Tips for working on a budget / with limited gear

[tenoke]

One way, or another this topic always comes up - how to achieve decent sound quality when you don't have enough dough for gear.
There's a lot of good advice on this in the forum (e.g. in the recent Some Thoughts on Headphone Mixing thread), but it is mostly scattered and sometimes conflicting, so I am creating this thread. (yeah, it is totally not because I am currently working with limited gear)

So to start this off:
YMMV

* If you don't have good monitors / proper setup, make sure to reference and even work on your mixes on the different output sources that you have.
Extreme example - If you only have okay headphones, and your laptop, work mostly on your headphones, but also thoroughly check the sound on your laptop speakers. You'd be surprised how much you can still catch. Of course, you don't have to limit yourself to just those 2.

* Checking your mix on mono can give you extra information (depends on the mix of course), and you need the extra information.

* Similarly, you can try out plugins like Waves' NX virtual mix room. Note: I haven't done this, nicked from http://www.subsekt.com/viewtopic.php?p=106154#p106154.

* Be careful with the low end - this is the place where you are most likely to muddle things up without a decent setup. The busier the low end, the higher the risk that you are missing something on your subpar equipment. Use your EQ to identify potential conflicts (e.g. multiple tracks peaking at 80hz)

Do share more, expand/discuss what is already shared, link to relevant things, etc.

[Alume]

I started off reading your post with that song, it was quite funny.

I'd always suggest saving up for stuff you really want/need, skip cheap gear to save cost in the long run.

Dont get those 300 euro speakers, get the 700 ones, dont get the 100 euro drum machine etc etc. This is also better if you want to sell it off again.

Thats just me though. Also, go second hand on stuff that allows it. If you're smart you can get a good deal and sell it off after a while when you get done with it.

Holding on to stuff because you once bought it though it isnt working is never a good idea.

[Merah]

A thing to remember is less is more. So what you just have one synth and make all your tunes on cracked or freeware. You get to know your plugins intimately. As Bruce Lee said " i fear not the man who knows 10,000 kicks but the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times".

[Merah]

Some great tips there from op

[Lost to the Void]

If you can, save your money and make your first "big" purchase to be decent monitors or decent headphones. (There is nothing wrong with buying well looked after used nearfields, you may find an amazing bargain).

Whatever you have, LEARN IT, KNOW IT inside out. Whatever speakers, headphones you have, really learn how they sound. Listen to tons of music on them (not just techno). Pay attention to details, how the sub sounds, how percussion in the mid range sounds, how clean or distorted the very top end is.
Learn to understand what you have, try to monitors at the same levels and no matter how cheap what you have is, you will use it to it`s maximum capability. You have to spend "ear time" on your gear.

Then when it comes to DAW, gear, plugins etc again, LEARN IT. You might always hanker for something new, but do you really know how to use what you have to it`s maximum capability? Do you understand all the features? Have you used them all?

Push what you have to the limit, find the strengths and the weaknesses and exploit them. Get to know what you have so well that when you have an idea, you can realise that idea quickly and efficiently. Everything should become intuitive, an extension of you. This is when you really start flowing in the music making process.

It`s not what you have, it`s what you do with it that counts.
Ideas are worth more than gear.

[msl]

Yeah man its not what you got but how you use it. I made of some my best music when I had no gear...

Even with no money you can slowly build up a nice cheap studio over the years easy enough, lots of bargains to be had, keyboards that are not in fashion but sound great, etc. Buy used always, silly to buy anything new...

.

[buffered]

If you can, save your money and make your first "big" purchase to be decent monitors or decent headphones. (There is nothing wrong with buying well looked after used nearfields, you may find an amazing bargain).

Whatever you have, LEARN IT, KNOW IT inside out. Whatever speakers, headphones you have, really learn how they sound. Listen to tons of music on them (not just techno). Pay attention to details, how the sub sounds, how percussion in the mid range sounds, how clean or distorted the very top end is.
Learn to understand what you have, try to monitors at the same levels and no matter how cheap what you have is, you will use it to it`s maximum capability. You have to spend "ear time" on your gear.

Then when it comes to DAW, gear, plugins etc again, LEARN IT. You might always hanker for something new, but do you really know how to use what you have to it`s maximum capability? Do you understand all the features? Have you used them all?

