Which hardware pieces will we be talking about in 25 years?

SM7Cs.

Cheers,
Geoff

Probably the most interesting and original analog things I’ve own over the years are the Overstayer Stereo Voltage Control…which can really change the sound of a source in musical ways without much fuss, and the Standard Audio Stretch for similar but different way. Overstayer really is probably one of the most original companies to come along. Otherwise, for better or worse, affordable CAT5 headphone systems really have changed recording. And probably Trinnov and similar monitoring software. And it’ll be interesting to see if more companies adapt the WesAudio and Bettermaker digital recall. It’s definitely appealing the more in the box I’ve become over the years

The year is 2049. Computing power has become exponentially better than it was in 2024. Universal audio just sent out a patch to make their software VST900 compatible. At this point every piece of hardware, console, and microphone in existence has been emulated perfectly down to the micro-nanosecond impulses and all recording happens in a simulated studio space within the Apple Matrix personal enclosure. Original hardware is still expensive, but no longer used by anyone except a few "crazies" who have been shunned from the rest of society.

not many i fear because most will be dead and obsolete. no one will be able to repair them and parts won‘t be available …

I feel like the Soyuz hit really well. They came out originally and had a top notch design and great sound and packaging. You buy one of their mics, open the box, pick up the mic, it just FEELS fantastic. Then they also sound fantastic. They didn’t have a problem keeping stock, the price is right. Their designs are significantly different than any other mic being sold aside from their sdc but that’s a design where form follows function.

Seems like a company that will stick around for a long time and continue to make great gear.


Now, my honest thought about current vintage mics isn’t great. These things are selling for inflated prices (imo)and there are few people that can upkeep them that know what they are supposed to sound like. I don’t know many 25-30 year old mic techs.

Buying recording or musical gear for investment purposes is a really big gamble imo. It’s a piece of equipment meant to make you money through its use. Just thinking about the loss you’d have taken on a console or tape machine back in the day if you weren’t making money with it makes me shudder.

I’m rambling at this point, but yeah nobody is going to want to use or know how to use a large format console in 25 years nor will they care. Shit 10 years ago I wasn’t able to find anybody that cared to learn how to use a 72ch ssl. Maybe it’s just my location who knows.

True.
How about the Gear?

Son of Stam...

Will everything be modeling, and will the vast majority of our craft merely resort to modeling things we use now ?

Will there be a $9 dictaphone microphone into a computer that through software comes out sounding like the finest 251/47/48/37/49/12/900g ever made?

Moore's law is tapped out.  No exponential increase in CPU power (until quantum is solved, which is a long way off). Hang on to your hardware!

I believe despite how good the modeling would end up being, how well ai imitated it could be, there will always be the human factor involved where the listener will eventually demand a further connection to the music and artist. The story around it. Same i think goes for the gears we produce it with. Music is so much more than meets the eye or sound quality. We have already reached the point where we aim to screw up the perfection of sound to make it pleasant to listen to. And as long as there is live music that same immediate feeling will be tried to achieve in the studio. I actually think the analog world will rather expand from now on when production has become cheaper and parts are available in many price ranges.