Gear, Studio, and Recording Consulting
It's confusing out there. There's so much gear on the market. You're setting up or upgrading a studio, and in the process of making a lot of decisions and laying out huge chunks of change for gear, and then working to acquire the engineering experience to make the best music possible. You still have to make the climb, but I act as a pro-audio "sherpa", leading in the safest and most economical paths.

Here's a different model for getting you the right gear: Instead of sitting at a desk at some audio store drinking too much coffee — I work full-time out of a private studio where all I do is record music and eat and sleep audio gear. I'm a working engineer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist with over 30 years (yikes!) of professional experience. I provide pro audio gear and recording consulting, as well as studio and systems design services. I also travel and make house calls. Recently worked with clients on their studios and music in Indianapolis and produced a mic and preamp shootout in Studio B at Blackbird Studio in Nashville.

I provide unbiased consulting (because, unlike gear dealers, my wallet doesn't care what products you buy) on what will suit your needs and budget. I've got extensive experience with over 200 microphones and 100 microphone preamplifiers. I have no "back-end" arrangements with any dealers. In working to put together what you might need for your studio, I can also provide recommendations for the dealer/s I think would be the best place/s to purchase gear, as well as providing inside information on the best prices. There are some good quality dealers with experienced engineers on their staff. They're still going to be biased and push what they carry or the gear that will pay them the largest commissions. There are lots of gear salespersons who can't record their way out of a box. (If you're dealing with a gear salesperson, who's opinion you're relying on, ask to hear some of their recordings. That can often be an eye-opening experience. And there even exists people, even at high-end dealers, who will talk a good game, but have absolutely no recording or engineering experience. Are these the kinds of people you want making recommendations on your investment of thousands, and even tens of thousands of dollars?

My opinion is certainly not the only in the industry, but I do back it up by having used more pro audio equipment in more extensive tests and sessions than anyone you're going to talk to at a gear dealer. By the time we run through your list of needs and I make some recommendations, and you talk with a few dealers/salespersons and get their spin on things, and check some of the online forums, you'll start to develop a confident sense of what is really going to meet your needs.

My clients, by making the right purchases, often save more than enough money to cover my consulting fees. And in many cases, end up spending much less on gear, because they don't wind up making unneccesary and over-costly purchases. As recently as November 2007 I helped save a client over $6000. He was getting ready to pull the trigger on a high-end 16-channel AD/DA converter (being pushed on him by a dealer), but after assessing his recording needs, it turns out he really only needed two channels of AD/DA conversion.

Since 1999 I've provided tens of thousands of online posts giving my 2¢ on recording applications and gear recommendations in forums such as gearslutz.com, homerecording.com, harmonycentral.com, vs-planet.com, studioforums.com, and others. My websites, for audio-recording education, featuring resources, forums, articles, links, classifieds, reviews, and soundclips receive over 20,000 vistors every month.

And what about after you've got all the gear?! A lot of my consulting, and posts in forums, have to do with working with people to help them make better use of their equipment and better recordings.

I provide a toll-free tel #, so the calls (sometimes totaling many hours) are on my dime — not yours.

Consulting fee: $100/hr. (inital 10-minute phone consultation at no charge). Inquire about day rates. Invoice can by paid by check or Paypal.

Educational Services for Engineering & Music Production
Coming up is a TLS Intensive Recording Workshop, January 21 - 27, 2007 in Myrtle Beach, SC. Come hang at the beach! (2008 workshop coming soon)

Online Resources
The Listening Sessions has become one of the largest projects in the industry for recording, testing and listening to pro-audio equipment — with emphasis on microphones and microphone preamplifiers.

Stop by my forums at Studio Forums where we're yacking it up about gear and music production.

I've written articles and reviews for over 20 publications, and recently launched Studio Reviews Magazine.

If you're in need of reading material, The Project Studio Handbook is the web's most-complete directory of recording-related articles and links. As of 2007 we're in the middle of a big clean-up, new look, and new links.

For more info, email dan@dr.com or call direct toll-free 866.409.3686.

I keep "studio hours" and am generally available from 10:00AM - 10:00PM EST Monday - Saturday.