The little things...

[jasonfarbman]

Hello..

A friend and I have been reading TapeOp for some time now, and are finally making the upgrades to put something serious together.. Now that we're making the commitment to spend a bunch of money, I'd really liek to get every dollar's worth. Obviously things like cords are important, but is there a substantial difference between the final product as recorded by a set of $25 a piece cords, and one on a set of $10 a piece? Where should we be sinking the money - into the hardware with cheaper accessories, or the other way around?

Thanks,
Jason

[I'm Painting Again]

i think it would help to let people know exactly what your trying to do, down to the styles of music yr gonna be recording, your goals, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, there are so many options so take your time whatever you end up doing..

[marqueemoon]

My upgrade process has been pretty weird, so I can totally relate to this.

My rule of thumb so far has been to keep the purchases of things I know I'll just have to replace later to a minimum. Obviously, with computers and the like you're just screwed but with other stuff I think it works pretty well.

I just bought some decent mic stands, I've been upgrading my front end for about a year, and now I'm trying to figure out what the hell to do about recording medium issue.

[swingdoc]

Currently I'm sinking all my extra time and $$ into acoustic treatment of the recording space.

[wardshorsehead]

Cabling is the lifeline of the studio - home, project, pro, or otherwise. Having said this (as a home studio guy), I know it seems frustrating to buy those expensive cables and adapters (they do add up). Here's my .02...

The most noticeable impact cables have is when they stop working...and they do. And even though those Hosa cables have a lifetime warranty (sorry to pick on Hosa, but they seem to be the prevalent cable at the megamarts), that won't help you when it fails at a critical time...and are you really going to be careful and save the receipt and packaging to send it back (and patient enough to wait for a new one)? Probably not...so the warranty factor in kinda moot.

Molded cables really cant be repaired. At the very least pick up cables with decent quality ends that can be serviced. I've had good luck with Horizen on the cheaper end, Whirlwind too.

Mic cables are really prone to handling noise, so I would up the stakes here. Maybe not the top of the line, but certainly not the $5 special at Guitar Center.

Can you solder? Cables are simple, generally two (line) or three (mic) points at each end. All of the sudden, you can get cabling that IS the $25 cable at the $10 price. A big fave around here seems to be Redco or Markertek for the parts. This way, you can have that Canare or Mogami cable with a Neutrik connector for much, much less than you'd buy it for premade. Plus, you'll never have that pile of shorted cables again once you know how to fix them.

Upgrading cables can cost as much as upgrading gear (trust me, I was a cheap cable guy for years). So when that $10 cable goes bye-bye, and the $25 cable replaces it, you just spent $35...

If you have some cables already, use them if they work. I still haven't weeded out all the trash I have. But when I add new gear, and when cables fail, I make new ones...or if I'm bored, but that's more of a winter phenomena here in MN....

When it comes to dropping the $$$ on a bunch of new gear, I say make as few compromises as possible, and if you do compromise, make it be a compromise of time on waiting to buy a more dispensible piece of gear rather than cutting corners. Research, find what you want, and save. Buying used gear can also help save some money as well, and when you uprade, you can often get most of your money back out of it.

Good luck!

Frank