Trevor Baron is a piano and theory teacher with years of experience and the creator of Illustrious Sound—a blog-style magazine and video journal shaped by student questions and a love of learning. He shares tools, reflections, and experiments from his own path into music production and home recording.
When the Studio Finally Starts to Settle As I started nearing the end of 2025, something shifted in my studio. Things began to take shape in a way they hadn’t before. Ideas and plans started locking into place. The frantic moving of gear slowed. The endless rewiring...
Dreaming During 2026 NAMM Season I’m writing this post at about the same time NAMM 2026 is happening, which means the floodgates are open. One new gear video after another starts appearing across synth YouTube channels, each one promising the next big thing. I’d love...
When a Failed Build Leads to Success It’s funny how one thing can quietly prepare you for something else—often without you realizing it at the time. If you’ve followed my studio transformation from a software-based setup to a hardware-focused one, you may have noticed...
First Steps Into Outboard Gear: Choices, Constraints, and Learning as You Go If your home studio includes outboard gear, it’s worth asking: how did you decide what to bring in? When I started building a shopping list for outboard gear, my goal wasn’t to chase specific...
Choosing a Direction: Why Our Studios Become What They Become I’m not certain of the exact release date, but the Klark Teknik EQP-KT seemed to appear sometime around 2017. I remember seeing them and immediately wanting a pair. The problem wasn’t interest—it was...
Sometimes You Just Have to Buy the Thing You Wanted I remember the first time I saw the ART MX822 line mixer back in 2021. I was in a music store looking at keyboards, and that little mixer was what they were using to connect everything together. I already had a few...
When You Get the Rare Chance to Do It All Again It’s not often you get the chance to redo your studio.Or maybe it is—for some people. For me, converting my studio from a software-based setup to a hardware-focused one felt like a one-time opportunity. I was starting...
When Planning Stops Working and You Just Start Cutting Building the extension for my 19-inch rack unit was one of those moments where planning something out on paper simply wasn’t going to work for me. I could have measured everything, written down heights and widths,...
From Perfect Plans to Practical Compromises In a previous post, I talked about how many different configurations my old software-based studio went through before I finally found something that worked. One detail I mentioned in passing was just how many bookcases that...
A Small Modification, Done Just Right One of the studio modifications I’m still rather proud of is the construction—if you can call it that—of the computer keyboard tray attached to my second production desk. On paper, it sounded simple. In reality, it turned into a...
The creative divisions of Bach To Basics Inc., each rooted in music education and inspired by the interests of my students—from teaching and publishing to recording and studio learning.
Live online piano and theory lessons for students of all ages—personalized and taught worldwide via Zoom through my teaching studio, Bach To Basics Music. Visit Site
My independent music label for sharing recordings, creative experiments, and behind-the-scenes studio work—often tied to lessons in recording and music production. Visit Site
A blog-style magazine for home studio learners and curious creatives—featuring real-world tutorials, tools, and discoveries inspired by my students and teaching experience. Visit Site
A personal space where I share my work as a composer and orchestrator—alongside study notes, sketches, and insights into learning music through composition. Visit Site
Educational resources and sheet music for students and teachers—designed, tested, and self-published based on real classroom and studio use. Visit Site
Each issue of Illustrious Sound brings together the blog articles you see here into a curated, downloadable PDF magazine. Whether you’re a music teacher, student, or just love learning about the creative side of music and audio, this free magazine is a great way to dive deeper. No email signup required—just click and enjoy.