So why do I post songs I've already posted in the past? Well, simple answer, because I never stop learning better production techniques.

I call it "billy mays" mixing syndrome. With every project I do, it always seems like a never ending "BUT I'M NOT DONE YET". I think however, I'm finally at a level, I feel comfortable calling songs done (Final Mix: FM). Took MANY years but now I am confident in my abilities, the tools I've acquired, the techniques I've developed, the sound design I've done and most importantly the experience I've gained. I no longer feel I need to make something "perfect" and in doing so, I'm actually working more efficiently and producing my best mixes to date.

As the years go on, I'm sure I will learn more tricks and we all know there's a never ending list of new plugins that promise to make "everything better than before!" but I'm not intimidated by that anymore. I no longer "need a newer plugin" to "bring my mix to new heights" , , , so that I have to remix ALL MY STUFF OVER AGAIN. lol. It's already good and good is good enough. After all, if a mix is solidly decent, loud enough, and the song is GOOD, the rest is just bragging rights. Having the shiniest most over the top mixing, isn't going to make a bad song good, or make a great song any better. This is of course all, in my own opinion.

I may never reach the top tear mix perfection some mainstream producers get but I'm fine with that now. The songs matter more to me than endless polish or chasing the newest trend. At the end of the day, that's what it boils down to. There comes a time when polish, is simply just more polish. More for the sake of more. Loosing sight of what mattered in the first place. For me, what mattered was making excellent, interesting, adventurous, electronic music, that wasn't afraid to do somethings differently. I can say, even if my production quality never gets any better, I've indeed done exactly that. Loud and clear.

Now I just have to finish updating all my old mixes lol.

Ever since I was young, there has been this mystery. Intermittent digital noise, that one day appeared as if from nowhere. For the entirety of my music making years, I have been asking myself: Why one day, did my digital audio go from being immaculately clean, clear and reliable, to noisy, harsh and unreliable? I tried so many different pieces of gear and different ways to set it up. Yet the obvious illuded me. The answer the whole time was USB audio can be total garbage. THAT was why when I switched back to optical audio, all my noise issues went away. It doesn't even seem to make sense why one USB device will have processor noise pollution and another wont. Example: http://www.sndup.net/dc2c8

So, if anyone tells you USB audio is clean and reliable, don't be so sure.

That recording is processor noise perpetuating through my USB audio. Every computer I have EVER owned, from cheap walmart notebooks, to massively expensive professional towers, have had this issue when using USB for audio. Almost EVERY DAC I've EVER owned, from cheap chinese junk, to massively expensive "end game" gear, have had this issue when using USB for audio. Why 1 or 2 of them didn't have this problem is a mystery to me.

This type of digital noise is mostly reactive. When ever you move your mouse, open a window, run a program or do ANYTHING actively on a computer, this noise is created in the background and pollutes EVERYTHING connected via USB. From what I can tell, it is a common design flaw with a lot of USB devices. No filters or repeaters I've ever tried, got rid of it. The only cure was to either find the rare USB device that magically doesn't have this issue or go optical.

The biggest innovation the DAW brought to the audio engineering world was a consistent VISUAL representation of sound. You could now use your EYES as well as your ears to engineer. The significance of this can not be overstated! The DAW solved one of the largest and most longstanding issues in audio engineering. That being, people's ears and listening situations are variable and imperfect. Every ear, headphone, speaker, room and listening position, sound different. Ears can get saturated and fatigued during a long session. Even the amount of coffee an engineer had that morning, changes how something sounds to them. Every day, a mix will "sound" slightly different. This variability made audio engineering a never ending subjective headache of mixing and listening and mixing and listening and re-mixing. All at the expensive of the client, who pays for all those studio hours.

