WRITTEN BY SAM BUSEKRUS
ASSISTANT EDITOR, BOOM BOX POST
With Christmas right around the corner, I decided to go around the office and ask what everyone wants from Santa (but audio gear only)! I thought it would be a fun way to get in the holiday spirit and give our readers on the blog some ideas if they’re looking to get gear! Check it out below.
Treat Yo’self
Ipad Apps
Bebot
It looks very rudimentary but its actually a pretty powerful and useful synth. It's touchscreen is polyphonic, which means you can use multiple fingers at once to play chords and harmonies. Plus, you can perform sweeping slides and expressive gestures that would be practically impossible on a regular keyboard. I use it a lot for creating 50s sci-fi and theremin effects.
SynthMaster One by Kv331 Audio
Super useful synth thats pretty intuitive. It has a ton of presets to get you started and more preset sound banks for in-app purchase. I mainly use this one for creating beeps and boops and lots of different telemetry by adjusting the harmonics and decay parameters.
Aparillo
A ridiculous synth with so many options and avenues for design. I could honestly play with this one all day. It's super user-friendly and like I said the sky's the limit with creativity in this app. There is an option to buy the full version which also gives you more versatility and more presets to play with and tweak.
Plugins
Dorrough Stereo by Waves
Honestly, every sound effects editor, designer and mixer should have a copy of this. It's of upmost importance to watch your levels not only when youre mixing but to be able to see how loud or quiet you are cutting your effects that eventually make it to your mixer. Waves makes a dorrough meter super accessible by making one as a plugin, rather than having to purchase a standalone, out-board meter.
Berzerk by Waves
Super cool plugin for creating wild, deranged, creative distortion. It has many parameters for versatile design plus the 'Go Berzerk!' button for randomized, unpredictable distortion to get the creative juices flowing. It's easily becoming a go to for distorted design.
For the home theater enthusiast
Budget Friendly
Onkyo SKS-HT690
This speaker set up is great quality for the price!
Monoprice Caliber In-Ceiling Speakers, 6.5in Fiber 2-Way (pair)
These are nice because you don’t have to worry about having the space for them. Great bargain!
Higher dollar option
Axiom M22 On-Wall Speakers
Axiom VP100 In-Wall Center Channel Speaker
With Axiom, I get a nice, thick wood, ported cabinet. There's a little room in there to move some air. The speakers a pretty flat as far as tone and quality, which for watching movies and playing video games is perfect for me.
SVS Prime Satellite Speaker
SVS PB-1000 Subwoofer
SVS is a pretty well-respected name with home theatre speakers, so their sub was a no-brainer for me. OH WOW! If I could describe the boom coming from this entry level unit, it would be buttery smooth. Just amazingly clean, no distortion. Total cinema quality. Highly, highly recommend anything from SVS. As for the surrounds I chose the SVS primes, simply because of their quality and reputation. Also, I just didn't like the look of the axiom surrounds. These SVS primes are mounted on-wall, with a standard mounting bracket.
The SVS and Axiom play well with each other. Whenever sound moves from F/R, between speaker brands, it's feels very seamless.
For the dialogue editor in your life
SONY dynamic stereo headphones MDR-7506
You can never go wrong with these headphones. Good standard headphones for sound editing.
Izotope RX advance
If you work in dialogue editing, you need this. It’s a life changer. It would dramatically fasten your workflow.
Full-size mechanical keyboards (Apple magic keyboard)
Full size keyboard+shortcuts is the foundation of your editing work.
Amp up your sound design
Melda Productions MFreqShifter
I really like this one as the presets it comes with are highly differentiated that it gives a great variety to show all ion what the plug-in is capable of doing and is visually designed so that it’s easy to see what to adjust to create a vast variety of effects from simple to complex and can easily create a multitude of variations of sounds from a single sound.
Native Instruments Reaktor 6
I love this plugin as it really can be made to be an interface for a multitude of plugins to be used for design. Everything from synthesizers to modulation plugins to dynamic effects and everything in between, along with a workspace that allows for users to even create their own plugins within the plugin and can upload those to the massive library of user designed, mostly free plugins on Native Instruments’ site.
Waves MondoMod
I really like for its purposes of modulating oscillation and especially enjoy using it for the design of scifi vehicles.
Recording Equipment
Sony PCM D10
The best recorder is always the one you have with you. A great portable recorder is a must have for every sound editor and recordist.
Sennheiser HD25 Headphones
A trustworthy pair of headphones are worth their weight in gold. The Sennheiser HD25s are an excellent pair for the discerning editor and recordist.
Sound Devices Mixpre 3
My new favorite portable recorder. The Mixpre series combines lightweight portability with high quality Sound Devices sound.
Sound Effects Libraries
The Everything Bundle by PM SFX
PM currently has a great deal where you can buy all of their sound effects at once for a discounted price. Get it now while you can!
Boom Library Magic Bundle
Boom Libraries bundles are a great value because you get excellent source recordings in addition to some awesome designed builds. Magic is an extremely useful collection that can be used for a wide range of design.
Boom Library- Monsters and Beasts
Here’s another Boom library that seems like it would be a great purchase! There’s some really cool sounds in there!
Foundation Series: Sci-Fi volumes 1 and 2
This is a great budget friendly bundle!
Boom Box Post Libraries
While we’re talking about cool libraries, I should point out that our own libraries just went on sale for the holidays today!!! Woo! You can get 20% off anything with the discount code HAPPYHOLIDAYS.