Transistors, opamps, tiny screws, small wires, and hot solder. The thought of building or modifying your own audio gear can be intimidating and rightly so. Taking the top off of a piece of gear reveals a scene that looks like something you’d see in a science lab. The components that allow us to EQ, compress, and process audio are complicated and should more than likely be left to a professional to deal with, right? Maybe not.
For years I felt that exact way. I even worked for an audiovisual company full time for many years and any time I was asked to soldier I hated it. Building a simple XLR cable was the worst part of my day. By that logic alone I was pretty uninterested in building any piece of gear myself.
The time I saw that it would take for me to build something that may not even work at the end of it all just was not warranted in my mind. I would much rather buy something from a company in which I knew would work. And if it did not work, or a problem happened later, I could send it back.
But at the end of the day, I loved nerding out over gear, listening critically, and discovering the differences between one unit and others. I was very much interested in the nuances that each unit had and the way it could color a sound. Ask me the reason why or how it did that though and that is where the conversation would end.
So what changed? How did I go from hating to make cables to now a DIY fan who is writing a blog to convince you to do the same?
For me, it was the search for something new and different.
Years ago, before plugins and computers, musicians would choose to record their music at certain studios because of the gear and the sound that it provides. Rock bands would seek out studios with old vibey Neve desks and tube gear because they knew the sound they could create there would be much different than the sounds they would make in a modern-sounding SSL room. It is something that we have lost in our modern era of endless plugins and numerous emulations. Everything is too accessible.
Working in the box for a few years I quickly found myself bored with tools I had, and in the plugin world…I had a lot. Going analog was always a great alternative in my mind, but even then I felt limited by the budget, quality, and honestly, most hardware sounded just as good as the plugins modeled after it all. So I was still on the hunt in my brain for something different and special.
I did a bit of reverse engineering in my mind and realized that in order to make something different, I had to first understand how units functioned in the first place. It was not until I knew how they functioned that I could understand what I could do in order to make something different and fit my desired need.
I had to learn the rules before I could break them.
The perfect way for me to start on that journey was working with super easy to build and customize units like the ones from DIYRE. While there are tons of other kits out on the market from others such as CAPI, Sound Skulptor, or Hairball the DIYRE kits felt like the best place to start. They were indeed a super quick and easy transition into realizing that building gear is totally attainable and quite easy. Their kits range from EQ’s to compressors to even a fun modular “Color Palette” which all allow for different op-amps, colors, and user customizability which lets you immediately build something to your own liking. Past that, it is even easier to modify as having built it yourself you understand the workflow of what went in to building it and realize that swapping out certain parts takes very little effort and can impact the sound drastically overall.
So, while I still have a lot to learn in the DIY space of building and modifying gear I can say that beginning to understand, build and modifying gear has overall helped me get closer to my goal of finding unique sounds to call my own and in general just allow me to become a better and more efficient mixer. Knowing on a more technical level the sound that a circuit or op-amp will bring makes my sonic choices while mixing quicker and more powerful. I understand how to color and manipulate a sound in a more intentional way and that improves my workflow overall. If you are on the edge and have always thought about diving into the DIY space, here is the encouragement to see it through and give it a shot!