Gear Shaming
- Thread starter Pinky
- Start date
So you've got about $5k in two very, very good amps. Be careful, someone might feel "shamed" by that.
That pretty much sums it up. If you have a certain sound in mind, get the gear that makes that sound. It's a waste of time trying make a 22 watt Fender combo sound like a 50 watt Marshall stack, or vice versa. But if what you have is a certain amp and that's it, then find the best sounds that are in that amp and make them work in your music. Keep an open mind, focus on the song, and you will achieve a lot (if the songs are good, and if you can play).
If you going to invest money in making the kind of music most of us on are forum are doing, I do think amps will give you more return on your investment than most other gear you can buy.
miroslav
Cosmic Cowboy
Last edited:
Farview
Well-known member
If you are trying to run a commercial facility, you need to have enough of the things that musicians think you should have. It's part of the game, and has nothing to do with its usefulness.
I can't tell you how many sessions I've lost because I was using nuendo instead of protools, or didn't have a U87, etc...
Perception is reality.
I can't tell you how many sessions I've lost because I was using nuendo instead of protools, or didn't have a U87, etc...
Perception is reality.
i wasn't, but maybe i oughta...
Gear shaming? Not directly. I've not witnessed any shaming of any specific person's gear. But I've witnessed a LOT of shaming of specific gear. More than a little in this thread, alone.
There's a lot of "I'd NEVER have that [gear] sully my mortal existence!" Okay, not a 'lot' but it happens. So if someone else happens to own said gear, it's possible they take it more personally than intended. Their choice, true, but real nonetheless.
But of course, everyone has an opinion, some more coarse and vulgar than others. That's the risk of being out in public instead of quivering in fetal position in one's Safe Space; or at least being more selective of associations.
To me, there's two salient points that come to my tiny brain.
1. This is Home Recording. Okay, I'm not the Forum Owner, but to me, that's not "I work at a top flight studio and come HOME to puke my opinion on stuff." It's about building up people that wanna get into Recording -- and that's invariably gonna start at home.
Just today, i finished the construction on my third studio. And it's not even a 'studio'. While the prior two were isolated and built well, the exigencies of life have left me with fewer resources for a proper facility. So I call it my "Music Room" because it's not up to the grade. It's mine. I built it. It's at home. And I don't do it for a living. To me, this is what Home Recording is all about.
2. I often wonder about some of the great music gone by. Wasn't the White Album recorded on a 4-track? (so says one version). And what did they do before Pro Tools? And while equipment like Apogee and Manley seem to be embraced, how did Zepp or Cocker or Sly or even Delbert get by without them? Are the songs being recorded WITH such gear better than than the songs once recorded without? To me, there's a hard lesson, an uncomfortable lesson, in understanding just how little gear matters when we realize that 'Yesterday' skillfully played into single mic with a single guitar will draw a bigger, more interested crowd than most listmembers' latest final mix.
That's not really saying much because I've noticed there's many active members that already understand that point and then some.
I don't go for bashing. One man's "trash" is another man's treasure. Still in all, I don't see it much around here.
Even if there was, I know there will ALWAYS be someone with better gear than mine and that, for whatever reason, will look down upon at least SOME of my treasures as clumsy and ineffectual and will express their views in equal manner. No prob.
Ponder5
Gear shaming? Not directly. I've not witnessed any shaming of any specific person's gear. But I've witnessed a LOT of shaming of specific gear. More than a little in this thread, alone.
There's a lot of "I'd NEVER have that [gear] sully my mortal existence!" Okay, not a 'lot' but it happens. So if someone else happens to own said gear, it's possible they take it more personally than intended. Their choice, true, but real nonetheless.
But of course, everyone has an opinion, some more coarse and vulgar than others. That's the risk of being out in public instead of quivering in fetal position in one's Safe Space; or at least being more selective of associations.
To me, there's two salient points that come to my tiny brain.
1. This is Home Recording. Okay, I'm not the Forum Owner, but to me, that's not "I work at a top flight studio and come HOME to puke my opinion on stuff." It's about building up people that wanna get into Recording -- and that's invariably gonna start at home.
Just today, i finished the construction on my third studio. And it's not even a 'studio'. While the prior two were isolated and built well, the exigencies of life have left me with fewer resources for a proper facility. So I call it my "Music Room" because it's not up to the grade. It's mine. I built it. It's at home. And I don't do it for a living. To me, this is what Home Recording is all about.
2. I often wonder about some of the great music gone by. Wasn't the White Album recorded on a 4-track? (so says one version). And what did they do before Pro Tools? And while equipment like Apogee and Manley seem to be embraced, how did Zepp or Cocker or Sly or even Delbert get by without them? Are the songs being recorded WITH such gear better than than the songs once recorded without? To me, there's a hard lesson, an uncomfortable lesson, in understanding just how little gear matters when we realize that 'Yesterday' skillfully played into single mic with a single guitar will draw a bigger, more interested crowd than most listmembers' latest final mix.