The DAW solved all that. No more linear editing and NO MORE ENDLESS SUBJECTIVE EAR SHENANIGANS. This is why I facepalm where ever I see people using DAW based EQs with retro style interfaces. You know, the one's that have only analog style knobs, no real time analyzer display and only approximated numbering. It's re-injecting the vary problem that was solved over 2 decades ago. I guess a lot of engineers prefer the less efficient, more subjective mixing technique. Doing things purely by ear. It sure helps increase the studio hours spent on a project. You know, the time they get paid for, usually BY THE HOUR. Is that perhaps the real reason some engineers act like mixing by eye is sacrilege? Because it's so much faster and reliably accurate to mix with an active real time analyzer on. It also saves the client money. It is easier though to make money as an engineer, if you have to mess about subjectively for hours on end on a mix. In the honest world, we call that PADDING YOUR HOURS, for a higher paycheck. Like those people who park their service truck under a bridge for half the day, so they can get paid for doing more nothing than actual work.

"Mixing by eye is stupid! You can't mix what you can't hear!" is what some say. It's not like you turn off your sound when mixing by eye. You still have to hear and understand sound. It's just WAY easier and less time consuming to be able to SEE sound, as well as hear it. The unavoidable fact is, even when you can't HEAR a difference, you can still predictably SEE it on a real time analyzer. The cardinal rule of engineering is efficiency. Don't tell me it's better engineering spending an hour messing around subjectively over "If and where in the spectrum a guitar has an abrasive timbre", when you can just open any stock EQ's real time analyzer and see in seconds. Oh look, it IS there. Those are the frequencies. Click. Boom. Done. Fixed. Oh and look at that, we didn't have to spend an extra 150 bucks of the client's money, trying different retro EQs, searching for a problem by ear for an hour. A problem that sometimes doesn't even exist, because, YES, your room (as well as other things) can and will create "phantom" resonances that don't actually exist in the mix. That's how sound and the human ear work.

The other thing I see a lot is people acting like retro EQ plugins are better because the hardware they are modeled after is really good. The mistake is, it's not the interface that makes those pieces of hardware so good. It's the saturation and other behavior of the actual physical circuits. Once you make something a digital plugin, you aren't in analog anymore. Doesn't matter how well you "modeled it". It's not the same. So there's literally ZERO point to keeping the retro interface, other than pure marketing. Purists see a plugin with knobs and no analyzer graph and think, oh, it looks like the hardware, it must be good. Wrong. It's 1s and 0s. It may sound good, it may sound bad, but it's sound has NO connection to it's look. It's a program for shits sake. So there is LITERALLY no good reason from an engineering perspective, for the program to LACK a real time analyzer with visual display or accurate numbering.

Retro interfaces drive me nuts and get in the way of work IMO.

The $150 shiny white cat turd https://www.audioadvisor.com/ifipur3b-sil

My criticism of digital audio technology has remained the same all my life. It is as unreliable as it is innovative. For every amazing thing you can do with it, there's a can of worms opened in the form of endless technical difficulties.

For instance: digital noise. This little gremlin comes in many forms but today we will address what I have dubbed "processor" noise. The various bees nest of 1s and 0s running through your CPU, making a constant background clatter of sounds that end up in your ear and on your recordings. Probably my pick for top 10 downsides to using a computer for audio. Every time you load a page, move your mouse, scroll or click, you hear what sounds like cockroaches quietly playing hyperactive table tennis. I have included a recording of this sound, or I WOULD have, if the sound didn't magically disappear the moment I went to write this article.

Which brings me to another thing about digital devices. Inconsistency. Sometimes they work, sometime they don't and have fun trying to figure out why. Your only guarantee is that you WILL waste hours of your life trouble shooting to no avail. Trouble shooting digital audio can be an absolute nightmare. For instance, why was this audible digital demon farting on my computer for weeks on end, but then magically disappeared the moment I finally couldn't stand it anymore and decided to invest in a USB noise filter? Before the filter even showed up to my door, with no change to the system set up, the noise problem disappeared entirely. Why? Where? How? Who knows! It's like the computer saw I ordered a solution and just wanted to make me look like a jackass. Worst part is, I know from experience, the noise will be back. Just a matter of time. Like some bazaar Pokemon, it will appear randomly when I'm not even looking for it.

