The makings of a home studio begin with an audio interface. This essential piece of equipment provides the inputs and outputs we need to connect audio components like microphones and instruments to our computer. With so many audio interfaces available,…
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Who Makes the Best Guitar Stands? [Top 10 for All Budgets]
You may be wondering, “who makes the best guitar stands?” Below are 10 of our top favorites to keep your guitars safe and secure! Keeping Your Space Organized and Functional Is Key We talk about workflow and efficiency in the…
The 10 Best Cheap Microphones for Any Budget in 2023
Mics are some of the most diverse pieces of gear we can own as recording engineers and producers. Some are super versatile and sound great on lots of different sources, and others are a bit more purpose-built. As you look…
Home Studio on a Budget: Getting Started for Less than $1000
It’s 2019: You can make records in your home studio and spend less than $1000 getting set up! Today’s recording tech has given everybody the opportunity to create high-quality music in their bedroom, even with just the bare essentials. We’ll…
13 Best Vocal Plugins For Home Studios in 2023
When it’s time to mix a singer, you should be armed with some of the best vocal plugins you can get your hands on! We’ll be looking at a variety of compressors, EQs, and other plugins that really shine on…
The 8 Best AKG Headphones for Any Budget [2023 Guide]
So you’re looking for a new pair of headphones…you’ve come to the right place. Shopping around can be overwhelming with how many companies are making top-notch stuff. If you’ve narrowed your search to AKG headphones, this list should help you…
The Different Kinds of Microphones and Their Applications
The more you get into the recording craft, the more you’ll start to recognize different kinds of microphones. There’s a huge world of mics out there, but knowing the major types will help you decide what to use. When you’re…
Best Home Studio Monitors for 2023
If you’re shopping for a pair of studio monitors to fit your home studio, you’ve come to the right place. Flat, neutral monitoring is one of the keys to getting the best mix you can—and it all starts with the…
The 5 Best Studio Desks for Home Mixing [2023 Guide]
The studio desk is the centerpiece of your creative space. It should have everything you need at arm’s length to keep the inspiration flowing! Not only that, but it should be comfortable, fit your space, and keep your workflow neat…
4 Reasons to Buy a Power Conditioner for Your Home Studio
Surge protectors are a necessity for expensive electronics. They keep our valuable (and sometimes fragile) equipment safe in the event of an electrical surge. Most of the time a cheap power strip offers basic surge protection, but a power conditioner…
DIY Bass Traps: You NEED These in Your Studio
So much of our success in recording and mixing is dependent on where we’re physically doing it. Ideally, this means purpose-built, acoustically unambiguous rooms designed for professional recording and mixing — big commercial studios with a legacy of fantastic sound!…
Do You Need a Portable Vocal Booth?
Portable vocal booths cater to home studio enthusiasts looking to isolate their recordings. Having too many room reflections is one of the biggest problems of recording at home. Apart from sounding echoey, untreated reflections also produce comb filtering for a…
Bluebird SL Condenser Mic Review
The Bluebird SL by BLUE Microphones is a low-cost, all-around condenser that’s suitable for a range of applications. We’ll take a look at whether you should add one to your mic locker! The Bluebird SL cardioid condenser microphone is a…
The 11 Best Mastering Plugins in 2023
When it comes to mastering in-the-box, you’ll want a great compressor, a limiter, an EQ, and most of the stuff you’re already familiar with for mixing. Many of the best mastering plugins combine the parameters you’ll need into a single…
The Best USB Audio Interfaces For $100 or Less in 2023
Some time ago, we took a look at the best USB audio interfaces for home studios on a budget. The idea behind the list was to compile some of most tried-and-true interfaces for the home recorder likely needing no more…
Waves Announces CR8 Sampler and Sample Finder, COSMOS
Your sample collection is a creative treasure, but only if you can find the right sample when you need it... COSMOS is the first sample finder to use advanced neural network technologies in order to analyze, auto-tag, and sort…
13 Home Studio Essentials for Beginners
An efficient home studio set-up is essential for producers, engineers, and musicians of any level. And luckily, the time has never been better to get into the game. Rapid advances in digital technology over the past decade have made home…
