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Purchasing New Equipment...Wisely Right now - as I write this - I'm referencing a recently mastered project with my headphones on. And my thought is, "...I really want to get that new pair of Grado headphones." And, as innocuous as that thought sounds, it spurred the article you're reading. It seems like each month I have a mental list of new equipment to purchase. To that end, I've created two ways of looking at this ongoing situation: equipment I need and equipment I want. If you ask my wife, all of it falls into the latter category. But, to be fair, some things are actual necessity while others are desire. To keep myself out of credit, and relationship, trouble I've devised a system for purchasing new gear. In addition to helping me sleep better at night, it's also very useful in making sure my mastering studio stays on the straight-and-narrow. The system goes like this: I never buy more than one piece of new equipment at a time. I’m sure you were expecting something much more epiphanous, but the simplicity defines its effectiveness. When I purchase something new - be it an equalizer, subwoofer or speaker cable - I rely on all my other gear, which is properly calibrated to my professional listening environment, to help me test and integrate any new item. This is the only way for me to determine how effective a new piece of gear is. If I trust my speakers, cabling and listening environment - all of which have been tested and calibrated with specific tones and measurement equipment to verify accurate frequency and spatial results - I can rest assured my new equalizer is working the way I believe it to be. However, if I get a new equalizer and new speakers, how can I tell where a response is originating? Could it be that my new speakers are emphasizing high frequencies, or is it that my new equalizer has a steeper curve than I'm used to using? By limiting myself to one piece of equipment at a time, I'm working with a known equation and can calibrate it to work with my system. And if something seems amiss, I can easily isolate the problem.
I encourage readers with recording equipment to adopt a similar
philosophy. You'll realize more consistent, effective results in your work,
and notice your equipment is much more accurate and effective when it's used
properly. If you think this takes some of the fun out of purchasing new
gear, you're probably right. But for whatever is lost in the instant
gratification of an impulsive equipment-buying spree, an equal if not
greater amount of gratification is gained in using equipment more effective
and accurately. |
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