Jason Darr, frontman of Vancouver hard rockers, Neurosonic, says he is not much of a hardware guy. He is all about the software, but he does have some hardware he loves.

"I find the hardware needs to be used sparingly. The SSL bus compressor is beautiful. I hardly ever have to touch it," says Darr " . . . which I love! It's a great piece. I would like to get a couple more preamps. The Focusrite is ok, but I need something a little more tube-y."

When it comes to limitations of the hardware he uses he picks an unusual beast to single out.

"To be honest, my biggest limitation is my monitoring room. It's not acoustically perfect, so it leaves me guessing a little bit with bottom end," he says. "But I managed to figure the room out. On tour, it's all headphones which is great for mobility, but hopeless. I always have to remix everything when I get home."

When it comes to microphones, Darr uses a Neumann U87 in the studio but, not surprisingly, doesn't dare bring one on the road.

"I break mics. Could you imagine paying for Neumanns every tour? Good God. I don't even bring it on tour," he says. "I just record with an SM7 and it does some great things."

As a U87 runs around $3,700 you really do not want to have to replace them very often.

The SM7, at a much cheaper price (less than $400), is an unusual choice for the road as well. The SM7B is a dynamic cardioid microphone highly touted as having top notch shielding against electromagnetic hum. This makes it a useful mic when in a studio surrounded by computers and electronics. It is more often found in studios than on the stage. It is a pretty tough mic and could probably take a beating.

Darr says the band use Yamaha NS-10 monitors in the studio (with a sub). These speakers, which have not been made since around 2001, have inspired love and hate from studio engineers. But having them in your home studio means you can count on uniformity when you go into a number of other studios.

"They are in just about every other studio, so it's nice. When you walk into other studios with your tracks, you aren't too surprised how the stuff sounds," he says. "I am sure other speakers may sound better, but everything sounds good in the studio, unfortunately, it never sounds that good anywhere else."

If Darr is waiting for any new piece of gear it would, unsurprisingly, be software. he wants a great guitar plugin. He says he has heard good ones but is still waiting on great.

Darr is currently working on other projects.

"I am currently working on some other things on the side. I am producing a record for a band called Jakkarta which is really exciting," he says. "It's heavier than Neurosonic, with an amazing female singer named Bif Naked. [It] Should be awesome. Neurosonic toured for all but four or five weeks in 2007 and for most of 2006. We deserve a little break! Then we'll see where the music takes us.">/p>