Resources

🌠 Resources

🎙️ Audio Resources

💻 Workstation

• Main MacBook Pro
I use a 2019 Macbook Pro version. This is an upgrade to the other 2014 edition I had. This is the configuration for the new one with Touch pad and all that fancy stuff where you can’t connect a usb drive.  The only issue I have with this one is that it gets heated too soon.

• Custom Built Workstation
I have a custom built workstation for my audio production needs. Yes, it is a hackintosh with 32GB ram and 4TB storage in a neon cabinet case.

• DAW’s
For both songs and background scores, Cubase is my main DAW of choice. Ableton is my go-to software for speed and laying down ideas instantly.  I make podcasts using Adobe Audition, because its audio detection feature is great for balancing dialogues with music and ambience.

• Hard Disks
I use a lot of hard disks for both project and sample backups. The best brand that’s worked for me is the WD. I have HDD’s ranging from 2 TB all the way up to 8TB, and they are reliable.I do use a Tower raid and a SATA HDD reader for my internal HDD’ s – which are again WD.

• Headphones
For headphones, I use the Beyer Dynamic DT 990 Pro. This is purely for mixing and mastering purposes. Now, when an artist comes in for recording or tracking, I pull out the Sennheiser HD206(https://amzn.to/3uqlrgp) headphones. They are rugged and are best suited for quick and short uses. I also use the Audio technica AT-M50x at times for some recordings.

• God Mode Headphones
I also use the Bose QuietComfort 35 II Wireless Bluetooth Noise-Cancelling Headphones to isolate myself from noisy settings. I love working in  cafes and sometimes in coworking spaces. So these headphones bring me calm by eliminating most of the sound pollution. Infact I got one for my wife and daughter too.

• Soundcard
After dabbling with Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 and Motu 828mk3 I finally settled on ]Arturia AudioFuse](https://www.arturia.com/products/audio/audiofuse/overview). It’s a powerhouse but tiny and does not take up much real estate on my work desk. It’s been a workhorse for over 5 years now.

• Speakers
I use the KRK Rokit 5 Generation 3. They are beasts and a workhorse. When used with the right settings, they can deliver a tireless listening experience for long hours of work.

• Midi Controllers / Keyboards
I own 2 keys from Arturia. The Keylab 49 and [Minilab](https://amzn.to/3umtZF2pwork perfectly fine. The semi-weighted analogue looking design is why I jumped in for the Keylab 49. And of course the Minilab for it’s portability. I also own a Akai MPK Mini Keyboard for mobile use.

🔇 Sound Proofing / Acoustic Treatment

• Sonarworks Reference 4 / Sound ID Reference
If there is anything you must buy first, it is the Sonarworks Reference or Sound ID Reference. It is a room correction hardware-software combo that’ll change the way you listen to music in your room.I like working from my home.
Right now, I work from my daughter’s room (she has a few years (12 years) to go before she can claim the room as hers until then, it’s mine 😅 ). So the room that I was in was a sonic mess, and the sound translating through all that beautiful gear was not so pleasing to the ears. That’s because my room is not treated acoustically, and not even designed to be used as a studio. It’s a music room – that’s it.

• MMT Accoustix Panels
To change that, I got a few acoustic panels. I recommend using the brand MMT Accoustix. They have compact and well-designed acoustic panels/units of different sizes and shapes.
I bought a few of them, pasted them strategically at all the problem spots in the room. Then tuned the room using the Sonarworks Reference. And the room sounds as good as any pro studio would.

🎚️ Audio Tools Softwares / Plugins

• Plugin-Boutique

• Izotope

• ADSR Sounds

• Output

• Splice

• Loopcloud

💾 Backup and Storage

• Backup Blaze
This is the most reliable hard disk storage solution you’ll ever find. For around $60 you can backup your entire system and all the HDD’s connected to it. And when needed, you can get an HDD couriered to you too.

• Soundcloud
for hosting my background score work, and selective soundtrack making podcasts

• Dropbox
for storing and sharing files of work and side projects.

• pCloud
I have a lifetime deal for a 2TB account of pCloud. I use this mainly for sharing with my team and for sharing client demos.

• Google Drive
I use google drive for all my business related stuff, as it is linked to my domain.

