Dublin Audio Shops

quiksilver24

Hi, where do people buy good audio recording gear from in Dublin? I was after a couple of decent mics - thinking the Audio Technica AT2020 for voice only stuff. Thanks!

condra

Hi

Music Tech are a nice bunch and good prices too.

http://www.musictechnology.ie/

The Boarder Man

Try Maplin -> Around the corner from Peats, beside Smyths toy shop.

david

Try everything in musicmaker, they have a fair bit of stock, then buy from thomann or musictechnology, unless you want your wallet raped. Maplin only do budget stuff, nothing decent as far as mics go

sei046

i use a behringer b2 and for a behringer its great! been using it for country, metal, pop, choirs. Everythin!

Red Kooga

womoma wrote:

Hi

Music Tech are a nice bunch and good prices too.

http://www.musictechnology.ie/

Are they where Litton Lane Studios used to be?

BadAcidStudios

www.studiosolutions.ie Sound place, ive bought loads of gear from Darren. He usually beats the thomann price on everything and also he delivered to my house in dublin everytime for free.

Great service. Puts MoneyMaker to shame

condra

hey- they delivered to your house in Dublin for free?? Thats pretty kool isnt it!

DId you pay by credit card first or what?

BadAcidStudios

howdy. Yes, free everytime. They are based in Dunshoughlin. I was spending a fair bit of money though. I doubt he would deliver a few cables to your gaff. Last Christmas he called me over the holidays to tell me my software had arrived and he was offering to drive out to me. Great customer service and pricing. No bull**** with this guy
I paid in cash everytime when he arrived with the gear

condra

I paid in cash everytime when he arrived with the gear

Now thats what I can a service!!

Great for people like me who are lazy and dont have credit cards. Might make my next purchase there. Cheers.

Ghost Rider

If it's low prices you're after and you're not a professional (i.e. need much after-sales service), I find Internet-based dealers such as Thomann in general much cheaper than Irish music shops. In fact, they make a mockery of most Irish shops.

Thomann are very fast and very cheap, generally, but they don't give you very good after-sales support. I had a dispute with them once over a misleading listing on their website which led me to make a wrong purchase. It took me a couple of months to realise what had happened but by then they were not interested. I was never allowed to exchange the item, even though it had only been used a few times.

I think such occurrences are probably a grey area, legally speaking, but Thomann weren't helpful about it. I accept partial responsibility, though, so I continute to buy stuff from them occasionally. Mostly they're very good. ( I'd be reluctant to spend a grand or more as I'd need to be more confident of the quality of their after-sales service.)

This and other experiences have led me to conclude that what you can reasonably expect from a music shop depends partially on what sort of customer they think you're going to be.

If they think you're a professional who will buy a lot of high-end stuff from them, they'll treat you with the deference you expect in that sort of business relationship. If they think you're just some random who plays guitar in a band at weekends, many shops feel that you're not worth paying much attention to. Sometimes a certain contempt will even manifest itself on their side.

I've never found this to be more true than in Dublin's city-centre music shops (of which there is one notable exception - see below). For example, I've often found the staff in Musicmaker arrogant and unaccommodating. When I started out in bands - around 15 years ago - they were absolutely unapproachable, probably because they knew I was only going to spend a few hundred pounds a year at most. Now, however, they're somewhat more friendly, perhaps because I'm better dressed and may look like I have a bit more money to spend.

This isn't cynicism, by the way, it's just an observation about the motivations behind businesses. If a business thinks you're an important, or potentially important, customer, they'll be nice to you. If not, they might just look at you like you fell out the back of a horse, and continue tuning their BC Rich.

That said, there is no excuse for rudeness and many of Dublin's shops fall down on that score. The one notable exception is the very excellent Goodwin's on Capel Street. It may not be the best-stocked shop but it is populated entirely by salt-of-the-earth staff who clearly love what they do and will serve everyone well, no matter who they are.

I have no affiliation with Goodwin's other than as an occasional customer, by the way. I just think their efforts should not go unnoticed. While other shops appear to be purely "about the business", Goodwin's feels different.

womoma wrote:

Now thats what I can a service!!

Great for people like me who are lazy and dont have credit cards. Might make my next purchase there. Cheers.

The Agogo

sei046 wrote:

i use a behringer b2 and for a behringer its great! been using it for country, metal, pop, choirs. Everythin!

no offence but personally i think behringer are crap and should be taken off the market. its a cheap exuse of a manufacturer

condra

The Agogo wrote:

no offence but personally i think behringer are crap and should be taken off the market. its a cheap exuse of a manufacturer

Thats a very sweeping statement. In my opinion Behringer offer some great gear for people on a budget.

By all accounts their products are getting better and better. Look at the success of their popular budget studio monitors - Behringer Truths. Or the BCF 2000 midi controllers for Ableton Live.

