Living with GAS

dav | 2021-06-03 04:23:32.950207+00:00

Gear Acquisition Syndrome, have you heard of it? It's a real thing that probably affects nearly all of us at some point. GAS is not just confined to the home/pro studio world but also to photographers, musicians, gamers and any other area you could imagine. So what is it exactly? According to Wiktionary, GAS is 'a tendency to purchase more equipment than justified by usage and/or price'. In other words, the desire to buy more and more gear that you probably don't really need. It's worn out many a bank balance and even a few relationships too.    

If you find yourself suddenly unimpressed by all the gear you currently own and scrolling through review after review of a plugin, hardware unit, microphone, new musical instrument or (name the gadget) you possibly have GAS. You feel "if only I owned this 'insert gear' I will be complete, my studio will suddenly be pro and I'll never need to buy another thing". So you buy it. The feeling when it arrives is unbelievable - except for the twinge of guilt as you look at the growing amount of junk you're accumulating (it's spilling out into other rooms and you're getting an ear full from your 'insert' (wife, girlfriend, boyfriend, husband, housemate etc). Anyway, you're completely satisfied for a few weeks and confident your big spending ways are over. One Saturday morning you're flicking through your emails and there's one from your favourite gear shop. You hesitate but open the email - a quick look can't hurt.  There, right in front of you is the latest must have item. This truly is the holy grail and to not have it would be a serious disservice to your studio. Even though there's a few people out there saying it doesn't quite live up to the hype, you're convinced. And so the circle repeats...

If this sounds familiar, you're definitely not alone. I have linked some articles below that can help you explore GAS more and provide you with some helpful tips to fight your desires. Possibly the one that helps me most to put things into perspective is to assess 'need' vs 'want'.  Is there a serious problem that this gear will solve or is it something I can probably do without? For example, if you want to record full bands but only have a two channel interface, then buying an interface with more inputs is necessary. On the other hand, if you already own three Fender Stratocasters but want a new one in sunburst, perhaps this is something you could do without.

• 7 Stages of Gear Acquisition Syndrome
• How to cope with GAS
• 10 Practical Tips for Fighting GAS