The Michael Brauer Collection Complete Gear Rundown!

[@TroubadourMusic]

To think this was two years ago, and also many other producers and mixers. And yet we still have people filling the chats and threads saying there is no comparison between plugins and gear. I am so grateful for videos like this, that let all of us know that we can have true and free confidence in what we are doing and how we're doing it.

[@jeremyray2647]

The number of critical posts blows my mind...Michael Brauer is an icon, his ears are fine tuned instruments...His work and resume attracts top notch clientele...This equipment has been used on some iconic albums, not to mention is GREAT STUFF!!! I GIVE THIS VIDEO A THUMBS UP!!!

[@sixstring3639]

Love this episode and Brauer himself but you miss the close shots of the gear.

[@jargero8203]

Wow, cool story...

[@earljohnson8851]

Neither the camera man or the editor cared to make sure we found what Michael meant by “this guy here” or “that guy there”. They literally couldn’t wait to get their grubby hands on his gear and posted this. Great work guys lol

[@ReubenGingrich]

😂

[@rocktonmusikschule]

I could listen to Michael for hours. What a legend!

[@WestLondonPianoTeacher]

yeah, I LOVE using 'this' and 'these guys' on my mixes. Nothing like'em! ;-)

[@rockboy360]

It's funny to see all of my plugins in physical form here. I feel poor.

[@realcasper81]

🤣🤣

[@bassinblue]

Actually, I'm looking at it and feeling grateful. Had we been in the old days, it would have taken at least 2 decades to acquire all of that gear, but now we can get them easily via plugin form.

[@ast4127]

Haha 😂but now he switched to them too

[@CristianVargaMastervargas]

who on earth filmed this? He's pointing at stuff that's not in frame, referring to it as "this guy" but you can't see it. take a step back with that camera for cryin' out loud!

[@moodmusik]

Yes, some B-roll would have been useful.

[@jargero8203]

On the next episode of comments that will never be seen by the uploader.....

[@jeffwackenthal7725]

Yeah! what a shame...when you send a guy who is not interested in rec gear!!

[@coffeeshot.studio]

It would be great if this video could be edited to include shots and details of the equipment that is being referred to. It was a little frustrating not knowing what was being pointed at. Interesting all the same though. Cheers

[@chrispratoriusgomez2442]

Letting go can be sad, but also freeing. Good for him. Though it cracks me up...the overall message I hear is "you don't need this stuff, but if you want to buy it..."

[@michaelperez5273]

🤣

[@dannyho6786]

I want CLOSE-UPS of all the units pleeeze !!

[@Rabbit895]

Yes is bothering not been able to see the equipment up close.

[@PeterSykesMusic]

Right?!

[@davidbadstubner4582]

This is utterly amazing, and, at the same time, heartbreaking.

[@m.i.andersen8167]

Cool video. Fun to see the old Ensoniq DP4 in the rack... and the Akai HD recorder-Distortion🤣

[@RaduJon]

Every single iconic piece of sound gear in one room. Makes you feel alive!

[@ytnsanw]

The way he lavishes over each piece of gear and - most importantly - the UNIQUENESS of each piece, makes you wonder how he feels he could reproduce all of this ITB. Presumably he's subscribing to the same 'different but just as good' mantra that the OTB mixers that have recently migrated are...

[@experiment0003]

No bro. Plugins, when properly gainstaged, are as good as or even better than hardware. At this stage, it's not comparing apples to oranges. It's comparing apples to apples, and one apple just seems to be better. It's 100% stable. 100% repeatable... at the fraction of the cost, and it sounds just as good. For example, software EQs recreate the exact same curves and harmonic content of their hardware counterpart. In a controlled blind test, many have failed to pick the right one!!! Oh... and I have tons of hardware I use every day, so I'm not from the demographic of folks that bash hardware because they can't afford it.

