It’s easy to get obsessed with gear. It’s easy to think that the real key to making great recordings is using a $5000 microphone plugged into a $4000 preamp. And sure, it probably does make it a bit easier. But I really think that the equation on what it takes to make a great recording is something like 90% technique and 10% gear (not accounting for the quality of the music itself which is of course far more important than either in the grand scheme of things.)

I believe that as long as you have gear that can “get the job done” you need to stop making excuses and stop dreaming about pro gear and start learning how to use what you got! I’m sure there are plenty of GearSlutz out there who would point and laugh at my setup because I use a $300 preamp and a $800 microphone (on the other hand, I’m sure there’s people reading this who would love to have an $800 microphone!)

But I really do not blame my gear at all when my mixes don’t sound the way I want them to. I know that the real problem in such a case is not the gear, but me. It was me not knowing how to set the compressor or position the mic. Knowing how to use the compressor is more important than the quality of the compressor and knowing how to position the mic is more important than the quality of the mic!

This is why I think it’s a huge mistake to spend all of your time shopping for your next upgrade in gear instead of learning how to work with what you’ve got.

One of the worst (and most common) examples of this is when people spend many hours testing out lots of different plugins instead of working with the ones they’ve got. I’ve been to sites where you can download hundreds of different free plugins to try out. This is an evil site that I plan on never visiting again. We’re taught that more choice is always better but at some point it becomes paralyzing.

My advice is: Stop looking for perfection in your gear and stop looking for the latest plugin and start working on improving your recording and mixing technique.

And that’s not to say that there’s anything wrong with upgrading your gear or looking for a piece of gear that you really need. All I’m saying is that you need to get yourself to the point where you are focusing on recording and mixing (and not on acquiring gear) as quickly as possible. It’s easy to drag out the “looking for gear” phase way too long.