Whatho ho ho all.
Hmmm Christmas.....I don't really have anything I'd want, I have everything I need. What would be useful is time to practise using the stuff I've already got. I'd also wish for time for my collaborator friends, I hear it often that time is pressing for them too.
Would a Neumann u47 really make more of a difference to my songs than taking the right time to improve my production techniques. Nope it would'nt...gear often gets bought but few take the time to learn how to use it properly.
I spent a week's holiday in Norfolk recently (not far from SlavaB actually) , I took my laptop and dug very deeply into my DAW, and discovered a few really cool things, now THAT was like someone giving me a Christmas Present, now I'm able to do things I didn't before, a Neumann wouldn't.
One of the most useful experiments I carried out was a comparison of mic placements when tracking my Acoustic guitars, might save someone a ton of cash, (if they got frustrated with how an expensive acoustic sounds rubbish, conversely a cheapo guitar can be made to sound better - years agoI had a £100 Yamaha FG160 that I used as my strumming guitar for a few years and I was only able to do this by 1. New strings 2. A thinnish plectrum and 3. Careful mic placement) the difference in getting it right meant that my Gibson, sounded as good as it did live, but that takes time and a very methodical approach.
Recently I've been looking at Stereo separation tools like Waves S1, or Stereo Savage, but in my DAW I have a cool feature that's lurking under the Pan knob allows 2D Surround Sound (and Full surround) which does the job better than those 2, (you can place the L and R signal independently wherever you want, in the 2D Stereo sound stage, so a lead vocal can be a little off centre, and if you have 2 Lead Vocalists this allow you to plonk them EXACTLY where you want them... QED. I'm sure you guys know about that in your DAWs, forgive me if I'm preaching to the converted...
Oh yes, and most of all, I wish for really well written user manuals for the software I have, Videos are fine but when one needs to go step by step through a process, there's nothing that can beat the printed word with screenshots. (Kirnu Cream MIDI arpeggiator, one of the worst manuals known to man)
So I guess what I'm saying is you can make your own christmas presents, from what you have already, and yes, it's time not stuff for me.
cpm
p.s. if anyone has some Tannoy Reds they don't want...You hear EVERYTHING with those, a revelation, if once in your life you get the chance to hear them....