Investing $500 into recording studio gear is a fairly common practice for music producer professionals and commercial recording studio owners.

Professionals invest very carefully when purchasing studio gear with return on investment (ROI) in mind. Anytime I purchase studio gear for my business I have to weigh the price of the product against the product's features and how the investment will value and improve my workflow over a set amount of time.

For enthusiasts it is less of an investment because unlike professionals they don't usually make a return on investment, so I believe enthusiasts spend money rather than invest in gear in a business like manner.

For this article I want to ask a hypothetical question to both the professionals and enthusiasts within the Pro Tools Expert community.

How would you invest/spend $500 of guilt free money to take your studio and/or music production workflow to the next level? Pick ONE category you feel would give your recording studio and workflow the best bang for it's buck.

Share your thoughts on products you feel are incredible value for money or products that you have purchased for $500 that made a big difference in your workflow.