8 Tips for Amazing Low End!
Mixing low end can be tricky, and it is something we get a lot of questions about! Today I will be sharing some tips and tricks that you can use to get great low end in your mixes! We also…
How to Record Acoustic Guitar at Home | 7 Tips
Recording acoustic guitar for the first time can be a challenge. Usually what kind of mic to use and where to put it are the two biggest hurdles for beginners when it comes to getting the best sound, but there…
The DIY Vocal Booth for Home Studios
One factor in getting better sounding vocal takes at home is a DIY vocal booth. It doesn’t have to be fancy, and it especially doesn’t have to cost a lot of money. If your vocal recordings are suffering but you’re…
8 Tips For Getting Better Low End
This is a bit of a contentious subject, and one that is talked about a lot, but it is an important one! Low end is a crucial part of every mix, and if it is not done properly, it can…
How to Master a Song at Home with These Simple Steps
Mastering is the last step in preparing a song or album for release. The overall sonic aesthetic should be well established by the time a song reaches mastering. What you or a dedicated mastering engineer can do is make final,…
Which Audio Editor and Mixer (DAW) is Right for Me?
An audio editor and mixer, simply called a DAW, is the software used to record, edit, mix, and master music, podcasts, post production projects, and anything else audio-related. The truth is, there’s no “best” DAW—only the one that you know…
Mastering in the Box – Tutorial & Plugins
If you plan to put the final polish on your mixes at home, you’ll need to understand mastering in the box. Some techniques involve things like additional EQ, compression, M/S processing, and limiting to finalize a song before release. Generally…
6 Key Ingredients to a Better Vocal Production
If you’re struggling to fine-tune your vocal production chops, don’t be alarmed. Every time a new vocalist steps up to the mic, there are a bunch of variables at play which can skew our results from session to session. Keeping…
The Basics of Recording Vocals
Recording vocals seems like it should be pretty simple. You get a mic set up, the artist stands in front of it, and you’re ready to go…While this is the basic set-up, there’s a bit more to it if you…
Compression Techniques: The Multiband Compressor
Learning to use a compressor is one of the most important mixing skills you can develop. Compression is all over mixes, even becoming the sound we associate with loud, modern pop mixing. If there’s anything you want to really understand, it’s…
15 Mixing Tips I Wish I Would’ve Learned Sooner
It’s perfectly normal to feel like you’ve hit a wall when it comes to progressing as a mixer. A lot of the time we rely on our tried and true methods which get the job done, but ultimately leave something…
What is Plate Reverb and How is It Used?
If you’ve spent any time playing around with reverb in-the-box, you’ve probably observed the common types that exist. Chamber, hall, and room are easy enough to imagine, but what about plate reverb? We most easily associate “echo” with real-world spaces,…
15 Essential Mixing Tips for Better Mixes Today
Mixing music requires technical ability as well as the creativity to make a song interesting to listeners. Mix engineers firstly possess the technical knowledge of audio signal flow, DAW and/or console operation, and how to use signal processors, whether in…
The Best Tips for Producing and Mixing Guitars
A huge part of what we do as producers and engineers is not only make things sound great, but also make sure our musicians are inspired along the way. This is true for virtually all aspects of the music production…
Reference Tracks: How to Use Them and Mistakes to Avoid
Reference tracks are used as a guideline while mixing. They can be supplied by the artist to demonstrate a desired aesthetic, or chosen by the mix engineer as a standard to go by. Using reference tracks can help us craft…
Reverb Mixing Tricks to Elevate Your Mix
Learning how to use reverb is an essential mixing skill. Time-based effects have the ability to add width and dimension to your mix, and give instruments their own sonic space. Reverb is often used to push mix elements further back,…
3 Guitar Amp Micing Techniques
This episode we’re going to go over recording guitar! I have a carl Martin BandMate 15 Roadie, which is a fairly clean amp but you can drive it with a gain pedal. In this instance, I’m going to keep it…
A Beginner’s Guide to Sidechain Compression
Sidechain compression is an intermediate level mixing technique that allows you to set an alternate input signal source from the track on which the compressor is inserted. For instance, if you place a compressor on the bass guitar and “sidechain”…
Home Recording Studio Setup Basics
Everyone’s home recording studio setup varies a little bit. Much of it is dependent on room size, budget, and what you plan to do with it. In a lot of cases, a laptop, audio interface, and a set of headphones…
What kind of equipment do you need to be a mobile recording studio? | FAQ Friday
Hello everyone! We're back with another FAQ Friday! Today's featured question is: What kind of equipment would I need to be a mobile recording studio? The equipment you will need to set up a mobile recording studio will be pretty…
The Best DAW for Beginners is Whichever You Choose!