So, in spite of NOT having a noise issue anymore, when it was delivered, I attached my new shiny white cat turd to my schiit DAC. Now I get the privilege of hearing perfect digital sound. Every single 1 and 0 bit corrected with state of the art noise cancellation technology. With this increase in resolution, I can now hear every SINGLE tiny bloody mistake the mixing/recording engineers made when listening to my favorite music tracks. Every pop and click and digital distortion left on the original recordings. It drives me nuts. So I went from suffering my own computer's noise, to suffering other people's. lol

Some one once asked me, why I don't really listen to music. I told them, I can't, because I just start analyzing the track as an audio engineer. Looking for any mistakes, because, well, that's my profession. I have a real hard time just listening to music for enjoyment. So, I usually just don't bother. "how sad" they replied to me.

Is it? I can't tell. I've been like this since I finished Collage (or educational equivalent thereof). Music has been just as much about science and engineering to me, as art. Thank you shiny white cat turd. I now know, even my musical idols kinda suck at engineering.

Oh and look, even WITH the shiny cat turd, the noise is back again: (volume warning) http://www.sndup.net/3275x -RETURNS SHINY CAT TURD FOR REFUND- >.>;

Just 2 dude's from the UK kickin it in a flat: https://youtu.be/ebOkHsCjT1M?feature=shared

https://roguelimb.bandcamp.com/album/actus-reus

First off, lets be real about something here: The only difference, effectively, between a "professional" and an "amateur" is, how efficiently they get the job done and whether or not they got paid well. To that end, realistically, no matter how "good a job" I do on my music, if I don't make money, people will call me an "amateur".

After decades of listening to and learning from different professionals in the industry, it seems they all have a different opinion on the "proper" way to produce music. I respect these people's technical talents for sure but I can't help but ask, if their way is so much better than amateurs, how come they can't agree on the best way to do the job?

With the exception of recording certain acoustic instruments, ever since the invention of the DAW, artists can fairly easily record, edit, arrange, mix and even master their own material. It's just a matter of time, patients and the talent to best utilize one's tools. So, in a way, has this rendered most professionals optional? Most of these professionals will cross their arms and tell an artist "your music will NEVER sound as good without professional mixing and mastering". I make the argument that this is only subjectively true.

Case in point: I just discovered that the old "crappy" stock apple plugin limiter in logic pro, actually works quite well utilized by my "amateur" level of engineering skill. Now, a professional mixing/mastering engineer, would probably tell me: It's going to make a difference using that old stock plugin on my 2-bus, instead of hiring some professional who has experience and access to really fancy advanced mastering limiters. And they are correct. It probably will make a difference in the sound.

The question begs to be asked though, how much of a difference?

More importantly, will the LISTENER know the difference? Will they even care? Will it change whether or not the song is good and whether the audience likes it? This is where most professionals will answer "if the audience didn't know the difference, then the top charting songs wouldn't always be professionally mixed and mastered. So obviously they can tell the difference". Professionals love to quote this correlation. However, they fail to mention the charts are all controlled/manipulated by big business through gatekeeping and MARKETING EXPOSURE. It's a well known fact that marketing and connections are the largest determinating factor to whether something gets on the charts or not.

So, you can probably see now, when the mainstream industry has the money/influence to push their professionally mixed and mastered music, it creates a VERY misleading correlation between "big hits" and professional audio processing. MANY songs in the past were hits, while having arguably WORSE production than what amateurs on a DAW are capable of. So why did it not matter back then but now magically does? The answer seems obvious, it doesn't actually matter. Not then or now. Baring extremely low production quality, the writing, arranging and performance are what make a great song. And the PROMOTION/EXPOSURE is what makes a great song successful/popular. NOT spending thousands of bucks so a professional engineer can make WAY MORE MONEY PER HOUR THEN YOU THE ARTIST LIKELY EVER WILL.

The elephant in the room seems to be, DAWs indeed DID make most professionals optional. Worse than that, in a way, it made a lot of them gatekeepers themselves. Where as before the DAW, you really DID need a professional to do most of that kind of work for you. Now, you no longer need them. So maybe this is why, though most of these professionals DON'T agree on the best way to get the job done, they DO agree on 1 thing: You the artist MUST hire them. Because professionals are indispensable. Well, of course they would say that. They would be out of a job if they didn't, lol. They'd loose money if they admitted: A talented artist can do MOST of this shit at home on a DAW, well enough at least for it not to make a difference beyond diminishing returns. For a modern music artist who writes good material, it's just a matter of talent and practice. You really don't need fancy equipment or a degree. Just a decent DAW, the internet and a mind capable of deductive learning.