[@ytnsanw]

@UCWry_IEC4VIIxgc-965heVg I wouldn't disagree with any of that personally - I'm firmly ITB. I'm just saying that it's odd that HE is asserting that each of these pieces of gear are 'unique', 'customized', 'irreplaceable', etc., all the while summarily abandoning them. If they're that special (to him), why is he getting rid of them? Weird...

[@experiment0003]

@@ytnsanw Nostalgia, I guess. I still have tens of thousands of dollars worth of hardware, even though I know at this point, I can recreate it all ITB.

[@G_handle]

@@experiment0003 You know who would disagree? Michael Brauer....about 9 months ago! I talked with him at NAMM in January about Andrew Scheps dumping all of his life's accumulations, and Michael basically said 'It's hard out here, I already gave up my desk, I aint giving up my racks.' And here we are. If you saw this as anything other than a hostage video, and a man coming to grips with his fate, you missed the subtext.

[@experiment0003]

@@G_handle I get that. It must be hard to let go... some of those gears are one of a kind.

[@SaturnVoyager11]

Where can I watch the video where he sells everything?

[@david_a_uno]

These units should be filmed with a more carefully shot video with Mr. Brauer's commentary, or a museum of American recording history and would generate admission revenue for years to come.

[@brianmclendon1647]

I still love analog gear for no other reason other than it’s fun and I would kill for all of that gear. It’s cool that you can go either way (ITB or hybrid) these days and get great results.

[@G_handle]

​@Alto Music Do you not feel like grave robbers digging through King Tut's tomb, and selling the priceless treasure on Ebay?

[@octavestud4687]

The way he s talking about his gear is emotional ...you know you wont have all these feelings with plugins ....

[@DavidNamdvili]

How many years can this equipment last? because electrical components such as capacitors etc. have an expiration date. is not it?

[@BeGoodNow5]

He shouldn't be selling the stuff, he should be opening up a museum with all the stories behind some of that uniquely customized equipment.

[@ryanrobinson9291]

Dwl...why don’t you buy them then give them free to a museum...u damn jerk

[@johndean5860]

What museum is open during the pandemic?

[@bradmodd7856]

Relax...there will be PLENTY of pultecs and LA2As around for 100 museums now that they are old tech...someone will open one up in time

[@louderthangod]

Brauer may have smoked a doobie with Jeff Lebowski and borrowed his shirt before making this decision. The gear ties the room together.

[@sourcefor]

Very Interesting video and love his mixes, but the prices for the gear are just too high for me.... consider the times we live in..Just sayin! Great gear nonetheless , wish i could afford it!

[@dannyho6786]

this guy is like the twilight zone guy about his books and the end of the world and stuff !!!

[@djlinusmunich]

Just love it so much - thanx - I always feel so low key as a sound engineer after listening to him. So nice ;)

[@lassorb4752]

Everything is the first or the last with this guy 😂😂😂

[@experiment0003]

If you knew who he was (which I'm sure you do), it would make sense.

[@ZenMountain]

I hope this is the last from you.

[@Thermolizer]

I use the Brauer motion plugin on all of my mixes!

[@dizmix]

I hope someone was able to capture all these in the digital realm

[@BoGusaddy]

Obviously the plugin models of all of this gear will be coming out as the Michael Brauer ABCD collection. The only question is, will it be by Waves, Brainworks or UA?

[@vikramjitbanerjeetuki]

I hope and pray that its native and not on the UA dsp platform

[@pauljohn5584]

Not UA. Probably Waves.

[@caustixsoda8125]

Probably UAD, great stuff 👍

[@tiekumark]

Probably Brainworks seeing as they modelled his old desk and as they model so much better than the competition. Brauer actually dropped me a message saying how much he loves the SSL J from brainworks and gave me an absolutely invaluable vocal mixing trick using it

[@pauljohn5584]

Mark T say WHAAAAT?!? 😆

[@johnwalter6410]

This is the sickest collection I have seen

[@DJCroGs]

The end of the video is at 7:44

[@wrongfuture]

If you want to figure out the name of a piece of gear, click the altomusic link in the description.

