Why do I need all this equipment?

B

Berbo

New member
Yes Im a noob at this, so just bare with me.

with all the advances in home recording technology. Do I need all that equipement on the racks that I saw in a number of pictures posted on this forum. Doesn't that equipment just waste energy/electricity.

From what I read in order to record and prodcue a song all I need is a
-Computer (or laptop) (I have a PC laptop),
-A micrphone (I have a M-Audio producer USB)
-I bought Reason as my DAW (where most of the "eqipment" will be as opposed to the rack of the actual physical hardware)
-I also have a M-audio midi controller
and I'm working on getting an audio interface.\

That's all I need to producer good music, am I right?
-
 
You need what YOU need. And if you get tracks that are good enough for you, then you're all set. Your ears and experience are your most important tool. That said, good gear makes a hard job a lot easier.
 
I'm trying to understand what's the diffrences between having all that hardware vs. having a DAW that has all that hardware in the program itself? Will it make a diffrence?
 
Having decent gear makes a HUGE difference. Good mics, good mic preamps, good converters, plugins won't EVER recreate that.
 
The only way to understand the differences is by trial and error. Record as much as possible with the gear that you have. By training your ears you will eventually hear the short comings and advantages of various gear.
 
Berbo said:
That's all I need to producer good music, am I right?
-
Click to expand...

Don't wanna sound like i'm crappin on ya,

BUT.....you need to know how to produce good music.

In comparison to knowledge, skill and experience, the gear is almost irrelevant.


Still though, if you are planning to use that usb mic, you won't need an interface.
An interface provides a link between purely analog microphones, and digital computers. Your usb mic does that already.

I'd recommend adding monitors to the list, and investigating room treatment.
Mixing on bad speakers in a bad room is like painting in a dark room with yellow glasses on.

Hope that helps.
 
Steenamaroo said:
Don't wanna sound like i'm crappin on ya,
BUT.....you need to know how to produce good music.
In comparison to knowledge, skill and experience, the gear is almost irrelevant.
Still though, if you are planning to use that usb mic, you won't need an interface.
An interface provides a link between purely analog microphones, and digital computers. Your usb mic does that already.
I'd recommend adding monitors to the list, and investigating room treatment.
Mixing on bad speakers in a bad room is like painting in a dark room with yellow glasses on.
Hope that helps.
Click to expand...

We don't know each other, so I don't take any offense. Your jsut giving your opinion and feedback.

I have experience with creating music (hip hop, soft rock, and soem type of jazz - im from europe so it not really jazz), not songs jsut the music. Still learning and always will.

I'm planning to get monitors and a interface, since the USB mic is not as good as a XLR mic for recording.

@Track Rat Is there a big diffrence, since I read that more and more high profile producers are using DAW's hardware.
 
no offense intended at all.
A lot of noobs genuinely overlook the fact that you have to know what you're doing, and that better gear wont necessarily make better music.

Rack wise, with the exception of preamps, pretty much all hardware can be replaced by software now.

What you prefer is purely subjective, but pretty much all eqs, effects, synthesisers etc can happen in the box. :)

Hope that helps.
 
Berbo said:
Yes Im a noob at this, so just bare with me.

with all the advances in home recording technology. Do I need all that equipement on the racks that I saw in a number of pictures posted on this forum. Doesn't that equipment just waste energy/electricity.

From what I read in order to record and prodcue a song all I need is a
-Computer (or laptop) (I have a PC laptop),
-A micrphone (I have a M-Audio producer USB)
-I bought Reason as my DAW (where most of the "eqipment" will be as opposed to the rack of the actual physical hardware)
-I also have a M-audio midi controller
and I'm working on getting an audio interface.\

That's all I need to producer good music, am I right?
-
Click to expand...

Not trying to be a complete asshole here, but that never stopped me before.

Just looking at the question you are posing from an objective logical perspective, you should be able to deduce a pretty good answer. Basically you are asking if all the people that use this equipment you see are idiots. If a simple piece of software can eliminate the need for all the equipment you see then its not needed, and if that is the case then the people spending money on these items must not be very smart or they just like throwing money away.

Obviously these people think this equipment does something useful. So these people who obviously have much more experience than you have this equipment, as you have seen the photos. So if the equipment is not needed, then there must be something wrong with these people. Yet you are asking these very people with the equipment if you actually need this to produce good music.

The answer should be apparent. If the people have the equipment, it naturally follows that they think its needed to produce good music.

The inventory of hardware and software you have may be enough to create music. If you think that you will be able to produce commercial quality recordings with it you may be disappointed. Although that equipment is probably more than many successful musicians in the 60's, 70's and 80's had so it may just be enough. It's more about what you do with the tools you have then the tools. But at the same time, you need to use the right tool for the job, and what you can create will be limited to the constraints of your tools.
 
