You already have enough gear!

This week one of our team came to the earth shattering conclusion that he didn't need any more gear in his home studio. His wish list had dwindled to zero.

He had been buying equipment since the early 1980s starting with a 4-track port-a-studio and then moving on to 1/4" 8-track, 1/2" 16-track, ADAT and finally a Mac system with Pro Tools. But as his income had increased (he runs a small recruitment company) outboard gear that was once unaffordable had been purchased and every unattainable piece of gear he had ever wanted was now sitting in his rack.

Understand that his wishes were modest, a Lexicon PCM91 rather than 480, a TK Audio stereo equaliser rather than a GML, and an affordable Neumann mic rather than a U47. Yes he has a few choice pieces, a Dangerous Music compressor, a Rupert Neve eq and some expensive monitors, but a relentless upgrade cycle that had lasted 30 years had hit the buffers. Why?

The simple answer was that he had come to accept that his equipment was not the limiting factor in the recordings he wants to make. He is the limiting factor. His skills, his knowledge, his creativity, and the decisions he makes every time he arranges, records and mixes a piece of music.

It is true that the thrill of a new purchase was a thrill no more. Unpacking, installing, reading the manual and learning how to get the best from a new piece of gear had become a chore, but only because he knew it was unlikely to make his music and recordings any better.

So he has decided to put the money he would have spent on new gear to better use. He's buying himself more free time so he can practice his keyboard playing, work on his engineering skills and improve his decision making processes.

We know he's right (but us gear junkies still hate him for it!).

Thanks for reading and watching.
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