 Oh, sorry, I was just catching up on this Facebook debate about whether it's best to record at 48 or 96 hertz. You know what, I think I may have been doing it wrong. I may go back and re-record my whole back catalogue in fact, which of course I haven't actually got around to releasing yet. Hi folks, I'm Mike and I hope you're well. I wanted to thank my cousin Gary for allowing me to use his office space here for this video while I'm away travelling. I did tell a little lie in the intro, however, I have actually released most of my back catalogue through the sponsor of this video, DistroKid, link in the description down below. What I didn't lie about was the fact that I am often distracted by ultimately useless debates in social media about various aspects of music production and I think most of it is down to a very human condition needing to be right. So I want to make perfectly clear that what I'm about to say is in no way based upon any scientific research or studies. This is merely the meandering observations of a 55 year old man. Talking about men, you may have noticed there's an awful lot of us in music production. And one of the currencies men seem to trade in apart from physical strength or financial success is knowledge or knowing stuff. Whether it's how to fix a car or how to cook a sausage on a barbecue, I've noticed that men determine their pecking order often according to who knows the most stuff. And there's an awful lot of stuff to be known in music production. But here is the thing, knowing is no substitute for doing. Let me give you a scenario that may sound familiar. John here has just finished building his first home studio, complete with RGB lighting and foam tiles. In a moment of pride, he takes a photo and posts it on a busy Facebook group. Along comes Barry. Barry informs John that his foam tiles are as useful as a chocolate teapot. And the answer is broadband absorption. And don't even get Barry started on bass traps and on how if you don't have them, your mixes are bound to underwhelm even your own mother. Then along comes Trevor. That's you. Trevor reads this interaction and it's firmly implanted in his brain that Barry is the alpha male. Now, what's often lost in this scenario is that John here writes incredible compositions which often move people to tears. While Barry, despite his extensive knowledge of broadband absorption, has never really allowed himself to become vulnerable enough to create the kind of music that people can really connect to. Now, don't get me wrong. I definitely endorse the use of good sound treatment in your studio. But I'm afraid to say that bass traps are not a doorway to the soul. Now, whilst there's quite a number of topics debated on social media about music production, there's a few that seem to do the rounds again and again. These include 44.1 or 48 versus 96 Hertz for recording or which door is best, or Mac versus PC or hardware versus plugins or studio monitors versus headphones. And now, Atmos, don't get me started. The problem is that whilst you've won that Facebook argument with your superior knowledge and you've emerged as the alpha male, in the meantime, that mix on your hard drive hasn't improved even one little bit. And that vocal arrangement you were going to record, which was going to draw listeners in and give them a sense of completeness, hasn't progressed even one bar. But that doesn't really matter, right? Because you weren't going to complete those projects until your new mic preamp arrived. And those plugins that you're going to get in the Black Friday sales. Scientists have recently discovered that there's a direct correlation between how much time you spend on social media and how much gear you think you need for music production. Actually, that's not really true. I don't think scientists have got time to research that kind of thing. But let me ask you, do you spend a lot of time on social media? Do you have a growing feeling that you need more gear and plugins? Let me know in the comments down below. Of course, you need that new microphone, right? Your favorite YouTuber said so. Well, probably they didn't exactly say that. They probably showed you how that piece of gear could slightly improve the sound of your music, but they don't usually imply that you absolutely need it for success. The reality is, you don't need to spend that much money on gear these days to get great results. And I can promise you this, no piece of gear or plugin can replace the experience you get from actually making music. Not only do I recommend getting on with recording your music, but I recommend completing it to the best of your ability at this current stage and releasing it to the world. Releasing it ensures you won't keep going back to tweak it. There's only so much experience you can get from one piece of music. Now, when you do release your music, I highly recommend that you use the sponsor for this video, DistroKid. It's really easy with DistroKid and it's very cheap. You just upload your music and your artwork and DistroKid does the rest for you. Follow the link in the description down below. So, of course, there's great value in social media. It gives us access to knowledge and opinions that otherwise we may not have had. But be careful with opinions, whether they're someone else's or your own. Opinions don't make great music. Just ask Barry, his music is crap.