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That is absolutely true, man! – You can definitely produce high quality work using minimal (and inexpensive) equipment when you have a clear vision and trustworthy ears. And for me, I guess when I say the word “ears” I’m really talking mostly about my imagination, the mind’s ears. (See Mix Power Tip #5: “Don’t be Snobby”). If you know how you want something to sound in your imagination – and can hold onto that imagined sound long enough to track it like a hunter tracks its prey – you can sculpt that sound into reality, often with simple tools like stock plugins and budget-friendly microphones, speakers and preamps.
Here’s a pic I found of my wife @CMN in our old home studio (circa 2007) where I mixed that Neil Diamond album. You can see the tiny Yamaha MSP5’s I used at that time. And get a load of the intentionally gaudy wall treatments! 😱 It was a carpeted square box of a room and I covered every wall floor-to-ceiling with thin, cheap, packing material from U-Haul, and then covered that with large swatches of several of THE most hideous fabric prints I could find in the discount bin at the fabric store. It was ugly as hell! But also dry as a bone, acoustically, and worked great for many years and many records.
PS – YES! TIDAL! Tidal is my absolute fav DSP, especially since they’re the only ones who provide full album credits!
