Some of us suffer from Gear Acquisition Syndrome and buy too much gear too often, some of us go the other way and over think our gear choices. But whatever your attitude to buying gear, everyone has some purchases that were just inevitable from the moment we found out about the product. What we’re referring to as ‘shut up and take my money’ purchases.

We raised this with our team of contributors and the results were illuminating, both in terms of what was and what wasn’t mentioned. Here’s a breakdown of the responses we got:

Firstly in terms of hardware versus software. We found a, not completely surprising, tendency towards hardware. We spend a lot of time with software but the relationship with hardware is different and more concrete. We discussed this differing relationship with hardware vs software in our recent article What Modern Studio Equipment Will Become Classic?. Here’s the gear which got a mention:

Hardware

Monitors/Monitoring

We expected to see monitors in the lineup and we weren’t disappointed but just as interesting was the enthusiasm people had for the Trinnov, a product which is undeniably expensive and whose role can be replaced by software. But owners of Trinnovs are unreserved in their support of this premium product:

James Richmond

“ATC SCM45A’s. I love these monitors so much and a Trinnov to go with them”

Mike Thorne

“Trinnov - mainly got this for my Atmos setup and I’m still getting used to it but I’ve already listened to and discovered/rediscovered more music than I have in the last 5 years. Very hard to go back. I was able to push the low end on a solo piano album where I wanted it and it translated perfectly.”

The way so many people view speaker calibration as an integral part of a monitoring system is reflected in Michael Costa’s comment that while his Event monitors were one of these no-brainer purchases some years ago, he now is considering something which features built in calibration in hardware:

Michael Costa

“Event Opal monitors. Though I'm ready to move on now. Time for something with some built in correction”

Russ, a long time advocate of his Kii monitors doesn’t prioritise speaker calibration and in the case of his Kii Threes that makes sense, their clever design minimises the influence of the room and therefore the requirement for calibration:

Russ Hughes

“The Kii Three. When I got them to test in my studio I had equal amounts of what shall I listen to next and how can I stop these leaving my studio ever, running through my mind.”

Interfaces

Interfaces feature prominently, and understandably so, being as they are the centre of a studio. Avid feature prominently. Because of their tight integration with Pro Tools and the way the two products featured both specifically target the needs of two different types of user - the user of Dolby Atmos and the user who needs to track bands without latency issues:

Mike Thornton

“Avid MTRX Studio for me. It provided everything I was looking for in one box.”

Julian Rodgers

“Pro Tools Carbon. With a couple of 1U 8 channel ADAT mic preamps you can get 24 mics and 4 headphone outs and no latency in a 3U case. Perfect for the kind of band tracking I do where I go to them!”

Pro Tools Carbon was a surprise when it launched, offering as it does DSP built in to the interface, however there are some other companies who have been doing that for years and UAD’s Apollo interfaces are the best known of all. They are rightfully popular and got a mention in our contributors’ nominations.”

Robbie Dwyer

“For me it was the Universal Audio Apollo Quad w/TB card. I was just at the point of upgrading my MOTU828 when they announced it at the 2012 NAMM show. Since then it is still the centre piece and now has a TB3 card. It has definitely paid for itself multiple times over.”

We have at least two Metric Halo advocates amongst the contributors both Steve DeMott and Nathaniel Reichmann base their studios around Metric Halo gear. If you aren’t aware of their flexibility and power then check out Nathaniel’s amazing project in which he creates a system suitable for monitoring 7.1.4 using Metric halo interfaces and some clever programming.

As for quality, if you didn’t read it, check out the article based on a podcast in which Steve and William Wittman conducted a shootout between 4 different models of converters and Metric Halo won.

Nathaniel

“Metric Halo”

Steve DeMott

“My metric halo (did I even need to say it)?”

Outboard 

Considering how much attention exotic analog hardware gets it’s notable in its absence but the all digital H9000 made the list:

James Richmond

“Eventide H9000. I reviewed it and the Trinnov for the blog and ended up buying both!”