[@dannyho6786]

man these guys that makethe stuuff must talk amonsgt themselves and say man that brauer kat is a real pain inda arse !!

[@BradJerkinsMusic]

The camera work…. Obviously this isn’t meant to be the pinnacle of cinematography, but….😮

[@kayokk-]

Great video! So nice to get the insights. Thank you.

[@AltomusicNY]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@astralaudio101]

I enjoyed this so much 🙏

[@BoGusaddy]

Hey, camera op! Wake the hell up! If you're not going to follow along when Michael points at something then at least shoot some b-roll!

[@ryanshook8284]

What I want to know is where to score that white T shirt sir :)

[@ChristianPodcast]

Can we go back to the moon with those?

[@ferabra8939]

With jut the Chandler EQ and summing, I would be happy forever. That's 10K there. Brauer has that just for drums and percussion.

[@joeyf808]

Hell has frozen over!

[@zvotaisvfi8678]

How did someone convince this guy to sell his equipment?

[@bassinblue]

It's not easy and he said the transition took him years. From experience, plugins now genuinely are either 100% close to the sound of the old analog gear, or better. I mean for god sake, Giles Martin, the son of George Martin (producer of Beatles) re-masters Beatles albums using plugins (with a handful of exceptions). None of these gears, or plugins can save a track, if production and mix is done badly, which is important to remember.

[@zvotaisvfi8678]

@@bassinblue idk bro i never used a plugin in m y life

[@zvotaisvfi8678]

@@bassinblue to me an elisis 3630 sounds better than ua plugins or waves or whatever any plugin compressor

[@zvotaisvfi8678]

@@bassinblue and you're like "bro no way I totally bought into presonous products!! and ua !!" and its like bro for real dbx 166xs sounds better than fairchild plugin real equipment is like not even the same ballpark bro u just buyinng into computer sales pitch this is music we are talking about

[@zvotaisvfi8678]

but recordings or effigies or falsifications of music, mostly, Real music is live - recorded music is a business card, we use the fancy gear to make better business cards for people to listen to real music in real life

[@badmonkeymusicproductions3569]

Hell hath officially frozen over. Happy for him though.

[@ProTutoriales]

it would be great to know what is he keeping on the hardware side!

[@Pgschuller]

He says that on the video. Basically some of his unique compressors

[@ProTutoriales]

@@Pgschuller gracias pablo, no lo vi todo, ahora si ya lo vi todo :)

[@snapascrew]

I love how so much of it has a crazy story like it’s the first ever, last, super modified, Rupert Neve wired it himself.. lol. Awesome stuff.

[@Electricowlworks]

What is Michael using the Drawmer for?

[@damienlott]

He sounds devastated

[@G_handle]

I'm Devastated!

[@Skkyyyyyyyyyyy]

That direct deposit from the sale will cheer him up

[@mendiapodaca]

Any templates to share from your in-the-box set up? 😏

[@G_handle]

The man is in mourning! Give him some time.

[@macmoll]

20:19 “Say What?” Lol

[@superdad942]

awesome! thank you

[@edukacja2485]

47:04 What's the name of the green compressor which has this cool front door? I can't google it... :(

[@davidgulik5556]

He briefly mentions it, it is the Maxson Dept of Commerce CA compressor. (It seems to go by a few different names but that should get you in the ballpark.)

[@michaelcandido2824]

@@davidgulik5556 tritronics as well

[@michaelcandido2824]

its a one trick pony. works up to 150-10khz

[@practice4089]

46:49 where I keep my weed

[@davidcottrell1308]

ITB all the way!!!

[@iangomes]

Nice, where's the back video?

[@AltomusicNY]

Unfortunately, Michael had to leave before going over the back. However, it's all up on our site! www.altomusic.com/featured/the-michael-brauer-collection

[@G_handle]

​@@AltomusicNY Do you not feel like grave robbers digging through King Tut's tomb, and selling the priceless treasure on Ebay?

