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Recording

A handheld gateway to the world of home recording.

Doesn’t require a power supply or batteries. Works with any plug-in or DAW. Very simple interface.

Differences between preamp emulations are subtle.

$129

Positive Grid Riff
positivegrid.com

5
3.5
4.5
4.5

It’s never been easier or less expensive to take part in the home recording experience. And Positive Grid’s newest entry into the interface market, called RIFF, exists at an impressive nexus of portability, functionality, and price. For around the cost of a decent overdrive, it’s a handheld audio interface that skips the bells and whistles for the sake of making a tool that just plain works.

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When Louis Cato received this Univox LP-style as a gift in high school, it needed some major TLC. A few years later, it got some practical upgrades and now makes regular appearances with Cato on The Late Show.

Photo by Scott Kowalchyk

The self-described “utility knife” played drums with John Scofield and Marcus Miller and spent time in the studio with Q-Tip before landing on Stephen Colbert’s show as a multi-instrumentalist member of the house band. Now, he’s taken over as the show’s guitar-wielding bandleader and is making his mark.

It’s a classic old-school-show-biz move: Bring out the band, introduce them one by one, and build up the song to its explosive beginning. It’s fun, dramatic, audiences love it, and that’s how every The Late Show with Stephen Colbert taping starts.

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Time to level up from those wimpy computer speakers.

One of the most important aspects of your audio signal chain is how you hear your creations. For those dipping into the home-studio life, here are 10 entry-level options for monitors that balance power, portability, and price.

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With automatic level setting, an omnidirectional condenser, and a pair of phantom-powered XLR inputs, iZotope's latest puts a lot of recording power into your iOS device.

It just ... works. Very good mic. Easy to setup.

App is iOS only.

$299

iZotope Spire Studio (2nd generation)
izotope.com

4
4
5
4

Since COVID upended the world, nearly every serious musician I know has become at least slightly better at recording. And that uptick in engineering interest may make iZotope's second iteration of the Spire Studio portable multitrack recorder worth checking out for those looking to strike fast when they're inspired. I was up and tracking less than three minutes after unboxing the unit.

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Four top speaker-emulators from Mesa/Boogie, Two Notes, Boss, and Universal Audio get the PG review-roundup treatment.

Guitarists have searched for ways to capture big amp tones at low volume since time immemorial, or at least for the last few decades. The quest became more urgent during COVID, as many of us needed to carve out sonic space for remote-schooled kids, telecommuting roommates, and housebound neighbors griping about loud music, not just on evenings and weekends, but 24/7.

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