They’re not necessarily the cheapest but worth every penny. If you’re looking for a good entry level to middle end set of headphones, these are great especially for those clients that are a little rough on gear and like to throw inpromptu mosh sessions during AN ACOUSTIC SONG. I’m looking your way John Schug… You strike me as the type to do that. These are great in live situations as well. Like, if you leave them at a church, you won’t get them back looking like they were chewed on by a badger in heat. When you think about it, $99 isn’t that bad to spare you from the embarrassment of having the infamous “badger phones.”

Check out this awesome product description from Sony

I’m not trying to be a Nagger Nelly but, wait wait wait why are you charging at me yelling RACIST sir – Oh nononono I said nagger, as in one who nags people. Whew I really gotta learn to type without actually saying the words out loud. OK where was I? Ahh yes… I’m not trying to ride you about this, oh how nice, someone’s come to sit next to me and this time he’s not mad. He’s actually very… NO I was typing not making a pass at you!! Good grief… I’m never coming back to this Starbucks again.

Ok, I’m covering my mouth as I type this one with one hand.

Do you have a budding little rockstar who likes to record him and his buddies’ jam sessions? How bout a kid in college who likes to sit in the back of class but her recorder never gets the lecture so you’re stuck with a $20,000 tuition and straight F’s? No to both… hmmm… Ok, Are you a tortured musician who wakes up in the middle of the night with the next hit song idea and you write down the chords and melody and the description you get simply says “Falcon Farm?” Ok that’s you? Fantastic, well I got a gift idea. This Zoom H1 Handy Recorder. This recorder features two directional mics in an  X/Y pattern for a broader more in depth stereo sound. Plus, if you don’t like the mics onboard you can plug in an external mic OR even use this as a mic for your DSLR.. Now that sets this over the top for me. Its only $99, making it a perfect buy for all purpose use.

Now if you’ll excuse me… I’m going to another place to write these posts. How can I be posting from a Starbucks if I’m out at sea? Well you know all bloggers are douchebags who have to show off by setting their mac up in a public place so I wanted to further the stereotype. You will NEVER catch me doing that but I got a cheap laugh and a few jokes out of it.

For more info, click HERE
To buy, click HERE

We’re getting really really close the Christmas so I’ll throw a few more ideas up here until then but after that you’re on your own. If you wait that long to buy presents, you probably truly don’t care about the person you’re buying for. (shifts eyes.. Look, I’m not even going to be home this Christmas so they can wait.) Do you have anyone on your list who just wants a regular mic to start out with? Well this was one of my first mics and I actually still use it to this day. At just $99,  you can’t get a better smooth sounding mic with plenty of highs. And if you order now from Sweetwater, you can get it by Christmas. So pick this one up soon.

Audio-Technica’s stringent quality and consistency standards set the AT2020 apart from other mics in its class. Its low-mass diaphragm is custom-engineered for extended frequency response and superior transient response. With rugged construction for durable performance, the microphone offers a wide dynamic range and handles high SPLs with ease. The AT2020: the new standard for affordable side-address studio condensers.

The price/performance standard in side-address studio condenser microphone technology

Ideal for project/home-studio applications

High SPL handling and wide dynamic range provide unmatched versatility

Custom-engineered low-mass diaphragm provides extended frequency response and superior transient response

Cardioid polar pattern reduces pickup of sounds from the sides and rear, improving isolation of desired sound source

Pivoting, threaded stand mount attaches securely for easy and precise placement of the microphone

For more information, click on Audio Technica’s very early 2000′s looking site HERE

To buy, click HERE

Seen here in Pretty Pretty Princess Pink (My Favorite!!) we have the studio projects LSM mic which stands for little square mic… uhh Mic. Seems a bit redundant to put Mic after already having mic in the name. What sets Mic Mic here apart from all of the others is that it has a normal XLR jack AND a USB jack to go in the computer too. I can vouch for Studio Projects because I use their C4 matched pair for overheads on drums and they hold their own so I have no doubts this is no different. At $179, its a bit more than most other USB mics but this one can transition into your setup when it expands to a new pre-amp or console.