Questions welcome, flaming not welcome. If you don't like my experience, don't take it seriously : )

Stuff I have experience with, In no apparent order (I probably forgot a bunch of stuff lol).

Yudin Workshop: Excellent company with super high quality and fair prices. I have never found an instrument quite like this and to date this is the only company that was willing to do custom tuning on a tongue drum including over tones.

Black Salt Audio: I only own one of their plugins, the clipper and it was very disappointing. It's very simple and easy to use, which is good, but it lacks an over sampler to filter out aliasing noise and it has a LOT of aliasing noise. I tested it with a sine sweep in logic pro. Very noisy. It also makes some of my other plugins displays flicker for some strange reason. That might just be apple's logic pro being dumb though. The thing that really killed BSA's clipper for me was it's cloud based activation. You HAVE to have internet access EVERY TIME you want to use the plugin. Even after you buy it! That's the one carnal sin of plugins I never forgive. If I buy a plugin, it should work no matter how old or disconnected my computer gets. So I can't say I recommend black salt audio.

Boz Digital Labs: Speaking of clippers, I own theirs. It's a great plugin. It's a little too processor heavy for my hamster wheel CPU though, so I never run it with over sampling active unless I'm rendering a project. The over sampling function goes up to 8x oversampling and it ACTUALLY works. Yes I tested it with a sine sweep to see if it really removed aliasing noise and it does. If you need a simple but nice clipper, maybe give this one a try.

Waves: One more of those companies that obviously got bought out/taken over by some evil at some point. Their older plugins are generally good. I still use the L2 and linear active EQ some times. Their elements synth is fantastic and flow motion is surprisingly nice. I do not however like this company. They went full dark side and it is highly unlikely I will buy anything from them again.

Sixthsample: Nothing bad to say about this company. Their deelay plugin is my goto delay. Fantastic sound. Highly intuitive interface. Having a built in ducker feature is particularly nice. It's probably the only delay plugin you will ever need. The only thing keeping it from being perfect is it doesn't show the value in numbers on the dials, so you have to feel it out a bit. It's still the best delay I've ever used. I highly recommend it.

D16: I have nothing bad to say about this company either. Their decimort II is the best bit crushing plugin I've used and is my goto for bitcrush. Their 303 emulation is the best I've used too. I highly recommend this company.

Sonible: I own the multi-band limiter and the multi-band compressor. Both are top quality and are my gotos. I use the saturation and side chaining function a lot. Ironically I don't ever use the "AI" part of these plugins, since I find doing things manually is actually quicker. The limiter can be extremely transparent. I highly recommend these plugins.

Korg: If I had to sum up this company it would be unfortunate disappointment. They have made some of my fave retro synths in the past and a few newer ones that ALMOST stayed on my rig. If just a couple hundred bucks more production design went into the monologue, I would have kept it. In fact I would have kept 2. The miniKorg reissue was disappointing and I didn't get to try the ARP reissue. I was really hyped for their retro synth plugin bundle but found out they wanted 100 god damned bucks PER synth. I tried many of their toy synths and kept none of them. The volca kick was fun but kinda pointless. The volca keys had a stepped filter that sounded like a clucking metal chicken in a blender. Massive noise issues too. Not as bad as my experience with early generation toy synths from Modal or IK Multimedia which were literally unusable but all the same, no thanks. So, I can't say I hate or love this company. At least they are trying I guess.

Roland: Just, don't. These are the asshats who made propeller-head take down a historical digital museum piece. The hypocrisy of this company is legendary. I own a couple retro synths of theirs. The old 2000s stuff is a menu diving nightmare. I've never even used 90% of what my fantomX6 is capable of, because the interface is so ABSOLUTELY SHITE. The really old 1980s retro synths are great though way too expensive to hold on to.

Studio Electronics: simply the best analog retro style synths on the market. I would not exactly call them affordable but they are at least within reach of serious armatures or small producers who are willing to save up. Having compared them to actual 1980s analog synths, I think Studio Electronics sounds as good if not better. Because they are new make stuff, they are a hell of a lot more reliable. The sweetness and silkiness of their BoomStar SE80 is epic. I would never say no to owning a BoomStar.

