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.
A Love–Hate Letter to Roland (and Friends) This post may land me in a world of hate—but I’m going for it anyway. Before you stop reading, close the tab, or shut off the video, give me a moment to explain. This probably isn’t the rant you think it’s going to be. Or...
Trying Something That Isn’t “You” One of the quieter threads running through my studio build—never the main focus, but always present—was a simple idea:this isn’t my style, but I want to try it anyway. I am not a clip-based producer.It’s one of the cool things to...
From “I Don’t Need One” to Three: How Patchbays Took Over My Studio In previous posts, I’ve mentioned how parts of my studio redesign occasionally got away from me. The last post was a good example—bringing in multiple styles of mic preamps and compressors simply...
Falling Into the World of Outboard Gear (Without Really Knowing Why) My decision to step into outboard mic preamps and compressors didn’t come from a carefully researched plan or a long-standing sonic philosophy. It happened largely because the opportunity...
On Finishing What We Start Have you ever had trouble finishing what you start? It could be something small, like fully cleaning your studio, or something bigger—building a stand, reorganizing a rack, or finishing a track that’s been sitting on your hard drive far...
Longevity, Legacy, and Why Hardware Made Sense for Me In a previous post, I talked about how many products hit the shelves, we buy them with excitement, and shortly after they’re no longer supported — and eventually discontinued. One night, sitting in my studio and...
Productivity vs. Problem-Solving: Where Does the Time Go? How much time do we actually spend in our studios being productive, rather than trying to figure out why something isn’t working? Regardless of whether your setup is small or expansive, getting everything to...
Troubleshooting: The Part of Studio Building No One Really Talks About One thing I learned fairly quickly during my studio redesign is that troubleshooting happens far more often than I expected. Looking back, that really shouldn’t have surprised me. Studio setups...
What Is Illustrious Sound, Anyway? In this post, I want to take a moment to talk about my YouTube channel, Illustrious Sound — what it is, why it exists, and who it’s really for. At its core, Illustrious Sound is an online studio vlog. It documents what I’m working...
A Studio That’s Still Becoming As I’ve mentioned before, setting up a hardware synth studio was something entirely new for me. It’s not that I didn’t understand cables or basic connections — I did — but I had never attempted anything at this scale before. This was...
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.