Reviews, guides and buying advice for microphones, audio interfaces, studio monitors and acoustic treatment for UK home and professional studios.
- 101 topics
- 731 articles
Inside Studio Recording
All 101 topicsThe 12 most-searched of 101 topics. The full index is at the foot of the page.
Acoustic Panels
Acoustic panels absorb reflections and improve clarity, making studios sound more accurate and professional.
Monitor Stands
Place studio speakers at the right height and reduce resonance with sturdy monitor stands.
Soundproofing Panels
Shape your room for cleaner sound with soundproofing panels for recording, monitoring and mixing.
XLR Cable
Professional XLR cables for clean, balanced microphone and studio connections in home and commercial recording setups.
Audio Interface
Audio interfaces connect mics, instruments and monitors to your computer for recording, playback and mixing.
1 topic
Dictaphone
Record voice notes, lyric ideas and quick demos with a portable dictaphone for simple studio and mobile use.
Mic Stand
Shop mic stands for stable microphone placement in recording sessions, rehearsals and live performance.
Focusrite
Discover Focusrite studio gear for recording, monitoring and producing music with dependable sound quality and easy ever...
4 topics
Sound Proof Panels
Improve studio acoustics and listening accuracy with sound proof panels for recording and mixing spaces.
Apogee
Apogee is a premium studio brand known for high-quality audio interfaces, conversion and professional recording workflow...
1 topic
Cable Management
Keep your studio neat, safe and easy to patch with practical cable management solutions for any recording setup.
Focusrite Scarlett 2i2
Shop Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 interfaces for compact, reliable recording of vocals, guitar and small studio sessions.
Articles on Studio Recording
All news
Everything You Need to Know About Rode Radio Microphone
A RØDE radio microphone could mean a wireless system or a broadcast microphone — here's how the range breaks down, what each system does and how to choose the right one for your application.
Everything You Need to Know About Mic with Usb Port
USB microphones make professional recording simple and affordable. Discover how they work and why they're ideal for podcasters and home recordists.
Soundproofing Panels: A Complete Buyer's Guide
Buying soundproofing panels starts with setting a realistic budget and understanding which products block sound transmission rather than simply absorbing room reflections.
Everything You Need to Know About Rode Nt Usb Microphone
The Rode NT-USB delivers a studio condenser capsule in a plug-and-play USB package. Here is what it actually is and whether it is the right choice for you.
Silent Club Headphones: A Complete Buyer's Guide
What to actually check before buying silent club headphones — RF versus infrared, realistic range and battery expectations, comfort, and whether renting makes more sense.
Vocal Booth: A Complete Buyer's Guide
Yamaha Hs5: A Complete Buyer's Guide
A practical checklist for buying the Yamaha HS5, from confirming you're ordering a pair to making sure your room and interface are actually ready for it.
U 87 Neumann: A Complete Buyer's Guide
The internet has strong opinions about which one to buy. Here's the practical version: what actually matters, what to check, and what you're paying for.
Boom Mic: A Complete Buyer's Guide
Buying a boom mic comes down to a handful of real decisions — pickup pattern, power, and the rig you build around it. Here's what's worth your budget and what isn't.
Common Presonus Mistakes to Avoid
None of these mistakes are stupid, just easy to make once. Here's what actually trips people up with PreSonus gear.
A Guide to Active Subwoofers
An active subwoofer looks simple, but the engineering inside it does more than you'd think. Here's what it actually is and what it's for.
Focusrite Interface 2i2: A Complete Guide
Focusrite audio interfaces deliver professional-quality preamps and reliable performance at accessible prices, from entry-level Scarlett models perfect for beginners to professional RedNet systems for...
Common Shure Microphone Mistakes to Avoid
Shure gear is forgiving, but several common errors still undermine otherwise solid setups. Here is what goes wrong and how to correct it.
Focal Headphones Explained: Features, Types and Tips
Focal headphones are built around a driver design rooted in forty years of French loudspeaker engineering — here is a plain-language breakdown of what that means in practice.
Reamp Box for Beginners: A Complete Guide
Reamping lets you record a dry signal and apply hardware tone later — this guide covers the connections, level setting and DAW routing for first-time users.
Usb Audio Interface Explained: Features, Types and Tips
A USB audio interface is essential for quality recording. Understand what makes a good interface, key specifications and whether you actually need one.
U 87 Neumann Explained: Features, Types and Tips
The mic most people picture when they imagine a studio microphone. Here's what it actually does, what changed over the years, and why it's stuck around.
Acoustic Panels Explained: Features, Types and Tips
Acoustic panels are the most practical way to improve a room for recording. Here is how they work, where to put them, and what they can and cannot do.
Shure Sm7b for Beginners: A Complete Guide
The Shure SM7B looks intimidating to a first-timer, but it isn't. Here's a calm, step-by-step guide to getting yours set up and sounding right.
Shock Mount: A Complete Buyer's Guide
The right isolation mount matches your microphone's diameter and weight — this guide covers every factor worth checking before you buy.
How to Set Up and Use Mic to Xlr
The exact order that avoids pops, blown speakers and confused troubleshooting — gain down, connect, power up only if needed, gain up.
What Studio Recording Covers
Studio recording brings together the equipment and techniques used to capture, edit, mix, and produce music to a professional standard. From a compact home setup in a spare bedroom to a purpose-built commercial facility, this discipline is the foundation of virtually every release heard on UK radio, streaming platforms, and beyond. This category covers the microphones, interfaces, monitors, and acoustic treatment that make great-sounding recordings possible at any budget.
Microphones and Signal Chain Essentials
The microphone is the starting point of any recording chain. Dynamic models from Shure and Sennheiser handle loud sources and live applications, while large-diaphragm condensers — from Sontronics, RØDE, AKG, and Neumann — capture the detail and air that vocal and acoustic instruments demand. Ribbon microphones add vintage warmth for strings, brass, and room ambience. The signal then passes through a preamp: either the built-in circuitry of an audio interface or an outboard unit from Neve, API, or Universal Audio that adds character and clean gain before conversion.
Audio Interfaces and Monitoring
An audio interface is indispensable for this process, converting analogue signals into digital audio while providing inputs, outputs, headphone monitoring, and phantom power for condenser microphones. Focusrite's Scarlett range is the UK's most popular entry point, with Audient, Universal Audio, RME, and Apogee offering more headroom for professional use. Accurate monitors from Yamaha, Adam Audio, Focal, and Genelec are essential for making mixing decisions that translate well on other playback systems — placement and room treatment matter as much as the speakers themselves.
Acoustic Treatment and the Recording Environment
Acoustic treatment is frequently the most overlooked element of home and project studio recording setups. Broadband absorption panels, bass traps in room corners, and diffusion panels control reflections and standing waves that would otherwise mislead your mixing decisions. Treatment is not the same as soundproofing — you can significantly improve a room's sound quality with relatively modest investment in panels and corner traps before spending thousands on additional microphones or monitors.
Building Your Studio: From Home to Professional
A UK home setup can begin with a computer, an audio interface, a condenser microphone, closed-back headphones for tracking, and a DAW such as Logic Pro, Ableton Live, Pro Tools, or Cubase. This foundation covers songwriting, demo production, and basic mixing for a few hundred pounds. As requirements grow, investment shifts towards more microphone options, a higher-channel interface, outboard preamps, monitor controllers, and patchbays. Professional commercial rooms additionally require isolation, extensive acoustic treatment, robust backup systems, and client-ready acoustics that justify their hire rates.
