Studio Equipment Reviews & Tutorials

Check out my review of the TC Electronic Dark Matter, an affordable distortion pedal that covers everything from blues to rock to metal.

A real underdog, this lesser-known microphone offers very low noise, a tight pickup pattern, and a sound quality rivaling microphones twice its price. Also, it's American-made.

Yes, you can get crushing metal tone from a solid-state guitar amp. Here are your best options when it comes to combos, half stacks and modeling amps.

A simple walk-through of how to tune a guitar with a tuner.

Building a home studio can be pricey, but it doesn't have to be.

It doesn't take a lot of money to find a top quality budget turntable these days! This article takes a look at four of my favorite cheap vinyl record players, and offers pros and cons for each one.

The Akai EIE Pro is a four-channel audio interface for the home studio market. But is it worth your money?

Home recording can get really expensive, and getting the right hardware for the job can be a bank-breaking affair. But it doesn't have to be! This article discusses five computer recording hardware interfaces under $150.

Here's my review of the Nano Clone chorus from Electro-Harmonix, an affordable pedal designed after the legendary Small Clone.

Check out the mighty Ibanez Tube Screamer TS9 overdrive and learn more about how to use this pedal for blues, rock and even metal.

Radio station managers know that sound quality is part of everyday operations. But what is the audience actually hearing? Poor sound and shoddy production may lead to lost messages.

The Electro-Harmonix Synth 9 Synthesizer Machine is an effects pedal that can make your guitar or other stringed instrument sound like a synthesizer.

The DigiTech JamMan Solo XT Phrase Sampler/Looper pedal has a number of great features. Not all of them can be covered in detail in a single review, but I will provide some of the finer points.

The Digitech TRIO Guitar Multi Effect pedal "learns" a chord progression that the guitarist plays and then provides a backup drum and bass tracks based on the chord progression.

This beginner's guide to EZ Drummer will help you get started on that virtual percussion fix you so dearly crave.

Recording software is notorious for costing even more than some instruments, but that doesn't have to be the case. Here are five digital audio workstations under $100 that will do the job just fine.