Are they a must have? Are they really worth it?

[Duhduh]

Neumanns. Avalons. Lexicons. Distressors. Neves. Should I really forgoe the bang-for-the-buck units and start saving my nickels as well as my pennies?

[not Cereal]

well, from my personal experiences i CAN say that nearly everything made by lexicon is gold. also, if youlike the sound of nueman mikes, then they are good too. i personaly like the U67, U87, and the KM series nuemans. but i own NONE because they simply cost thousands of bucks. if yer real careful yu can get good results with a ev357 but its really a stage mike and arent anywhere as detailed as a nueman. i use a 357, heck they sound good. nuemans sound better. thats just my opinion though.

[gtrmac]

One thing about the classic stuff is that 20 years from now a Neumann or Avalon unit will still be an often used piece of equipment I think. You might consider adding GML, Manley, Universal Audio and API to the list of stuff worth saving up for. There are others to be sure.

[Nawor]

While they have been industry standards in some cases for many years, there are also plenty of good relatively cheap bits of gear around these days. I mean you can buy a $300 mic, Studio Projects, ADK, Audio-Technica etc, amplify it through a VTB-1 or a RNP and compress it with a RNC and still get a killer sound. I have a Neumann U77 and a KM84 along with a single Neve 3115 mic pre/eq. Do I like them?... of course! Do I need them to make a decent recording... NO! Sure every bit of gear has it's own sonic color and these classics are tried and true so to speak. They other big advantage of the 'name' gear is the saleablity factor. Being able to include Neumann, Neve, Lexicon etc on your equipment list doesn't go astray. Will a Chinese built Studio Projects C3 be as revered as a U87 in twenty years time... NO! Funny because I actually prefer the sound of the C3. But in time even a Lexicon PCM91 probably won't be regarded as well as an older lower tech model. Just watch what has been happening over the last few years. There is now a lot of cheap, very good sounding gear hitting the market. Previously you could almost guarantee that a cheap Chinese U87 copy would sound like total shite, but this is now changing. Twelve months back I bought three RNC's and they sound great. Would I like a Distressor? I dunno, probably... but how many RNC's could I buy? It all comes down to budget and the fact that your asking the question sounds like you don't have a squillion dollars to throw around. The big names, Neumann, AKG, Lexicon etc. are producing lower end priced lines to compete with this flood of cheap gear and IMHO they are often being outdone. The two biggest factors for me regarding the cheaper stuff is the quality control, especially regarding mic capsule consistency and matching etc and long term support. Will some of these relatively new companies be around in five years time when the capsule on your 'rice cracker special' craps out three days before a session? Many of the esoteric mics such as the U67, U47 (tube) C12's etc. can be like buying a fifty year old bottle of wine. They will cost a bunch, vary wildly in performance between the same model and may require a major overhaul for another bunch of money. These mics are becoming collectors items and while there's no doubt that good ones can be magic, part of their stratospheric cost is their 'collectabilty factor'. I got my Neumanns and Neve cheap... REAL cheap! But if I was buying from scratch and wasn't concerned about the name 'wow' factor I would have to seriously consider whether I buy one U87 or half a dozen 'xyz's' that once recorded will NEVER be criticised for sounding like a pile of shit. Still all things considered not having some of the classic gear may cost you work and there is nothing on this earth as well made as the input mic/line attenuator switch on my 3115! My 2 cents! :)

[Mats Olsson.]

What he said. Gear that's good today will be good tomorrow. And you might want to add GML and Crane Song and some others to your list. /Mats

[Jotown]

In a word: Yes. :thu:

[miroslav]

Great gear is...great gear. Though I wonder how many of these outboard boxes will still be the norm in the smaller/private/project/home studio environment in say...10-15 years from now...??? I'm concerned that the all-in-one-box-digital revolution will cause many people to forgo the high-end outboard boxes and opt for their plug-in versions (as many already exist)...thinking that they are getting the same thing. I'm sure there will always be a demand for high-end pres and mics...but I think the processing stuff will slowly disapear from all but the full commercail studios, where they always keep a lot of classic/vintage and new gear on hand. Hope I'm wrong. Computers are great tools...but I don't wish to entrust the entire recording process to them. Me...I'm still very much an analog and outboard processing kinda' guy. I do also have a DAW with 24 channels of 24 bit A/D/A...but I still prefer to do the final mix in analog...with the outboard boxes.