Rackmount gear is desired by some producers who are looking for a particular coloration of the sound. You will generally get a more transparent mix with DAW plugins.

Then there are some old-timers who grew up with analog electronics and simply like the feel of knobs and faders. If you're not one of them, then you probably won't miss it.

The only rackmount gear you really need are good mic preamps, as has been said.
 
Also some people prefer to record analog (that is without a computer) in which case software plugins are of no use at all and rack gear is essential and they would ask why do you need all that software

and even in computer recording you can't pre process the sound on the way in without hardware

There's an argument that software emulation of hardware doesn't handle the desirable non linear behavior of over driven analog (also known as mojo or coloration) very well and digital effects sound less musical or even unpleasant by comparison when pushed hard than hardware does

And finally hardware is fun

These are all reasons why you might see all that gear in pictures of peoples studios. You can choose make music however you like and of course, YMMV
 
Last edited:
Bristol Posse said:
... digital effects sound less musical or even unpleasant by comparison when pushed hard than hardware does...
Click to expand...

Interestingly, I was just reading an interview with a top mixing engineer who said he uses (gasp!) guitar pedal effects when he mixes because he thinks digital effects have no character.
 
diggy_dude said:
Interestingly, I was just reading an interview with a top mixing engineer who said he uses (gasp!) guitar pedal effects when he mixes because he thinks digital effects have no character.
Click to expand...

from my own experience I think you can get a long way with software if you know how to use it but...
I like the sound of my vocals when I push them through my modded Pro VLA and they pick up a little grit/mojo/color, call it what you want. I can get almost the same result with software using a compressor, LPF/EQ and saturation plug it's just not quite as lively some how

But since I have the hardware piece and can dial in the result I want in about a minute why spend about twenty minutes trying to get almost the same result messing with 3 plugins, there's a lot to be said for workflow and being able to work fast. Plus if I never had the hardware how would I know what result I was trying to emulate with a chain of plug ins?
I've found I am much better at using software plugins now that I have a few hardware pieces that I have really learned to use.

Also I like turning off the computer monitors and just watch the VU meters dancing when I track and mix. When my eyes don't have anything to look at on the screen about the sound, I find my ears work better
YMMV
 
Last edited:
Bristol Posse said:
But since I have the hardware piece and can dial in the result I want in about a minute why spend about twenty minutes trying to get almost the same result messing with 3 plugins. Plus if I never had the hardware how would I know what result I was trying to emulate.
Click to expand...

Good point. If analog gear had never existed, there would be nothing for plugins to try to emulate. And all recorded music would be a sterile, matter-of-fact capture of whatever room it happened to be recorded in as a result. Not even a representation, as that would imply some creative interpretation of physical facts. Just a cold, emotionless capture.
 
Berbo said:
I'm trying to understand what's the diffrences between having all that hardware vs. having a DAW that has all that hardware in the program itself? Will it make a diffrence?
Click to expand...

Ehhh depends on who you ask, really. ;)

And the first question--cause there's no school like the oldschool.
 
arcadeko said:
Not trying to be a complete asshole here, but that never stopped me before.
Just looking at the question you are posing from an objective logical perspective, you should be able to deduce a pretty good answer. Basically you are asking if all the people that use this equipment you see are idiots. If a simple piece of software can eliminate the need for all the equipment you see then its not needed, and if that is the case then the people spending money on these items must not be very smart or they just like throwing money away.

Obviously these people think this equipment does something useful. So these people who obviously have much more experience than you have this equipment, as you have seen the photos. So if the equipment is not needed, then there must be something wrong with these people. Yet you are asking these very people with the equipment if you actually need this to produce good music.

The answer should be apparent. If the people have the equipment, it naturally follows that they think its needed to produce good music.

The inventory of hardware and software you have may be enough to create music. If you think that you will be able to produce commercial quality recordings with it you may be disappointed. Although that equipment is probably more than many successful musicians in the 60's, 70's and 80's had so it may just be enough. It's more about what you do with the tools you have then the tools. But at the same time, you need to use the right tool for the job, and what you can create will be limited to the constraints of your tools.
Click to expand...

As I said with all the advances in recording technology, is there a need to have all that hardware around that eats your electric bills and energy.

You called these people idiots not me, I wanted to hear what they had to say otehrwise I would not have spend the time to make this post.
 
Go with the setup you are comfortable with.

Your ears will tell you when and if you need to expand and/or upgrade.
 
As I said with all the advances in recording technology, is there a need to have all that hardware around that eats your electric bills and energy.
Click to expand...
I think energy consumption is the last thing on most people's minds when they're plugging in a piece of gear...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top