Gear that has paid for itself in my studio

[ott0bot]

yeah. lots of good stuff on here.

mc012's. check.

a Sound Workshop 242a has satisfied my need for some real analog reverb.

a Deltalab Super Timeline (close to effectron) did the same for analog delay. these two combined make about every combo of delay & verb you can think of.

but hands down, the best cheap purchase that paid for itself right away was a pair of neutrik patch bays and some snakes to wire it up with. The time I saved in going behind the rack and manually patching things together was enormous.

[Brett Siler]

Axiom M2 monitors - very inexpensive and very accurate! I think it's $400 for a pair. Crazy for how well they perform.

Adcom GFA-535 power amp - Very high quality, clean, accurate and can be had for super cheap. I think I paid $150 for mine.

Polk audio PSW505 - Goes all the way down to 23hz and is very precise. All you need is just a hint to get the info on the sub low end.

Audix om2 - dynamic mic that sounds great on guitar cab. Blows away the sm57 and can be had for cheaper, used.

Oktava mc012 - ditto to what everyone else said! They are the shit!

RNLA 7239 - Thick sounding compressor, the tone on it is great. i love it on overheads. It pulls out the sustain on the cymbals in a very smooth pleasing way.

I could go on but i'm getting off the computer for now.

[Jeff White]

My List:

? OC 703. A well-treated room is worth more than any expensive gear that you place in it.

? Oktava MK/MC-012s. Everyone should have a pair of these, and everyone should have at least one pair modified by Michael Joly. They give my vintage KM84 a run for its money.

? Shure SM7b. Everyone should make this their first real microphone. It is just so great on so many sources. You could easily make a quality sounding record at home with a Shure SM7b, an Oktava MK-012, a decent preamp and a decent compressor.

? Rogers Studio 1 Monitors (vintage, 1982). I would not call these cheap, as I have only seen them used 3 times (between $700 and $2200 on CL and ebay). The drivers are not cheap either, and are very rare (luckily, I'm all stocked up!). I paid $36 for my Rogers pair indirectly...I went outside to find a parking ticket on my car, turned around all pissed-off, and saw them in a pile of trash on Cherry Street here in Philly. Best speakers that I have ever owned and pretty much ever used in a studio, hands down. I'll never part with them.

? Adcom power amps (GFA 545, specifically in my experience). Clean, great-sounding, power it on and it works as it's supposed to.

? Countryman Type 85 DI (or any other solid DI). Everyone needs a great DI.

? ReAmp'r of some kind. A must have. Everyone needs a reamp box. It opens a whole world of signal processing possibilities. A gateway drug, for sure.

? Sansamp Bass Driver or Para Driver. Finally picked up my own after using them for years. It will pay for itself. It is a must have tool for bass, keys, guitar.

? Shure in-line pads. I use them all of the time while recording drums and guitars. If you own a Sytek or other hot preamp without built in pads then these are a must for drums.

? Sytek MPX-4A ii. I've owned this preamp since picking it up for $600 from John over at the Bunker in Brooklyn summer 2006. It has been used on everything that I have done for the past 6 1/2 years.

? Learning how to solder your own cables, guitar mods, DIY pedals, preamps, etc. Pays for itself over and over again. Sky is the limit.

? Classic Audio Products of Illinois VP26 w/Red Dot op-amp. If you know how to solder and have a 500 series rack, this preamp is as cheap as it gets for an incredible vintage-vibey front end.

? dbx 160X or 163X. I use these compressors a whole lot on initial tracking for vocals, bass, gtrs, keys.

? Ibanez TS9DX Tube Screamer. Great dirt/drive for so many sources due to the low end settings on the 4-way selectable rotary switch. Classic TS-9 tones, plus good for bass, keys. Can be had for cheap. Keeley ultimate mods it for $125. Swiss army knife. Combine with a reamp box for fun times!

[chris harris]

My List:

? OC 703. A well-treated room is worth more than any expensive gear that you place in it.

Great list altogether! I often look at my acoustic treatments and wonder how much nice gear I could have had for what I spent on 703. But, I immediately recognize how useless it would be in an untreated studio/control room. Still my best investment.

[MoreSpaceEcho]

ha! i do that too. although, i bet if you add it up it's not really THAT much. i have a ton of 703 in here (amongst other things)...wait, let me count...approx 76 sheets. that's like 800 bucks plus a couple hundred in fabric. not that bad really.

have to +1 soldering your own cables. i HATE soldering more than almost anything, but it's just so much cheaper than buying new cables.

also....

