Ryan Waczek, founder of the music-training website, the Indie Music Academy is our contributing writer for today's post
"As a home studio owner, I’m continually trying to find “that sound”—the lively yet polished character of my favorite records straight from the hands of the best mix engineers in the world.
Through years of learning and practicing professional audio recording, one thing is certain: the better you can capture a quality sound at the source, the better your song will sound at the end of the mix.
YOU WANT TO RECORD TRACKS THAT PRACTICALLY MIX THEMSELVES
But the more I dive into high-end audio gear, a sickening truth starts to grip me as I stare the thousands of dollars worth of compressors, preamps, and microphones that are starting to clutter my home studio space. That truth is: upgrading studio equipment doesn’t give a proportionate increase in sonic quality. Not even close!
There is widespread adoption of the idea that better gear equates to better recordings, but when I upgraded my Audio Technica AT 3035 to an AKG 414, there was perhaps a 25% difference in sonic quality, but price tag of the microphone was 500% higher.
Years later, when I upgraded the AKG 414 to my now primary vocal mic, the Neumann U87ai, there was only a 5% increase in sonic quality and clarity, even though the U87ai is 3x the price! (Sometimes the 414 beats out the U87 on some voices.)
So why is it that we still spend so much money on upgrading audio gear with such minimal return? Some would argue that “it’s the last 5% that makes it go from a good recording to an excellent recording”—and that may or may not be true. I’m not going to argue the validity of that statement, but in this article, I’m will go over my favorite techniques that make a massive difference in the quality of our recordings so that the tracks we record practically
mix themselves."