Executioner213
Ultimate Meatbag
Here's my 0.02 cents, take it or leave it....
I know a guy who has spent THOUSANDS of $$ on his guitar rig. Here's what it consists of:
Gibson Zakk Wylde Les Paul, which are over $4,400 now but he got his when it was $3,500
Dean Razorback Slime Bumblebee - $1,100
Dean Dime-o-Flame - $800
another Dean ML with a brushed metal top, probably worth over $1k
Jackson Randy Rhoads RR5 - $1,300
Marshall Zakk Wylde Signature JCM800 - They were about $2k new
Marshall 1960X 4x12 cab (x 2, ones with the checkered tweed cloth) - $1,100 x2
SKB Floorboard - $250
Boss OD-20 Twin Overdrive - $160
Boss AC-3 Acoustic Simulater - $100
Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor - $85
and a whole bunch of other Boss pedals I couldn't figure out...probably about 5 more at $100 each on average
So, give or take, he's spent at least $13k on his guitar rig. This is completely on the impulse that buying the same rig as Zakk Wylde, even down to playing RR and Dime guitars like he does, will make him a good guitarist. He also originally had an Ace Frehley LP and a Marshall JCM2000 TSL100 Full Stack, simply because he was trying to do the same thing but with Ace Frehley. Point being, he still doesn't play very well...the gear didn't make up for his inadequate discipline on practicing and building his ability. He's much better of a guitarist NOW as compared to 7 years ago when I was in a band with him...even then, I was using an Ibanez JS100 with stock pickups -> DigiTech RP3 -> Crate 120w Solid State head -> old Randall shitty 4x12 and my tone was FAR superior to his, which is embarassing because I was using complete garbage equipment. His tone STILL sucks.
Money does not buy your way in.
Let me repeat this: MONEY DOES NOT BUY YOUR WAY IN!
This example above is just a tip of the iceberg that can be touched on. Sure, having $50k worth of gear might dazzle clients into coming to you for business...but you need to be able to back it up. I have been on this forum for about 3 years now, and I learn new and creative things all the time thanks to the wonderful input from everyone who hangs here. I've even been put in my place a few times when I thought I knew what was up (thanks James Murphy), and it's all for constructive purposes. Coming onto this forum and saying "I have $xxxxx to spend, I wanna record, tell me what I should get" is going to make some people resentful, as there are guys on this forum that can put many "pro's" to shame with a laptop rig who have been scraping the barrel most of thier adult lives and have to work straight jobs just to afford to throw $100 on something every month. Some guys here have built marvelous studios over time, often under the same circumstances. Asking on this forum such a question is probably just going to get responses telling you to buy the most expensive equipment there is and then standing back to see how soon you fail. As JBroll said, get equipment that retains it's value...he might have been saying it initially to be a smartass but if this turns out right away to be something that is not as easy as it seems you might as well be getting some of your money back.
I, personally, can only encourage maybe spending a year on this board before deciding to make such a serious purchase. Start low, get a crummy DAW setup going for a couple hundred bucks and stuff the rest of that $50k in an interest-bearing account. Learn the tricks, get the basics down, ask questions and recieve input. At least then, you will have an idea on what you may or may not need afterall and you can afford to throw the ducats for sure. Otherwise, you might as well just look at Andy's equipment list and buy as much of the same shit as you can...cuz if money is not really an object, not figuring out what all the equipment is going to do for you is just as worthless.
If you are a record company wanting to explore the possibility of doing recording for the bands you sign (I'm just assuming, since your handle is "crimson records"), then maybe just getting a bunch of equipment isn't the answer. Maybe start out by finding a guy locally that can be your go-to dude for recording your labels bands, and do some sort of a symbiotic thing where you both benefit from the projects.
And you are right, music isnt' all about business...until the moment a dollar amount is asked for from you or by you. When you record a cd, and pay a pressing plant to print you off xxx amount of cd's and it costs $xxx to do so, then you worry about how much to charge for it so you can make your money back...it becomes business. When you want to play a gig xxx miles away and you wonder how much they are going to pay you or how much gas you will be able to afford to get there...it becomes business. You throw down for a top-flight P.A. and some dildo spills his beer on your board and you have to buy a new one...it becomes business. I can go on and on. Being in a band is one of the best examples of marketing that a musician can have his hands in: whether you are "in it for the money" or not, you are still going to spend any number of dollars...regardless of how much it means to you or not...doing promotional stuff or augmenting the overall sound/appearance/etc of your group. Calling venues to see if you can play there is pretty much business, even if they aren't paying you because it matters how much you are worth to them (bars want to know if you will bring a crowd to sell alcohol to, other venues worry about ticket sales and if you draw crowd, etc). It isn't always a matter of thinking of whether you are going to come out ahead, but how far you will come out on the bottom. Whether you want to think of it or not, being in a band is pretty much a business.
The biggest hint you can get is that there is probably a reason people go to recording engineers to record thier albums. It's often just easier to pay someone else to twiddle the knobs who already has the shit to do it with...I can be honest in saying that I think I am insane for deciding to get into recording and I don't think I'll ever be happy with my ability or the amount of tools I acquire to do it. You can use any expensive hobby as an analogy for this (hot rod building is the first to come to mind)...it always sounds fun but even when you have a fuckload of money to throw into it, it's not always fruitful in the end. Maybe you might want to rationalize to yourself and your bandmates whether it's really the way to go. If so, by all means, do some research....but I wouldn't expect the magic answer here. It's bad enough we argue over MAC vs. PC among several other arguments, you will get several skewed opinions. Maybe look into stuff that grabs your attention, maybe possibly look into some in-store/in-studio demos of whos doing what with what, and see what looks interesting. Dig some.
