There is a saying that the next bit of purchased gear is the one that is going to take you to the next level!

 

I've been there and got the t-shirt! Sure you need some basic gear but the quality of modern recording equipment is stunning compared to when I first dabbled in this hobby in 1981 - yes I'm that old!

 

However as some would be interested to see what I used to produce my music - here goes:

 

Room Acoustics - DIY broadband panels made from RW3 rockwool and bass traps made from rolled up duvets

 

Monitors - B&W DW 601 S2 on adjustable desktop speaker isolation stand

 

Headphones - Sennheiser HD600

 

Self Built quiet PC based on Intel  i5 quadcore processor, 32 Gb RAM, Solid State drives, silent PC concept ie no processor fan or power supply fan for recording - case fans used for high CPU work (mixing) - Windows 10 - compared to PCs from the 1990's - UNBELIEVABLE!

 

Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) for recording/mixing - Cubase Pro - first used Cubase in 1983 on an Atari ST with 1024 Mb RAM!

 

DAW for Mastering - Studio One Pro 3.5 - prefer the work flow in the Project page for mastering and I find using a different DAW part of the change of mindset for mastering rather than mixing.

 

Steinberg UR28M Analogue to Digital Audio Interface

 

Native Instruments Komplete Kontrol S61 Mk2 keyboard/controller

 

Mics - Rode NT1A (vocals) and Audio Technica 4040 (guitar) and SM58 (a 57 with a pop shield really)

 

USB MIDI Breath Controller (BBC 2) - great for wind instruments as you know when to stop playing

 

Leap Motion - With Geco software

 

Sledge Black Synthesisier - Fed up a bit with using a mouse on soft synths all the time plus it also is supported in Omnisphere

 

Akai LPD8 - Drum pads

 

Synth Plugins:

 

  • Omnisphere 2 - amazing sounds
  • ME-80 - Very good Yamaha CS80 Emulator if you like Vangelis!
  • Garriton Personal Orchestra 5 - Great value for money
  • The Orchestra - Sonuscore stunning orchestra engine
  • Komplete 11 - Including Kontact for sampling
  • Native Instruments Session Guitarist - Strummed Acoustic and Electric Sunburst Virtual Guitars - impressive
  • Albion One - Want to start scoring to film from 2020

Drum Samples/Machine:

 

  • Drums on Demand - great REX library drum loops
  • MDrummer - Not the easiest of user nterfaces but such a deep plugin and quick to program. Also updates and sample packs are free for life :-)
  • Drumatic 4 - Software Electronic Drums

 Effects plugins: