My Top 5 Purchases of 2013

So 2013 is ending this week and I want to share with everyone my top 5 purchases I made this year.


Starting off at #5 is the Miktek C7. Miktek has been my go to mics for recording vocals since I first used them. now that I own one it will be my go to for a while. 2014 may bring me a Miktek CV3

At #4 is the Waves H-comp and H-delay. These both are go to plugins for me. The H-comp for drum bus and the H-delay for the vocals. These orange beasts get put to work on every mix for me.

#3 is the Maag Eq2. I've only had it for a few weeks but I've been amazed at how useful the 20k and 40k frequencies have been. The Air band is not hype, its the real deal. 

#2 is the JDK V12. The V12 is an extremely easy to use and versatile compressor. LED metering and detented knobs makes me prefer it to its big brother the R22. If you want something clean, easy to use, versatile, and won't break the bank, the V12 is what you want. 

My #1 purchase of this year goes to the Rupert Neve 511 pre. When I purchased this I was expecting it to be just another pre for me. Instead it has become my go to pre for vocals. Pairing this pre with the Miktek C7 and my vocals have needed very little processing after recording. I'm loving this pre so much this will be the last pre I buy for a while. 

Waves H-comp Overview

Waves Street Team

I am now a part of the Waves Street Team! Check me out as well as the other members at http://waves.com/content.aspx?id=12038

Companies That Offer Academic Discounts

Lets be real. Audio school is not cheap, no college is really. So as a student (and even after graduation) you're always looking for a bang for your buck deal. One thing a lot of people forget to take advantage of is academic discounts while in school. This should be listed right up with perks for going to school with hands on experience and networking opportunities. If its one thing I know besides audio it's how to save when making purchases, even if its 10%. (Yes 10% does make a difference). Some academic version purchases I’ve made while I was enrolled at Art Institute of Tennessee Nashville include Sonnox Elite bundle and Digidesign  Avid Pro Tools upgrade. I know I got more but thats what I remember off the top of my head right now. If you're wondering what an academic version is its the full version of a software or plugin offered at lower price to students and teachers.  Below I’m listing some companies I know that offer academic discounts as well as links to find out more information. Normally all a company or dealer needs is a copy of your student ID and your most recent schedule and you're good to go. So if you're a student, next time before you buy a plugin or software, check to see if they offer an academic discount. Be sure to read fine print. Some academic versions out there are only for schools and not students. Of course this isn’t everyone so check with dealers and companies before purchasing to see if they offer academic discounts.

• Waves Audio
• Waves offers 35% off select bundles
• http://www.waves.com/content.aspx?id=10662
• Sound Toys
• Sound Toys offer an academic bundle for $249. That is 60% off list price and includes almost if not all of their plugins
• https://www.soundtoys.com/edu/
• McDSP
• McDSP offers many bundles for a discounted price. Looks to be 40-50% off. Click on student order form on the following link to see all the bundles offered at the discounted price.
• http://www.mcdsp.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=24&Itemid=100022
• Avid Pro Tools
• Avid offer Pro Tools academic for $295, more than 50% off regular price.
• Pro Tools academic also gets you get 4 years worth of free upgrades. That is not a typo. 4 years of free upgrades! Right now the upgrade price is $299
• Avid also offer Mbox bundles with Pro Tools Express ( a lite version of Pro Tools) for a discounted price to students.
• http://apps.avid.com/education/
• Presonus Studio One
• Presonus offers Studio One Educational for the following prices
• artist version - $49
• producer version - $99
• professional version - $299
• It seems these educational versions are only offered through dealers and not from Presonus web shop.
• http://studioone.presonus.com/shop/
• Izoptope
• According to this link Izotope offers 50% off to students on their plugins on their website store. I’ve seen Izotope Academic listed at dealer before so check there to.
• http://www.izotope.com/support/portal/index.php/kb/article/306-Educational_Academic_Discount
• Ableton
• Ableton offers 40% off for students and teachers
• http://www.ableton.com/edu-discounts
• Sonnox
• Sonnox offers their Elite bundle for $630 on academic discount
• http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/OxEliteNatEdu/

Saving Money When Making Purchases For Your Studio

Everyone loves a deal, so I decided to do a post showing how I save money when buying studio gear. My engineer friend Darius Lyles inspired me to write this post because I am always saving on purchases I make and he told me I should share. So here is 5 tips on how you can save money when making purchases.

1. I “NEVER” pay full price for plugins. Companies like Waves, McDSP, Slate Digital, always have sales. If there is a plugin you want, unless you feel you need it right away, be patient and wait for it for it to go on sale. If you know you want McDSP plugins for example, then go to the website and sign up for their news letter, follow them on twitter, like them on facebook, Anything to make sure you know about sales when they happen. Trust me, you don’t want to hold out for a sale only to find out later that you missed it. Softube recently ran their first ever sale and it was a good one. I’ve wanted Softube plugins for a long, long time. I’ve been watching them for almost a year. I finally got that email about a sale and took advantage buying pretty much their whole collection. Some plugins, like McDSP retro pack, wasn’t on my radar, but the sale at the time was an impulse buy. And I’m glad I did because I use them on every mix now.
2. Always price match before you buy. You never know when you can catch a company slipping because of a wrong price on their site. I got a sweet deal on my Empirical Labs Mike-e because of this.
3. Buy in bulk. Most companies will you give you a discount the more you buy. I got a couple hundred off from Sweetwater when I bought my Dangerous D-box, Profire 2626, Art Pro VLA II, and m-audio SBX10 all together. If your looking at more than one piece of gear find out how much it will be if you bought them together. Then decide if its worth it to save and get it together or just one at a time.
4. Don’t under estimate 10%. When we hear 10% a lot of people blow it off, its just 10% right? !0% off $100 is $10. Ok, not a big deal. But when buying studio gear 10% can make a big difference. I got 10% of my Lynx Aurora 8 from a sale Sweetwater was running at the time. That 10% brought my Lynx Aurora 8 from $2,000, to $1,800. Big difference! If your saving for gear and not quite there yet that extra 10% could be just what you need. Frontend Audio has 10% off weekends frequently, as well as a reward for reviews program. This gives you 2% up to 10% for each review you submit. If you roam the site you will find many of my reviews.
5. Shop during holidays. Of course Xmas is the big one but most companies run sales every major holiday. And seeing that there is a major holiday every few months, you won’t have to wait long to try to catch a sale.