That's not really saying much because I've noticed there's many active members that already understand that point and then some.
I don't go for bashing. One man's "trash" is another man's treasure. Still in all, I don't see it much around here.
Even if there was, I know there will ALWAYS be someone with better gear than mine and that, for whatever reason, will look down upon at least SOME of my treasures as clumsy and ineffectual and will express their views in equal manner. No prob.
Ponder5
jimmys69
MOODerator
It seems there is a difference here in those that only record themselves and those that record others. There is likely a different set of needs and tools when one is not in complete control of what is being recorded.
I am an ITB guy and have a shitload of software that most home recording doods would never find need for.
I actually need to get some guitar rigs in here. So often I have to try to fix crap tone...
I feel like 'fixing is my Lot in Life here. Not 'cause they don't come in w/ good enough rigs', but it's not taking the time -tracking'. Yeah it sounds good (enough) in play back, but is it going to start coming up 'short later in the detail of the mixes.
Maybe I shouldn't do such 'satisfying roughs -wouldn't 'back me into that corner. Hmm..
Makes for frikin great chops' / training fodder though!
Maybe I shouldn't do such 'satisfying roughs -wouldn't 'back me into that corner. Hmm..
Makes for frikin great chops' / training fodder though!
Last edited:
miroslav
Cosmic Cowboy
I just don't see what the name of this site has anything to do with any preconceptions about what can and can't or should and shouldn't be discussed here.
It's about guys and gals recording at home...privately...in their project studios.
That's it....and THAT covers a very wide set of approaches and options and studio rigs.
Also...where does it say that "Home Recording" is only about people just starting out...?
There's a specific forum for them...called "Newbies".
Otherwise....you've got people here with 20-30+ years of recording, at home, and a good number who've been exposed to commercial studio environments. So you can't expect those people to always "dumb down" their perspectives and their suggestions so that they only apply to nebws and novices.
Where does it say that Home Recording is only for people who work low budget, trying to bang out a few songs on their 4-track porta-studio...?
Again...there has always been a wide assortment of private, home studio situations and people who work in them.
It's not made up of just the lone guy, working in his bedroom with a porta-studio, just learning how to record.
This place also has a "Mastering" forum...which by any reasonable definition would imply high-end audio processing. Low-budget "mastering" tends to be a lot of things, but rarely what real mastering has always been.
I mean, there isn't a pro mastering approach and a different home rec approach, even though home rec guys try to do that on a low budget with real basic tools.
So I wish people would stop falling back on the title of this website as some sort of definitive explanation about what can or can't happen here.
If anything, I would think the newbs and the novices (at least some of them) would want to hear about things that go beyond their initial beginnings with recording, and what it takes to move forward and to dive in deeper.
Granted, lots of guys may want to just stick with their 4-track porta-studios and enjoy only what that gives them..and that's OK too....those people have always been welcome here....and rarely, if ever, shamed about their situations.
We always adjust the conversation to fit the situation...and nothing should be off the table or limited, just because the title of this website is "Home Recording".
Farview
Well-known member
When you only record yourself, you can spend the budget on the exact things that make you and your instruments sound great. If you are recording other people, you have to be ready for whatever walks through the door.
Case in point: You may have enough mics to mic up a 5 piece drum set. Someone walks in with an 11 piece with two kicks, two snares and a gong drum...do you even have enough inputs?
Doing your own thing, you can get the perfect vocal mic for your voice. This may not work for everyone's voice and my sound downright bad on some.
Trying to run it as a business certainly spends more of your money for stuff that you will only need every once in a while... if ever.
Case in point: You may have enough mics to mic up a 5 piece drum set. Someone walks in with an 11 piece with two kicks, two snares and a gong drum...do you even have enough inputs?
Doing your own thing, you can get the perfect vocal mic for your voice. This may not work for everyone's voice and my sound downright bad on some.
Trying to run it as a business certainly spends more of your money for stuff that you will only need every once in a while... if ever.
ibleedburgundy
The Anti-Lambo
The flip side of gear shaming is, there is someone out there who can make a nice recording with some of the gear people are ripping on. None of us are going to rip on them.
miroslav
Cosmic Cowboy
I just don't see how the name of this website implies anything other than recording done at home.
Some people keep saying that...."this IS home recording"...as though there are rules about what you can and can't do or talk about when dealing with home recording.
What gear would that be?
I've not seen a single post in this or the other threads where someone is actually ripping on anyone's gear.