This article was written by Mitch Gallagher, the former Editor in Chief of EQ magazine and current editorial Director for Sweetwater.  Over the next few months, we’ll be publishing an entire series of articles in the Lounge from Sweetwater along with contests and prizes. Keep your eyes peeled and check back often!

“State of the art.” A lofty term — and one that gets thrown around a lot these days. It seems as if every manufacturer says that their products are “state of the art,” every recording studio is “state of the art,” and many venues claim to have “state of the art” sound systems. But just what does “state of the art” mean in the real world?

Wikipedia defines “state of the art” as “the highest level of development…achieved at a particular time.” Synonyms include “cutting edge” and “leading edge.” Basically what we’re talking about is the best technology that’s available at a given time. Unfortunately this means that “state of the art” is a moving target…someone is always coming out with something new that pushes the state of art forward. And that’s a good thing, as it means that technology keeps improving. (You could also view it as whatever you get now won’t be state-of-the-art for very long, but why be negative?)

Here at Sweetwater, we’re constantly bombarded with updates, new versions, the latest and the greatest, everything that’s new and cool with live sound and recording gear and software. Our job is to weed through and pass along all this information in ways that are helpful to our customers — our website, SweetNotes newsletter, ProGear and other gear directories, daily inSync internet newsletter, and more are examples of how we do this. It give us a unique perspective on just what comprises the “state of the art.” Let’s take a look at the general state of the art in music gear.

Live Sound

When I was first performing in bands and touring the Midwest, a PA system consisted of a mammoth pile of equipment. The PA speakers my bands used were huge — more than enough to completely fill a truck; and that was before you piled on a massive rack of power amplifiers, stage monitors, another big rack to power the stage monitors, a huge road case for the giant mixer, a rack of effects gear and processors, and a bulky snake for connecting the stage to the mix position.

Things have sure changed. I recently played an outdoor benefit concert for Habitat for Humanity. It’s amazing how far PA systems have come. The main speakers are much smaller and lighter, and many have built-in power amps. The stage monitors have built-in amps, and are compact and lightweight. The mixing console was a digital board with built-in effects and processing that connected to the stage with one thin CAT-5 cable — no bulky snake here! The whole thing was about 1/3 the size (and even lighter in weight) than PA systems of the past. And it was louder, cleaner, and better sounding than older gear.

Another example: Sweetwater’s Director Of Marketing just walked past my office on his way to a singer/songwriter-type gig he’s playing this evening. He was comfortably carrying his entire rig with him: an acoustic guitar, a small shoulder bag with cables and other essentials, and a Fishman SoloAmp. One trip from the car, plug in a few cables and a vocal mic, and he’s making music. And the amazing thing is that this rig — way less gear than would have been required a few years ago — sounds far better than older gear. (And is highly affordable as well.)

So the state of the art for live sound is: lightweight, compact, powerful, affordable, and perhaps most important, priced right. No matter whether you’re a singer/songwriter playing coffeehouses or full band with a theatrical stage show, there are excellent, affordable, portable sound system solutions available for you, at prices you can afford.

Home Studio

It’s no secret that the digital/computer revolution has changed recording studios of all levels — and the same revolution was the catalyst for many of us to be able to get into making great-sounding recordings at home. A recording studio used to require an analog multitrack recorder, a large analog mixer, great big monitor speakers, and racks of processing gear…the only alternative for a home user without deep pockets was a cassette 4-track recorder. And while you could certainly make great music on a 4-track cassette, to truly achieve a studio-quality recording required some serious dollars.

Today things are very different. With a personal computer — laptop or desktop —DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) software, and an audio interface, you can do everything that previously required a separate recorder and mixer, as well as stacks of processors. In fact, you can do a lot more with modern tools than you could in the analog days, as today’s digital audio software allows for a level of audio editing, correcting, and processing that musicians of just a few years ago could only dream about. Your studio will still need microphones and monitor speakers, but even those items have dropped so far in price (and simultaneously increased in quality) that the price for getting a home studio up and running is a tiny fraction of what it used to cost to put a studio together.

The beautiful thing is that even a budget home studio can produce extremely high-quality recordings. In most cases, the gear won’t be the limiting factor in a recording’s quality; the limitation will be your technical skill at making recordings and the acoustics of the room you’re working in. (But the “state of the art” has even improved with regard to acoustics — companies such as Auralex have created acoustic treatment solutions that are highly effective while being amazingly affordable, and that can be installed without the services of a high-priced studio designer or architect.)

Get Started!

To use a cliché, it’s a great time to be a musician! Whether you want to record demos to help your band get gigs; track, mix, and master a final CD to sell to your fans; or put together a sound system that will deliver your live sets with crystal-clear quality, the gear you need is out there and it’s gotten much more affordable. The state of the art today is extremely high, and promises to keep getting better and better as technology continues to move forward at a breakneck pace.

Mitch Gallagher is the former Editor in Chief of EQ magazine. He is the author of six best-selling books on music technology and recording, is featured in an instructional DVD on mastering, and has written more than 1,000 articles for magazines around the world. He is a recording and mastering engineer, producer, composer, and musician, as well as the Editorial Director for Sweetwater, in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Email him at mitch_gallagher@sweetwater.com or visit www.sweetwater.com or www.mitchgallagher.com.

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