Jessica Monroe

I have been tracking microphone questions in studio forums for years, and the Shure SM7B vs Audio-Technica AT2020 debate never goes away. Both mics show up in nearly every podcasting starter thread, both have cult followings, and both sound completely different in real use. After spending the last 30 days swapping them between my untreated … Read more

Ribbon microphones have been shaping the sound of recorded music since the 1930s, and they remain just as relevant in home studios as they were in legendary recording rooms. I have spent years testing ribbon mics on everything from acoustic guitars to drum overheads, and the character these microphones bring to a recording is something … Read more

I’ve been recording electric guitar cabinets for over a decade at SK Records, and I can tell you the microphone you choose shapes your tone more than almost any other decision in your signal chain. After testing dozens of options across home studios and pro rooms, I’ve narrowed down the best microphones for recording electric … Read more

Recording rap vocals at home does not require dropping thousands on a vintage Neumann. I have spent the last three months putting ten of the most popular budget vocal microphones through real rap sessions, recording bars in my untreated bedroom studio and pulling the files into Pro Tools for a proper side-by-side comparison. The results … Read more

Low-self-noise microphones are condenser microphones rated below 10 dB(A) self-noise, designed to capture quiet sounds without adding audible hiss. Our team spent six weeks recording whispers, acoustic guitar fingerpicking, and room tone with eight current models, and the quietest we measured was the Superlux CMH8AMKII at 5 dB(A). When I record a soft acoustic guitar … Read more

I spent the last 90 days testing every MIDI controller I could get my hands on under $100, and I want to share what actually worked in real production sessions. As someone who has been producing music for over a decade and runs a small home studio, I have logged thousands of hours on budget … Read more

I have been making music on the road for years, and a 25-key MIDI controller is the single most useful tool I keep in my backpack. When our team set out to find the best 25-key MIDI controllers for portability in , we packed 10 contenders into messenger bags, hotel desks, and coffee shop tables … Read more

I have gigged with MIDI controllers for over a decade, and if there is one thing I have learned, it is that the wrong keyboard on stage can ruin an entire performance. The best 61-key MIDI controllers for live performance need to survive being shoved into a car trunk at 2 AM, plug into whatever … Read more

Finding the right 88-key MIDI controller with weighted keys changes everything about how you play and produce music. Whether you are running piano VSTs like Pianoteq or Ivory, composing orchestral arrangements in your DAW, or performing live with software instruments, the keybed underneath your fingers determines how expressively you can play. Our team spent months … Read more

I’ve spent the last three months testing MIDI keyboards side by side in Ableton Live 12, running everything from finger-drumming sessions on RGB pads to full orchestral arrangements on weighted keys. The short answer: the best MIDI keyboards for Ableton Live aren’t necessarily the most expensive — they’re the ones whose DAW scripts make Session … Read more