Best studio investment you ever made... for LESS than $100?

What's the best $100 or less you ever spent on you studio or production workflow?

Hardware, software, training videos, strings, cables, Fiverr commission, anything goes... so long as it didn't cost you more than roughly $100/€90.

High quality used patchbays, Countryman active DI, deluxe bass bigmuff (gets used a lot mixing, no joke... don't ask me how though) or ART T8 isolation transformer rack... not a lot of purely studio gear I've gotten for under 100 clams that's immensely useful and 100% working and if I had to fix it my time is worth some cash so...

Probably my 6 proco patchbays.

OK, I've been thinking about this one for a few days.

If I'm looking at the little things that made a huge difference, that have lasted years, that I would re-buy without hesitation:

1. ANYTHING that enables ideal speaker height. 20 years ago, it was 2 cinder blocks, a 2" thick plank of pine some guy at Home Depot cut for me, and 2 repurposed mousepads used to get my (g)early-departed Event PS6 monitors to proper ear-height. Then I was using rack cases to right-height things. Now it's these stands from IsoAcoustics, that list for wayyy too much, but were scored for about $100 on an open-box deal from Reverb. I was constantly fussing with speaker placement until I got these. Putting my tweeters at roughly ear-height always makes a night-and-day difference for me. Not angling them up to my ears, I've tried to get away with that, but placing whatever cone makes the highs right at ear hight... that's my happy place.

2. This bag of colored patch cables from Amazon. Link I'm a recovering cable snob who once soldered an entire studio's worth of cables from high-end Belden cable stock, Neutrik connectors, and industrial-grade solder so toxic I nearly passed out a few times. All cables are filters. There ARE slight sonic differences between cables. These cables from Amazon are damn-well good enough for my needs. They're well-made, sound just fine, and having the different colors is great. I paid $65 for the bag of 6 a few years ago. Looks like this assortment is currently out of stock, but I'm sure someone on Amazon has cables of similar quality for a similar price. If you've got a box full of random different patch cables, of different ages, qualities, sizes, etc, that you've amassed over the years, a few bags of these are a great replacement IMHO.

3. This solid AF desktop mic stand that can hold an SM7B firmly in place without an adaptor from now until the sun swallows the earth Amazon It streets for a shade over $100, but I negotiated a local seller down to $100 +tax. My review

4. Update! One of those tiny MIDI controllers you can fit in a backpack Link Admittedly, I think I paid $130 USD when this thing first came out, but you can now find them used and open-box for $100 or less. I've been really happy with the quality, feel, and software support of this Arturia model, but I'm sure the similar offerings from Akai and Novation are decent choices too. What I like is being able to have my main work area as uncluttered as possible, and just grab this thing (one-handed) and plunk it onto my desk when I need some control. If I had a big keyboard directly in front of me, I'd just want to noodle all day and I'd get less done. I've fit this little Arturia into a standard-size backpack so many times... it's come in far more handy than I ever thought it would.

For me it’s shure sm57. That microphone sounds fantastic. Nowadays I use it all the time, even as a vocal mic

For me it’s shure sm57. That microphone sounds fantastic. Nowadays I use it all the time, even as a vocal mic

That's an investment that will last you your whole life, too. I've come across some very road-worn 57s beat to hell, with the finish half-gone, but they always keep working.

For me it’s shure sm57. That microphone sounds fantastic. Nowadays I use it all the time, even as a vocal mic

That's an investment that will last you your whole life, too. I've come across some very road-worn 57s beat to hell, with the finish half-gone, but they always keep working.

Good enough for snare if you're careful positioning it, makes an even better doorstop than a microphone and can definitely be used to knock out intruders... if you replace the awful output transformer it stops just capturing a signal that vaguely corresponds to the source and starts to transcend snare and home defense applications. But hey...

Good enough for snare if you're careful positioning it, makes an even better doorstop than a microphone and can definitely be used to knock out intruders... if you replace the awful output transformer it stops just capturing a signal that vaguely corresponds to the source and starts to transcend snare and home defense applications. But hey...

Do you have a better $100-or-less workhorse mic in mind?

Do I ever! I bought my beta 57 for under 100, not sure what they go for now but they're way better than a 57 and the tighter polar pattern excels on snare where hat rejection is not really the 57s strong suit... but the real 57 slayer is the audix i5. 99 bucks new all day. When you a/b it with a 57 on any source but guitar speakers it's a no question winner. On guitar amps it still wins but some feel really drawn to the mushy, hyped upper mid of a stock 57. I used to just put a 2nd mic up fir 57 guys and then name them a and b and let them pick blind for the mix and 50% of the time the dude thinks the audix is the shure... given my druthers I mic guitars (and hats) with my royer r10 though. I also put condensers on Tom's a lot of the time, use fatheads as cymbal spot mics and overheads, stick an re20 or md421 in the kick, track the analog signal from drum triggers to use as gate keys, record totally mono sources in blumlein or xy stereo and lots of other things that fly in the face of common web wisdom when I have time and resources.

I built my own "fx loop" pedal for on-board fx that "bleed" and need to go through the front of the amp versus the fx loop (EX. ring mod for certain songs). Cost me $9 in total parts and I use it regularly. Has a "blend" knob and everything.

I built my own

My 4 favorite words.

I built my own "fx loop" pedal for on-board fx that "bleed" and need to go through the front of the amp versus the fx loop (EX. ring mod for certain songs). Cost me $9 in total parts and I use it regularly. Has a "blend" knob and everything.

$9? And you designed and built it yourself? You win.

Oh? I didn't mention this was a contest?

Well it is now, and you won.

How about you delight us with some pics of this frugal invention?

Oh? I didn't mention this was a contest?

Well it is now, and you won.

Whoa there... if we're throwing guitar gear in here everyone will be changing their answers.

Oh? I didn't mention this was a contest?

Well it is now, and you won.

Whoa there... if we're throwing guitar gear in here everyone will be changing their answers.

I never forbade guitar gear... I even mentioned strings as an example. I suppose "best GEAR investment" would have been a better topic title. My apologies.

I'm withdrawing my original answer. For under 100 bucks I'm saying a tackle box full of 1% metal film resistors and panasonic polyester caps with a few components each of every common audio circuit value. You can really solve a lot if problems with a well organized box of resistors and caps.

I'm withdrawing my original answer. For under 100 bucks I'm saying a tackle box full of 1% metal film resistors and panasonic polyester caps with a few components each of every common audio circuit value. You can really solve a lot if problems with a well organized box of resistors and caps.

What's your current favorite source for purchasing such components at these quantities?

The 'Mr Fixit' kit actually came from Amazon. When I need bulk parts in OEM packaging I usually do Mouser over Digikey. Although neither stocks styroflex caps anymore... for esoteric hifi parts or tube stuff I typically do antique radio supply.