many of you are starting out in music production and you've actually asked me
what to buy. particularly, some inexpensive things you could add to your
studio. today, I'm sharing five awesome things to add to your home studio.
everything is under $80. in this list there are things to help you control
your mixer and plugins, a keyboard, essentials for recording vocals, tiny
synths, and something for beat makers! I have tried and tested all of the stuff
in this list. you find links to everything and the latest prices in the
description below. so let's get started. alright first up let's get control of
your DAW's mixer. there are tons of great controllers out there but this one is
super inexpensive, extremely portable ,and just works. this is the Korg Nanokontrol 2.
the form factor of this little controller is awesome the Nanokontrol 2
has been out for a long time, but it doesn't mean it doesn't work. if you need
something super portable and inexpensive this thing is great. you can typically
find this for under $65, but check out the used market too. the knobs and faders
can be used to do just about everything. volume, pan, solo, mute, record. it's great
hands-on control. when recording automation in your DAW. you also have
transport controls for play, stop, and record, and track select buttons.
best of all the Nanokontrol provides out-of-the-box control of DAW functions
for Logic and GarageBand. but if you use another DAW, you can easily assign control
parameters. it's just standard MIDI. the Nanokontrol 2 has an editor software to
customize your controls. you can make it do whatever you want. it works over USB
and you can use this with your iOS apps the Nanokontrol comes in black like
this one or white. I think the best feature of this thing is the faders. I
mean you can control multiple faders with one hand. it's much easier to do
this than with the knobs if you want to know how to make this controller or any
controller work with Ableton Live, to get control of those knobs and faders, watch
my video here. alright if you are a beat maker and want to up your beat making
skills, the Arturia Beatstep is next. this controller retails for much more,
but I frequently find deals that put it below $80. you've probably heard of the
Arturia Beatstep before. it's been out for a long time. just like the Korg Nanokontrol
but don't ignore it. this is a great device to get if you want some DAW
control and and a sequencer for your external drum machines or synths. it even
controls Ableton clip triggering!
best of all, this thing feels so high-quality. I see it on Amazon
frequently for under $80 and on eBay for under $60 in excellent condition. for that
price you get a lot. you can connect it to your computer by USB or your hardware
synth by MIDI or CV. the pads feel really good. they are velocity and pressure
sensitive. the knobs are great quality and they are endless which is really
nice. but I do find that you have to turn them a lot to get some movement in your
software. for hardware synths, you can create sequences and adjust pitch and
speed. now if you really want keys you'll get a similar sequencer features with
the Arturia Keystep which I love but that one is more expensive. if you just
need some inexpensive pads with some sequencing features. the Beatstep
is a great deal. by the way if you're looking for more great studio
accessories check out my video here. I give you ten more things that will help
you around your studio, including a voice control plug and my recommendations for
external drives, USB hubs and drum pad stands. so do you have a piece of gear
that you think is a great value? leave it in the comments below. if you record live
vocals, I've got two mic accessories that you need to get right away. these make a
huge difference when recording vocals, acoustic guitar, anything with your
microphone. and you can get them both for under $60. I record my vocals at home and
my room isn't acoustically treated. so to improve my mic recordings I got this
shield for a steal! this one is the Knox Adjustable Isolation Shield. it's really
small and pretty light so you can mount it on a floor standing mic stand or a
mic arm like the one I have here. depending on your mic the whole thing
might get a bit heavy, but hey for the price it works. it
feels well built and comes with all the hardware you need to set it up. the
panels are foldable so you can reduce the space it takes when you're not using
it. when I tried this out on my vocals, it did block the echo and reverb from the
room decently. the next inexpensive piece of gear is this pop filter. I was looking
for something light and small to use as a pop filter. those gooseneck filters are
great but they're bulky and are hard to position, especially if you keep moving
around your mic like when you're using a mic arm. this pop filter has these rubber
straps that hug your mic gently. the pop filter sits very well on the mic and has
a metal layer and a foam layer to stop those plosive sounds. it fits well on
most condenser microphones like this one by Slate. next on my list are Pocket
Operators from Teenage Engineering these are the PO-12 which is a drum machine
and the PO-16 which is a lead synthesizer.
both are incredibly fun to use. they have onboard sounds which are
surprisingly good quality they have a 16 step sequencer and 16 customisable
patterns. 16 sounds doesn't seem like a lot but when you consider that
you can tweak the sounds yourself. yes! sound design in these small things! you
actually get a good variety of sounds.
when I started sequencing and creating patterns the fun really kicked in.
you can even chain patterns together to create a song and add built-in effects.
it's pretty incredible. now I think these are more for fun or creating unusual
beats and tunes. you may not end up creating the next Spotify hit song on
these. and don't forget you can do a lot with your mobile phone apps these days.
but I was still very impressed by how musical and
intuitive the Pocket Operators are. I took them on my commute, plugged in my
headphones, and made beats on the train.
Teenage Engineering makes different versions of these - a vocal synth, a bass
synth and lots more. and prices vary a little. check the links in the
description for the ones that I have. lastly I've got a great quality keyboard.
this is a great keyboard if you're a guitarist or not primarily a keyboardist.
but the best part of this keyboard is that you get some excellent software
with it. one of my favorite bundles. it's enough to keep you creating for a while.
I put the Arturia Microlab on this list for two main reasons. first it has
excellent mini keys that are my favorite among all mini keyboards. it's the same
key bed as the Minilab which is more expensive. you won't find a nicer key bed
for this price.
the second reason I put it on this list is for the software that you get with it.
you get Analog Lab Lite by Arturia. the software has an excellent interface and
you get more than 600 sounds from synths, keyboards and pianos. Arturia makes
excellent recreations of vintage synthesizers and you're gonna get the
best presets they have to offer with this keyboard. it has a couple cool
features for navigating the software right from the keyboard and it's built
really well. I have a full review of the Arturia Microlab on my channel. you can
watch it up here. if you're finding this list useful hit the like button and
don't forget to subscribe. keep making the music that you love, my friends. and
check out one of these videos next. see you later!