I’ll say more than 75% of the gear and plugins I own I got on sale. As a bonus tip make a wish list. I have a Google Docs document saved with a list of gear I want. Once I made the list I prioritized them according to need, and wrote purchased next to ones I’ve acquired to keep track of my progress. If a sale comes up for something I want that's not top on my list but may be 3 or 4 spots down the list, I go ahead and get it. Even though its not at the top of my list, you never know when that sale may come around again.

My Top 3 Affordable Plugin Bundles

Good plugins can greatly enhance your mixes. Of course not every one can afford some of the high price plugin bundles out today. So I’m going to share with you my top 3 affordable plugin bundles. While these bundles are affordable ($350 and less) plugin companies like Waves and McDsp run sales ALL the time, so you can end up getting them for less. I have never paid full price for a plugin bundle. I patiently wait for it go on sale. I strongly recommend going to these companies’ websites and signing up for their newsletters. This way you are always in the loop of when a sale occurs. It’s a good idea to follow them on Twitter and Facebook as well. Now to the bundles.

From affordable plugin bundles

1. McDsp Classic Pack
a. price $350
b. plugins 4
c. tweaky, versatile plugins
d. www.McDsp.com 


The McDSP Classic Pack gives you a compressor, eq, multiband compresspor and an analog console emulator plugin in analog channel. Technically this bundle gets you four plugins, but if you break it down you really get 3 versions of compressor bank, 3 versions of filter bank, 3 versions of the multiband compressor, and 2 versions of analog channel. So when you look at it that way you really get 11 plugins total. Though the Classic Pack is the most expensive of the three, I feel its the most versatile. You really get a lot for your money. Compressor Bank is the most versatile compressor plugin out there IMO. You can literally use it on anything. Filter Bank, like Compressor Bank, is very versatile and with three versions you can really do a lot. Analog Channel emulates tape machines and analog consoles. All the plugins in the bundle are extremely “tweaky”, very versatile and if your into presets you get a ton of them here. Again, $350 is more than the other two bundles I listed but Colin runs sales ALL the time. Be patient if you have your eye on a particular thing. I picked mine up this year when McDSP had a $199 sale going on. If I had no other plugins for my DAW and had to choose between these 3 bundles I would take this one for its versatility.

From affordable plugin bundles

2. Softube Mix Bundle
 a. price $300
 b. plugins 5
 c. battling UA for top analog modeling plugins on the market
 d. www.softube.com 


Softube has really made a name in the audio game for analog modeling. For those who don’t know what analog modeling is its taking hardware and creating software that sounds just like the hardware, or as close they can get it. With the mix bundle you get their passive-active pack, which features 3 EQ’s, the FET compressor, which models the 1176 and the TSAR-1R, which is a mini version of the TSAR-1 reverb. The passive-active pack is modeled after 60’s and 70’sBritish EQ’s. These EQ’s aren’t surgical EQ’s, but they are very good and boosting and sweetening your tracks, especially in the high end. The FET compressor is a 1176 on steroids. low and high cut filters, look ahead and a mix knob makes this a very versatile compressor. The reverb is the best I’ve used in a plugin. I’m comparing that to Digidesign D-verb, AIR verbs, Sonnox reverb (which is a very good reverb!) and McDSP revolver verb. I just finished a mix for JaShayla where I used this reverb on her vocals and the results were amazing. This bundle is versatile, but the least versatile IMO. However these are really, really good sounding plugins.

From affordable plugin bundles

3. Waves Musicians Bundle 2
 a. price $99
 b. plugins 6
 c. plugin originators, veterans in the game
 d. www.waves.com 


If there is one thing you are guaranteed to see in commercial studios besides pro tools and an analog console its plugins from Waves. Waves has been making plugins since 1992 and has what I believe is the largest number of plugins available than other company at 128. Waves has also been the most expensive I’ve seen, but over the last few years they have been lowering their prices to help compete with all the new competition. The Waves Musicians 2 bundle, which I paid $199 for two years ago, gives you some nice plugins for an affordable price. These were the first plugins I ever purchased. This bundle gives you eq, 3 compressors, and a delay. The Rvox compressor is easy to use and easy to get good results with, making it my favorite plugin in this bundle. You get Raxx specifically for bass, Rvox for vocals, and Rcomp can handle everything else. The Req is good, and considering it comes in a $99 bundle makes it great. Waves also runs specials all the time. This bundle ranks #2 in versatility to me of the three.