Push what you have to the limit, find the strengths and the weaknesses and exploit them. Get to know what you have so well that when you have an idea, you can realise that idea quickly and efficiently. Everything should become intuitive, an extension of you. This is when you really start flowing in the music making process.

It`s not what you have, it`s what you do with it that counts.
Ideas are worth more than gear.

perfectly put.

getting your monitoring to a good level is so important. In the beginning it may seem boring but as you spend more time making music, it is the one thing that will irritate you most if it is unreliable.

just to add....buy your DAW. Pay the money and dedicate time to it. Don't crack it. Maybe it's a psychological attachment to where you want to get a return on investment. This may help to focus on learning a particular environment instead of the grass is always greener cracked software approach of going from one 'solution' to another.

[yentz]

just to add....buy your DAW. Pay the money and dedicate time to it. Don't crack it. Maybe it's a psychological attachment to where you want to get a return on investment. This may help to focus on learning a particular environment instead of the grass is always greener cracked software approach of going from one 'solution' to another.

Not sure if this is some kind of copyprotection but some years ago I had my project folder (and just my project folder) wiped twice within a year or so. There was no way of recovering with diskwarrior or similar. I used a cracked ableton live at that time (which worked great). I really can't tell if this was due to the software realizing that it was cracked or not. Anyway - bought it and never had those problems since.
There is more and more competition and the plugins are getting better and better so buying stuff isn't that bad as you get so much for so little money these days and you don't have to spend time searching for cracks that are compatible with the newest os etc.
There are places that have everything the day it comes out but you will find yourself really fast being a warez collector instead of being a music producer... .

[Merah]

Would love to hear some more tips here, not that i cant afford new gear or anything...

[tsaro]

The first step is indeed getting a (somewhat) decent monitoring setup, at least if you're trying to get balanced (and 'professional' sounding)output.
If you're just doing it as a hobby, you can get by with some decent-ish headphones but then you'lll always be wondering about for example the translation of your bass and stereo placement. And some of those monitor simulation plugins are alright, but I wouldn't expect any miracles there.

You can do the different speakers/headphones/earbuds/car stereo/etc thing but still if you don't have something which reproduces the sub frequencies, you're gonna be in the dark.And bothering people who have a better setup with your mixes gets old fast, especially when you have to keep going baqck and forth with it. I wouldn't say it's bad to check your low end with something like SPAN and look for conflicting frequencies, but it's just a crutch, you can't really rely on it to get a good sound when you can't hear it. Making music isn't some paint by numbers job where you can check all the boxes and be done with it, you also have to take into account psycho-acoustics and what have you.

Second step would indeed be to learn what you have, (also already mentioned, I guess I just like rehashing things :v), if you don;t know how to use your integrated DAW effects, don't expect to get better results with expensive plugins. Let alone those rich kids who buy an expensive hardware setup to start out on and then sell it off after a couple of months because it's 'boring', when they realise they still have to put in the time and the hardware isn't an easy fix. Which is pretty neat if you happen to know them by the way

When you have these two things figured out, you're gonna have to put in the time. If you're not tone deaf it should be possible for anyone to get at least some release-worthy tracks done after putting in a couple of years.

[Martin]

Some diy acoustic treatment on first reflection points can make a huge difference.

[Hades]

best tip I can think of right now is learning your priorities budget-wise.

I didn't go on expensive holidays for years.
I don't buy expensive clothing.
I only got my first smartphone about a year ago (and I barely use it any way).
I never bought a tv in my life, I always had hand-me-down models from others who upgraded.
I don't have an expensive car.
...
Most young people I see nowadays seem to find it normal they can have it all : expensive phone, nice holiday, decent car,...
But you just have to prioritize what you spend your money on.
Or do extra jobs. I did tons of extra jobs to get extra cash.

Another tip I can think of :
when I was first building my studio I had this silly trick to save up money :
I literally had one of these piggy banks where I put in all my coins, and I mean all of them.
If for example, I went to buy some groceries, I would put in all the coins I had when I came back.
If in between I went buying something else, I would some times not even use my coins and prefer to pay with bills again, just to get more coins back.
It sounds stupid, but you'll have the feeling as if you're spending a lot of money (because your money is gone sooner) while you're actually saving a lot.
I bought at least 2 or 3 vintage synths with money I saved up that way.
Of course back then you could still buy a Juno 60 for 300€ (to name but one example).

