Headphones are the ideal mixing tool. Any noisy neighbours are silenced, the acoustics of your studio space no longer matter, and you can hear all those little hidden details of the audio. So, if headphones are so great, why do professional studios still use monitor speakers? Is there something wrong with mixing using headphones? In this blog, we explain it all!

Accompanying a vocalist on the guitar is a skill that is sometimes overlooked by guitarists, especially when the attention is usually on playing the fastest shred licks possible or how many effects pedals one can fit on their pedalboard. One skill that’s very important as a performing guitarist, and is something that will lead to many more gigs, is the ability to make a vocalist feel comfortable and supported, especially in the context of an acoustic duo which will be much more stripped back than a full band setting, and be more exposing for all parties. In this article, guest blogger and professional guitarist Cameron Hayes tells you all about how to achieve the skill of accompanying a vocalist.

A long time ago, on a day that started just like any other, I was flipping through TV channels seeking some passable entertainment when I stumbled on footage of Woodstock ‘99. Metallica had just taken to the stage, and while my young mind had yet to be introduced to the world of heavy metal, I was immediately mesmerised by the energy and wall of sound this band was able to build. By the end of Kirk Hammett’s minute-long guitar intro to King Nothing, I was sold.

In this blog, guest-blogger Marc offers a step-by-step guide to swapping out the passive pickups of an electric guitar. Here, you’ll find out what tools you’ll need, why you would want to change the pickups in the first place, and discover that the whole process is actually much easier than you might think. In fact, anyone with the right tools and a little patience will be able to do this. So why not replace those knackered old pickups or treat your guitar to a sweet upgrade?

By making a few smart choices when it comes to tweaking the dynamics, any producer or sound technician can pull more impact out of their mix. Here, we offer 5 invaluable volume-boosting tips, and no – none of them involve turning the volume up.

We wouldn’t be surprised if it’s one of the most frequently googled questions: “What are the differences between the various Sennheiser HD 25 headphones?” Sennheiser cleaned up the series a while ago, so it’s about time we put together a clear overview of the differences and similarities between the older and newer versions of this iconic range of headphones.

Most people never even think about vocal microphone hygiene, which is okay as long as you’re the only one using the mike. If not, it’s important that you clean your vocal microphone after use to prevent one singer from passing their germs on to the next. In this humble blog, I’ll explain how you can easily clean a microphone yourself.

If your current set of studio monitors isn’t able to deliver the deepest bass frequencies or if you’ve been noticing that your productions sound a little too boomy in rooms other than your own studio, then it’s probably time that, rather than upgrade to a pair of bigger monitors, you expand your set-up with a dedicated studio subwoofer. Read on to find out whether a sub is a solid investment for you and how you can optimally set one up.

This blog covers the widely used blues scale. Even if you wouldn’t call yourself a blues musician, this magic scale is something that every musician should know, since it not only helps build the fundamentals of blues, but pretty much everything that followed it – including pop, rock, and everything in between.

You’ll come across the ‘fretboard radius’ listed in the specifications and mentioned in the description of any guitar or bass included on the Bax Music website, but what is this mysterious measurement and why is it important? In this blog, we offer the humble novice a crash course in the concept of the fretboard radius and hopefully make picking out the right guitar or bass just a little bit easier.

It’s time to delete Angry Birds and those diet tracker apps you never use and install what you really need: five essential apps that can ease your life as a drummer and help you prepare for any situation that involves drums.

This might sound familiar: you’re at home trying to record audio using an audio interface, a microphone and some kind of recording software. The signal input meters of the software are barely moving so you turn up the gain, only to then sing one or two loud notes and be immediately confronted with the signal clipping as if possessed by the devil himself. If that does indeed sound familiar, you’ve no doubt asked yourself (and the internet apparently): how loud should I record audio?