Home Recording Blogs - The Home Recording Studio

05May 2026 by Jon

I Watched a Pro Mix My Track… This Completely Changed My Approach

Blog, Home Recording Blogs, Mixing, Recording & Mixing

Recently, I had one of my tracks mixed by professional engineer GI Holm — and instead of just sending me the finished mix, he actually walked me through his entire session. What I expected was a fairly standard breakdown. What I got instead was a completely different way of thinking about mixing. In this post, I’ll share some of the key takeaways from that session — including a really unique approach to controlling drum bleed that shows you really can mix drums without a gate! Watch the Full Breakdown https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIn_dxhQTMk 1. Mixing Is Mostly Balance (Not Plugins) One of the first things that stood out was how simple the initial approach was. Instead of diving straight into plugins, GI starts by: Pulling all faders down Bringing everything up gradually Setting…

06Apr 2026 by Jon

How to Sound Like Peaky Blinders: Writing Dark Folk Tension Music

Blog, Composing, Home Recording Blogs, Recording & Mixing, Techniques

The music in Peaky Blinders has become just as iconic as the characters and storytelling. From gritty folk textures to dark cinematic tension, the soundtrack plays a huge role in shaping the atmosphere of the series. With the release of The Immortal Man, interest in this style is higher than ever — especially among composers writing for sync libraries, film, and TV. In this guide, I’ll break down how to create a Peaky Blinders-style track, focusing on the key elements that define this sound — and the one ingredient that makes the biggest difference. Watch the video here:- https://youtu.be/VsnuIAZ4qPU What Defines the Peaky Blinders Sound? At its core, the Peaky Blinders sound blends: Dark, minimal harmonic movementFolk-inspired instrumentationGritty, organic texturesSlow-building tension It’s not about big orchestral arrangements — it’s about…

20Jan 2026 by Jon

How Long Does Podcast Editing Really Take?

Blog, Home Recording Blogs, Podcast, Recording & Mixing, Techniques

Recording a podcast episode is usually the easy part. Editing is where most creators underestimate the time involved — and where entire evenings quietly disappear. If you’ve ever finished recording and thought, “I’ll just tidy this up quickly”, only to still be editing hours later, you’re not alone. So how long does podcast editing really take? — and when does it make sense to outsource it? How long does podcast editing actually take? As a rough rule of thumb: Audio-only podcastsEditing typically takes 2–4× the length of the episode Video podcastsEditing often takes 4–8× the length of the episode (sometimes more) In real terms, that means: A 45-minute audio episode → 1.5 to 3 hours of editing A 60-minute video podcast → 4 to 8+ hours, especially if clips are…

22Nov 2025 by Jon

Logic Pro Lo-Fi Hip-Hop Tutorial: Stock Plugins Only

Blog, Composing, Home Recording Blogs, Logic Pro, Mixing, Sampling, Sound Design, Sound Effects, Virtual Instruments

If you’re a Logic Pro user, you probably rely on your favourite third-party plugins for saturation, reverb, tape wobble and all the usual Lo-Fi magic.But what happens if you take them all away? In this video, I challenged myself to create a full Lo-Fi Hip-Hop track and DAW template using nothing but Logic Pro’s stock plugins and built-in sounds.No FabFilter, SoundToys, analogue-modelled tape plugins. Just Logic. And as it turns out… Logic’s stock tools are far better than many producers realise. https://youtu.be/_PCNuw20JEk Why I Created This Stock-Only Lo-Fi Template I recently teamed up with Production Music Tools to design a Logic Pro Lo-Fi Hip-Hop DAW Template that would be: beginner-friendly affordable based entirely on Logic’s native tools easy to learn from and adapt To make it fully accessible, I could…

19Nov 2025 by Jon

Black Friday 2025: The Hottest Deals on Plugins, Sample Packs & Libraries for Home Studios

Blog, Home Recording Blogs, Mixing, Recording, Recording & Mixing, Sampling, Sound Effects, Virtual Instruments

Black Friday has quietly turned into Black November for music producers. Deals are already rolling out across plugins, sample packs, and virtual instruments – perfect if you’re building (or upgrading) a home studio on a budget. Below is a curated roundup of this year’s 15 essential Black Friday destinations, including my own store Tangerine Sounds and a short “Ones to Watch” section for sales that haven’t fully launched yet. 1. Tangerine Sounds – Lo-Fi Drums, Guitars & Keys 🎛️🧡 https://www.tangerinesounds.com Boutique lo-fi hip-hop sample packs and virtual instruments created specifically for mellow beats, boom-bap and chillhop. Black Friday highlights: Cat Toy Drums sample pack + virtual instrument both discounted Lo-Fi Essentials Sample Pack reduced from £9.99 → £3 Lo-Fi Lab: free prototype instruments available alongside sale items Best for: Lo-fi…