I know a guy who has spent THOUSANDS of $$ on his guitar rig. Here's what it consists of:
Gibson Zakk Wylde Les Paul, which are over $4,400 now but he got his when it was $3,500
Dean Razorback Slime Bumblebee - $1,100
Dean Dime-o-Flame - $800
another Dean ML with a brushed metal top, probably worth over $1k
Jackson Randy Rhoads RR5 - $1,300
Marshall Zakk Wylde Signature JCM800 - They were about $2k new
Marshall 1960X 4x12 cab (x 2, ones with the checkered tweed cloth) - $1,100 x2
SKB Floorboard - $250
Boss OD-20 Twin Overdrive - $160
Boss AC-3 Acoustic Simulater - $100
Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor - $85
and a whole bunch of other Boss pedals I couldn't figure out...probably about 5 more at $100 each on average
So, give or take, he's spent at least $13k on his guitar rig. This is completely on the impulse that buying the same rig as Zakk Wylde, even down to playing RR and Dime guitars like he does, will make him a good guitarist. He also originally had an Ace Frehley LP and a Marshall JCM2000 TSL100 Full Stack, simply because he was trying to do the same thing but with Ace Frehley. Point being, he still doesn't play very well...the gear didn't make up for his inadequate discipline on practicing and building his ability. He's much better of a guitarist NOW as compared to 7 years ago when I was in a band with him...even then, I was using an Ibanez JS100 with stock pickups -> DigiTech RP3 -> Crate 120w Solid State head -> old Randall shitty 4x12 and my tone was FAR superior to his, which is embarassing because I was using complete garbage equipment. His tone STILL sucks.
Money does not buy your way in.
Let me repeat this: MONEY DOES NOT BUY YOUR WAY IN!
This example above is just a tip of the iceberg that can be touched on. Sure, having $50k worth of gear might dazzle clients into coming to you for business...but you need to be able to back it up. I have been on this forum for about 3 years now, and I learn new and creative things all the time thanks to the wonderful input from everyone who hangs here. I've even been put in my place a few times when I thought I knew what was up (thanks James Murphy), and it's all for constructive purposes. Coming onto this forum and saying "I have $xxxxx to spend, I wanna record, tell me what I should get" is going to make some people resentful, as there are guys on this forum that can put many "pro's" to shame with a laptop rig who have been scraping the barrel most of thier adult lives and have to work straight jobs just to afford to throw $100 on something every month. Some guys here have built marvelous studios over time, often under the same circumstances. Asking on this forum such a question is probably just going to get responses telling you to buy the most expensive equipment there is and then standing back to see how soon you fail. As JBroll said, get equipment that retains it's value...he might have been saying it initially to be a smartass but if this turns out right away to be something that is not as easy as it seems you might as well be getting some of your money back.
I, personally, can only encourage maybe spending a year on this board before deciding to make such a serious purchase. Start low, get a crummy DAW setup going for a couple hundred bucks and stuff the rest of that $50k in an interest-bearing account. Learn the tricks, get the basics down, ask questions and recieve input. At least then, you will have an idea on what you may or may not need afterall and you can afford to throw the ducats for sure. Otherwise, you might as well just look at Andy's equipment list and buy as much of the same shit as you can...cuz if money is not really an object, not figuring out what all the equipment is going to do for you is just as worthless.
If you are a record company wanting to explore the possibility of doing recording for the bands you sign (I'm just assuming, since your handle is "crimson records"), then maybe just getting a bunch of equipment isn't the answer. Maybe start out by finding a guy locally that can be your go-to dude for recording your labels bands, and do some sort of a symbiotic thing where you both benefit from the projects.
And you are right, music isnt' all about business...until the moment a dollar amount is asked for from you or by you. When you record a cd, and pay a pressing plant to print you off xxx amount of cd's and it costs $xxx to do so, then you worry about how much to charge for it so you can make your money back...it becomes business. When you want to play a gig xxx miles away and you wonder how much they are going to pay you or how much gas you will be able to afford to get there...it becomes business. You throw down for a top-flight P.A. and some dildo spills his beer on your board and you have to buy a new one...it becomes business. I can go on and on. Being in a band is one of the best examples of marketing that a musician can have his hands in: whether you are "in it for the money" or not, you are still going to spend any number of dollars...regardless of how much it means to you or not...doing promotional stuff or augmenting the overall sound/appearance/etc of your group. Calling venues to see if you can play there is pretty much business, even if they aren't paying you because it matters how much you are worth to them (bars want to know if you will bring a crowd to sell alcohol to, other venues worry about ticket sales and if you draw crowd, etc). It isn't always a matter of thinking of whether you are going to come out ahead, but how far you will come out on the bottom. Whether you want to think of it or not, being in a band is pretty much a business.
The biggest hint you can get is that there is probably a reason people go to recording engineers to record thier albums. It's often just easier to pay someone else to twiddle the knobs who already has the shit to do it with...I can be honest in saying that I think I am insane for deciding to get into recording and I don't think I'll ever be happy with my ability or the amount of tools I acquire to do it. You can use any expensive hobby as an analogy for this (hot rod building is the first to come to mind)...it always sounds fun but even when you have a fuckload of money to throw into it, it's not always fruitful in the end. Maybe you might want to rationalize to yourself and your bandmates whether it's really the way to go. If so, by all means, do some research....but I wouldn't expect the magic answer here. It's bad enough we argue over MAC vs. PC among several other arguments, you will get several skewed opinions. Maybe look into stuff that grabs your attention, maybe possibly look into some in-store/in-studio demos of whos doing what with what, and see what looks interesting. Dig some.
