Musical Instruments

When my children were younger, I remember my wife and I contemplating questions like: when is my child ready for music? and How can I make sure they’ll like it? Even though we’re both classically trained pianists and I write and produce music for a living, we STILL grappled with these questions! Well I’m going to try to give all parents some answers. In addition to my own perspective on this subject, I bounced a few ideas off Jennifer Gasoi (2014 Grammy Award Winner- Best Children’s Album). She obviously has some fantastic insights and tips. You’ll see her perspective liberally peppered throughout this post.

The Yamaha P-145 is an excellent choice if you are looking for a quality, and streamlined digital piano to begin your musical journey.

I’m going to be showing my age here, but I was in high school when the CZ-101 was introduced in hardware form. It was one of those little synths that you could easily pass off as a toy, but packed a lot of punch and eventually proved to be one of the iconic “retro” synths that are in demand decades later.

The solo podcast interface Vocaster One from Focusrite features great sound and a simple design for new and experienced podcasters.

We are all familiar with the iconic DJ scratching away on vinyl, as the art of turntablism grew these DJ would create more complex routines using just vinyl records, turntables and a mixer. Over time with the move away from vinyl to digital, all these complex mixing routines have now moved onto the computer, to be controlled via DJ controllers. One of the big names in digital DJ controllers is Hercules and this year at NAMM 2016 they had some new hardware to show off, the Hercules P32 DJ controller and the DJUCED 40 3.0 software. 

Blue Microphones has released the new Yeti X USB microphone and is providing the opportunity to have professional level audio without professional level costs.

  Home recording technology seems to get better and cheaper with every passing moment. What you can achieve in your spare room or home studio today was only in the realm of high-priced professional installations a dozen years ago. The problem you’ve probably already encountered is that there is a LOT of information out there. I’m going to try and break things down into manageable chunks. I’ll walk you through some concepts you should be familiar with and touch on some gear that you may or may not want to consider.

The Korg C1 Air is an elegant digital piano with excellent tones that will fit in any decor thanks to its stylish cabinet.

Check out my review for the Hercules DJ Control Jogvision and P32 DJ Controller. They are both pro level DJ controllers and both offer a robust set of features along with great build quality. The Jogvision with its focus on core digital DJs, and the P32 with its 32 pads focused on a much more performance oriented DJ.

 If you are in the market for a stereo mixer that won’t colonize a lot of space then the Yamaha MG06X may be what you are looking for. Compact but with incredible power and features, small-scale live performers, DJs, or home studio producers can all benefit from this compact, portable, and well built mixer.