Studio Projects announces the release of its latest studio condenser microphone, the LSM (Little Square Mic). Featuring dual outputs, analog mini-XLR and USB, the LSM is as versatile as it is great-sounding.
Boasting a 34mm Von Braun- muhl and Weber-style transducer coupled to a discrete Class-A JFET impedance converter, the Studio Projects LSM has excellent off-axis rejection and easily handles high SPLs beyond 130dB! By virtue of its classic capsule design, discrete electronics and robust build quality, the LSM is geared towards professional recording, but its clever design allows seamless integration into your DDE (Digital Desktop Ensemble) whether for Skype, iChat, podcasting, or video conferencing. The LSM features a compact, thin profile with an integrated, folding yoke that permits the mic to sit on a flat surface freely, or mount onto a mic stand. Equally at home in the studio, or concert hall, the LSM is portable and easy to set up. The XLR output, with supplied cable, is a standard +48v solid state, Class A discrete signal path, while the USB output allows direct connection to Windows or Mac based systems with ease. Choose from four different colors to best suit your tastes and enjoy the sonic flavor of an LSM today!

Look lets face it, you’re going to order pink so HERE’s the link

Its pretty cool when you get enough awesome content on your site that you can re-post it. Its perfect for those days that the bipolar recording equipment industry decides to lock itself in it’s closet and I’m stuck out here having to make excuses!!

Today’s gift idea is perfect for someone starting out and owns a mac and wants an all in one solution for recording (Yea I got REALLY specific here didn’t I.) This is the Apogee One, a very small interface with a pretty good condenser mic built into it as well as inputs for instruments or other mics. Its $249 which isn’t bad for getting something you can plug in and start recording right off the bat.

Like I have said over and over again I travel a lot and I’m constantly looking to track ideas and not have to lug a huge interface and all the bells and whistles along. This interface gives me the option to either bring the rest or leave it and still be able to lay down ideas without feeling like you’re lacking proper equipment. This interface has 44.1/48kHz, 24-bit AD/DA Conversion, a condenser mic, and even software selectable phantom power if you want to use an outboard microphone. The One even features a balanced XLR preamp with +10 to 63dB of gain and an unbalanced 1/4? high impedance instrument input, 0 to 45dB of gain, ALL IN AN INTERFACE ROUGHLY THE SIZE OF A CELL PHONE!!! If you know Apogee, you know that they don’t make crap. This company makes world class converters and equipment that is second to none and I’m sure this is no different. Now that I don’t need to use my Mbox Micro, I’m pretty sure I will be making the swap very soon. I am however very sorry if you own a PC because I’m pretty sure it only works with Mac OS X, but you know, its really your own fault for buying equipment with an operating system not worthy for such an incredible piece of gear!

Once again, here’s the tech specs:

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What?
Well EXCUUUUSSEEE me for not posting enough for you. Shouldn’t you be working or something? Plus you’re totally interrupting my time with your mom (OH SNAP HE DIDN’T) by trying to fill your insatiable need to know what’s going on in the world of recording. You REALLY wanna know what’s going on in the world of recording… Not a lot to be honest. I’m really scraping the bottom of the barrel lately to find you information. Oh well

Anyways, this next gift idea actually works for anyone, but this works especially well for those who hate mice and use recording software. Basically, its a track pad for your PC but it uses multi-touch so all of your scrolling and whatever else you do that probably is sickening can be done all with the swipe of a finger. Good grief that sounds horrible. The Magic Trackpad is $70 and works with Windows and Mac. Its fairly easy to set up and looks pretty bitchin’.

Magic Trackpad gives you a whole new way to control what’s on your Mac desktop computer. When you perform gestures, you actually interact with what’s on your screen. You feel closer to your content, and moving around feels completely natural. Swiping through pages on screen is just like flipping through pages in a magazine, and inertial scrolling senses the momentum in your fingers as you move up and down a page.

Your fingers will fall for the Magic Trackpad. It’s made with smooth, wear-resistant glass that feels great to the touch. And it’s nearly 80 percent larger than the built-in trackpad on the MacBook Pro, giving you plenty of room to perform gestures. Because the entire surface of Magic Trackpad is a button, you can click on objects just as you would using a traditional mouse. And Magic Trackpad sits at the same height and angle as the Apple Wireless Keyboard, so you can go from trackpad to keyboard in one seamless motion.

To pick up one of these, click HERE

I’m sure you’ve been asking a few questions of your own lately and this picture probably poses more questions, but now you see where C gets her rockin good looks… So today C and her Mom are going to grill me with an onslaught of questions. We all know how the ladies get when they team up so I can’t promise all of these questions are going to be recording related but I will try to keep them on track and you WILL learn something albeit, what you learn might be about something totally different than what you expect.

Now the reason I’m getting ganged up on graced with both of their presence(s) is not relavent but probably has something to do with me getting the SILENT TREATMENT last week and both of these lovely ladies have come to set me straight / interview me to see if I’m good enough for C,  but C continues with her segment because she claims she does it for all of you. (yeah ok… we all know its to stay close to your truly.) I’ll let them have the floor now.

