Tell Us What Works Best for You!

[JaredHallock]

I like the Apogee Duet:).

Very nice if you can justify spending that much, but they are 4 or 5 times the price of some other very good interfaces - I think I'd rather spend the additional ££'s on better monitors or room treatment , or something like Sonarworks personally as the interface isn't usually the weakest link even with a budget model. But they are up there with the best if that's what you want and they are in your budget.

True dat

[3Seas]

Not been working in the music industry but want to do something in music, in my retirement years to supplement my income or better. I have over the years put money into equipment. Not a lot and mostly in software. Now that I'm focusing in on doing something (still a few years away from that retirement age but now thinking I'm about 5 years late) I'm discovering I have more software resources than I'll ever use and it's a lot to figure out what best to use and how, regarding TAXI listings.

I recall years ago I did something with a decent free midi editor and my first taste of Cubase (7.0). I understand Steve Barden has a minimal setup with older software and does plenty of production music.

Learning how the business works are itself time-consuming, but now the overload of plenty of software-based resources inclusive of libraries.

So, has anyone else found themselves in a resource overload that got past it and became production music accomplished?

Any tips on sorting through resources to narrow down to a smaller often used toolset?

Edited to add:
I don't think there are any shortcuts or tips. That leaves me learning what tools I have or would be better with, which are the better ones to put on a shortlist, perhaps genre noted, and how best to use them.
I suppose this is one of the facets of forever learning.

[DallasLaRue89]

I have been using Cubase for over ten years now, I love it.

[Phuovine]

Hi, I'm Pekka from Finland and I'm a total Taxi noob but NOT an audio noob. I've been recording myself and others now for little over 20 years and learnt quite a bit while at it. Of course, my gear collection has seen many phases during all this.

Some of my favorite pieces of gear or stuff that just works:

RME interfaces. I had a Fireface 800 and it worked flawlessly with zero hickups. The sound quality was a big step up from the Focusrite Scarlett range. Sadly, it was not compatible with my new PC setup anymore and new RME's are very expensive so I switched to Focusrite Clarett and to my happy surprise it's pretty much as good as the old Fireface. The mixer/routing software is not as versatile though. I guess I'm recommending the Clarett range, too.

Focusrite ISA preamps. I had the ISA one lunchbox and it was so nice that I swapped to ISA two and it's been my main preamp ever since. I'm not a preamp afficionado though as I believe the right mic is more important. With digital systems I just want a clean pristine sound going in and that's what ISA does.

JZ Vintage 67 condenser. The best sounding LDC I've had and it's not even the most expensive. This is partly subjective of course because it suits my voice and may not work with yours but it's a quality product and will work at most cases. Takes EQ like a champ but doesn't require much of it.

Neumann KM140 SDC's for drum overheads. My drum and especially cymbal sound got much better with these. Worth the steep price.

Two Notes Torpedo amp load and cab simulator. I've had my share of 100W tube amps blasting through 4x12's in the recording room but no more thank you. With the Torpedo I get a good sound every time and don't have to sacrifice my ears. I did just get a 2x12 for proper feedback stuff, though.

Guild S300A from 1977. A kind of super-strat with two PAF style humbuckers, hardtail. I will never sell this baby. It was carved for my hands.

Guild B302 bass from 1981. Does excatly what a bass should and with ease. Steady low end all day long.

Yamaha Recording Custom drum set from the 80's. The most recorded drum set in the history and it's no wonder.

Beverley Cosmic 21 snare. Cheap mans Supraphonic but the sound is anything but cheap. Sold my DW snare that I had for 20 years when I found this, it's that good.

I have LOTS of pedals and I'm not gonna list them all here but a few favorites will do. For overdrive I'm almost exclusively using the Earthquaker Devices Palisades as it's super versatile. Same goes for Death By Audio Apocalypse in the fuzz department. Boss DM-2W for simple analog delays. Source Audio Ventris for basically any type of reverb. Darkglass vintage micotubes for shaping great bass tones.

Software. My DAW is Reaper because it's super versatile and customizable and cheap. And most importantly it's the DAW I know how to use. My favorite plugins are the Soundtoys bundle and the Brainworx/Plugin Alliance stuff. UAD Sound City reverb is very nice for drums and their line of compressors rock. For clean realistic spaces I really love the Seventh Heaven by Liquid Sonic.

Sorry, my wife is telling me we gotta go but that's already a pretty nice list. Feel free to ask if you want to know more about some piece I listed.