Anyone using untraditional/low budget setups and getting placements?

[Jay]

first of all i’m not a gearhead – I like easy to use equipment that sounds good to my ear and is compassionate to my wallet – my simple rig – Korg D888 DAW (stand alone unit) -Peavey Dual Delta Flex processor (I can add 2 effects on the way in) and I add reverb @ mixdown on the Korg which is set up like an old style analog mixing board – I have a Rode NT3 Condenser mic as well as an SM57  – my monitors are cheapie Fostex’s that I bought for a couple hundred bucks back in the 90’s – I use EZ Drummer in Reaper and I also occasionally use a freeware processor to create drum tracks and I even play drums sometime by hand on an old Yamaha keyboard (cheapie) – I also use that keyboard for piano/strings and other sounds processing/eq’ing the sounds to make them as good as they can be – I have 2 preamps one an ART Tube ($30.00) I love this thing! and an M-Audio Fast Track Pro (it’s Ok) – I have a RAT guitar pedal that I use on all kinds of things (set low for just a hint of distortion) – I play guitar,bass,some keys,percussion (fingers on keyboard,tambourines,shakers) and most of my tracks have vocals (of course mixing a second track as an instrumental) – I use Audacity (free) on my final mix to compress a bit and another free program to do some tweaking as well – I record in a hotel room (where I live) and of course it’s untreated as far as sound goes..and yes i’m getting placements (quite a bit recently) – I have no plugins for effects or sample libraries – I know everyone’s using Pro Tools,Sonar and a bunch of other programs these days but I would just like to say to the newbie (or broke ass creative guy) that this IS possible to do on the cheap – I’m also scoring indie films with this rig  – I do rock,alternative,hip hop/funk,folkie singer/songwriter stuff and more – anyone else have an unorthodox rig?

[Art Munson]

Some will disagree with but I like to think anything’s possible with just about any gear. It’s all in how you use it.

Back in the 80s the Roland TR808 drum machine came out and was a hit until the DMX and Linn drum machine were released. At that point everyone (including me) got rid of their 808s. They became dirt cheap, were adopted by folks who didn’t have much money and became the mainstay of rap music. Those sounds are still used today.

[Jay]

Art…I actually have a track that’s doing well w/the 808’s on it – I’m building some more with some of those old school rap sounds..anything is possible but I hear SO many people talking about Pro Tools/Sonar etc. being the only way you’ll get anywhere – it really is more about the ear and not the gear – hell..we all have more than George Martin and The Beatles had..they of course had extreme talent in many areas (and that great tape/analog sound) but as far as editing/ease of use goes we have it pretty easy these days – one thing I don’t have is any type of automation which makes the mix just as much of a “performance” as the other tracks – some of my equipment dates back to the early 90’s – I’d hardly call it vintage more like poor mans vintage  🙂

[woodsdenis]

Jay, good music is always marketable no matter how it is recorded or produced. Having the latest Computer and software does in no way guarantee quality. In fact it could be argued that modern software enables the production of low quality music with an acceptable production value. Really anyone could bang out a reasonable effort in GarageBand. However as a user of highend software, it enables me to be very productive and quickens my workflow considerably. Changes in tracks take minutes not hours. I did start out on a Teac 4track reel to reel so I appreciate the difference LOL

[Jay]

I hear you Denis..My way of recording IS labor intensive but has sharpened my skills as a player – I started back in the early 90’s on a Fostex 4 track (cassette) – then to a Fostex 8 track reel to reel (I used to master to a stereo VCR  🙂  ) – then I had a Korg D8 – now the Korg D888 – I have used Sonar,Cakewalk and Pro Tools in others people’s studios and though it was easier for editing it also froze up alot and had some other issues – I’m old school and like to play with faders as opposed to a mouse – I’m also broke as a joke and the gear I have is all I can afford…but I’m making it work and that’s all that matters..Jay

[Anon]

I use an outdated half broken laptop and a pair of $20 headphones. Have a few bits of software. I currently make about $70k a year in placements. Hopefully this post won’t jinx that..

[MichaelL]

I use an outdated half broken laptop and a pair of $20 headphones. Have a few bits of software. I currently make about $70k a year in placements. Hopefully this post won’t jinx that..

