http://www.attackmagazine.com/features/top-20-best-hardware-compressors-ever-made/

An interesting read about... Compressors.

Just read all of that, interesting stuff. Reading up on some of their other stuff as well, this really is the best kind of shit to nerd out on.

I poked around that site a bit, and it looks like there's stuff there you'd find useful.

I think there's still a couple 3630s in my parents' basement. Perhaps I should take them home over the holidays and see if I can make them do something cool. I think the last time I used one was as a noise gate.

That was a fun read! I'd love to have TIME to play with all of those things and get to know them.. but I fear that as a hobbyist, I can only dream of ever even really engaging more than a coupla fake ones enough to get 1/10000th of the way into knowing what magic they can really do..

Maybe as a dream vacation I'd like to find a great drummer, a great kit, a great room, a heap of awesome mics, and a fairchild with a 2" tape machine?

I can't help you with the Fairchild- rare as the proverbial hen's teeth- but I wouldn't be surprised if there's a well-appointed studio somewhere in your vague general area. I know where there's a couple around here (there's probably a few more private ones I don't know about seeing the giant Sound Workshop and DDA consoles I've seen for sale locally in the past year. ) and this isn't exactly a happening area.

2" ain't cheap though. I think the drummer would be the hard part, outside of scraping up the cash. The tape would really eat into yer budget.

yeah.. a great drummer. WTF was I thinking if i could find it, wouldn't i be playing with that guy?

sheeeit.. there's no budget-- this is fantasy island stuff!

Yeah really. You keep those when you find them! They are almost as rare as Fairchilds.

And yeah, I know; just saying speculatively and all... That being said, there are way more unpossible unrealistic things one could come up with. Shit, it's cheaper than going to Europe or something.