This episode archive includes gear deep-dives, synth setups, MIDI puzzles, wiring disasters, and the occasional small victory. Each year is organized into a season. Click any title to watch the episode and download companion PDFs when available.
Adding Another Audio Interface: When “One More Upgrade” Changes Everything During my studio makeover, I reached a point where it became clear that my existing setup wasn’t going to support what I wanted to explore next—using outboard hardware with my DAW. That...
When a Good Idea Hits, Run With It One thing this studio makeover reinforced for me is that when a good idea presents itself—run with it. Some of the best improvements I made didn’t come from careful planning or long-term strategy, but from problem-solving in the...
Buying Sight Unseen: Adjusting to a New Way of Building a Studio One concern I had early on during my studio redesign had nothing to do with audio, cabling, or workflow—it had everything to do with buying things sight unseen. Until this project, I had essentially...
USB MIDI vs. 5-Pin MIDI: Lessons Learned the Hard Way This is another one of those situations where a little research up front—or even a quick online search—would have saved me a lot of time. During my studio redesign, I ran head-first into a problem that, in...
Expect the Unexpected: Studio Surprises You Can’t Plan For If you’re anything like me, one thing becomes very clear once you start setting up or redesigning a studio: the number of surprises you can encounter is astonishing. No matter how carefully you plan, it’s...
Unnecessarily Complex… and Worth It “Unnecessarily complex” are two words I kept thinking about while editing this video series.And then I’d remember how much fun I had experimenting, rewiring, testing ideas, and watching the studio slowly take shape. Knowing what...
Reference Monitor Calibration, Passive vs Powered Switching, and the Hunt for a Simple Solution Reference monitor calibration is one of those topics that sounds straightforward on the surface, but can quickly become complex—especially if, like me, you’re running...
The Complexity (and Complications) of Studio Monitor Calibration When redesigning my studio, one of the issues I ran into—and wrote about briefly in an earlier post—was monitor calibration. What seemed like a relatively straightforward task quickly turned into...
Overcomplicating the Workflow: Lessons From Building a Hardware Synth Studio One of the biggest challenges I ran into during my studio redesign was overcomplicating my workflow—largely due to a lack of experience with hardware and an unclear plan for how everything...
From Cassette Tapes to Clip View A Personal Timeline of Studio Technology My first studio—if you could even call it that—was painfully simple by today’s standards. It consisted of a keyboard stand holding two Yamaha PSR keyboards, a Yamaha computer that used...
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