When it comes to gear, the most expensive version isn't always the best. I always look for an inexpensive, or mid-priced version of something that will give me all the features I need. Occasionally, I splurge on a really great piece of gear, like a Demeter reverb or an AEA ribbon mic, because I know there's no getting around the quality of it.

The other intangible that, to me, is just as important, is - who designed it? With every single microphone I use, I know the designer. I can talk to them directly if I need to, and every one of them is totally committed to putting out the best product they possibly can - for the best price. Whether it's an industry veteran like Bob Heil or Wes Dooley, or a relative newcomer like Ken Avant or Brent Casey, they all care deeply about making us - the artists - happy.

MICROPHONES

AVANT ELECTRONICS CR-14 RIBBON MIC

In my quest for an affordable ribbon microphone that I like with my voice, I found the Avant Electronics CR-14. It's a dual ribbon, which gives it a bit more gain, and a lot of richness. I tried it at winter NAMM, and liked it so much, I had to take one home with me.

Avant's philosophy is to build affordable, quality products for musicians, whether you're recording in your bedroom, and using the closet as an iso-booth, or if you're in a formal studio environment with all the advantages that brings. Just talking to Ken and Sue Avant, and their crew, you realize that they are excited about building mics that people really want to use.

HEIL SOUND PR20 & PR30 DYNAMIC MICS

The Heil Sound PR-20 is my go-to performance mic, and I have also used it for recording. When I got a PR-20 and a PR-30 from Bob, I began experimenting with them and A/B-ing them with my Beta 58. Within the week I had sold my 58. There simply is no comparison between the Heils and the Shure. In comparison to the Heil, the Shure sounded thin all the way through and then turned harsh on my head voice. The Heil sounded rich, smooth and full all the way through.

When we rough track, often, we just put up the PR20 as a room mic to capture the performance. What a pleasure to listen to a playback that sounds exactly the way it sounded when you were performing it.

Even if he wasn't making a product I could use, I was honored to meet Bob Heil, designer of the Heil Talk Box. I remember seeing and hearing the Frampton Comes Alive album almost constantly in '76 and '77, and somehow I knew that Frampton used a "talk box" for the effects.

I've always have huge respect for the technical people involved in the music I love, who make it come alive for us all. People like Les Paul, Tom Dowd, and Bob Heil. Without these men, there would be even less music heard between radio commercials...

AEA R84 BIG RIBBON

Wes Dooley is just one of the coolest cats. I'd been lusting after one of his ribbon mics for ages and finally brought one home. What a beautiful mic!

Wes probably had more to do with the resurgence of the ribbon mic than perhaps anyone in the industry. He is well-known for his expertise in RCA ribbon mic repair, but also offers his own line of ribbon mics, through AEA, that give you all the beauty of the vintage mics with more modern durability.

I love talking with Wes. He is just so incredibly passionate about microphones, and all things audio, and he is happy to share his knowledge.

The wonderful thing about microphones is that they all sound different, so the Avant ribbon sound different from the AEA, and a dynamic is going to sound different, as is a condenser. Just like I would use different guitars for different sounds, I also use different mics for different sounds. Options. Ya gotta have options!

WITH WES DOOLEY AEA (AUDIO ENGINEERING ASSOCIATES) - NAMM 2008

STUDIO PROJECTS CS5

This Studio Projects condenser mic absolutely blew my mind when I tried it. To my ear, condensers tend to sound sibilant, so I generally go for a dynamic or a ribbon mic to avoid those issues. But THIS mic. Wow. Brent Casey, the designer, was there when I tried it out, and he started laughing at me when I tried to make the darn thing spit and hiss like most inexpensive condensers will do. No matter what I threw at it, the mic just sounded terrific. Of course I had to have one, so I added it to my collection.

And Brent is another one of the nicest people you will ever meet. That makes for an easy decision to buy - when the person who has designed the thing is right there enjoying your first experience with it - and digging it as much as you do, well, that's a person I want to work with. I am passionate and dedicated to what I do, so it's wonderful to work with technical people who are the same way.

GUITARS

ITALIA MONDIAL DESIGNED BY TREV WILKINSON

I had been playing acoustic guitars for a long time, but since Ed and I started working together, we decided I needed to start playing an electric guitar. We started looking at various options, and soon landed upon the Italia Mondial. For me, it was love at first sight. They say women buy packaging - well - I am afraid I am guilty (at least it isn't sparkly and pink). However, this guitar is as functional as it is beautiful.

The Italia line was designed by Trev Wilkinson, who has been in the "all things guitar" business for a very long time. He is an absolute prince of a man, and has the most unerring eye for aesthetic design - the Mondial, to me, is one of his most beautiful guitars. But there's more. Trev is also a player, so he designs his guitars - to use an often-abused cliche - with a form-meets-function approach.

I have to talk a little bit about this guitar because it has endless possiblities that actually depend on the player who is holding it. It has 2 Trev humbuckers and an acoustic (piezo) bridge, but the difference between this setup and other guitars that appear to be similar is that this guitar has two outputs. The piezos are routed to one output, and the humbuckers are routed to another.

Each has its own tone and volume, and the humbuckers have a three-way selector. You route the piezos to either an acoustic amp or a PA, and they sound absolutely beautiful. No quacking, no harshness. And you route the humbuckers just like you would any other electric guitar. I put mine through a Boss ME-70 to either an amp or to a PA, depending on what I'm doing. You can also route the piezos through effects as well if that is your inclination.

If you just sit back and think about the implications of this setup... You are, in some ways, playing two guitars at once, or you can turn the volume down on one output to feature the other one. You can blend the two. Whatever. I said the options and applications are endless...and each player will find a unique way of using this guitar. What a beautiful thing!

