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 DM 601 S2 on adjustable desktop speaker isolation stand

 

Headphones - Sennheiser HD600

 

Self Built quiet PC based on Intel  i7 octocore processor, 64 Gb RAM, Solid State drives (M2 and SATA), near silent PC for recording - Windows 10 - compared to PCs from the 1990's - UNBELIEVABLE!  Powered through Uniteruptable Power Supply.

 

Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) for recording/mixing - Cubase Pro - first used Cubase (Pro24) in 1989 on an Atari ST with 1024 Mb RAM!

 

DAW for Mastering - Studio One Pro - 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.

 

Gaming Seat. One of my best buys - SO SO COMFORTABLE

 

Stream Deck. Another great purchase as it improves workflow to another level using screen "buttons" to trigger shortcuts or macros set up in your DAW/PC etc

 

Steinberg UR28M Analogue to Digital Audio Interface

 

Native Instruments Komplete Kontrol S61 Mk2 keyboard/controller

 

Mics - Rode NT1A (vocals) and Audio Technica 2020 (guitar) and SM58 (a 57 with a pop shield really)

 

EditorKeys Vocal Booth

 

Tegeler Creme RC - Hardware Bus EQ/Compressor

 

USB MIDI Breath Controller (BBC2) - 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

 

Korg NanoKontrol 2 - MIDI Controller for soft synths

 

Native VS Fader Box - 4 x 100mm MIDI Controller for orchestral work

 

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 Complete - Sonuscore stunning orchestra engine
  • Komplete 11 - Including Kontact for sampling
  • Native Instruments: Session Guitarist - Strummed Acoustic, Picked Acoustic  and Electric Sunburst Virtual Guitars - impressive
  • Spitfire Audio:
    • Albion One - Great for scoring to film or making hybrid music
    • BBC Symphony Orchestra Core
    • Contemporary Drama Toolkit, Solo Violin/Cello, Intimate Strings, Aperture Strings

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: