Direct inject boxes are invaluable tools for recording studios, live venues and home studios/jam spaces. They are perfect for clean recordings in quiet apartments and loud stages alike. Though the brand is far from the most critical factor in any given DI box, it’s relevant to know the top players regarding direct inject boxes. In…
For guitarists and bassists enthusiastic about hardware effects, the stompbox/pedal collection can get rather large. Choosing the right effects pedals and the order of such stompboxes is one thing, but keeping them all organized and easily transportable is another ordeal. This is where pedalboards come into play. Though there are plenty of multi-effects and all-in-one…
Studio equipment racks, among other studio furniture, play both a practical and aesthetic role. Designed to hold expensive studio equipment securely while making it easily accessible, a high-end studio rack will also look nice to you and your clients. Perhaps you’re only starting down the path of rackmount studio gear, or maybe you’re a seasoned…
Professional audio equipment is expensive, and replacing or repairing damaged gear costs significant time and money. To keep high-end rackmount gear safe, especially during touring gigs and other travel-intensive work, professionals and amateurs rely upon quality-built rackmount cases. There are plenty of options for road cases on the market, yet for rack-mounted audio equipment, there…
Portable Bluetooth speakers provide incredible flexibility when it comes to listening to audio and general entertainment. Whether you’re connecting to a cell phone on the lake or to your laptop in your room, a quality Bluetooth speaker can improve your listening experience wherever you go. With so many options and features to choose from, it…
A quality soundbar can save listeners a good amount of money versus buying HiFi floorstanding or bookshelf speakers for their entertainment system. Soundbars are a considerable improvement over stock television and computer speakers, and many are of great value when the price is factored in. Though the brand is far from the most critical factor…
A quality desktop DAC (digital-to-analog converter) can work wonders to improve the relatively poor audio quality of consumer-grade digital audio playback devices (computers, cell phones, etc.). If you happen to want and need a desktop DAC, there are plenty of options on the market. Though the brand is far from the most critical factor, it’s…
A high-end portable DAC (digital-to-analog converter) has the potential to improve the comparatively poor audio quality of consumer-grade digital audio playback devices on the go or in more stationary systems. If you happen to want and need a portable DAC, there are abundant options on the market. Though the DAC’s brand is certainly not the…
Though listening to vinyl records makes up a small percentage of how music is enjoyed today, the “vinyl revival” has brought renewed interest in this vintage format. This, in turn, has brought more attention to turntables (also known as record players or phonographs) and how they, too, affect the listening experience of these phonograph records….
Phonograph/vinyl records have been around since the 1940s and are still a fairly popular method of listening to music. To play vinyl records, one must have several pieces in his or her sound system, including speakers, a power amplifier, a record player (turntable), and, as we’ll discuss in this article, a phono preamplifier stage. Note…
Acoustics (and psychoacoustics) is a complex study yet a crucial factor to consider when setting up home and pro studios. Proper acoustic treatment of listening environments and control rooms is essential for ideal monitoring, while treatment of live rooms and iso-booths is necessary for optimal recording conditions. Though it’s rather complicated to master the comprehension…
MIDI cables are perhaps the least-talked-about cables in the world of audio. This is probably because, generally speaking, they either work or they don’t. While audio cables will perform differently depending on factors such as balancing, EMI shielding, resistance, capacitance, inductance, etc., MIDI cables are much more cut-and-dry. They either transfer MIDI information or they…
