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Post by lpedrum on Jun 14, 2020 12:52:03 GMT -6
I'm curious if any of the dealers or distributors out there might want to weigh in. Is Covid 19 and the accompanying financial downtown hurting the gear market? I have a friend in the business and she says that entry level recording gear is flying off the shelves. That makes sense as many musicians that heretofore haven't had a home studio are looking for ways to monetize their skills. I've talked to quite a few that just a few months ago wanted no part of home/remote recording but are now asking my advice. I make my living at music so my gear purchases have been limited to good deals on a few used mics and pedals the past few months. Praise the Lord for the PUA - I'm not sure where I'd be without it right now. Also, maybe it's just me but it seems like there are less posts on RGO these days. Maybe many folks are treading water when it comes to studio upgrades?
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Post by Tbone81 on Jun 14, 2020 13:13:48 GMT -6
I talked to my sweet water rep a little while ago and he said sales are booming
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Post by drbill on Jun 14, 2020 13:36:10 GMT -6
Not sure about dealers, but LTL Silver Bullet, Chroma, Chroma +, Mr Focus and Color Module sales are STRONG!
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Post by EmRR on Jun 14, 2020 13:44:04 GMT -6
Friend is an owner of Mojo Musical Supply, he said they are selling 2x normal. People who haven't lost jobs or have reduced hours/pay have more disposable income than ever. Not much to spend it on.
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Post by Ward on Jun 14, 2020 13:44:42 GMT -6
Sweetwater is up. Other studio suppliers are up. Guitar sales are booming too.
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Post by Johnkenn on Jun 14, 2020 15:00:09 GMT -6
I can still get killer prices, but I rarely have anyone reach out.
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Post by lpedrum on Jun 14, 2020 15:00:44 GMT -6
Seems to be a pattern here. Sort of a weird irony though with many facets of the music industry in real jeopardy right now, i.e. I wonder how many touring guitarists are buying guitars this month. Glad to hear that LTL is doing well - love my Silver Bullet!
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Post by Guitar on Jun 14, 2020 16:42:49 GMT -6
There's a whole lot going on in the world right now, I'm not surprised if forums are slow. There's a lot to pay attention to right now, so less time on the computer is sort of expected. I guess we don't generally talk about those topics on gear forums.
I've certainly been buying gear. Just trying to find the time to play it.
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Post by hadaja on Jun 14, 2020 17:11:21 GMT -6
Also, maybe it's just me but it seems like there are less posts on RGO these days. Maybe many folks are treading water when it comes to studio upgrades? I appreciate the platform of RGO to pass on my used goods, but being international i have found that this platform was not so effective for me so i dont usually post here. I still find other sites effective. i think it also depends of what you are selling and are you managing expectation levels of both the buyer and the seller. From personal experience i have found the Covid19 not really any different to before Covid19. I myself have bought more gear then usual and am happily waiting for the arrival of the UT 47fet especially..
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ericn
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Post by ericn on Jun 14, 2020 17:11:23 GMT -6
I hear sales are strong margins are up, but it’s a very different market. Sound reinforcement and instructional sales are very much in the toilet. Individual sales are up, but nobody knows for how long. Here is where they could really hurt the industry: 1 the true biggies Yamaha, Harmon are really SR based and feed a lot people compared to recording these days. 2 this fall we will see education budgets slashed I would have needed a lot of individuals to really step up their gear buying to off set a couple of medium sized districts buying and it would take a lot more time. 3 this election year is just weird, I’m hearing the lack live events and so far limited commercial buys are keeping local stations from doing their big every 4 year spending. 4 I keep hearing stories of guys spending their one time stimulus check . So this might not be sustainable .
The good news Lots of the little builders are doing well, companies a lot of people were afraid would have no chance when this began.