Kalimba magic: great little website if you are into those types of instruments. Nice guy runs it. I have nothing bad to say about them.

Melda Productions: these guys have a massive plugin library. I own the multi-band limiter, granular effects, stereo widener, saturator, level meter and tone generator. Good plugins with depth and function for miles. I use them all the time. I think my only criticism would be, their "mini" or stripped down versions lack the info and control I generally need to get good results. All the same, I would recommend people give this company a try.

Audio thing: Good stuff. Sometimes odd but often very useful plugins that may or may not eat CPU. I have a few of their products. Bubbles, Reels, Lines and Type A. Great interfaces. I use them from time to time. Fair prices. Worth a try IMO.

Puremagnitik: You get what you pay for. Lots of extremely affordable plugins and sample bundles that are, ok, if you don't expect too much from them. On occasion I use a few of their effects plugins and retro synth sampler packs. Can't really complain considering the price.

Eventideaudio: I know it's sacrilege but I can't stand this company. At the behest of colleges, I downloaded their 'black hole' reverb and what a waste of money that was. Even with full license and activation, it would not let me use my own plugin unless my computer has constant internet connection. Literally one of those "you'll pay us but own nothing" type of companies. Straight up shite. The few times I used teh black ole, it wasn't impressive. There are MUCH better companies and MUCH better reverb plugins out there.

Baby Audio: I can't say enough good things about this company. Their plugins are affordable, super intuitive, effective, useful, pretty and sound amazing. They also don't eat my CPU for lunch. 'Smooth operator' and 'spaced out' are my goto for active EQ/exciting and reverb/delay. I can't recommend this company enough.

Tokyodawn: These plugins are way too good to be free. I use their active EQ all the time, though I haven't gotten the ducker function to work properly for some reason.

WXaudio: People get offended over the Nani distortion plugin (it's the banana I'm told) but this is actually the best distortion plugin I've ever used. It is my goto for all distortion needs. It's super intuitive. Highly versatile and sounds great. My only complaint is it's kinda CPU heavy. If I run more than a few instances I can run into trouble. Even with that though, It's way too good a plugin to be the butt of jokes but the internet is strange I guess.

DreadBox: I have nothing bad to say about these guys. They make some amazing analog synths. I admit most of my experience is with their older models. Affordable with great sound. Actually better than great sound. Thunderous sound. sweet, dark, tangy. I would love to own one again.

Behringer: I guess I gota say something about them. I bought the moog clone. You know, the one they conveniently released the same time moog (rest in peace) released the expensive reissue. My clone mono synth came a little broken. I returned it. The new one was even more broken. I had it fixed. It was still broken. I had it fixed AGAIN. It worked, for a bit, then broke. I bought a new one. It broke after a year. I gave up. I only have one thing to say about behringer: Plugins are what's actually making retro synth/gear affordable, not behringer.

a1Audio: not much to say. I use their stereo control plugin when I need it. It does exactly what it's supposed to do. I recommend it.

Focusrite: Uuuuuuuuuuugh. Very affordable interfaces that never ever EVER seem to work consistently for me. I am tempted to get a motu instead.

LoopMasters: Very hit or miss. Some of the packs I've bought were highly useful. Some remain unused to this day. You kinda don't really know what you're getting into each time, so, it's a gamble.

Zildjian: For live cymbals these are my fave. Everyone always notices when I use them. Very open and sweet.

Schiit Audio: The company with the troll name that provides ACTUALLY affordable hifi equipment that sounds fantastic. A no bull shit company. Whether it's gaming audio, music production or just casual listening, I highly recommend this company.

Fibhorn: The company probably no one has heard of. Regardless, they have been my faithful speakers for years now. Their designs are not for the Bluetooth crowd but, for my purposes, they rock.

Moog: Ah moog. The synths I should have probably bought but was too dumb and/or broke to. I did own one of their slim phatty's at one point but stupidly I didn't keep it. It was a REALLY good synth for the price and still regret not keeping it. Oh well.

Intruo modular: Great guy who built some custom VCOs for me years ago. Really cool modular gear with great aesthetics.

Make noise: I've owned some of their modules as well as stand alone synths. Solid stuff. I miss my 0-coast. Very nice little brick of a synth.

