Ahhh a topic near and dear to my heart. I absolutely love gear. I sped way too much time scouring the internet looking for good used gear. I have an impressive amount of top quality recording equipment in my studio that I get to put to good use recording and mixing for local and national artists. The following is my Must have list. If I could only have a few items, this is what I feel I could get by with. You may have a different opinion and if you do I'd love to hear what you could not live without so please post a comment.
1- Large diaphragm condenser microphone. This is the true workhorse of any recording process. Without the microphone, you can't mix what has not been recorded. Now I love all microphones and this is really my weakness but the large diaphragm condenser is just so versatile I can't put anything ahead of it. Doesn't matter the make or model but you could use for kick drums, overheads, guitar cabs or vocals, they handle high spl and give you the most bang for the buck in terms of final outcome.
2- Monitors. Clearly you need to hear what is going to tape right? It needs to be as accurate as possible. Some will make the argument for headphones but for the amount you would spend on headphones worthy of trusting your mix to, you can get a decent pair of monitors.
3- Headphones. Everyone will need to eventually need to overdub something or practice parts and headphones are the vehicle for this. Invest in a pair with a replaceable cord. These things are the most abused item in most studios and they take a beating. The cable is cheap to replace vs buying new pairs when your guitarist gets tangled & rips the cord out.
4-Computer & interface to get audio in and out. Sounds simple enough right? Getting the right amount of inputs and having the horsepower to process it all is a must in today's daw centric studio's. There are many ways to skin this cat so do your research and get the product that is right for the type of music you wish to produce.
