This morning when I went to check my email, I was a little surprised to find 107 (!) new messages. Hmmm…
They can’t be ads for Turkey Sale-A-Thons because Thanksgiving has passed. It’s not my birthday, and even if it were, there’s no way I’d receive that many emails. Oddly, not even one of those messages was from a Princess in Dubai who was waiting for me to make her my bride. Bummer.
Oh, right… it’s Cyber Monday, the ultimate Couch Potato shopping experience. Shop til you drop? Nonsense. You can drop on your couch and shop while watching college football or, better yet, March of The Wooden Soldiers.
The subject lines are enticing:
“Why wait to save?”
“30% back in rewards!”
“Up to 10% off online orders.”
“80% off Cyber Week Deals.” I’d hate to see what the remaining 20% looks like.
“Flights under $100, one-way.” There’s a good laugh—don’t these folks know what I do for a living? They seem to know everything else about me.
“Skip the holiday hassle!”
“Today only!!! Buy one, get two free!”
I almost succumbed to the temptation of this Cyber-Evil. How could any audiophool resist, especially the plug-in deals? After all, collecting plug-ins is way easier to manage than collecting, say… snare drums, or shoes. I’ll leave the shoe-collecting to my sister, who could easily make Imelda Marcos jealous, but I confess that the snare drum reference is true.
At one point, I had six drum kits and around 35 snare drums. I stopped counting. Talk about a Space Hog! I coulda given some backline rental companies a run for their money, but I’ve got it under control now. Really, I do. I’m under 10. I just need that Ludwig Black Beauty I’ve always lusted after to round out the collection.
Mix Live Blog: Rule Number One
Mix Live Blog: Get Back Inside!
The truth is (and I try to instill this idea in my students, as well as remind myself ) that it’s more about the skills of the carpenter than it is the tools they use. A good carpenter can overcome substandard tools, though it might take them a little longer to complete a task. In the field of audio, this has never been more true, especially since software has leveled the playing field.
You don’t need $30,000 for a Fairchild limiter when software can get you 85 percent of the way there for 0.005 percent of the price. If your recordings sound poor, you can’t legitimately use “if I only had a Fairchild…” as an excuse (though you can make a good case that big bucks spent on monitors and acoustics is always money well-spent).
No doubt, I love the toys, but before you start on a tear to buy more “stuff,” ask yourself whether or not you really know how to get the most from the tools you already own. You might be surprised at the answer, and your CC bill might be a bit lower at the end of the month.
What’s this? A sale on snare drums? I gotta go!!