[@fdschuler7863]

He's not selling the AWA's.

[@larrytan73]

He prints through a hardware rack to protocols. So he’s not completely in the box

[@mokobigbro]

BIG NEWS!

[@AltomusicNY]

We think so too!!!!

[@hankjohnson3902]

what's a poletech?

[@hankjohnson3902]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/hWPEhKKLj5qCecU

[@Studio55DavidV]

😂😂😂 it’s for a pole jk Pultec - Tube Eq. Legendary. Spectacular for low end.

[@onlygknows7793]

"I got this and I got that " with a camera man like that , one has no idea wtf he is talking about. Also I think he is mostly talking to fellow mega producers.

[@abbery9202]

My boy

[@davewronski]

AMPEX MX10/35? Persona no grata?

[@MichaelBFusion]

Weird, I'm literally listening to that song as I scrolled past this on my way to close the tab...

[@zeebrown7103]

It now belongs to WHO??!!! (faints))

[@ZenonMarko]

DP/4!!

[@greganikin7003]

Oh it’s so sad... we all know that in the box will never sound like gear. Michael doesn’t sound really excited as i can hear, he sounds sad and devastated.

[@AltomusicNY]

While it's not always exciting to get rid of gear (especially of this caliber), Michael has made a career of mixing how he wants, using the exact gear he wants, in pursuit of his signature sound. We assure you, his approach here was nothing different!

[@G_handle]

@@AltomusicNY And yet I now feel less assured after your assurance. Someday we're all gonna find out what Putin has on Trump, and what Alto has on Michael Brauer.

[@kirabarsmith9353]

@@G_handle Trump is financed by Sheldon Adelson, that's Israel, the country that meddles 1,000,000x more in American politics than Russia.

[@frankponeil]

The Brauer Abides

[@SuperLevelone]

WHO THE HELL is talking in the back ground? FIRE THEM!!! lol You are the MAN Michael Brauer.... Love ur work

[@TheJoecoool]

for sell 😍

[@Eventual420]

You’re not going to do much recording without a mic pre, so unless he is just mixing, he will need some gear. I checked through the Website and there are hundreds of items, over 500. I liked the diversity from Behringer to Neve, lots of 1073’s from Neve, BAE, and more. I found a great write up on the Phoenix DRS Q4 EQs, which makes me want to sit down and tweak those some more. Some API, Great River, Dave Hill, and his Helios. This was a great video, I had not heard of Alto before so it was good to make the acquaintance.

[@Eventual420]

CHC4669, I kept mine, I forget what exactly was paid for it, they went down in price to $1200. $600/ch with EQ is very reasonable. Also underwhelmed but found improved use with wide open Marshall amps, as they’re very loud the DRS Q4 isn’t doing as much and the EQ was great for removing the bottom. For quieter sources I use Great River MP2NV and Dave Hill Europa 1. As far as the MP2NV, it can be used with their EQ2NV, and the cost/ch is much higher. Also have the UKSound 1173 which has compression. I agree with you about the DRS Q4, they’re cheap. On the Alto website they have a good write up on the DRS Q4. www.altomusic.com/phoenix-audio-drs-q4-mk2-drsq4mk2-c01

[@Skkyyyyyyyyyyy]

He’s not a producer. He’s a mixer.

[@mrnelsonius5631]

This is awesome. In a lot of ways the guys that came up during the purely analogue days have an advantage over those of us coming up in the box. Why? Because back then you had to REALLY get to know your gear. You learned it intimately. Now, we all have instant access to thousands of plugins. Where does one begin? How do you know what to invest all your time into learning if something “better” is always around the corner? It’s an amazing time, no doubt, but option paralysis is real!!

[@G_handle]

Uhhh...so having too many tools at your disposal, nearly for free, is a disadvantage? When compared to a Man who just liquidated a million dollars, and decades worth of his life work? There were always people too lazy to Learn their tools...you just never heard their names. That won't change.

