Guides

Audio Cables and Connectors: A Practical Guide
Cables and connectors are the least glamorous part of any sound system and one of the most important. A single failing cable can stop a show, add hum to a... Read more...
Network Audio Explained: Dante, AVB and AES67
Network audio has changed how studios, broadcasters, venues and installations are built. Instead of heavy analog multicores and dedicated digital cables, many channels of audio travel over standard Ethernet, and... Read more...
Microphone Preamp Buying Guide
Every microphone signal passes through a preamp before it reaches a recorder, mixer or interface. The preamp raises the microphone's very small signal to line level, and it does so... Read more...
100 V Line Sound Systems: An Installation Guide
Walk into an office, hotel, school, shop or airport and the music and announcements you hear almost certainly come from a 100 V line system. This distributed approach lets one... Read more...
How to Choose a Power Amplifier for Loudspeakers
A power amplifier takes a line-level signal from a mixer, processor or player and turns it into the high-current signal that drives passive loudspeakers. Matching the amplifier correctly to your... Read more...
Studio Headphones and Headphone Amps: A Guide
Headphones are used at every stage of audio work: tracking in the recording room, checking detail while editing, monitoring on location and listening critically at home. A headphone amplifier makes... Read more...
Wireless Microphone Buying Guide
Wireless microphones give singers, presenters, teachers and performers freedom to move without tripping over cables. A good wireless system should sound as clear as a cable and be just as... Read more...
How to Choose PA Loudspeakers for Live Sound
Whether you are a band playing weekend gigs, a DJ, a church, a school or a rental company, your PA loudspeakers decide how your audience hears every word and note.... Read more...
Analog vs Digital Mixing Consoles: A Buying Guide
The mixing console is the centre of every sound system. It brings microphones and playback sources together, shapes their tone, balances their levels and sends mixes to loudspeakers, stage monitors... Read more...
How to Choose an Audio Interface for Your Studio
An audio interface is the bridge between your microphones, instruments and monitors and the computer that records them. It contains microphone preamps, converters, headphone and monitor outputs and the drivers... Read more...
Condenser vs Dynamic Microphones: Which to Choose
Choosing between a condenser and a dynamic microphone is one of the first decisions every singer, engineer and podcaster makes. Both types are used in the best studios and on... Read more...
How to Choose Studio Monitors: A Buying Guide
Studio monitors are the most important tool in any room where music, podcasts or soundtracks are recorded and mixed. Every decision you make about level, tone and balance is based... Read more...