Originally Posted By: JohnJohnJohn
one problem with expensive gear is the law of diminishing returns kicks in very quickly. is a $10,000 Neumann mic really 100 times better than a $100 Shure? Nope. Probably not even twice as good. So you can easily end up spending a ton for very minor improvements in your gear.


Actually, Nuemann doesn't make a $10,000 mic. As someone who owns quite a few microphones, going from a Shure to an AKG C414 is a HUGE difference. The sound on a recording opens up. Much richer. Is it twice as good. Absolutely. The signal biggest thing you can invest in is a good microphone. Consider it an instrument, something that will last a lifetime.

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and anyway, even if you buy the best pair of near-fields out there, you still have to test/listen on a variety of other systems cause people listening to your music almost certainly will not have the monitors you have and every pair sounds a little different.


While this is sort of true, what you do when you mix is to make it sound good on anything, be it iPod headphones or $10,000 Martin Logans. Why people spend thousands of dollars on a good mixing studio is to save time. Sure, you can come up with a good mix with just whatever you have, but it will take a lot of time. Like if you don't have a good subwoofer in your mix studio, then you perhaps won't hear that you have low frequencies that are mudding the mix....


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