Ive only ever used one Behringer product, it was a dirt cheap soundcard with lots of features [bca2000] and I never had any trouble with it.

If I was to diss one manufacturer, personally, Id diss M-AUDIO.

jtsuited

The Agogo wrote:

no offence but personally i think behringer are crap and should be taken off the market. its a cheap exuse of a manufacturer

Didn't you just post asking what equipment you need to record?

You've obviously not used the behringer eurodesk. Carbon copy of the Mackie 32:8 and for 500 euro. No company that makes a desk this decent and cheap can be written off.

Particularly by somebody who evidently has a lot to learn.

no offence intended

david

Stop dissing behringer! They have changed so much over the last few years, I remember trying one of their first modelling guitar amps years ago and it was total crap. They actually make good stuff now, their bass heads and cabs are excellent for the price. My setup consists of a few behringer bits and pieces and they've never let me down, I have an FCA202 soundcard and an FCB1010 midi controller, both are no frills and get the job done. I have used their desks live, they are very quiet, nice EQ's, basically everything does what its supposed to do.

david

For a budget home studio you could do a lot worse than picking up a pair of those truth monitors, an FCA202 soundcard and one of the little eurorack UB series mixers. I heard the truth monitors and they are pretty nice, was gonna get a set but i got a great deal on a pair of 8" Samson monitors from a company in England

frobisher

The Agogo wrote:

no offence but personally i think behringer are crap and should be taken off the market. its a cheap exuse of a manufacturer

Ha! Get over your snobery and use your ears.
Alot of behringer gear is very, very usable. I know a guy who did some work with a band on an album that sold 10million+ copies and they were constantly buying cheap bits of kit from behringer to Zoom and using them on the album.

Gear does not make music, people do.

sei046

The Agogo wrote:

no offence but personally i think behringer are crap and should be taken off the market. its a cheap exuse of a manufacturer

I am actually using a eurodesk 9000 and that B2 and i am pushing out plenty of very well selling albums.

Fair play to you on trying out all the behringer gear by the way! I find it really tough to get my hands on all that equipment nevermind put it through its paces!

Hope your studio is going well and maybe i could come up and check out your protools rig someday!

Fair play!

condra

heh that was funny. the dude disses behringer and everyone hops on him.

ok my turn...
eh..

SONY ARE CRAP. THEY MAKE REALLY BAD CRAP. TOTAL CRAP.

- exit left, jumping through the window.

jtsuited

yes you're completely right. sony have not made anything good since about 1990.
Let's make this one a tag team event!!

condra

lol

condra

Someone mentioned Studio Solutions.

http://www.studiosolutions.ie/contact.asp

I was just on the phone with them, pretty decent sort of crowd, although slightly more expensive than Music Tenh Ireland
http://www.musictechnology.ie/

Both of those places generallyy require pre-ordering.

Does anyone know any decent walk-in-off-the-street shops with a good selection of gear? Waltons, for example, doesnt really cut it if youre looking for a good selection of midi stuff.

Music Maker, on Exchequer Street ( 01- 677 9004 )
http://www.musicmaker.ie/
.. today quoted me:
325 for an M-Audio Trigger Finger. :eek:
Its 177 from Music Tech Ireland, and 199 from SS....

365 for an Axiom 61, which is 298 from Thomann, and a similar price from Music Tech Ireland.

So Im guessing there is no such thing as a walk-in-off-the-street shop which offers decent value?

frobisher

Old thread alert!! 2005, nice!

TelePaul

Audio Warehouse....is that in malahide? The name sorta came to me just there, dunno what they're like.

condra

Is that the place on Howth Road? They sell Novation stuff as far as I remember, which is kool.

TelePaul

womoma wrote:

Is that the place on Howth Road? They sell Novation stuff as far as I remember, which is kool.

Malahide I think. Is Studio Solutions site up to date? Their music-ready PCs seem a little pricey to me.

condra

Just to follow up. I ended up buying an Axiom 49 in Music Maker. Seems theyre not actually THAT bad, a big of haggling and you can get something for a bit more than you would from Thomann.

I got my Axiom 49 for 280. I think theyre about 250 in Thomann, so what the hell, it was nice to be able to walk in off the street and try out a few products.

The dude upstairs, Luke or Liam or something, nice chap.

Kelticweb

jtsuited wrote: »

Didn't you just post asking what equipment you need to record?

You've obviously not used the behringer eurodesk. Carbon copy of the Mackie 32:8 and for 500 euro. No company that makes a desk this decent and cheap can be written off.

Particularly by somebody who evidently has a lot to learn.

no offence intended

I have a Behringer EuroDesk1202fx and think it's great!
Got it for 120 euro a few year back. Can't complain...with a good condenser mic you're laughing...