When I started music production around 1995, I had a bike mechanics job which paid £1 an hour. I worked for a couple of years to save up and invest in an Akai S20 sampler.
I went to art college to study animation and bought an iBook and got by with a crack of Reason and Ableton.
Around 2010 I was making music and sound design professionally and started to buy more gear, a little at a time, but if only ever spend what I’d make money from.
At first it was pretty much what comes in goes on gear, but once I had a hardware synth and interface and mic I actually did a lot of work with very little compared to what I have now.
It started as a hobby but grew into a profession. If I needed certain gear, I’d borrow or rent it for a day for a project.
Fast forward to now, and I just did the maths and I probably spend 20% of the money I get from making music on gear, and I feel like I’ve got some really lovely stuff and probably too much in fact. I feel like I’m living the dream.
I wanted to write this because there are a lot of hobbyists/enthusiasts reading this forum. If anyone is inspiring to make money from music, I did not achieve that by buying or having access to gear and equipment. Honestly I could prob still do my career with a very small amount of kit like a laptop and good set of monitors. So as I’ve matured, the gear I buy now feels more luxurious and as an enthusiast it keeps me engaged and excited about what I do, but yeah even now I don’t think it necessarily equates to bringing the income in.
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