How long did it take you to assemble whatever Recoeding set up you have now?

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Reasonable man
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Joined: 14 Jul 2016

02 Nov 2017

Following on from the How much daily time do you spend on music thread -Im interested in this . Its ok having an idea of where you want to go production wise/ music wise but its all pointless if you dont have gear, processing power, hardware, software and your own little location/space etc to adequatley do anything serious. My life for example has been mostly spent renting and living in cramped overcrowded and usually shared accomodation where music has been nigh-on impossible to reaiise in any productive sense of the word. I would just like to know how long it has taken board memebers to assemble and construct a set up thats adequate for them, what kind of gear they've assembled and what kind of sacrifices/cost and time span this has taken them. At the moment i'm trying to build but its exausting and expensive (mostly disheartening tbf). My 'studio' as it exists right now is a poorly specced macbook pro and 20 Euro headphones! I've owned other stuff but been unlcky with damaging equipment , drivers not being updated etc etc. Thanks.

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QVprod
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02 Nov 2017

It takes time, often times a build up over years. That includes replacing/upgrading gear. What your production needs are will also vary how much time and equipment that means. As far as buying gear that lasts, I actually recommend reading customer reviews from multiple places/stores. Sure you'll have a few people who clearly have no idea what they bought but if it's something that tends to die easily you'll know about it. The key in building is to do your best to buy with expandability in mind.

As far as your macbook pro being poorly spec'd It's probably still capable. Up until 2 years ago I was using a 2010 macbook pro with an intel core 2 duo processor and 8 gigs of ram. I was still able to get quite a bit done. I'm now using a 2006 Mac Pro (hacked up to Yosemite) and believe it or not it being a quad core machine makes it quite noticeably more powerful than my macbook pro (I still use it it live as a keyboard rig). That said another money saver is if your able to understand the basics of how computers work ie; Ram, Hard drives, Processors. That allows you to get the best bang for your buck and even upgrade certain parts yourself where you can.

And don't write off the 20 euro headphones yet. Unless they sound terrible you can probably still get great use out of them.

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emilng
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02 Nov 2017

For me the issue hasn't been the gear. It's been the part about realizing what I'm actually into.
I've been wanting to get better at making music of some sort over the past at least 15 years or so.

My first music making purchase was Reason 2.5 and a Midiman (now M-Audio) Oxygen 8. I messed around with it but couldn't get into it and figured making music in the box wasn't my thing.
My next purchase was a Roland TD-4 drum set because I always wanted to learn how to play drums and I was in an apartment so I had to keep it quiet. It wasn't really my thing, but I still have it.
After that was a Korg Wavedrum because I thought maybe a drum set wasn't my thing but I still wanted to learn how to drum and a hand drum might be the way to go. I still have that also but don't really play it
Next I got a M-Audio Keystation 61 because I wanted to learn how to play the keyboard with both hands. I got stuck on practicing scales and it lost its fun. It's now sitting in a corner of the room unused.
Then I got the cheapest Squier guitar + amp kit. My fingers hurt at first but somehow I stuck with it. I picked up Rocksmith which is amazing if you want to learn guitar and happen to enjoy playing rhythm games. I've stuck with the guitar and still play pretty regularly. Along the way I got a used 8 string guitar, because I thought I would grow into it. I suck at both the 6 and 8 string guitars, but I still have fun with both and that's what matters.

In the past couple of years I've gotten more into music making after so many years of false starts. I picked up a Line 6 Pod HD500X for guitar amp and fx. I had that routed into my crappy amp for a long time until I got Yamaha HS7s and I ended up using the Pod as my music interface. More recently I picked up a Beatstep Pro for the pads and knobs and sequencer potential. Most recently I got a Focusrite 6i6 for the potential of allowing me to reamp the Pod and also allowing me to use the Pod as a send effect from Reason.

My current setup is mostly headphones into the interface which I end up using as a fancy volume knob. The interface, the Oxygen 8, and Beatstep are all plugged into a Wavlink USB hub with separate rocker switches for each cable. The hub is plugged into a Macbook Pro I got in 2013. This is all I really need to make music these days. It's all sitting on an Ikea Jerker desk I got like 10 years ago.
mostly modular experiments: https://www.youtube.com/user/maztik8r

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CaliforniaBurrito
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02 Nov 2017

You can be productive with laptop and headphones. Funny thing is there are plenty of folks with studio setups who hardly make any music or maybe they barely breach mediocrity. I'd recommend some better headphones and then get more accustomed to bouncing. :)

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MikeMcKew
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03 Nov 2017

I agree that it takes years of collecting, upgrading, and replacing. Best thing to do is start now with what you have and grow from there.

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Reasonable man
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Joined: 14 Jul 2016

03 Nov 2017

Thanks guys. I gave music up for 10 years (it didn't pay the bills!) but i had a degree in it and i played in a band and a semi prof orchestra for a time. I did a course in production for 18 months recently (a very broad ranging course) and thats why i bought Reason . All the kids had the likes of Serum, Waves, Audio interfaces, Kontakt you name it.... good speakers etc so there sound was always better than mine (i was using Reason's stock intruments and haedphones!). The thing is that a truth dawned on me that music production is an expensive game and there's no way around that . I looked at the 'show a pic of your studio' thread and there are some stunning set ups there and what struck me was the obvious sacrafice and commitment made to achieving this. I'm thinikng of selling a few intruments i still have as just a starting point to get me off the ground but thats a double edged sword!

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CaliforniaBurrito
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03 Nov 2017

It's not what you have but how you use it. If you want to be an engineer then maybe equipment is more important but I believe artistry comes down to the extent of your own will. You're right about it being an expensive game but the currency is time.

drloop
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05 Nov 2017

No no no no no no no.... it is not about expensive studiogear. The myth of the gear is not the important to make great music. Great music comes from you, not the gear.
You got what you need to make great music. I spent time in studios with SSL 4000 mixers and I dont miss the gear, but I miss the people I worked with. Nowadays I make music with Reason, for me it is the perfect music production software, no need for other gear.
I use simple stuff like Art Tube MP preamp and a MXL mic modded with a better capsule. Korg nanoKEY is my most used keyboard. I am proud of what I do, the music will not change with the gear.

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O1B
Posts: 2037
Joined: 26 Jan 2015

09 Nov 2017

... sounds like Small Recording Poetry

its not the motion... ocean... boat.... lotion?


Carry on with the Subtext...
I dunno.... !

Girl@2:36... Priceless.
CaliforniaBurrito wrote:
03 Nov 2017
It's not what you have but how you use it. ...

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