I have often stated that my new year begins in May. I finally have all my federal tax returns behind me, my first quarter payroll and trucking reports are done and submitted and I finally feel like I can come up for air. In addition to all the tax reports we like to take this time to reflect on the previous year. We make year to year income and expense comparisons to see where we can make improvements on either end. After looking at the numbers we start looking at the gear and determine where improvements in our work flow can be improved as well as how our gear performs for us financially. Every so many years we find that some of the equipment basically just gets retired, either it has been replaced in prior years or the artist acceptability begins to decline. This year is one of the years that we have acknowledged that some pieces have been retired and are ready to find their new home and be replaced with newer more acceptable in our market equipment. Over the last few years we replaced some of our mixing consoles. Being the high level of technology that these pieces contain, we like to have on hand the older proven solid workhorses as backup consoles because technology can become glitchy and the stakes are too high therefore we like to always be prepared. In the event of equipment failure it’s reassuring to know that we can keep the show running with minimal disruption as that is imperative in show business. In our annual review we have determined that the time has come to move some of the prior generation mixing consoles on and replace them with the newer technology. Currently the guys are testing and cleaning their old friend the Yamaha PM 5D getting it ready for its new home. It will be a bittersweet day when this moves on as this console has been very solid performing both technically and financially.
Yamaha PM 5DRH
However on the other hand as you can see it is a beast, weighing in at over 300 pounds and over 60 inches long it takes three people to set it safely and remove the case lid. Then there’s the real estate, in the case on wheels it isn’t bad (not bad in comparison to the analog console it replaced), but this unity eats up some stage, which on festivals is a precious commodity. In the meantime, as they are preparing to say their goodbyes to the 5D, the boys have begun dreaming of their new toy. With the great success we have had in artist acceptability with the Avid SC48 we decided to look to what Avid has to offer for our replacement consoles. Topping the list is the Avid S6L.
Avid S3L
Over the winter much research was done on the Avid S3L, the versatility of this little guy is what drew us to it, used in both studio work and live work it had some great appeal. It allows for direct integration with Pro Tools which is the industry standard digital recording system. Being it is a modular system we were able to piece together the components cost effectively which made it hard to pass up. After some time in the shop learning its capabilities, we are looking forward to getting it out in the field in the weeks to come.
To many of you all of this may just be technical mumbo jumbo as the specifics don’t apply to your business. However the equation can be the same. We know a-lot of companies just put the retired gear in the corner and don’t worry about it. Since we operate out of our small shop, again, space is a commodity, we cant hang onto each piece of equipment for that someday use. We much prefer to turn it into something we can use now and allow someone else to enjoy the remaining useful life. While the residual value may be hard to take at times, we must remind ourselves that we had many great years of use and much like a car, you cant always get what you paid for out of it when you’re done.
Now if only I can apply this same theory to my personal life and pare down on the clutter, life would become golden. What about you, do you hang on to “things” for their someday use or because you paid good money for them? Or do you have a method for out with the old? One of my goals for the year is to learn to apply our business methods to my personal life of letting go of un-useful items. I really struggle with either a memory that is attached to an item or the fact that I paid good money for it and need to hold onto it for that some day I’ll need it moment.
