Beer or gear?

A member of our team recently had a check -up at the doctor. When asked "do you smoke and drink" they replied "not anymore". The doctor asked "when did you stop". "18 years ago" was the answer.

18 years ago was exactly when this team member built their first home recording studio. They were in their early 30's and had been bitten by the recording bug. So absorbed were they by their new interest that they had simply forgotten about socialising, drinking and smoking. They stopped going out and lost contact with many old friends. All the money saved went on buying a new piece of gear.

When the studio had grown sufficiently a few people asked if they could record there, and although the studio was never a full-time commercial facility, each weekend someone came to record or hang-out and a little money was earned which went back into buying more gear.

Soon our team member had a new set of friends, all deeply interested in gear and music. Few of them socialised, smoked or drunk because all their spare cash was spent on their obsessions, recording and making music.

Our team member calculated that around £5000 a year previously spent on travel, booze and fags, and another £2-3,000 from "clients", was now spent on compressors, synths, software and whatever else was on the wish list.

What's your poison?

I guess we all eventually get bored with clubbing, drinking and socialising and this is why many of us are called "boring" by teenagers. But we studio owners are NEVER bored! We cannot remember the last time we couldn't think of something to do. There is always something we want to achieve in our studio, whether it be improving or repairing a piece of gear, or working on the next great song or piece of music. We have a "to-do" list with 46 items on it!

But now with social media we have the best of both worlds. It enables us to maintain contact with all our friends, wherever they are, at almost no cost. We love FaceTime and Skype.

We have never been so connected, had so many conversations, and had so much money to spend on gear. Nothing can entirely replace being in the same physical space as your friends (especially if your mind is on something more than friendship!), but as we sit here writing this post, 3 new messages have arrived from old school friends including an invitation to a Google hangout "reunion". How cool is that!

Thanks for watching and reading
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