I don't know if you could do the same with a $1500 budget, but I suppose you
could come close if you really worked your equipment. I've seen people do
amazing stuff on a very minimalist setup. I don't generally consider Ace of
Base to be quality music anyway (from a musical standpoint).
>What kind of techno did you play?
My style was greatly affected by my mood at the moment, and I have tried
almost every style at one time or another, but in general I stayed in 4 genres:
1) HardCore/Industrial ala Front Line Assembly, Front 242, but usually only
the dense, complicated synth texture style.
2) Trance/Ambient ala Opus III, Orbital (brown albumish), The Orb, DJ
Spooky, Deep Forest, Cabaret Voltaire, etc. A pretty broad range here, but
definitely one of my favorite genres.
3) Techno (for lack of a more distinguishing term) ala Messiah, Eon, Utah
Saints, etc.
4) Low-key Euro-synth pop. Not the happy, upbeat stuff, but the slower,
depressing, more organic varieties. The Blue Nile, Some Pet Shop Boys, to
name a couple examples.
I have been kind of itching to get back into the business for a while. The
only thing that keeps me from doing it is the initial investment. I don't
have a single piece of gear anymore, so the cost of starting over is
prohibitive. Unfortunately, I am used to working on some pretty decent gear
in a pretty tight setup. I suspect my minimum requirements for equipment
are somewhat higher than they need to be. I will probably take the plunge
in the middle of next year. I might even open another studio eventually.
>> If I spent that
>> much money on equipment I would make damn sure I did SOMETHING productive
>> with it.
>
>It's amazing how many people spend a lot of money on gear and then never do
>anything with it.
For that matter, it's amazing how many people live and never doing anything
with their lives either.
Its not what you have, but what you do with what you have.
-James Rogers
jamesr@best.com