Guides

The Best Studio Monitor Speakers for Beginners

Last Updated: June 19, 2019 By Sean

Setting up a modern studio is nothing without a pair of studio monitor speakers, and if you’re a beginner, you don’t want to be investing a lot of money on just any piece of equipment. If you’re building a home recording studio or really just want to upgrade your current speakers, you’ve made a great decision (I remember I used laptop speakers and cheap headphones for the first 2-3 years of my production life and although it wasn’t necessarily “bad”, it definitely came to a point when I needed to get more serious). Studio monitors are the perfect solution to have just “better speakers” but also attain a certain quality only musicians will appreciate — a flat response, clear sound, no jumble in the high or low-ends. This combination will allow us to simply make better music, or just enjoy what we listen to more fully. Let’s get into some details before we recommend you some picks.

The Best Studio Headphones for Beginners

Last Updated: July 3, 2019 By Sean

The best beginner studio headphones in our opinion hold a combination of affordability, effectiveness (in regards to sound quality and doing their ‘job’ depending on your use), comfort, brand confidence, and longevity. We’re definitely no strangers to studio headphones in general — we’ve been reviewing these things for the past 5 years. We continue our series of guides that are directed towards more ‘specific’ audiences this year, and today we want to find some models that we recommend when we have friends or readers ask, “what’s the best starter pair of studio headphones?”. Of course, we first say that “it depends”.

The Best Audio Interface for Beginner Musicians

Last Updated: May 30, 2019 By Sean

Finding the best beginners audio interface will take a little bit of research, but after compiling a list of our favorite models here you won’t have to stay long. As we continue to build our beginners music equipment rig, or really ‘home studio’ in general, we’re met with a very important part of our backbone — the audio interface. Ever wonder how we’re able to gather a clear recording signal for our microphones and instruments? How about a way to organize our gear into one easily, controllable box? Audio interfaces are so important I typically tell my readers that we need one of these before any other piece of gear (aside from a computer). Without it, there isn’t a point to get going yet.

The Best DJ Turntable Cartridges

Last Updated: May 16, 2019 By Sean

As we survey all of the major DJ gear and equipment in the market, we continue look through the cracks and crannies when it comes to fine-tuning your setup with the smaller details: the best DJ turntable cartridges. Only for serious scratchers, many of us know that the stock needles and cartridges won’t cut it if we’re serious about actually DJ’ing (considering a lot of DJ’s nowadays don’t even use a turntable!). Even if you’re just learning how to DJ, it’s important you’re here in order to get started on the right foot. Actually, we’d like you to comment below if you do still scratch, and share some of your stuff if you have it online! It’s becoming more and more a rarity, but still a very sacred art (especially to us). Whether you have your DJ turntable and want to upgrade it’s inner-workings or are starting from scratch, let’s get those DJ cartridges upgraded — we found some of the best for you down below.

The Best DJ Laptop Stands

Last Updated: May 15, 2019 By Sean

Finding the best laptop stand for DJ’s can be difficult considering how many models have started to flood the market. Whether you’re performing live and need a solid setup to place your DJ laptop and DJ equipment on, or perhaps a sturdy rig for your studio, we’ve got you covered in this guide. Your budget will definitely deter you in a specific direction, as well as other gear you may use that you need to consolidate and place on this stand as well. Regardless, there is a pretty big range of different types of DJ laptop stands below, so let’s get started in our roundup.