WITH TREV WILKINSON - DESIGNER - ITALIA GUITARS, MIAC 2009

WITH MY ITALIA MONDIAL

TAKAMINE GUITARS

My first guitar was a Takamine G230. When I bought it, I knew nothing about guitars at all - I just wanted to learn to play and write songs with one. It was inexpensive and easy for me to play, so I brought it home, and it is still my only 'songwriting' guitar.
Because I liked my little G230 so well,I have two other Takamines: an EG540C in a maple-top cherry burst and an EG561C in Johnny Cash Black.

I like each of these instruments for different reasons, but the things I like the most about Takamine guitars as a whole is that they are inexpensive little workhorses. They sound great, and stay in tune under duress - the biggest assets for performing with them. No one likes to see a performer diddling around trying to keep her acoustic in tune.

SIGNAL PROCESSORS/OTHER

DEMETER REVERB

There are some things that you just know are right, immediately. Jimmy Demeter's Real Reverb is one of those things. The first notes I sang through it sounded like God was kissing my vocals. There just is no substitute for analog reverb, and this one sounds incredible. Known for designing and building high-quality components, Jimmy Demeter is also one of the nicest people you could know. Need I say more?

BOSS DR880 DRUM MACHINE

Of all the gear I have, the Boss DR-880 is probably the most surprising. When I would write, I would hear certain rhythms or grooves in my head, but it would be so difficult to try and explain them or demonstrate them. Imagine the musician's version of going to the mechanic and making the 'car noises' your car is making, while the guy in greasy coveralls looks at you like you have two heads. Yup, that's what it's like.
This drum machine is great for finding tempo, putting at least a working rhythm under a song, or experimenting with tempo and groove till you find what 's right. For pre-production, it's perfect, particularly if you're working alone, which I have done a great deal. But the surprising part is that with the effects options, that seem to be infinite, you can make this little drum machine sound damn good! I've rough-tracked with it, and once I pick the drum set, and apply the room effects I want, it sounds terrific. The image of the monkey with the toy drum vanishes into thin air when you hear this drum machine on your tracks.
And the best part? I don't get that funny look from my drummer anymore!

OTHER ESSENTIALS

JPS LABS CABLES

These cables are unbelievable. JPS Labs makes high-end, home audio cabling, but they also make cables for instruments, etc. We use the XLR cables, guitar cables, speaker cables, and power cables. Unless you've compared them with other cables, it's hard to believe that a lowly wire could make a difference in what you're recording, but it absolutely does. The JPS cables give us a louder, cleaner signal, and a richer, fuller sound. And they're purple... One of my favorite colors! But seriously, I don't care if they're plaid, paisley or polka-dot - I wouldn't record without them.

VOCAL-EZE VOCAL SPRAY

I love this stuff. It's jam-packed with echinacea and other natural ingredients that are good for you. Although its main intent is soothing over-used voices, its combination of herbals, especially the echinacea, helps fight off colds and what I call the 'creeping crud' where it's not a cold, but you feel really crappy and it's all in your throat - something that happens a great deal in Buffalo winters.

At NAMM '06 in LA I met Ocea, the president of TravellWellness.com, who developed Vocal-Eze and several other products that are geared toward performers and frequent travelers. What a fabulous woman! The products she creates, and the others that she distributes, are top-notch. She obviously knows her stuff when it comes to using herbals in really contemporary, effective ways, and you can tell that her products have evolved from careful listening and thoughtful design.

Oh. One more thing. She has this really cool stuff called Palm Dry. Whoa! Ever get that slimy-hand thing going? A couple drops of this dries your palms and leaves a nice, silky powder on your hands. Guitar players, pay attention. This is good stuff. No more dropping your pick because of sweaty hands.

INSTRUCTION
I have a lot of voice coaches to credit for the approach I now take to singing. First, my weekly coach for many years, Cheryl Hudson. Cheryl has been incredibly open to the new materials I have brought to our sessions, and she gets down in the trenches with me to fine tune my technique and help me make it second nature. I have used many resources to round out my study, but the materials that made the biggest impact, and through which I made the most tangible improvements are the books by Seth Riggs and Karin Ploog.

SETH RIGGS: Singing for the Stars
I got this book/CD a few years ago, and worked on it while on summer break from my regular voice lessons with Cheryl. Like most vocal instruction books, especially post-American Idol, it has a hokey title, but don't let it put you off. If you want to sing, if you do sing, and even if you think you can't improve, the Seth Riggs book is a must-have. I improved my range, tone and technique so much that Cheryl nearly fell off her piano bench when she heard me warm up the first day back from break. If you had to get just one instructional book, and you have already been singing a while, get this one. Its focus is proper larynx position for singing through the break and improving natural range.

KARIN PLOOG: Voice Coaching
The moment I picked up this book and scanned through it, I became an instant fan of Karin Ploog. Her instruction holds the key to singing pop/rock without sounding 'overtrained' in the classical manner. Because of her classical German (not classical Italian) training, Ploog has a very different approach to vocal warm-ups.

The classical Italian training focuses on consonants and resonance. All great stuff, and quite necessary, but for rock, it's only about half the bag. Ploog gives you the other half of the bag. She emphasizes the coordination required to keep consonants on pitch, which is very difficult if you haven't learned to separate tone production from pronunciation. The reason this is necessary for us 'rockers' is that we're singing in English, not Italian, and English is a more guttural language (like her native German). And rock is even more so. I can't tell you how many singers I talk to who say they don't want to do too much vocal training because they are afraid they will begin to sound too 'classical' or too 'polished.' Especially if you've done vocal training, you must pick up this book. The coordination you think you have isn't nearly what you will have once you've done her exercises for a week.