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ericn
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Post by ericn on Jun 14, 2020 17:21:13 GMT -6
Also, maybe it's just me but it seems like there are less posts on RGO these days. Maybe many folks are treading water when it comes to studio upgrades? I appreciate the platform of RGO to pass on my used goods, but being international i have found that this platform was not so effective for me so i dont usually post here. I still find other sites effective. i think it also depends of what you are selling and are you managing expectation levels of both the buyer and the seller. From personal experience i have found the Covid19 not really any different to before Covid19. The used market will probably change for better or worse in the fall depending on the general economy and if people feel safe enough to see a live show. The live show aspect has 2 parts. First guys who have used touring as a primary income might have to start selling off gear to pay bills. The second part of this is touring and local SR providers have always had an inventory of highend, more studio type gear that spends most of its time in the warehouse but is either requested on enough riders or by a regular client to justify keeping on hand. If the live market doesn’t improve this stuff is the first to go, this is exactly what happened 10-12 years ago.
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Post by lpedrum on Jun 14, 2020 17:52:20 GMT -6
I hear sales are strong margins are up, but it’s a very different market. Sound reinforcement and instructional sales are very much in the toilet. Individual sales are up, but nobody knows for how long. Here is where they could really hurt the industry: 1 the true biggies Yamaha, Harmon are really SR based and feed a lot people compared to recording these days. 2 this fall we will see education budgets slashed I would have needed a lot of individuals to really step up their gear buying to off set a couple of medium sized districts buying and it would take a lot more time. 3 this election year is just weird, I’m hearing the lack live events and so far limited commercial buys are keeping local stations from doing their big every 4 year spending. 4 I keep hearing stories of guys spending their one time stimulus check . So this might not be sustainable . The good news Lots of the little builders are doing well, companies a lot of people were afraid would have no chance when this began. Really thoughtful comments. I do wonder if sales are strong it's mostly due to two things--musicians investing more in home studios, and people whose income wasn't affected by Covid buying more fun toys (no slight intended.) Personally I have quite a few gigs booked starting later in August. But if you're watching the news the past couple of days this pandemic is not waning in many states and there's no guarantee that my gigs will definitely be there in the fall. As for studio work, I'll probably dip my toe back into the water soon. I live in CT and the curve has flattened here for now due to a Governor who didn't mess around. But I agree with Eric that the economics of the gear industry in the fall could largely depend on the music industry. music school budgets, etc. Also maybe everyone knows this, but to add insult to injury to working musicians, Amazon has suspended all sales of CDs and vinyl.
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ericn
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Post by ericn on Jun 14, 2020 18:38:16 GMT -6
I hear sales are strong margins are up, but it’s a very different market. Sound reinforcement and instructional sales are very much in the toilet. Individual sales are up, but nobody knows for how long. Here is where they could really hurt the industry: 1 the true biggies Yamaha, Harmon are really SR based and feed a lot people compared to recording these days. 2 this fall we will see education budgets slashed I would have needed a lot of individuals to really step up their gear buying to off set a couple of medium sized districts buying and it would take a lot more time. 3 this election year is just weird, I’m hearing the lack live events and so far limited commercial buys are keeping local stations from doing their big every 4 year spending. 4 I keep hearing stories of guys spending their one time stimulus check . So this might not be sustainable . The good news Lots of the little builders are doing well, companies a lot of people were afraid would have no chance when this began. Really thoughtful comments. I do wonder if sales are strong it's mostly due to two things--musicians investing more in home studios, and people whose income wasn't affected by Covid buying more fun toys (no slight intended.) Personally I have quite a few gigs booked starting later in August. But if you're watching the news the past couple of days this pandemic is not waning in many states and there's no guarantee that my gigs will definitely be there in the fall. As for studio work, I'll probably dip my toe back into the water soon. I live in CT and the curve has flattened here for now due to a Governor who didn't mess around. But I agree with Eric that the economics of the gear industry in the fall could largely depend on the music industry. music school budgets, etc. Also maybe everyone knows this, but to add insult to injury to working musicians, Amazon has suspended all sales of CDs and vinyl. The biggest thing coming out of Covid is the double whammy of will people have money? Will people be willing to go sit in the same room close to strangers? Add in the fact that we don’t know how long this will last and I’m glad I’m not selling gear anymore!
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Post by wiz on Jun 14, 2020 18:50:32 GMT -6
I have had no trouble moving on my outboard... mostly at a profit. Facebook has been the tool for me. That and previous customers.