When you’re new to home recording and mixing, one of the biggest questions you probably have is which DAW is the right choice. There really isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer to that question. What matters most is choosing the DAW that…
Sonarworks Reference 4 Studio Edition with Mic | Demo & Giveaway
Today, we get to test out Sonarworks' incredible Reference 4 software! This software really is game changing because it levels the playing field. This software works to flatten out the speaker responses in your room, no matter what your space…
Does tinnitus affect your mixes? | FAQ Friday
Today's featured question is: Does tinnitus affect your mixes? For those of you who don't know what tinnitus is, it is the sensation of hearing ringing, buzzing, hissing, chirping, whistling, or other sounds, caused by prolonged exposure to loud sounds.…
How Audio Test Kitchen Changed Comparing Mics Forever!
In today's video, we had the opportunity to sit down with Alex Oana, co-founder of Audio Test Kitchen again! The last time we sat down with Alex, he told us all about how Audio Test Kitchen works, and went through…
LCT 640 TS: Our Favorite Mic! | Demo & Giveaway
I'm sure you all know how much we love Lewitt mics here! In today's video we are going to be showing you another great mic from Lewitt, and giving one away as well! The LCT 640 TS is a great…
Waves MDMX Plugin Demo & FAQ Friday
This FAQ Friday we have another double-header in our video! I will be answering an FAQ Friday question, as well as doing a demo of yet another Waves saturation distortion plugin, the Waves MDMX. Before we get into all that…
How would you allocate the money to start a semi-professional project studio? | FAQ Friday
We're back with another FAQ Friday for you! The featured question from today's video is this: If you were starting a semi-professional project studio, how would you allocate the money you have to spend? In order to answer this question,…
Optimizing your workflow | FAQ Friday
As always we have a bunch of marvellous questions in today's episode! So let’s jump right into today’s featured question! "What are some tips for organizing the home studios for improving workflow? Are there any lessons from professional studios that…
How to Mix Vocals Like a Pro
We’ve all struggled with mixing vocals at some point! It’s easy to feel frustrated when we just can’t seem to get it right, especially because vocals are so important for the listener. Fortunately, there are some standard as well as…
How to Use a Compressor – Intermediate Techniques
We’ve talked a lot about how to use a compressor in various stages of the recording and mixing processes. The best way to learn is to get your hands dirty, which you’ll be able to do with some of these…
Audio Gain, Volume, & Gain Staging
Many of us have wondered if there’s a technical difference between audio gain and volume. The answer is “yes,” even though the terms sometimes seem to be used interchangeably. The most important distinction between gain and volume is how, or…
Mixing Vocals: Techniques for a More Exciting Performance
Since vocals are the first thing listeners tend to hone in on, they need to sound their absolute best. The overall sound you’re going for will vary from genre to genre, but the importance of a great sounding vocal is…
Home Studio Ideas: Essential Equipment & Considerations
For aspiring musicians, engineers, and producers, the home studio space is a prerequisite. It’s where you’ll spend countless hours writing songs, recording, mixing, and tinkering! Today, the home recording set-up doesn’t have to cost a fortune—there are many affordable ways…