[@mrnelsonius5631]

G G oh I didnt mean that we aren’t in an amazing time for audio production. We’re insanely lucky. But I also know the people who came up working with the legit analogue equipment in studios are probably stronger engineers than 90% of the bedroom producers now who are having it so much easier, because they had to work with less to still make specular sounding recordings. It impresses me greatly

[@G_handle]

@@mrnelsonius5631 Gotcha. Yeah, I agree that on one hand, limited resources force you to be resourceful. But the Michael Brauers of the world master their tools and craft not out of necessity, but out of internal drive and determination. If you've watched any of his dozens of interviews where he's explaining how he got to what we now call Brauerizing, it was his own dissatisfaction with the results he was getting, already working at the top of the industry standards. His clients weren't complaining, he was. I think a 15 year old Michael Brauer today, with laptops and DAWs and endless plugins, would still be dissatisfied whether it was circuits or code, until he heard whats playing in his head, coming out of the speakers. SSL and Neve gave the man Bus Compressors, and he said why can't I use 10?

[@mrnelsonius5631]

G I actually have not watched much of his, but I know his work well and have massive respect. I’m totally one of the bedroom producers I was talking about haha. A professional touring and recording musician, the engineering side of things is a hobby at this point, but I’m fascinated with it. And my original post was more a criticism of myself and some of the other young musicians I know chasing plugins instead of REALLY learning the principles and mastering the tools. I’m trying to break myself out of it

[@G_handle]

@@mrnelsonius5631 All good, Everyone is always learning. Now you say: "Learning the principles, and mastering the tools". I should just agree with that, however let me expand on it. I would challenge the use of the word "the" in both parts of that sentence. The life we chose is both Science, and Art. IMHO, there's not really The principles, or The tools. And Michael Brauer is a perfect person to study to understand what I mean. I'll explain: Every engineer needs to learn certain fundamentals, gain structure, panning, equalization, dynamics, signal flow, routing, clipping, distortion, etc. Then, there are tools to help with all of that, EQs, Compressors, Tape, etc. Then you learn that all the tools have functions, and you learn how to use em, but they also each have a Sound of their own, that they add to the signal along with their functions. People learned to "mis-use" every peice of gear, to squeeze out their magic juices. Making devices do things beyond what the designers intended. Michael Brauer, among other things, is famous for using Compressors as EQs. He in particular realized that Compressors were doing much more than just compressing, and dove deeper than almost anyone into learning each Compressor's personality. He then added them to the mix like members of the band. He used them for their tone, and their groove, but above all for their Attitude. Then he took parallel Compression to places no one else imagined. He calls it Multi-bussing. He also used multiple Parallel Compressors to build his Lead Vocal "track" blending together the clean vox, with the attitudes of his favorite comps. Something else he does, is very little compression, 1dB of gain reduction, across many Compressors. His Comps are the lead actors in the movies he directs. (Which what makes this hostage video so sad!) Now, if you take Chris Lord Algae, he also Loves his Compressors, but he smashes the hell out of his, with no intention of subtlety. He wants to "Win the Loudness War!" And he's also sold a gazillion records. So who's using Compressors THE correct way? Who's got THE right philosophy? Well let me hit you with one more: Bruce Swedien, who worked with a little known Producer named Q, and an Artist you might not have heard of named MJ, on an obscure little project called THRILLER, the highest selling album of all time. Well Bruce, who learned under Bill Putnam of all people, inventor of the 1176 and LA2A, is on record as stating "Compressors are for kids!" (That said, he did use a silver face 1176 on Michael's vocals. After choosing a $300 SM7 over any of the endless Nuemanns and anything else at his disposal. ) All of these cats are the best of the best. And they all have totally different philosophies and approaches to what they do and how they do it. And literally billions of people shaken their individual asses to the grooves they produced.