Control Surfaces

Considering how much impact a really good control surface can have on productivity (or maybe I mean how damaging a poor control surface can be to productivity…) we have a handful of nominations, from the small and flexible Avid Dock, through the huge and long lived D Control to the focused and purposeful Console 1…

Nathaniel Reichmann

“Avid Dock”

Michael Costa

“Digidesign D-Control”

Luke Goddard

“For me, it's still Console 1, and that was eight years ago. Even with access to some other pretty amazing tools that do the same thing, this hardware-controlled plugin does something that other tools cannot do. That is to afford me the luxury of mixing with my ears without getting bogged down in the stuff that really isn't going to break the mix.

The platform isn't just trying to 'do' analogue either, thanks to the more recent Weiss channel which is ported from the hardware. That makes it a truly useful tool on channels and mixes. Combined with the myriad of other channel flavours on offer, for me at least there aren't really any jobs it can't handle.”

Instruments and Performance Gear

I was expecting at least one story of “the second I tried this guitar I knew I had to have it” and we have a guitar mentioned but something of a surprise was the performance equipment which gets mentioned. I suspect that this is because some of the easiest purchasing decisions are for those items which solve a problem you have. Simplifying a rig or fixing a persistent issue:

PJ Gibbs

“Demoing Technics SL-1210 mk2’s in my late teens, after years of playing on crappy belt drives. Placed the order that same day.”

Steve DeMott

“Mesa/Boogie Mark IV. I got that amp in 1989/1990 and still play it. It's a beast. And my 1995 Taylor 812c...which was from the era when Taylor was a 5 man custom shop. Handbuilt (they were just getting into the CNC thing at that time & were using it for the lower models) with real nitro finish (not the UV).”

Mark M Thompson

“Helix V3.15. Got rid of my 11R, my 65 Twin, my entire pedal board.”

Software

Software is less well represented but this evidence suggests that a plugin which just works better than what you are currently using is an easy purchasing decision. And somewhat controversially, Pro Tools subscriptions get a mention, for something which is central to everything you do there are a lot of people out there who are perfectly happy to pay the money.

Roger Guérin

“This might not be popular but, Pro Tools every year.”

Nathaniel Reichman

“Pro Tools. $399/year for the backbone of my small business is all good.”

Nathaniel also shared a story about a Serato product…

“Serato Pitch 'n' Time. Years ago, I brought my iLok to a NYC studio and was doing some sound design with the varispeed function in Serato Pitch 'n' Time. The owner of the studio was sitting behind me, watching and listening, and he shouted to the studio manager, "Get me my Amex card right now!”

And some other significant software purchases…

Lexicon PMC Native Reverbs And Dolby Atmos Production Suite

“The Dolby Atmos Production Suite It was 2017 when I purchased DAPS for $300 and I was stunned by the implications of what I had just bought, but no one understood what I was talking about back then... “

Returning to the theme of products which make problems go away…

Russ Hughes

“Audio Design Desk DAW Bridge, holy shit that's a life changer”

Graham Kirkman

“The new Waves Clarity. Game changer”

And lastly, clearly people love a nice reverb…

Nathaniel Reichmann

“The Lexicon PCM Native reverbs (when they came out) was another 'take-my-money!' moment.”

Steve DeMott

“LiquidSonics Seventh Heaven Pro & Cinematic Rooms Pro. They have ruined all other reverbs for me.”

Eli Krantzberg

“Seventh Heaven Pro!”

What Wasn’t Mentioned

It’s interesting that so little analog outboard is mentioned, considering how much energy goes into talking about compressors and mic preamps, the only outboard in our, not at all scientific, sample is a digital effects processor. On the subject of microphones, considering how coveted mics are they are notable in their absence. Not even a modelling mic?

The really big absence here has to be computers. Not even an Apple Silicon Macbook Pro! Considering how central they are to everything we do, do we have a love-hate relationship with our computer purchases?

What About You?

Were there any buying decisions you have made which actually kind of made themselves? What is your “shut up and take my money” purchase? Share your thoughts in the comments.

The Panel