Gear That's Made A Marked Difference

[Reuben]

In order of the difference they made to my recordings:

1) Decent monitors. Nothing amazing, just Events.

2) 120 bucks worth of Auralex room treatment products. Helped the tracking room a little, but improved my mix position drastically.

3) Either the pair of Beyer M160's or the pair of AT 4051a's, both about the same price and both are incredibly cool and versatile.

[christiannokes]

mesa boogie dc-5. Yid-i-di-cat-fight!!!!!

[the brill bedroom]

The Clash box set

[ubertar]

ati m-1000 mic pre.
sony c37p condenser mic.
amperite ribbon mic.

[theistheman]

Everything.

Every time I get something new, I get crappier and crappier.

My best shit ever was radio shack mic into integrated sound card into cool edit pro with my crappy Electar amp and my crappy Epiphone Les Paul and my shitty casio and a shittier drum set.

Nowadays, my music's more forced, and I record everything too cleanly, and it doesn't sound like a dude capturing sound--it sounds more like a dude trying to get certain sounds, and never quite getting there.

But that's not to say that I don't love all my new gear...it sure makes shit easier. It's just TOO easy now.

[nick_a]

1969 gibson sg jr.

UA 2108

ibanez AD-9

[syrupcore]

Since it was the first ldc I got, I gotta say the Equitek e-100. other things have enhanced, even markedly, but the first ldc was the greatest jump I can think of.

[I'm Painting Again]

when i got my fist decent preamps (syteks) i noticed how much better the sounds went down and sat in a mix..compared to the mackie pres i had before that..

premium cable..

Hill console..hey now I can actually use some eq and it sounds natural

pair of mics..wow stuff sounds good in stereo

word clock..although not a night and day differece in my setup it certainly was a right away noticable improvment in sound quality

ampex440b..made bass guitar and cymbals sound like the records i love..geled mixes in a way i could not before..made stuff sound like rock..

today i bought a soundelux u195 and messed with it a bit..i immediately noticed it was awesome!

[JGriffin]

Sonic Solutions DAW (back in '93--made a marked difference in the way I worked and thought about production, not neccesarily the sound)

a real Les Paul
Silvertone guitar amp

Sennheiser 416 MKH short shotgun mic--for that Don LaFontaine sound

Decent monitors--Genelecs at work (1998) and Roland D90s at home (last month)

[vernier]

This gear makes a difference for me on a continual basis (all old)
Telefunken U47
Pultec EQP-1
RCA BA6A
RCA 77
AKG D19
GE BA9
UA 175
JBL monitors
Macintosh power
UA eq
Tube console (custom)
Analog recorders, Stephens, Ampex, Magnecorders etc

As long as ICs are kept out of the chain, I'm happy.

[citizenkeith]

Altec lipstick tube mics (ah, the cymbals!)

Shure SM7

[auralman]

girlfriend v2.0 (as in upgrade over last one)

happier, which not surprisingly makes everything sound better.

[twitchmonitor]

MXL 2001 modded with TapeOp/Dave Royer mod. Makes everything sound better...especially vox.

[Verboten]

Since I'm in an on-going battle to upgrade my studio... oh, about every month - I'd have to go with my last purchase:

Lexicon MPX-550 and TC Electronic M300

My old FX were crap.

Others would be:
ART Pro VLA
Tascam PE.40 parametric EQ
BLUE Baby Bottle

[kayagum]

Tascam 238s (hey, compared to a Porta One...)
SansAmp original (hey, when you're plugging into a Porta One)
ADAT HD24
Adobe Audition
Fralin strat pickups
NT1 (hey, it was my first LDC)

and, PortaOne (hey, it was my first deck )