I went outside to find a parking ticket on my car, turned around all pissed-off, and saw them in a pile of trash on Cherry Street here in Philly.

how come i never find anything awesome in the trash? there was one time i found an otari 16 track sitting on the sidewalk in the alley behind berklee....i got all excited until i realized none of the cards were in there...

[Jeff White]

ha! i do that too. although, i bet if you add it up it's not really THAT much. i have a ton of 703 in here (amongst other things)...wait, let me count...approx 76 sheets. that's like 800 bucks plus a couple hundred in fabric. not that bad really.

My space these days is a 600 sq ft basement in Philly (plus rooms in my house above it when needed for iso). I was fortunately enough to score a bunch of thick show drape for free back in 2009 from a buddy. That was the first room treatment. Since then, I picked up over $1500 worth of 703 in custom bags for like $500 from Mark over at Full Circle Mastering when he moved spaces. It's basically all of his old treatment. It has made a huge difference. I even managed to build a nice little nuetral vocal booth out of the stuff. I also have a bunch of acoustic blankets that I'm about to hang up to section out the room a bit. I'm lucky enough to have a great space, perfect for mixing/mastering, decent for overdubs. Tracking a full band...not so much.

have to +1 soldering your own cables. i HATE soldering more than almost anything, but it's just so much cheaper than buying new cables.

Redco is your friend. I have been building cables with Canare Star Quad for the past 3 or 4 years now. When I went to the World Cafe Studio for the first time I discovered that this is the same cable that they use for everything in their $500K studio space. Perfect.

how come i never find anything awesome in the trash? there was one time i found an otari 16 track sitting on the sidewalk in the alley behind berklee....i got all excited until i realized none of the cards were in there...

Uhg. That sucks!

The Rogers are incredible. I was in the market for new monitors at the time. It was like they fell from the sky. The drummer in my one band Creepoid just found a perfectly functional Roland JC 120 in the trash two weeks ago. He's freaking out about it.

Jeff

[MoreSpaceEcho]

Redco is your friend.

oh, we're good pals, i get all my cables/connectors from them. i'm just terrible at soldering. ms mse likes it, she built her own tremolo and phaser pedals. i should put her to work here.

[IanWalker]

SM57 w the transformer gutted (the 'TapeOp' mod) - more forgiving on guitar cab placement. Good on bass cabs. Been meaning to try it on kick. GREAT on vocals. Put a pop screen in front of it, and its shockingly comparable to the SM7 - even more than I expected it to be.

Felt cloud over my mix position - simply 24" wide felt, stapled to the ceiling 18" apart, so it dips down a bit. About 6 feet long. Helped a LOT with the unpleasant reflections in my control room. Can't find a photo right now, but it works really well. It was also under $15, and that included buying new staples for my staple gun, and a LOT of extra felt. Might make a curtain for a window with that, to cut some more reflections.

DIY monitor stands - just a couple 4x4s cut to length, with 1' squares of MDF on the top and bottom. Adjustable height feet on all four corners of the bases for leveling. Work great. Decouple the monitors with some padding (even a mouse pad works), position as you normally would. Mine could use a coat of paint some time...

Simple, easy, DIY stuff that has made a difference for me.

[vvv]

Felt cloud over my mix position - simply 24" wide felt, stapled to the ceiling 18" apart, so it dips down a bit. About 6 feet long. Helped a LOT with the unpleasant reflections in my control room. Can't find a photo right now, but it works really well. It was also under $15, and that included buying new staples for my staple gun, and a LOT of extra felt. Might make a curtain for a window with that, to cut some more reflections.

So you just stapled it to the ceiling? What is the ceiling made of - IOW, would staples hold it to wallboard? (I don't wanna use glue or make a frame ...)

[Scodiddly]

Used oscilloscope (been through several, never paid more than $20 for an old used analog one). I ended up spending some big bucks on a Fluke 123 Scopemeter brand new, which has the golden feature of easy mobility. It'll pay for itself before it wears out.

Good soldering station, a Weller WES51.

Since I don't have a studio I'm not sure what else to list. As a live sound my home-built mics get a fair bit of use, as have my Oktava MK-012's.

Sony MDR-7506 headphones, standard issue for live sound guys.

[themagicmanmdt]

Used oscilloscope (been through several, never paid more than $20 for an old used analog one). I ended up spending some big bucks on a Fluke 123 Scopemeter brand new, which has the golden feature of easy mobility. It'll pay for itself before it wears out.

Good soldering station, a Weller WES51.

AMEN