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A groovebox is a self-contained instrument that puts sound sources, a step sequencer and a hands-on control surface in one box, so you can write, arrange and perform a whole track without a ...

Acoustic treatment changes what sound does inside your room. Soundproofing changes what leaks out of it. In a small home studio you want the first one, and you want it in this order: bass tr...

The best podcast microphone for almost everybody is a dynamic cardioid microphone that you speak into from about a hand's width away. Dynamic, because it ignores most of the room. Cardioid, ...

The best microphone for vocals is a large-diaphragm condenser if your room is quiet, and a cardioid dynamic if it isn't. That is the honest whole answer, and everything after this sentence is det...

A USB microphone has the entire recording chain built into its body and plugs straight into your computer. An XLR microphone is only the microphone. The preamp and the converter live outside...

A sampler is an instrument that records a sound, stores it, and plays it back at any pitch you ask for — from a pad, a key, or a sequencer step. That is the entire definition. A synthesizer build...

FM synthesis is a way of making sound where one wave modulates the frequency of another, and the wobble between them creates brand new tones. FM stands for frequency modulation, the same idea as ...

Subtractive synthesis is the art of starting with a bright, harmonically rich sound and carving away the parts you do not want with a filter. You begin loud and busy, then subtract. That is the w...

To connect a microphone to a computer you have two routes. Plug a USB microphone straight into a USB port, or run an XLR microphone into an audio interface that then connects by USB. That is the ...