Pretty much every day now new price lists from suppliers are hitting my in-box and desk. They all share one creepy thing in common; new gear prices are on the up, big time.

I doubt that recording equipment is any different from other commodities in life. Sure, we’ve all winced when the new gas or electricity (or council tax or business rates) bills arrive. These are essentials that we can’t do without, and if our suppliers decide to hike the ante, we’re stuffed. Heat and light and…yes, and local authority fresh air…these are all essentials which must be paid. Food, too, is one of the necessities of life, and prices of wheat and other essentials have been edging upwards for a while, partly because these so called ‘commodities’ have become the latest ‘investment products’ for ever creative financiers. Buy-forwards – bet on rising food and commodity prices and it’s a cert they’ll go up. Supply and demand, and all that jazz. And if ‘investors' decide to chuck their clever money at sugar (as is happening, despite a massive world glut), grain, pepper or whatever, then prices have to rise in line with the wash of money betting on future price hikes. And who said the South Sea Bubble die two centuries ago?

But I digress. Kind of…

Recording gear is not a necessity. If your wallet is pinched by the essentials of life, then savings must be made elsewhere. And with AKG mics now costing 20% more (as of March 1st), Neumann Geffell up by 16%, TC, PMC, Beyer and a bunch more on the rise, then as night follows day, sales will stutter. So what? Nobody’s gonna die through microphone deficiency (well, maybe Dill Katz will toss and turn a little…)

Gearheadz have had it easy in the last few years. With a (deliberately) weak US dollar and the Chinese equipment invasion, prices have actually plummeted in the last three years. I can well remember many premium US brands costing up to 25% more three years ago than they do today (Manley and GML come to mind. Other UK agents have been greedy and merely regard cheaper imports as a way to make fat profits. I mention no names, but these importers know who they are.) And this trend may even continue. Why?
UK interest rates are amongst the highest in the developed world and they’re not coming down. Indeed, they may even go up as the basis upon which they are set is determined by inflation rather than the state of the economy. Although the government is muttering about 3 or maybe 4% inflation on the horizon, the reality is that we’re going to see almost twice that shortly. This is in part due to rising foodstuffs but a more important factor is the weakness of the pound against the Euro, making many of our imports up to fifteen per cent more expensive (witness rising European mic prices as an example). So what will happen is that interest rates will rise, bringing investment into the UK and in turn strengthening the £ against the US$$ (which in any event will slump over the next few months as the US economy stutters and Bush devalues the dollar to keep exports and jobs afloat as an election ploy).

It’s a mess, but there is an answer.

In my opinion, a lot of the gear around today is overpriced and over elaborate for purpose. I’ve long praised certain brands and pieces of gear that are both affordable and capable of uncompromising performance – Chameleon Labs, Edax, APS, Universal Audio, Brent Averill, Midas and many more. SSL are about to launch a cute analogue mixer at a relatively sensible price point and hopefully this will be a sign of things to come from other high end manufacturers. For years, audio designers have been pushing out gear aimed at vanity rather than performance. Now is the time to re-examine the basics and produce equipment that combines performance with price. And we, the users, need to fall back on our skill, talents and ingenuity rather than assuming that if we pay big bucks, the results will somehow be automatically better.

So tread warily. Buy recycled (serviced and refurbished used gear). Check the spec and not the price ticket. Get your wiring install sussed and fix those faulty bits of outboard. The majority of my customers can make great records with what they already have. And if gaps need filling, be cost-conscious.

I’ve never had dosh to splash about. My gear was always carefully assembled to a budget and according to my actual needs. And that’s not a bad training ground for advising others. Maybe that’s why I spend more time advising my clients how they can save money and get the best from what they have rather than hammering their credit cards. And maybe that’s why I drive a clapped out old jalopy rather than flit about in a new Beamer like so many other (nameless) audio dealers.

Eccentric