Ok everyone, I want you all on your best behavior because today I’m bringing my mom in to help me so lets get a few things out of the way. NO she is not single, No… she is not single.. and oh yea… NO SHE IS NOT SINGLE. Now that we have that out of the way, its time for questions. Ed note: to make this easier C will be “C”, mom will be “M” and I’ll be dashing and debonair as usual. Watch how I RUN this segment.

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I’m trying to keep the gift ideas in a decent price range so I’m featuring the Icicle by Blue. At $60, this is the perfect solution for someone who wants to run a microphone directly into your PC via USB. This is ideal for podcasting, voiceover work, or just to mic a single instrument. Setup is extremely simple. No special drivers needed, just plug it into a USB port and start creating. This is probably one of the best USB Preamps on the market and can work with Phantom Power as well. It even looks like it would…. taste…. Bryan, don’t bite it. Remember what happened with Skullcandy headphone. They did not taste like…. CRUUUUNCH… FFFFFFFFFFFFFFAAARM Animals that hurt!! I’ll let Blue Mics finish this post out while I look for a dentist to fix this.

The Icicle is Blue’s new stylish USB converter and mic preamp combo that allows you to connect any XLR microphone directly into your computer via USB! The Icicle features a studio quality microphone preamp, 48V phantom power, fully balanced low noise front end, analog gain control, and driverless operation. Setup is a snap!

The Icicle works with both dynamic and condenser microphones, providing high quality and hassle-free connectivity with Mac or PC. Whether you’re using a microphone for digital recording, podcasting, voice messaging, or voice recognition applications, the Icicle is the quick and easy way to get connected.

Plug and Record – No Special Drivers Required

Built-in Studio Quality USB Microphone Preamp

Supplies 48V Phantom Power for Condenser Mics

Fully Balanced Low Noise Analog Front End

Analog Level Control

Phantom Power Active Light

Includes 6-ft USB Cable

For more info as usual click HERE
To buy, click HERE

This is the Alesis Video Track and its catered to the market of musicians wanting to have a video recorder that doesn’t require excess video editing or a whole separate mic set up. Its perfect for the person who wants to shoot live videos for YouTube with great audio quality. I know a lot of video recorders nowadays skimp on the audio portion and a concert can sound like you’re riding in the back of a buddy’s truck on the freeway, but this one is different. We have 2 condenser mics set up on it for superb stereo audio. I don’t think it’s HD, but if its going on a video sharing site and you’re wanting more emphasis on the audio, I would go this route.

Bring the Alesis VideoTrack to lessons, use it to capture your blog, grab a great feed of your kid’s recital, keep it with you to record random moments with friends and family… whatever you do, it’ll be easy to take those videos and share them. You can even capture still photos, so the VideoTrack replaces your clunky old digital camera. It connects to your Mac or PC computer via USB for pain-free file transfer and the VideoTrack records to affordable SD cards. Couldn’t be easier — thanks, Alesis!

Alesis VideoTrack Handheld Video Recorder Features at a Glance:

Handheld audio and video SD recorder — and still-image camera

Create web-ready video that’s perfect for sharing

Great for uploading to social sites such as YouTube and Facebook

Features a high-quality stereo condenser microphone set

Quality video lens and advanced DSP image-processing

Runs on internal rechargeable battery, or wall-power source

Records to standard SD and SDHC cards

Connects via USB to Mac or PC for easy video transfer

Its also small, so you can sneak it into places and catch video gold like this

Price: $199 Available HERE

Oh COME ON? You don’t remember THIS song? Look, this blog is childish…but informative so get used to it!!

One of the great things about having software based recording studio setups is something that people newer to the sport see as overwhelming… Automation.

Automation is basically a feature that most software and even some of the higher end mixing consoles have that works as a hands free feature that lets you store certain actions to be set off at a certain time. Its great for fading out tracks or sending a track from one side of the mix to the other. You can even automate effects to trigger other effects. The world is your oyster. Usually the software allows automation in two ways: either manually on the fly or you can use tools to set it up more precisely. Usually, the software has options where you can have the playback stopped and you can select areas and adjust the part you want to change. This gives you more time to adjust settings because you don’t have to worry about hitting your cue perfectly while the track is playing. I tend to work more with the tools than on the fly but each person has their preference. I find that the tools give me more control over how clean the automation is verses how my fades look and sound when I do it manually, but sometimes a human approach can give the song more character because its less mechanical. Either way, this is definitely something you should check tutorials on for your software or console to learn how to use this powerful tool. Since every device is different, I can’t go too far into this, but I’ll be happy to answer any questions to the best of my ability in the comments section. Or at least get you to the place you need to be to get the info.