LOL. That’s great. Where can I get a pair of those headphones? 🙂

 

[woodsdenis]

Jay, the great thing about my old tape machine was  that I had to actually  practise. the computer makes me really lazy. Sometimes gear gives you a certain sound, Jagged Little Pill was recorded on ADAT.

[Jay]

I remember reading that about Jagged Little Pill Denis.Before I left Ny.,I had a closet full of old reel to reel tapes and junk I was cleaning out and found an old adat master tape from a project.It was a link back in time  🙂

“Sometimes gear gives you a certain sound” – that is so true…I have a few recordings done on my Korg D8 that to this day are some of my favorites and though i’m a better producer/writer and player I couldn’t reproduce them on my updated gear.

 

Anon..I need those headphones too – it would be nice to buy a steak on occasion – these ramen noodles,chicken and rice and bean dinners are getting old  🙂

[adam]

I use a MacBook Pro that is now worth about £400 – gone down fro. £1500 in short space of five years – soon will be worth £100 I expect – I mean that’s low fi price wise – days were when £400 would have bought you a crappy analogue synth. It’s still more powerful than an Atari ste and all the racks of gear I once had. Do want a new one at some point though as they are so powerful now. disagree entirely with gear doesn’t matter and its what’s inside that counts – i think it matters a lot having a good limiter etc  on your tracks – having the latest synths v important – maybe not change it every week but good to check out every 2-3 years at least what breakthrough there has been in technology ie all the sonnox plugs are just so great – if everyone’s slamming loud tracks then its imp to do the same even if its not to taste-just my two pence on it and perhaps wrong but hey just sharing an opinion

[Jay]

Not wrong..just an opinion Adam…it also depends on what type of music you’re writing – I have very little use for synth sounds as I play guitar and bass on most of my tracks (programming drums and sometimes playing them live) I also use keyboard sounds to “accent” things occasionally but I did write a nice piano/strings piece lately that ended up in a short indie flick (on my cheap Yamaha keyboard)

also a limiter to my understanding is just a compressor in a sense,maybe i’m wrong?

as far as the loudness wars go I think an audio engineer/music supervisor would prefer a track that’s lower in volume with better dynamics (and more natural sounding) than a track that’s compressed to the hilt just for more volume.

 

just my 2 cents and I know only “what I know” and am hardly an expert on anything as far as these things go – but what I do is working and i’m not pumping my $ from placements/scoring into new gear all the time which in my opinion makes this a hobby for those who do – the idea is to make $ right?

once i’m making a little more I will buy a few things I’ve had my eye on (like a better keyboard) but until then i’m squeezing everything I can out of what I have and being extremely resourceful.A perfect example of this is a track I’ve recently had 10 placements with.I needed a sax,horn or some sort of trumpet sound in a breakdown and ended up using an old fashioned pitch pipe guitar tuner that my grandfather gave me back in the 80’s – I cupped it and played it like a harmonica to give it vibrato and recorded it on a 57 – that breakdown is all over the place on a couple of shows – Jay

[Anon]

I got the $20 headphones about 10 years ago.. not sure if they still make them. They’re by AKG. Jokes aside, they really are amazingly good for the price. I don’t even check my tracks on speakers of any kind.

At some point I am going to buy better gear – rather than a hobby, I see this as reinvesting in my business..

[Jay]

Anon…I have the AKG k44’s and I mix in them trading off on my monitors,earbuds and a boombox – but if it’s right in the headphones it’s usually right in everything else (paid $30.00) – sometimes the bass has to be reduced a bit outside the headphones but once you learn your headphones and/or monitors you just “know” – I listen to a lot of music (not mine) through headphones and monitors as well…really helps my mixing – Jay

[Anon]

Hi Jay,

Exactly. Once you listen to a lot of other music on your mixing headphones, that acts as your benchmark.. e.g. we now know to expect the bass to be quiet on our headphones.

[Michael]

I needed a sax,horn or some sort of trumpet sound in a breakdown and ended up using an old fashioned pitch pipe guitar tuner that my grandfather gave me back in the 80?s – I cupped it and played it like a harmonica to give it vibrato and recorded it on a 57 – that breakdown is all over the place on a couple of shows – Jay

 

That is absolutly amazing Jay!

[Author]

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