same gear that I have since the beginning. However, I mixed that song on UA plugins that I recently purchased. Mainly those plugins made me to take decisions by listening and not by looking. I guess it works both ways. Skills and gear should go hand in hand sometimes. Sorry for rambling. Thank-you Barry for the advice.
Don't waste your time on cheap awful sounding instruments. I've been a performing keyboardist for 56 years, lost my vintage studio in a divorce of 2008. Since then, living in poverty and trying to make music on Casio synths, Medeili keyboards, cheap Akai samplers, cheap digital pianos. I worked with these instruments for 15 years, attempting to get good sound, trying to save it with 35 years as a recording engineer, trying to hide the defects of the instruments. Been a sound designer since the late 1980s with synths, know subtractive and FM very well, and I just took on sound design on Kurzweil's VAST OS last year. Plus, I know processors and how to build effects chains and effect parameter to the best they can be. But as the mix was completed there was nothing that could help the sewage coming out of these instrument outputs. So last year I dumped everything I had that sounded bad and replaced it with good average synths. NO, I did not buy a Moog One, or a 16 voice Prophet, or flagship workstations, just good solid analog and digital synths, sampler, and plain old Mackie VLZ mixer with Zoom MS70CDR pedals in the aux loops.
And now I am finally getting better recordings; this year going to add a MAC with Logic for mastering and that should be all I need for great sounding recordings.
Been using a 20 year old DAW for mastering, thinking my experience could make the difference, until I went to a friend's house to set up a recording template for her singer/piano songs. She had the latest Logic, so I use the compressor and EQ from that to master and it was so easy to finish, within just a few minutes I had dialed in a great transparent finished sound. My old DAW processors were so much work to get good results, it would take days to find a good enough master processor/effects chain. But in Logic, it was just a few minutes and I had something better than the 20 years of work in my DAW. I was shocked, been told for so long it is not so much the equipment but the engineer in making good recordings.
(My studio is 100% hardware of instruments, processors and a 24-track hardware recorder, no computer).
It all comes down to the song period.
I'm so glad I watched this video after I bought a new RME Fireface UFX III a few weeks ago! Didn't really need it, but boy am I happy with it. Got it for a great price ($2595 US new) and it'll be something I keep for years to come and could probably sell it for not much loss.
Now i'm going to stop! ha ha
He right STOP BUYING GEAR, however Gear makes the world of difference.
I have always bought gear. Sold on EBay what didn’t work out, kept what did. Good gear holds its value. Vintage gear goes up in value.
Barry - I love your videos man - i thin 75% of us are in "comfy" clothes with a shirt on - 20% have a a t-shirt or hoodie on and the the 6% would be REALLY embarrassed if the accidentally stood up lol... Im in the hoodie t-shirt baggie gym pants category... Thanks for another awesome video. Guys if you are not gonna listen to logic, and you feel compelled to throw money around... Throw some to Barry or myself we'd appreciate it!! ;)
Best advice in everything not just gear. Thanks!
Barry I'm and old fart to. This same principle applies to plugins also. Over the years I have purchased tons of plugins. I just built me a new pc, and went to reinstall my plugins. Man I realized how much excess I had. To all out there Barry is seeking to help you. LISTEN!!!!!!!!
No if I want something new I will get something new. Now is not the time but maybe soon.
Dude said he would never do that, stood up to correct the camera focus whilest wearing a pejama😂
to be honest,
I still need a Neve 1073, for sure
I’ve been watching your videos at first I thought nooooo big mouth yank 😂😂but now am very impressed your know your stuff my friend 👍👍
Thanks!
Love your channel!!! Keep telling it like it is!!!! Perhaps too much coffee at 5:00 am?
What a great vid this is! talent will always out way any gear hog.
Thanks for another great video.
I've had some bad luck with audio interfaces. Just bought an RME PCIe interface for the latency. I struggled for a long time with latency on cheap interfaces, firewire, usb and then the drivers not working with newer OSs. It should be considered good ethical business practice to support drivers up to the latest operating system that computer can take. I feel bad for the guys with the TDM hardware PCIe cards that *should* easily work in a 2019 Mac Pro, but lost support in 2012. M-Audio also abandoned their customers. Never again.
