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[bblackwood]

Originally Posted: Wed, 18 October 2006

I've been thinking about this quite a bit lately, and after having some interesting discussions with friends, I've come to wonder if Gear Acquisition Syndrome is destroying modern recordings.

Ponder it for a bit then tell us what you think - I'll weigh on it more later...

[Allen Corneau]

It sure seems like a lot of people are auditioning and buying a lot of gear lately.

How many folks have recently demo'd/bought a Foote P3S, and before that a Buzz REQ 2.2, and before that a DM Bax, and before that an API 2500, and before that...

Ok, honestly I'm slightly jealous that a lot of you folks can buy gear almost seemingly at-will.
 

I've been working with the same tools (except for a few plug-ins) for almost eight years now. While I feel like I have a good command of my system I'm still learning little nuances of each piece almost every week or two.

I guess I'll just live out my GAS vicariously through you people here via the forums.

[Gold]

I have it bad for hand tools and audio test equipment. Not so much for mastering gear. The reason is that I'm a lousy tech and a good mastering engineer. I don't think great techs spend too much time thinking about their tools after they have what they like. I've been trying to teach myself how to do some metal working. I've torn through a lot of tools figuring out the best way to do things...

I'd like to see more olde school bragging about how little equipment was used.

[Greg Reierson]

I have it bad for hand tools and audio test equipment. Not so much for mastering gear.

... says the guy with the worlds coolest collection of Studer preview decks...


GR

[Gold]

I did make Dan Zellman envious when I showed him my set of PB Swiss Tools spanner screwdrivers.
http://pbtoolsus.thomasnet.com/viewitems/classic/pb-196-screwdrivers-for-round-nuts?
No one is totally immune.

To actually answer the question, I don't think so. I like talking shop as much as the average forum addict. I try to have it not get in the way of the work or client relations. Playing with cool toys is a big part of the fun with the job. G.A.S is a problem if it gets in the way of work. I had my Prism converters sitting around for months before I started using them. I had too much in progress work and not enough time to switch for a while. I don't like jobs coming back.

[pmx]

"Hi all, my name is Paul. I haven't bought new gear in a year."

not really true, but software doesn't count with GAS. I think. I made a list of stuff I'd like to buy someday, and there's nothing on there that I need tomorrow. Plus, it forces me to dig deeper into the stuff that I do have, and I can't be complaining about that with the level of gear i have.

[Waltz Mastering]

I'd like to see more olde school bragging about how little equipment was used.

I don't like to brag but the only thing I've bought in the last 4 years besides hard drives is a soft ware limiter and a Bax.  Boring....

[Jerry Tubb]

If you consider DAW Plug-Ins as "gear" ...then Yes!

JT

[Viitalahde]

Well, I sometimes meet people who are way too interested in gear talk, and they also seem to believe the gear is doing the magic. I like to tease them by telling that I just added lows+highs and I didn't even see the needle moving.

Also, I know a few guys who constantly upgrade their kit (yet the amount of work done on them seems quite low), and the upgrades happen to me the things that have been a recent hot topic @ GS.

Me, I just want my kit to be at the level nothing is bothering me anymore and I can just work.

[Thomas W. Bethel]

I have had the same mastering rack equipment for the last 4 years. I have bought some new video equipment and we now have 4 PCs - 5 Macs and I just bought an IPAD for our Ebay sales but nothing new in the audio world. Even the equipment we use for remote recordings has stayed the same.

Part of it is the money issue and part of it is that I don't see anything that I really really can't live without.

I must be getting older...

[PBM]

It sure seems like a lot of people are auditioning and buying a lot of gear lately.

How many folks have recently demo'd/bought a Foote P3S, and before that a Buzz REQ 2.2, and before that a DM Bax, and before that an API 2500, and before that...

None of the above ... though I am probably guilty of recent excitement over a tri-band comp I won't mention.

I have some standard pieces, central to the way I work, that I've had for quite a long while - monitoring and conversion hasn't changed all that much, still have the tc6K, Weiss, Sequoia, OCL-2 and other bits from 5 or 6 or more years ago; but changing clients and changing demands lead to new avenues - for everyone I suspect. I tend to trade up, rather than buy though ...

I can't see how this would adversely affect modern records - most gear talk I have with others is still ultimately tool-based - on ways of doing what we already do better (or quicker, or easier).

Cheers,

Eric

[SafeandSoundMastering]

PBM are you a distributor or something or getting a cut, every other post is about the
MLA-3. 4 people on the planet use them and they wax lyrical, it's the the tri band compression illuminati or something, lol.
 
Well I have invested in 2 bits of analogue kit this year and whilst I am happy with them and they are nice, they really are not going to be making a great deal of difference to the good work I was already doing, just extra options.

I do not actually need anything else but you know I am as gear curious as anyone
so the thought of listening to a few bits later in the year is in my mind.

So much of kit is dissapointing really to be honest, you get to a point when you realize it's what you do, the selection and application, not the boxes as such.

I could do 80pct of what I do with 4 plugins, 2 eq, 1 comp and a limiter.

You've either got it or you haven't, the last bit is just a touch of pizazz.

I am very thankful that I have more chops than gear, than the other way round.

[dietrich]

Part of my 'gear lust' comes from wanting to hear the differences of every 'tool'. Right now I have 2 less pieces in my chain than I did 6 months ago.

I'd audition a new pieces every few weeks if I could just to use everything in sessions to get to know its pros/cons, sound etc. Visiting dealers or other rooms is not the same as having some alone time...

I went through the same issues when I first started making electronic music many many moons ago. Buy a synth/drummachine/seq, use it for a bit and sell/trade for something else. I would actually go back and rebuy a few after many 'rehearsals'.

Difference on that gear is that I tended to often prefer pieces with interfaces that made sense for how I work even if newer versions with more features were out.
wait....

[jdg]

im not static, and i enjoy new and different equipment.

[lowland]

I've been working with the same tools (except for a few plug-ins) for almost eight years now. While I feel like I have a good command of my system I'm still learning little nuances of each piece almost every week or two.

I guess I'll just live out my GAS vicariously through you people here via the forums.

That describes my own situation well, just a couple of years less in the main with the exception of the Great River mastering EQ which turned up a year or so back and won't be leaving any time soon: what a solidly made, fit-for-purpose tool that's turned out to be, Dan Kennedy rules as far as I'm concerned.

Lots of things I'd like to investigate, much of which is in the monitoring department - PMC will hopefully be sending the new IB2 actives + subs to review around the end of the month, and I have a contact with a Hi Fi speaker manufacturer who wants to get into the mastering market which may prove interesting.

It must be said my gearlust (not to mention bank balance) has largely been sated, for the time being anyway, by the new room which I finally moved into on Monday. The Sterling console is somewhere in mid-Atlantic, having missed the first ship a few weeks back and things are therefore on makeshift tables for the moment, but thought of the space brings a smile to my face each morning as I leave the house for my 30 second commute. Final acoustic adjustments will happen once furniture and speaker positions are confirmed, but early sound prognosis is very good with great bass and imaging. More news (and hopefully some pics.) as and when.