Cheers
Wiz
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Post by the other mark williams on Jun 14, 2020 19:13:27 GMT -6
I have had no trouble moving on my outboard... mostly at a profit. Facebook has been the tool for me. That and previous customers. Cheers Wiz As a potential buyer of gear, I’d hoped we would move into a buyer’s market, but your experience certainly seems to confirm that it hasn’t happened—at least not yet. I’ve been wanting to get a Rickenbacker again, but man, those prices never seem to go down.
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Post by geoff738 on Jun 14, 2020 21:38:04 GMT -6
I might’ve bought some stuff. Travel budget now going to different things, tax refund, and hadn’t bought any toys in years due to separation/divorce now finally done.
Need new computer though. Ugh! No, make that aaaargh! No, ugh will do.
Cheers, Geoff
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Post by brenta on Jun 15, 2020 10:09:18 GMT -6
Unemployment varies by state, but here in MN, anyone who made $60k or less makes more money being unemployed than they did employed. There are many people who are collecting a paycheck even though their job is shut down because their employer needs to spend their PPP loan. Nearly all of the musicians I work with are part-time musicians with a part-time or full-time job, most of them bartenders or servers. All of them in service industry were laid off. Their shows and tours were all canceled. Also there was the $1200 stimulus check.
What all of this means is that the vast majority of musicians around here have more spare time and spare money than they ever have had in their life. They're using that spare money to buy gear and that spare time to learn how to use it.
I wonder if this is going to be the nail in the coffin for tracking studios. Most people had moved towards recording themselves before this, but with it not being possible to go to a studio during the lockdown, a lot of the holdouts have finally bought an interface and a mic.
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Post by matt@IAA on Jun 15, 2020 10:57:53 GMT -6
brenta I think you've nailed it. Hobbyist/consumer/prosumer sales are probably up - pro sales down. Like most things I've noticed, the economic crisis brought on by COVID19 isn't so much introducing new trends as rapidly accelerating existing ones... Anyone interested in spending their spare money on some new gear, feel free to PM me.
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Post by Blackdawg on Jun 15, 2020 11:17:25 GMT -6
Unemployment varies by state, but here in MN, anyone who made $60k or less makes more money being unemployed than they did employed. There are many people who are collecting a paycheck even though their job is shut down because their employer needs to spend their PPP loan. Nearly all of the musicians I work with are part-time musicians with a part-time or full-time job, most of them bartenders or servers. All of them in service industry were laid off. Their shows and tours were all canceled. Also there was the $1200 stimulus check. What all of this means is that the vast majority of musicians around here have more spare time and spare money than they ever have had in their life. They're using that spare money to buy gear and that spare time to learn how to use it. I wonder if this is going to be the nail in the coffin for tracking studios. Most people had moved towards recording themselves before this, but with it not being possible to go to a studio during the lockdown, a lot of the holdouts have finally bought an interface and a mic. This is something I've been wondering about. As you said a LOT of people have been taking it on themselves during this time and learning a lot. Technology has allowed for it to be easier than ever honestly. At the same time, there is almost too much tech out there with marketing hype and as most of us know it's easy to go down a worm hole of purchases and get absolutely no where haha Only to realize you had the right tool all a long and just needed to learn it better. But I'm very curious about how much pro engineers will be impacted in general. I'm sure it won't be cut and dry as some people I'm sure will realize how important good engineer is to have and other's will realize they can save a lot of money and get results they are happy with. Be interesting.
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Post by Guitar on Jun 15, 2020 12:05:59 GMT -6
Maybe more stuff for mix engineers to mix and mastering engineers to master? I'm trying to look on the bright side.
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Post by drbill on Jun 15, 2020 12:54:22 GMT -6
There's no way that a bunch of musicians who have a few months off and some money to spend will affect professional studio's / engineers. It's absolutely amazing that most of the new folks starting out have no idea what "gain staging" means, no clue what an insert is, no idea how to deal with the front end mixers in the DAW, no idea what 1/2 normalled means, no idea how to use a compressor, no idea what lifting pin 1 on a XLR cable means, and virtually zero skills at mixing on a competitive level. May sound weird, but it's true. No offense to them - every one starts out at the beginning the road. But they have a long way to go before they are replacing pro's with decades of experience. In fact, they will probably never catch up if the pro's keep at it, because this is a life long journey - and we never quit learning.