SOMA Labroratory: This guy's great. Crazy innovative stuff. A bit too "far out" for a lot of productions but very inspiring stuff. I particularly enjoyed their 'rumble of ancient times' synth. If you are into experimenting, I recommend this company.

BeniDub: Expensive but legitimately studio quality stand alone effects boxes. Very intelligent designs aimed at engineers. Very consistent results. Great sound quality. If for some reason you need outboard gear and you can afford it, they are rock solid.

Strymon: Ah strymon, the company that keeps the "octave up effect" memes rolling. I have nothing bad to say about this company. They've always been nice to me and their gear is top quality. I've owed a number of their boxes, though ended up keeping none. It's not that they weren't awesome mind you. It's just hard to justify outboard digital effects in this day and age.

Hungry robot: Inspiring effects pedals from a really nice guy. I've owned a bunch but kept none. I really regret letting 'The karman Line' go. Such a great delay.

Neunaber: In case you didn't notice, I have a bit of a reverb addiction. Though I've heard their customer service is non-existent, their reverb pedal is way underrated. I owned their 'immerse' reverb pedal. Sold it and bought the newer version. It's PHENOMENAL IMO. I highly recommend it.

Chase Bliss Audio: I can't seem to get into these guys and the price tag isn't helping. Their gear is so cool but the interface is WAY too compact. There's just too much function being covered with too few knobs/buttons. Having a row of micro dip switches on the back of the thing is NOT an intuitive interface design. I've owned and sold many. Very neat but I'll pass.

Glyph: Can't talk about music in this day and age without talking about data storage. I've owned a few of their external HDs. The physical types tend to break after 5 years and so far the solid state ones haven't. Not bad stuff if you need a solid state external HD.

Apple products: Ok, the elephant in the room. Yes I use logic pro. Yes that means I am forced to use an apple OS. YES IT SUCKS OUT LOUD. Which is really a shame, because logic pro would be an amazing product if it weren't bogged down in apple shenanigans. Oh well.

Sennheiser: I know there are so many headphones from other companies that "you just gota get bro" but I have used this company all my life and have never been let down. Solid. Comfortable. It just works.

BigTickAudio: I only have one of their plugins and although I appreciate the functionality. The interface sucks in my opinion. I neither hate nor love this company. Give it a try maybe.

Full Bucket: This guy makes some great retro synth plugins. Not the best interface and a bit CPU hungry but I do use his stuff now and then. Very good sound quality. I would check it out.

Prolue: I own their chip-synth MD plugin and it is the best emulation of the sega genesis sound engine I've heard. It can also play the old music files from the games, which people provide via the internet. The interface is fine and the sound quality is great but it EATS my CPU bad. I highly recommend it, if you have the CPU.

Meinl: They make cheap percussion instruments. That's about it. If you need cheap percussion instruments, I guess you could do worse. I am fond of my aqua udu. Even though, years later, it still reeks of chemicals from the manufacturing. Unless your budget forbids it, I would recommend finding a smaller, more quality oriented company than Meinl.

Think Penguin: Not exactly music related but I wouldn't be typing this without them. Great small business for all your linux/computer/VPN needs. Only company I've EVER ENCOUNTERED that had a smart, effectual, articulate person, from my own area, on tech support. Dude literally spent the ENTIRE AFTERNOON on the phone with me doing tech support and never lost his cool. Yes we successfully fixed the issue I was having. These guys are ALSO my goto for computer gear. I have been getting their external HDs recently after my glyph physical HD bit the dust randomly. I highly recommend Think Penguin if you are in the market for anything their offer.

RareWaves. This guy is awesome. His drone synth is like a rock and I REALLY want to own one again. His 303 synth is also very cool though a bit limited. I highly recommend this company all the same.

Vermona: The one synth I owned from this company was great. Very simple but really good. Great interface and solid sound. I probably should have kept it lol.

Mutable Instruments modular: Tragic. Tragic indeed. One of the best, most inspiring companies with a great guy who was willing to one on one tech support with you. Synth engines taken by Arturia and exploited without credit given. Then the company disappears. Just plain tragic. If I had known it was going to go that way, I would have found a way to get a full euro rig of his modules and never let it go. Sad.

