Reply To: Q/A with State of Mind..
stateofmindnzYes we have 2 studios. We don’t really choose to work in one or the other for specific reasons, although one is set up for vocal recording, the other mixing and general production.
If you mean hardware like compressors, high end analogue synths, mix warmers, lunch box modules etc etc etc, then there is no hardware that is the secret key to making good tunes. Let me say that again. Zero hardware is essential.
What is essential though, and I don’t think you had this in mind with your question, is your monitoring chain. Your DA, your monitors, your controller, and probably most important of all, your room. Honestly I’m quite surprised no one asked about that side of the game. You gotta have a good room. Treat it, test it with a room mic and room eq, treat it again. There is literally no point having great gear in a room that sounds like shit. Everything you do will be guesswork. It’s like having a Ferrari and driving it on dirt roads with re-tread tires and wondering why you can’t go fast. We were lucky that we built up a relationship with the American Company Real-traps but if you don’t have much of a budget there is loads of info out there on building your own absorption and diffusion panels. The quality might not quite be commercial, but you can make a big difference if you invest the time and energy.
Some of our tracks are written in a day. Others months.
We left our jobs to do music once music was making enough money for us to scrape by. It was a scary decision.
