Gear That's Made A Marked Difference

[Devlars]

Using a Crate 10" to start with then getting a Vox Cambridge Reverb.

My first LDC an Oktava MK219...the difference was stunning compared to recording everything with SM58s

Recording unit changed from the Teac 144 to the Akai DPS 16. Hey where'd all the hiss go?

Multi FX pedal (gift) to individually and purposefully bought FX pedals.

I'm thankful for everything I've had and continue to be thankful for what I do have. Good topic Chris.

[tommy]

Ridge Farms Boiler Compressor Limiter.
i bought this box from a tape opper from the buy sell trade section on a whim and it seriously made big difference on the way drums get mixed for me. Huge and hairy sounding. Very rock and roll!

[dgochenour]

a patchbay.

[wallace]

Benchmark DAC-1

[tsw]

I didn't see any point in getting in on this UNLESS nobody else gave the answer I would give, which is absolutely, without question, the DISTRESSOR. J Vanderslice was good enough to listen to some of my stuff and he told me getting one of those would change everything. He was right.

Now that I'm starting to really learn how to use the thing, the trick is knowing when NOT to use it.

[cgarges]

I didn't see any point in getting in on this UNLESS nobody else gave the answer I would give, which is absolutely, without question, the DISTRESSOR.

This was the first big one for me.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[MASSIVE Mastering]

Being mostly limited to mastering, almost *everything* that gets upgraded can make a big difference in the day-to-day function.

In the last year, I've upgraded almost everything in the core -

* Monitors (B&W M802's)
* Amplification (Moved up to Bryston)
* Compression (Finally added the Manley Vari-Mu)
* EQ (Got a good deal on a Massenburg GML8200)
* Conversion (Upgraded from Apogee to Lavry)
* DAW (Used Nuendo for the most part, now I'm hardcore into Samplitude Pro)

Every one of these made what I would consider a HUGE difference in the way things work here from the sound quality to the actual workflow.

[pedrohead]

I didn't see any point in getting in on this UNLESS nobody else gave the answer I would give, which is absolutely, without question, the DISTRESSOR.

This was the first big one for me.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

i'm curious you guys that said distressor. i've been thinking about getting one, what is it giving you guys that you like so much more than was there before? interested...

[justinf]

Me too on:
Samplitude Pro
Distressor
Soundelux 195

but the biggest one by far: Baldwin piano

[cgarges]

i'm curious you guys that said distressor. i've been thinking about getting one, what is it giving you guys that you like so much more than was there before? interested...

I got my first one not long after they came out. I was working at a studio that had a decent compliment of budget stuff, but I had trouble getting this one vocal to sit right on a project I was doing that had a decent budget. So I went to a local retailer and talked to one of the guys about renting something. I thought for sure I'd walk out of there with a Vox Box, but this guy was pretty adamant about the Distressor working great for what I needed, Boy was he right. I couldn't believe the amount of gain reduction I could get without much artifacting (this was back when my other option was DBX, Alesis, or VLA). And the way it DID alter the sound seemed so "rock and roll." I loved it and bought one for myself not long after. It's such a flexible unit that it could handle any gain reduction requirements and any sort of weirdness I wanted, too (back when I thought I was Tchad Blake).

It's a really great unit on which to learn compression.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[object88]

Mackie HR824s.

Well, I started with these in the studio after listening to a few other compaibly priced moniters, so I didn't really update the studio. But it wasn't for a while that I played some CDs through them (I'm a little slow sometimes), and holy fucking shit on a stick, I could listen to everything louder, longer, and clearer.

I've been thinking about selling all my other home playback equipment, except I know that's actually a bad idea. I just don't like to use the rest anymore.

[Rolsen]

Event TR-8s to replace small stereo speakers in plastic enclosures

and

Good cables to replace Hosa-caliber stuff

[concubine]

two reslo ribbon mics, an rbl and rbh. i'll never use an AT4050 for acoustic guitar again. nor do i reach for the sm57 for clean electric tones, as long as i've got these two reslos.

[Theron D]

RNC and RNP
Nuendo 1.61
Mackie HR824's

[friendlybunny]

1969 Deluxe Reverb
Otari mx5050iii 1/2" 8 track
DSI Evolver