Arturia: Might as well mention them. Corporatist exploiters. Oh and the mini brute sucks too. Yeah I said it, and I would say it again.

4ms: Very cool modules that may or may not break at some point. I mean, I guess that's part of the risk with modular.

Blue Lantern: Great modules. Huge sound. I mean HUGE. I highly recommend them.

SacredWaves: Great tuning forks. They are my goto for physical tuning forks.

MysticMarvels: Great little company for physical analog noise machines. I use them all the time for all forts of stuff. Music, studio, relaxing, sleep, science. Good stuff. Very battery efficient too.

Shure: Mics that take a lickin and keep on kickin. I've owned them for years and never had one break.

Rode: I know there are a million microphones out there but this company has performed flawlessly for studio work, my whole life.

Yamaha: This company is, just too big for it's own good. They make everything and because of that, it's really a gamble whether they will do a good gob or just a mediocre one. As far as music gear goes. I have no complaints I guess. Though I don't own any of my yamaha gear anymore, I will say, they make a good pair of small affordable powered studio monitors.

RoseWill: You can't live without a keyboard and mouse. This is the only company I've found that makes a keyboard that lasts longer than the USB connector it's attached to. I highly recommend them.

'Zero Surge Inc' and 'SurgeX': These 2 companies are the only ones I've found that actually make power protection that legitimately works. A bit expensive but, you REALLY do get what you pay for with these 2.

Dave Smith: This guy had many different names for his company. I Never could get into his stuff. Not that I didn't try. I had some of his older 2010s gear and neither loved nor hated it. It had it's pros and cons. The newer 'take 5' synth looks promising but I'm just not in the market for something like that, nor will likely ever be. RIP Dave.

Mogami: These are the best cables. Used them all my life and was never let down. They are worth the extra dough.

Idiopan: Great little company, if you want a simple affordable tongue drum. I owned one of their medium sized models for a while. It was nice. Very though instruments too. The kind of thing I wouldn't worry about taking to the beach.

Warm Audio: if you can afford it, this company makes some decent outboard recording gear.

Golden Age Project: This is basically what you buy when you can't afford Warm Audio gear lol. I had one of their old mic pres and it was a solid work horse for years till I sold it. I have no complaints.

So, there’s really no happy way of saying it. The reason I use apple loops library and other pre-made sample/loop libraries so sparingly (if at all), is, I want my art to reflect my personal journey, or perhaps more accurately, my art wants to reflect my personal journey. That journey is unique. As is my person. On the occasion I make a pre-made sample/loop based piece of music, it’s only a matter of time before I hear the same song elsewhere. Happened just this past week. I can try to put my own spin on the samples but sample heavy music production often ends the same for me. Disappointment. The feeling that I wasted my time making more of the same. Something that will just effortlessly disappear into the sea of other similar content, never to really do anything.

I understand why so many people use pre-made loop based production techniques and I’m fine with that. It’s just for me, personally, it doesn’t really work unless I make my own unique recordings, and from them, make my own unique sample loops (which is what I usually do). This takes more time though and I guess presents the interesting relation between unique art forms and time investment. It’s tempting to just drag and drop samples to produce a tune in a hurry, but for me it feels very empty. Like I’m going through the motions of being creative, without actually creating. It used to bother me that I felt that way about taking shortcuts. Perhaps not the best way to get popular, I understand. I realize now though, my reaction to it is simply part of my nature and in respect of my self and my art, I am ok with that nature.

For me, the real magic of creativity is something new. Something never before seen or heard. At least not for an age or 2. : )

So I sold some more gear and am now messing around with Soma lab's rumble of ancient times. To grow in wisdom, is to contradict parts of your past. I used to think it was indecisive not to hold onto most of the music related things I have purchased over the years. I now realize though, buying and selling gear is unavoidable since I'm always chasing new ideas and sound. Is true freedom, constant evolution? Perhaps, fear of regret is what holds one back from moving forward sometimes. It sure seems that way.

A fox in space (basically heavy metal star fox)

Ep1---> https://youtu.be/uieM18rZdHY

Ep2---> https://youtu.be/ZJM1JtZ8lmQ