I have some inexpensive gear, I use a simple Focusrite Scarlet interface, and a Rode NTK mic...I did buy one expensive piece of gear my Universal Audio LA610 MK2, it make a huge difference in my vocal tracks. It was exactly what I was looking for to bring my vocal tracks to the front and warm them up. Its the only expensive piece of gear I got, and really all I need
Well, it's hard not to get hooked on the whole gear aquisition thing. I've been working on recordings and mixing for around 13 years now. And I started by working in the box of course. Bought a lot of plugins that I didn't use a lot. Then switched to some hardware gear, and I do prefer that. I was trying to get like one super awesome channel strip, and then a second one and then some stereo bus stuff. I do like the workflow with analog stuff. It's not really so much about the (better?) sound, but also the breaks I have to take during printing tracks and the fact that I have to make decisions and working with hardware knobs instead of looking at a screen. Luckily my place is quite limited and I cannot fit any more gear in here.
The same applies to learning CNC. You know what I mean? Good advise by the way! 😅
I’m still learning😁
So truth Mr.Barry
Software = no real ownership. Hardware = ownership. It's as simple as that. I regret every Software instrument I have ever purchased.
I own all of my software
@@Allious131 Me too. But companies will soon say you have to sub to receive further upgrades.
@@Drfresh1402 And then I will pirate it when it happens
I have no talent. I buy gear after gear. My music absolutely sucks compared to established artists and most amateurs. I know all about GAS. I buy gear to keep from walking up and down the street kicking cans. There is nothing like a piece of gear built like a tank. The way the knobs and switches feel. Knowing what that piece of gear is capable of. There are those or us that don’t take ourselves that seriously. A thousand years from now, it won’t matter if you were a fantastic artist or if you did nothing but buy gear. It’s like a painting. People buy million dollar paintings and can’t paint a lick. Some of us paint with gear. Some of us just have it.
Honestly this video is exemplary of why I don't trust gear youtube...you look at the title of the video, and then look down at the video's description field and it's FILLED with sweetwater links.
Come on man, that’s is not fair. Do you want me to spend all this time and money and make nothing? You make next to nothing on views. So, the point of the video is don’t buy gear, it’s develop your skills “before” you do that. Geez!
@@BarryJohns Trust me that I see part of it as intentional irony. I find there to be nothing wrong with advertisement and making a living doing this stuff, but I also look at geartube as being highly duplicitous about this sort of subject. I know you guys mean it when you say "stop buying gear" because it truly IS an issue with a lot of us, but some self-awareness and transparency of your position is also important. I apologize if I came off like a raging d---, but I do feel like something should've been said.
@@user-jq4fz6co8bthe video is not sponsored so no need. You realize that I can put Amazon or a ton of other options for affiliate links. When my videos are sponsored it will be made very clear. Those links are setup to automatically be added to each video I post. I even made a video about all of this:
Sweetwater - We Need to Talk
czcams.com/video/anYNhfkFN5g/video.html
TO ALL MY FELLOW GEN Z AND MILLENIAL ENGINEERS ..... keep/START buying gear . gear isnt a cheat code. but having physical audio gear will build your appreciation for what we do . and encourage learning audio from the fundamentals to the top. you will make this process faster if you have some physical gear you will be incentivized to learn what ever machine u bought . it will bring concepts and things you see in the box full circle. start with a solid mixer 8-12 track make sure its usb so it can be used as your interface as well also an outboard compressor . buy gear to LEARN and develop a genuine love for this art form . LEARN THE FREQUENCY SPECTRUM . UNDERSTAND HOW HUMAN EARS PROCESS IT AND ALWAYS HAVE SOME GEAR TO MANIPULATE IT MANUALLY WITH YOUR HANDS . REPLICA AND EMULATION GEAR MIXED WITH TOP LEVEL PLUGINS CAN GET YOU AN INDUSTRY STANDARD SOUND, BUT YOU MUST LEARN BASICS OF AUDIO OR YOU WONT ACHIEVE TOP QUALITY PRODUCT . if you ever find yourself in an industry tier studio to work, you dont want to be they guy that doesnt know how the patch bay works....
Thanks now I realize I can't afford it anymore LOL
I hear you, and I get it, but hear me out - no. lol I'm not the most advanced mixing and recording guy, but I enjoy gear and some of it is a lot of fun. I just recently got the Crandborne Carnaby. The thing isn't life changing, but for $500 it makes certain things sound awesome with minimal effort. I didn't miss the point though... honest. It is good advice.
Shoe choice might matter for Usain Bolt, but for me heavy boots vs running shoes is all the quality difference I can convert into a useful upgrade.
Yes it does Barry ,no no no no I can’t help it ,can’t help it ,it’s all JOHN,PAUL,GEORGE,AND RINGO,FAULT,ON ED SULLIVAN FEB 18 th 1964
Excellent Advice!
Thank you, Barry. I needed to hear this. 🤔
Great video. Mixing skills > gear
But i keep clicking on your Sweetwater links! 😂
Spitting Facts !!!!!