Case in point - I saw some instagram ad the other day that said something to the effect of : "Your mixes suck? I can show you how to fix that today! Get pro mixes instantly with my time tested techniques". LOL. Anyone who knows anything about mixing knows that is a crock. And yet....the dude is probably making killer bank on his scheme.
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Post by Blackdawg on Jun 15, 2020 13:00:03 GMT -6
There's no way that a bunch of musicians who have a few months off and some money to spend will affect professional studio's / engineers. It's absolutely amazing that most of the new folks starting out have no idea what "gain staging" means, no clue what an insert is, no idea how to deal with the front end mixers in the DAW, no idea what 1/2 normalled means, no idea how to use a compressor, no idea what lifting pin 1 on a XLR cable means, and virtually zero skills at mixing on a competitive level. May sound weird, but it's true. No offense to them - every one starts out at the beginning the road. But they have a long way to go before they are replacing pro's with decades of experience. In fact, they will probably never catch up if the pro's keep at it, because this is a life long journey - and we never quit learning. Case in point - I saw some instagram ad the other day that said something to the effect of : "Your mixes suck? I can show you how to fix that today! Get pro mixes instantly with my time tested techniques". LOL. Anyone who knows anything about mixing knows that is a crock. And yet....the dude is probably making killer bank on his scheme. Totally making a killing off of that. I see about 4 of those ads all the time haha But sure but you could also make the argument that they don't need to know what all that means. A laptop doesn't have a patchbay. An insert is really just a plugin. Gain staging...yeah that's a problem. I've helped several musicians with that. There is a lot to learn and I think it probably comes as over whelming and a buzz kill to a majority of artists. But it won't to all.
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Post by lpedrum on Jun 15, 2020 13:37:17 GMT -6
There's no way that a bunch of musicians who have a few months off and some money to spend will affect professional studio's / engineers. It's absolutely amazing that most of the new folks starting out have no idea what "gain staging" means, no clue what an insert is, no idea how to deal with the front end mixers in the DAW, no idea what 1/2 normalled means, no idea how to use a compressor, no idea what lifting pin 1 on a XLR cable means, and virtually zero skills at mixing on a competitive level. May sound weird, but it's true. No offense to them - every one starts out at the beginning the road. But they have a long way to go before they are replacing pro's with decades of experience. In fact, they will probably never catch up if the pro's keep at it, because this is a life long journey - and we never quit learning. Case in point - I saw some instagram ad the other day that said something to the effect of : "Your mixes suck? I can show you how to fix that today! Get pro mixes instantly with my time tested techniques". LOL. Anyone who knows anything about mixing knows that is a crock. And yet....the dude is probably making killer bank on his scheme. Don’t disagree. However, I’ve had 3 musician friends that I thought would NEVER want to record at home set up home studios this month, primarily to be able to provide tracks remotely for artists. They’re not amateurs but pros with heavy resumes. So no, that won’t take away mix work or in studio band recording. But it theoretically means less overdub sessions at established studios.
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Post by EmRR on Jun 15, 2020 13:55:12 GMT -6
There will always be people who don't understand the technology, or don't want to drive it. I have my fair share of clients like that; they can afford to buy anything they want, and they don't want to do anything but play music. Some get on planes to come to me several times a year.
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Post by chessparov on Jun 15, 2020 14:01:45 GMT -6
There's no way that a bunch of musicians who have a few months off and some money to spend will affect professional studio's / engineers. It's absolutely amazing that most of the new folks starting out have no idea what "gain staging" means, no clue what an insert is, no idea how to deal with the front end mixers in the DAW, no idea what 1/2 normalled means, no idea how to use a compressor, no idea what lifting pin 1 on a XLR cable means, and virtually zero skills at mixing on a competitive level. May sound weird, but it's true. No offense to them - every one starts out at the beginning the road. But they have a long way to go before they are replacing pro's with decades of experience. In fact, they will probably never catch up if the pro's keep at it, because this is a life long journey - and we never quit learning. Case in point - I saw some instagram ad the other day that said something to the effect of : "Your mixes suck? I can show you how to fix that today! Get pro mixes instantly with my time tested techniques". LOL. Anyone who knows anything about mixing knows that is a crock. And yet....the dude is probably making killer bank on his scheme. So enough about me guys already! Plus we know "The Dude" abides... Chris
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