But in the end, it's putting in the hours that is the most important thing.
Time is worth 100x more than money when you want to get serious about this.

[The_G]

Stick to software early on. Hardware is a money pit

[buffered]

Stick to software early on. Hardware is a money pit

software can be a real time pit if you are not careful.
Agree with Hades, time is far more valuable.

Starting on a basic, cheap drummmachine taught me how to put beats together and a simple subtractive synth taught me the fundamentals of synthesis. Today, software can be so complex and esoteric that learning basics can be really unclear.
It's ok to get a shit drummachine in the beginning and then finding that you want other features. At least you learn of the features that you need to move forward.

[The_G]

Stick to software early on. Hardware is a money pit

software can be a real time pit if you are not careful.
Agree with Hades, time is far more valuable.

Starting on a basic, cheap drummmachine taught me how to put beats together and a simple subtractive synth taught me the fundamentals of synthesis. Today, software can be so complex and esoteric that learning basics can be really unclear.
It's ok to get a shit drummachine in the beginning and then finding that you want other features. At least you learn of the features that you need to move forward.

I learned on hardware. No complaints. But I don't agree that hardware = less time wasted. Plugins --> DAW make things like routing, getting audio, etc. so much simpler and faster than hardware. So for me it's just two different kinds of time sink.

In the end, I prefer to do sound design and mess around on hardware and but way prefer the workflow for signal processing with software.

[disparate]

Starting on a basic, cheap drummmachine taught me how to put beats together and a simple subtractive synth taught me the fundamentals of synthesis. Today, software can be so complex and esoteric that learning basics can be really unclear.
It's ok to get a shit drummachine in the beginning and then finding that you want other features. At least you learn of the features that you need to move forward.

I sometimes wish I went that route, I agree that software is pretty overwhelming when it comes to learning the basics or just knowing where to start.

[yentz]

Stick to software early on. Hardware is a money pit

Such a love / hate releationship.
Now and then I think I just sell all the gear but then at other points I think I really don't want to turn on the computer anymore at all.
Unfortunately (except you intend to spend lots lots of money) you will always need the computer as Effects came such a long way and are integretal part of the production. The occasional reverb and delay ar ejust not doing it. All that movement is partly due to great temposynced effects.
Those are available in Hardware as well but extremely expensive and well just one unit if you just buy one... .
Best thing for starters would be to get a daw as there is everything inside you need. Once you know that you are willing to put so much effort into a hobby buy some more stuff...

[Wax]

For someone who is just about to start producing, this was a great read with lots of good pointers. Thank you all!

[Hades]

Stick to software early on. Hardware is a money pit

Such a love / hate releationship.
Now and then I think I just sell all the gear but then at other points I think I really don't want to turn on the computer anymore at all.
Unfortunately (except you intend to spend lots lots of money) you will always need the computer as Effects came such a long way and are integretal part of the production. The occasional reverb and delay ar ejust not doing it. All that movement is partly due to great temposynced effects.
Those are available in Hardware as well but extremely expensive and well just one unit if you just buy one... .
Best thing for starters would be to get a daw as there is everything inside you need. Once you know that you are willing to put so much effort into a hobby buy some more stuff...

that HW/SW thing...
I guess people would say I'm old school, or at least, I'm "old school" because I bought my first synth in 94 when I was 15.
There was no used market, no internet, and no SW sequencers (or at least none that we knew).
So yeah, I went from HW to SW to HW to ...
When I'm typing this, I'm surrounded by (rough estimate) 14 HW synths and 6 HW FX units and filterbanks.
Some of these machines a lot of people would envy me for.
Yet I still make 70% of my music with SW, and there are synths that I barely switch on a few times a year.
But I could never sell them either.

It constantly fluctuates between SW and HW, all the time.
Don't bother thinking about it too long and use the best of both worlds,
use each for what it does best.
I'd get frustrated by how much slower things get recorded with HW, and the shitty recall process,
but I'd get equally frustrated by a studio if it only had SW,
especially on my uninspired moments where I just want to switch on stuff and tweak away till I bump onto something good.

[innovine]

Stick to software early on. Hardware is a money pit

Totally disagree. Although you have to pay out a decent sum to start with, most used equipment holds it's value very well even after several years. You might even earn something.

Good luck selling Ableton Live 7.