Another gorgeous video, Barry.
Do high-quality instruments and microphones count as gear? I know you can make a cheap guitar recorded with a SM57 into a cheap interface mixed with stock plugins sound good, but you can't necessarily make it sound like your favorite record. (Or can you?) If all I own is a nice pair of jeans and a white shirt, I can always look good, but I can't ever look like I'm wearing a suit. Is that not an apt analogy?
Hi Barry, curious if you’ve observed anything extra peculiar around UAD support lately? Tickets being left open for weeks, dismissive reps, lots of issues left unresolved? I ask because it would be great to have someone with your reach look into it.
That why I do everything in the box. No outboard gear other than an interface.
He is not wrong!
The best gear you will ever have is your ear and your creativity - until you max out those, anything else is marginal improvement AT BEST. Learn what you have, and use that to it's greatest potential - I record my vocals using a USB mic in a room with scraps of shipping foam stuck to the walls, and have folks say it sounds incredible...
I have not been able to figure out how to say the things you've just said I can't figure out how to make any money in this business because I have been doing it so long that I've come all the way back to hardly nothing and if I tell people that who's going to buy nothing the musical industry is having a field day with back and forth between analog and digital and it's going to stay that way for a while
I really really needed to hear this🙌🏼💯
"If I just had that X compressor, or y pre-amp, my recordings might sound good." Man I have fallen into that trap so much. Sometimes it gives you analysis paralysis where you don't finish anything, and/or you don't bother digging in and learning the gear you have, or the process of how to get the best recording your gear and space (and playing) can provide.
Great video ... Super on point.
100%... Bigerst lie in recording circles is that you need this Magic Bullet widget and that will take over the finish line. and its not. never will be... its KNOWING and EXPERIENCE which does, and they dont sell that at the store.
Gear must be earned
Keep buying gear!
Dude, where was this advice 25 snare drums ago? 😂
Great video!! 👍🏽
i’m somewhere between wanting to sell all of my gear and buying a buss compressor to finish my setup 😂 i have a Cranborne EC2, WesAudio NG76 and an Audioscape Opto. i think an Audioscape Buss Comp would cover my essentials for vocals and mix buss. Barry, what do you think?
I feel like this applies to converters. Sweet baby Jesus the rabbit hole of spending $10,000 for a converter with .0000127% audio increase is real.
Well said👏👏👏👏👏
Love this channel
1:11 i can see that mixer better here, nice thing ....i need a peace of gear bcs i have nothing for a while ....hade to concentrate on playing instrument i lost it from all looking into screens and equipmnets and programing long ago ....but i need to record stuff now and .....every pece of gear is missing something mpc's x's lack memory other lack quality of preamps and conversion of digital signal and some lack big screen ...or is not standalones that you can put intosome daw later ......why dont someone just make one peace of gear that man dont need anything beside so that he can stop thinking about gear at least for a decade ....like i hade pause ....and still they have made not one unit that is complete ...good ting i didnt waste my money (i dont have 😅) on many ...like many i see done and is pissed offbcs still have to waitfor new version of it to pay it much and get same notcomplete workstation that lack memory has limited plugins or something else ....thy just dont want to make it but to ontinue make us buying ....well i havent bought nothin over 10 years that is result of it ....and maybe i'll skip it on ....everygear i found to like has some flaw ....why should i buy it when it will not keep me satysfyed but thinkin of new gear? .....hmm and all computer Daws are online update kind off ....me want to buy it on fkcn CD or memory stick and work my work OFFLINE so that spywear would not be stealing my studio work .....or melodys or ideas ........i shit on online them want to keep us on it ........and in WI-FI that distract human conchsness .....why im writing this .......sorry frustration 😅 after miths of studing what to buy and dont neeed any later updates but is full and complete ....music sound reached top 20-30 years ago before digital atrfofy we is getting out of in last years
I wonder, what are your achievements in production?
Barry, Love your channel. What are your favorite monitors?
I can’t afford them😜
Totally agree
I’m running off an old 828 mkII with the firewire 400 and two cable adapters since Mac doesn’t officially support it anymore, and I don’t think I can update my computer. Can I buy some gear? 😂
You're dang right!!!! Learn to write a song first before you buy that Fairchild! 😆
Now ya tell me!!😵💫
The irony of this video is that I've been trying to use your SW affiliate link for a while now, and I can't find anything I actually want.
There is one link at the top that can be used for any gear at Sweetwater.
@@BarryJohns oh. I know that. The problem is that i haven't wanted to buy anything.
guys a legend