• Zoho Drive
I have transitioned to Zoho Drive from Dropbox/pCloud for all of my music work. Though occasionally buggy, it's worth it considering how much I save by using it versus Dropbox.

🖥️ Tech resources

🧩 Website Stack

• Domain :
I use Namecheap as it’s the best in business. Most of my personal and business domains are hosted here. It is a much more reliable and safe platform compared to Godaddy, Bigrock and more.

• Hosting / Website Builder :
I used to have my sites built on wordpress via WPX , it served me well for over a decade. However now with the rise of no code tools and better website builders, I switched to Umso and Webflow for my personal and business projects. This site is powered by Umso and I absolutely love it for the way its minimalist and super fast.

📑 Content Creation

🎥 Video and Audio Gear

• Canon M50
This is my go to cam for recording courses and doing pro level live stream.

• Canon Mark G7X Mark II
Was my original cam for recording courses and other video materials for my projects.

• Logitech C920 HD Pro
Good for regular zoom meetings and live streams.

• Blue Yeti Mic

• Shure SM7B Dynamic Microphone with Cloudlifter CL-1 Mic Activator
I got this one to upgrade my podcasting game this year. Just finished setting up and now most of my live stream video and audio podcasts you will get your hear my radio voice.

• Lewitt LCT 440 Pure Condenser Microphone
Got this one for quick recording sessions for the music projects I’m working on. Handy if I want to record singers or musicians at my home studio.

• Rode VMGO Video Mic GO
This is a lightweight On-Camera Microphone. This is a Super-Cardioid mic that I mount over the Canon M50 for my random vlog content.

• Rode DS1 Microphone Desk Stand
This is what I mount the Shure SMB7 on.

📝 Blog Writing

• Mymind and Evernote Web Clipper for capturing different ideas, videos and articles I come across.

• Then I use a mix of Roam Research and Evernote to distill and structure the ideas.

• Once done I dump it to Google Doc and make it publish ready after running it through some grammar checks.

🖼️ Designing Graphics

• I love using Canva and Picmonkey for my designing needs.

• I also use Affinity Photo and Designer, a perfect replacement for Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator.

📺 Video Marketing

• I use Camtasia, Screenflow is being used for screenshare of my music sessions, and also to make my courses.

• My favorite video editing software is Flixier Studio, and I always turn to Final Cut Pro when I need more complex editing to be done.

🎙️ Podcast Hosting

• I use Anchor and Captivate podcast hosting services to host and distribute my podcasts.

🎬 Live Streaming

• I love using OBS & Ecamm for Live streams. However my current favorite is cloud based Stream Yard.

👨‍💻 Webinars

• Zoom and BigMarker are the tools I used for webinars for my music projects and my businesses.

💌 Email Marketing

• I depend on ConvertKit and Bento Now as my email marketing platforms. They are best for list-based email marketing. All of personal and business email marketing automation are run on these platforms. Flodesk is another affordable email marketing platform that I have tested and loved.

👍 Social Media Marketing

• I use Publer, Buffer and Tailwind for all my social media marketing automations. They are simple in UI and do one thing, and they do it well.

🪙 Productivty

🤹 Personal productivity

• TickTick is my personal task and productivity tool. It’s right on top of my favourite tools that I use. I’ve moved from Todoist as I found TickTick’s UI/UX much cleaner and it has more features that I actually love using.

🧠 Deep Work App

• For deep work I use brain.fm to help me with functional music. There are times when I have set the timer to infinity and have worked for up to four hours without losing focus.

🙋‍♂️ Task & Team Management

• We upgraded our task management platform to Airtable. Team communication is done on Cliq, a Zoho Workplace app that has replaced Slack. At times I'll use Notion to share ideas. We also use Loom and Sendpark for asynchronous video communication.

📫 Email Apps

• I use the Gmail App and Spark App as my email clients for all my business and personal accounts.

🧘‍♂️ Meditation Apps

• For meditation and mindfulness, I used to use Calm. I stopped using it years ago. I use silence now for my deep meditations.

🕺 Music Listening Apps

• I listen to streaming music and prefer the following apps, in this order
• Spotify
• Amazon Music
• Soundcloud

😅 That's a wrap