What if I made all the stuff that I had floating around in my head and outfitted a real high quality studio with my own creations? It would be so much cheaper than buying things from other companies. We’re talking about thousands of dollars per unit which actually contain hundreds of dollars in parts. If I did the homework and made things to fit my ideal machine, not some R&D department’s view of what the customer wants, then I’d have one hell of a studio on my hands and potentially a new business opportunity. Every electronics designer and audio equipment company had to start that way. Someone made something and someone else liked it and asked for one. If I made good stuff then it could be a viable business opportunity, and I don’t have it in me to make something that isn’t good.

So here’s my list of products in just the mastering studio ideas that are floating around in my head. The circuits can be researched from existing units and designed to incorporate my twist on the functionality of the unit. Then of course, I’ll take over the world.

• Passive Summing Mixer
  • 16 channels summed down to 2
  • L-C-R as switches allowing mono inputs from a DAW or stereo sub-mixes to 2 channels
  • Switchable make-up gain from a tube amplifier or a low noise 990-based twin discrete amplifier
• Equalizers
  • Pultec-style with a mid circuit added and tube gain stage
  • EMI-style with iron transformers for color
  • Precision 6-band with 990’s for transparency and surgical corrections
• Compressors/Limiters
  • Vari-μ styled tube compressor
  • Optical and VCA limiter/compressor
  • Precision compressor/limiter for transparent gain control
• Mastering Console and Monitor Controller
  • Input/Output selection
  • Mid-Side Processing
  • Processing Order/Re-order capabilities
  • Switchable Transformerless or Transformer-choice network before output
  • Monitor switching with level calibration and dimming pad

And to think….this stuff is just what I’m thinking about in one section of what I’d like to build. There are still recording things like preamps, eqs, and compressors. After that you can get into all the effects and synthesis projects. I really just need to win the lottery and setup a laboratory to see this all through.