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Old 03-11-2016, 11:57 AM   #2456
thermite zapruder
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Mar 2016
Posts: 1
Default No, really it doesn't matter...

Been a long time since I checked this thread out and I see now it's got a lot of back and forth about whether gear does, in fact, matter *some*. I think it matters only up to the point where it's either functional or not--does your microphone or preamp emit random crackles or a loud 60-cycle hum? Well, then it matters; you gotta get new gear. From that point up, it's about workflow, durability, and (diminishing returns of) degrees of sonic quality.

Let me just say right now that at this point I own some pretty nice gear. I'm glad I do--it makes everything easier and yes, it sounds "better" with less effort required on my part. But I started out with a couple of SM57s, an NT1, and a Behringer pre. I monitored for years on headphones and after that, a couple of entry-level Samson Resolv nearfields (ca. $150 for the pair, IIRC). Some of my favorite recordings were made with that crap gear--at first through sheer dumb luck and later with intention.

But with what I know now, after 15+ years of recording, I feel confident my recordings would I'd be fine if, gear-wise, I was set back to square one. (And all of that original gear still sees use at one time or another.)

Those who bring up, e.g., horribly noisy pre-WWII recordings are, IMHO, missing the point. The most basic gear today--providing it works--is capable of far surpassing *that* level of sonic quality. There is no reason excessive noise should be an issue with today's entry-level gear, if used correctly.

So will a great song recorded on cheap gear *sound* like a great song recorded on cheap gear? If you're listening to it with that head, perhaps--one might get into an AE head-space with a pair of detailed monitors or headphones and point to things like a lack of dimensionality or detail or what have you. Perhaps the reverb will sound not as realistic as one likes--whatever. But that isn't how one listens to a great song recorded with crap gear, *unless one sets out to listen to a song that way*. What does a great song recorded with crap gear sound like? It sounds like a Milkmen record (and that's a dated example--far better "crap" gear is available these days). It can sound like an energetic production that *maybe*, if recorded with that intention, has a lo-fi, energetic feel. Or it can sound, for that matter, like any number of lush, tripped-out, synth tunes--it can sound like anything.

Nice gear helps things along. It inspires confidence in one's tools. It makes things easier. In the hands of a competent user, it can give a production that last little "something." But, with what's available today, it is *not* what separates a good mix from a bad mix...or even a good gear sound from a "crap" gear sound. That's all on the user.
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