[@SanplerVarondaro]

wooowww

[@G_handle]

Is anyone else Deeply Depressed watching this? It's like watching Sampson getting a buzz cut. It feels like a hostage video: "Hey Michael, blink twice if you need us to send in Seal Team Six for an extraction!" First Andrew Scheps and now Michael Brauer, 2020 must be the worst year in Recorded AND Recording history.

[@G_handle]

"JJP and CLA, are you guys safe?!"

[@moscoenterprise8586]

G Dont worry man, change is inevitable and while we might resist - in the end if you want to win you gotta adapt

[@G_handle]

@@moscoenterprise8586 Please! He already won 🏆the race 🏁. He has a case full of Grammys. But now they wanna take the rims and tires off his race car, pull the engine and sell off the parts. Any Vultures approaching Those racks with a screwdriver should be seen as a poachers, hacking off an elephant's tusks for the ivory and leaving the majestic animal to die. Those racks should have gone to the Smithsonian in D.C.

[@moscoenterprise8586]

G “they” wanna take the rims.... - “they”? who are they? It was his decision. i understand that you love his work and therefore value dearly the magical equipment that allowed him to do what he did. It was truly amazing. But perhaps the same genius that led him to do all that work also led him to let go of the past and potentially grow into something even more powerful. Let’s not be biased and instead judge by his future work . but again. with NO biases. imagine it was a joke video of him “mocking” him selling the gear, then we’ll discuss it in a couple years. i encourage you to stay openminded like you great influence Michael Brauer im sure that quality is what helped him crush so many mixes over the years

[@RealHomeRecording]

Blame Serban Ghana. He stole all the work.

[@Counterpunchrock]

Anyone else hope they fired the camera guy?

[@jeffwackenthal7725]

We all want to fire him!

[@dikkdynamite886]

NEVER would sell anything ....Why!#

[@johnwalter6410]

Camera operator sucks. Pointing at stuff we cant see.

[@chris-rb7bm]

nooo don't sell it!!! lol -- good not to be attached to it though :)

[@benb2694]

From someone so accomplished with every resource he needs to hand, it would be nice to have something a little more concise. So many videos are guys offloading ill-prepared streams of consciousness. I feel like a pro bono therapist. Scheps says 3 times more in 10 mins.

[@Synth2000]

I bet that Michael is able to make a good sounding record with an electric toaster and a monocycle

[@CAMMYSINCLAIR]

How did he convince Stevie Wonder to film this??!??!?

[@johnarbuckle2823]

So sad...

[@ladex142online]

why? it's 2020

[@johnarbuckle2823]

@@ladex142online That gear has so much history and has helped craft his sound for a long time. It's a shame that he's letting it all go. Working with consoles and outboard has a certain magic to it and now he's in the box like everybody else. I understand why but it's just sad.

[@atgred]

John Arbuckle “like everybody else”, yes, but...the sound comes from the man!! It is not about the bows and arrows but about the indian!! Everything is a tool, if he thinks the tools are there then he can move on. And to think that the last drop was the pandemic! Heck I’ve had more work since this started happening then before!! I work in a studio with an SSL9k, but then I take everything to my little home studio and mix and master and the clients are happy, so I am happy too!! Being attached to “material things” isn’t worth it. My 2 cents.

[@johnarbuckle2823]

@@atgred Yes, you're totally correct. A good mixer can work with anything. All I'm saying is that it's sad that times change.

[@jargero8203]

How incredibly vague, when attempting to explain "modifications" made to a particular piece of gear. Excellent camera work by the way!! When describing gear on the bottom of the rack out of camera view..... What are we looking at? What a complete waste of 20 minutes of my life I can never get back

[@VEGAN-X]

ID HATE TO HAVE TO PRETEND THAT MUSE DONT SUCK TO STAY RELEVANT

[@michaelperez5273]

He looks like Jerry Springer 🤣

[@newtronix]

What a shame.

[@PandaPotPies]

if he just waited 5 more years they could’ve all actually have been modeled with AI

[@OperationChicago]

Pultech is tha only good one on this list, everything else is garbage on here :(