I feel that I’ve strayed too far from my path of musical destiny. Not only have my recordings become too large, the mixes are too detailed as well. So for my next step in gear minimalism I’m planning on hitting “the reset button” and reconsider what I need, want to do and what the best way is to achieve this.

In this series of articles I will look at my own situation. I do this ‘publicly’ partly because it’s easier to analyze a situation when you ‘get it on paper’, but partly because hopefully some of you reading this will start questioning your own situation and we can sort of share thoughts in the comments field like a hippie community (but without the typical Charles Manson character).

The first step we need to take is come to the conclusion of what exactly we want to achieve. I’ve never been a studio owner and never had any plans on ever becoming one. I make music mostly for myself and release it under all kinds of odd names, and I make music for others who pay me for it. I also do editing work and such but we won’t discuss that here. So to begin with, I must ask myself what type of music I like.

• I like it dirty. Raw and gritty. Punchy sometimes. Fat if the songs aren’t intended to cut your ears like old school black metal solo guitars. Pretty is for pussies.
• I like small settings most of the time. I can get into big band stuff too, but if I’m honest with myself I realize I can’t achieve those recordings at my songwriter place, meaning I would have to rent a bigger studio and good musicians (big band with Kontakt or other samplers never worked for me).
• Most of the time I prefer uncomplicated and monotone music. I play blues with two chords and if I come up with a third I save it and make another song. For rock it often gets even simpler.
• Soundwise I prefer edgier recordings of the 60’s and 70’s (mainstream music is boring regardless of decade). 50’s and 40’s are fine too. 80’s sucks besides for metal. 90’s grunge is interesting.

So this is the roots. Let’s ask ourselves what studio personalities we are. Knowing myself I’m aware that I never stay inside a style or genre. It bores me too much. I’m also aware of that I can’t hold one idea long enough to make albums over a period of six months or anything like that. Things need to go fast and my workflow can’t be interrupted. I’ll keep this in mind.

Next step is identifying if my sound sources will cut it. Before even considering a boutique mic preamp I must make sure that I can actually make the sounds I want. I’m fairly satisfied. I’m OK with my guitars and very satisfied with my latest amp purchase Orange Tiny Terror. I feel that my bass choice - a jazz bass - is so perfect that I don’t even bother trying anything else. I’m somewhat covered in the percussion field. I have a lot of harmonicas and slides. I don’t have a drumkit because it doesn’t fit here. I’ll have to get someone to record drums for me because I don’t want to use VI’s for this if I’m not going for a drum machine effect.

The software instruments gives me a wider palette of sounds, but I’m not happy with most of them. One of my latest revelations is that VI’s simply don’t cut it. Everything is too pretty, too exact and playing a instrument on a MIDI keyboard gives for the most part a different approach than intended for the instruments. What’s worse is that it’s not good for my creativity and somewhat hinders my creative process and workflow - key points for me being able to finish what I’m working on. With this in mind I will take distance from them and be more creative with what I got.

The pure synth department in software instruments is OK because of one plug-in - Hybrid. It’s better than a lot of hardware synths I’ve used and the sounds I’m going for are right there… Most of them in the presets actually! For the occasional loop I have a new love in Transfuser because I find it intuitive, easy and complex at the same time. I’m badly missing one of my favorite sounding instruments - the organ. Although I feel the software versions isn’t good enough I’ll have to stick with Native Instruments B4 for some time. I’ll grab a real one as soon as I find something that fits me. Unfortunately the same goes for piano. Akoustik Piano, or possibly Pianoteq (it’s been growing on me over time) will get to stay in my plug-in folder for a while. I rely too much on these instruments in my songs but they will be kicked A.S.A.P.

Check list

So for me the following sound sources are important. If you intend to make the same kind of ‘reset’ that I am I encourage you to write down your own list.

• Guitars and basses - check
• Organ and a piano - fairly high on list for purchase
• A selection of harmonicas - check
• Percussion so I get out of stale loops - check (but can always use more)
• Jokers, i.e. exotic instruments - some (can always use more)
• Synthesizer - check
• Loop player - check
• Drumkit - doesn’t really fit, will have to order recordings from someone
• Brass - doesn’t fit and I can’t play it, will have to order from someone
• … And all the other stuff (amps, pedals, slides, etc.) - check (can of course always use more!)

Stay tuned for part 2.