22Sep 2025 by Jon

How to Create Your Own Virtual Instrument with Decent Sampler (Step-by-Step Guide)

Blog, Foley, Home Recording Blogs, Recording, Sampling, Sound Design, Techniques, Virtual Instruments

Are you interested in making your own virtual instruments for music production? In this post, I’ll walk you through exactly how I created my latest instrument — Cat Toy Drums for Decent Sampler. I’ll share the full process from concept and recording, to sound design, scripting, GUI design, and beta testing. By the end, you’ll have a clear roadmap to start building your own instrument with Decent Sampler. And if you watch the video I’ll also share a special promo code to save 30% on my Cat Toy Drums virtual instrument. https://youtu.be/3gjkWspZfIE Step 1: Start with an Idea Every instrument begins with a concept. Mine came from a quirky inspiration: creating drum samples out of cat toys. I was originally inspired by Lofi Sounds, who built a sample pack from…

03Jul 2025 by Jon

Convolution Reverb: Create Your Own Impulse Responses

Blog, Home Recording Blogs, Mixing, Sound Design, Sound Effects, Techniques

Looking to capture the sound of your favourite hardware reverb and use it digitally? In this guide, I’ll walk you through how to create your own convolution reverb impulse responses (IRs) using free tools — perfect for bringing analog effects like spring reverbs into your DAW workflow with zero hassle. I recently faced this exact challenge. I wanted to use my Behringer 636 analog spring reverb in a more seamless way inside my digital setup. Routing audio in and out of a DAW every time? That gets tedious. That's where Convolution Reverb comes in. https://youtu.be/OJE0Iyht_Bg 🎛️ What Is Convolution Reverb? Convolution reverb is a powerful technique that uses a sample of a real acoustic space or hardware unit — called an Impulse Response (IR) — to recreate that reverb digitally.…

03Jul 2025 by Jon

Cat Toy Drums: Lo-Fi Drums With Purr-sonality

Blog, Composing, Foley, Home Recording Blogs, Recording, Sampling, Sound Design, Sound Effects, Virtual Instruments

If you're a Lo-fi Hip-Hop producer looking for something fresh, characterful, and a little unexpected — Cat Toy Drums might be your new secret weapon. This unique drum collection was created using recordings of actual cat toys, food bowls, litter bags, and other feline-related objects. These quirky foley sounds were carefully crafted into usable kicks, snares, claps, hi-hats, rimshots, shakers, and cymbals — perfect for mellow Lo-fi, Boom Bap, and downtempo beats. 🥁 What Is Cat Toy Drums? Cat Toy Drums comes in two formats: 1. Virtual Instrument for Decent Sampler (Free Plugin) The Decent Sampler version gives you a playable instrument with built-in effects and tweakable controls: Individual control over pitch, decay, pan, and reverb send Convolution-based reverb featuring spring and real-world spaces Lo-fi Speaker Mix knob using small…

25Apr 2025 by Jon

Analogue vs Digital Guitar Effects: Which One Wins?

Blog, Home Recording Blogs, Mixing, Recording, Recording & Mixing, Sampling, Sound Design, Sound Effects, Techniques

It’s an age-old debate that continues to divide musicians and producers: analogue vs digital guitar effects. Does analogue truly deliver a warmth and character that digital can’t replicate? Or have digital effects come so far that their convenience, flexibility, and quality make them the obvious choice? https://youtu.be/vKmwvrjAGqY While working on my latest sample pack, Vintage Vibe Guitar Loops, I wanted to put this question to the test. So, I processed the loops with some classic vintage gear: the Behringer 636 Spring Reverb and an Akai X360D Reel-to-Reel tape recorder—the latter used as a tape delay. How I Used Analogue FX in My Workflow To create the tape delay effect, I routed audio from my DAW through a hardware mixing desk into the Akai tape machine. By putting the tape recorder…

25Apr 2025 by Jon

The Secret Sauce Behind This Hip Hop Track

Blog, Composing, Home Recording Blogs, Mixing, Recording, Recording & Mixing, Sampling, Sound Effects, Stock Music

I recently released a video about a track that brought me some real success. As a composer for Motion Array, I can tell you—it’s a tough marketplace to crack! The bar is already high just to get accepted as a composer, but once you’re in, each track you submit goes through a strict review process. There is one genre, however, that never lets me down. In the video (linked below), I break down my Upbeat Funky Hip Hop track, which earned Motion Array's highest stamp of approval: "Staff Pick". https://youtu.be/Ef-ZdSMNUyU This style of Hip Hop thrives on chopped sampling, so you'll need some sweet-sounding samples to pull it off. That’s where Vintage Vibe comes in—a sample pack loaded with over 50 soul and jazz-inspired guitar loops. These loops are perfect for adding warmth, groove, and authenticity to your beats. You can…

Category: Home Recording Blogs