As an active electro-acoustic composer, I constantly think about that “one piece of gear that will make my set-up perfect.” I’m sure we’ve all had that point. Or the “building my first studio, what do I have to have?” To me, this boils down to a single question: “What is the one piece of must have gear?” What do all of you out there in cyber-land think?
It’s an interesting exercise, boiling everything to that one “must have” item. Is it the software? What about the interface? Oh, a computer, of course! Wait…what about analog electronics?
For me, there is one answer: Headphones. And, past that, audio monitors. Why? I’ll break it down quickly:
1) for what I do in electro-acoustic music, a computer is a big deal. However, I could do the majority of work on just about any computer. I don’t have to have this pimped out macbook pro. And, you can always plug your headphones into a synth or workstation and work without touching a computer.
2) Portability. Laptops are made to travel, of course. But say you’re going to coffee and may want to work. Your whole rig isn’t coming with you, but your headphones can.
3) quality vs. price. One reason I took so long in buying monitors was that I was looking for a deal. A nice set of studio monitors can reach over a grand for a pair easily. Headphones? If you’re willing to drop $200 you can get a really nice pair with a flat response better than most monitors at that price point.
Those are the quick reasons why my headphones are the most important part of my set-up. Regardless of computer, software, interface, microphone, my headphones are always present. I bring them on gigs when I’m doing live sound, I take them with me to the studio. It’s plug and play at it’s finest, and I always know the characteristics of the sound I’ll hear.
Of course, I hardly ever just mix on my headphones. Then again, I try not to mix on any one transducer. So don’t take this as an “only mix on headphones!” style propaganda. Everything is still incredibly important. Headphones are just that “must have” piece for me.
How about everyone else? What do you think is the most important part of the chain, or the one piece of “must have” gear for an electro-acoustic composer?
Interestingly, the very first piece of "I'm getting to be a grownup now, time to take things seriously" gear I got was a set of headphones. Beyond quality vs. price, there's another thing to consider: most of us who don't have access to world class studios like you do are going to be doing at least some mixing in less-than-ideal rooms. I was NEVER EVER going to shell out for monitors and put them in the completely cubical, bare-walled box that I call an office. Much better to do rough work (and live recording, which I'm doing more and more of) on headphones then finish it in the studio, in my personal workflow.
ReplyDelete