Studio headphones beside an open notebook and a small recording interface, under warm lamp light on a dark desk

Guides for musicians

Articles

Practical guides for musicians: recording at home, the gear that helps, and sharing what you make.

A kitchen table by a rain-streaked window on an evening, with a small audio interface, a microphone on a short stand and a cup of tea under warm lamplight

November 11, 2026

8 min read

Setting Your Recording Level So It Doesn’t Distort

Your take sounded great in the room but crackles on the loud notes. Here’s how to set the gain on your interface or recorder, and what the meter should show before you press record.

Seen from above, a smartphone with a dark screen, a small empty wooden picture frame, a guitar pick and a loop of red string on a pale terrazzo countertop

November 10, 2026

8 min read

How to Embed Your Songs on Your Website or Link-in-Bio Page

A practical guide to putting a playable Musical Links player on your own site or bio page: where the embed code goes on link-in-bio tools, WordPress and site builders, how to size it for phones, and which songs to feature.

A single heavy velvet curtain hanging from a freestanding rail among empty sand dunes at dawn

November 8, 2026

8 min read

Taming a Boomy Room With Blankets, Books and Curtains

A single clap and a quick before-and-after replay show whether your room has a reflection problem or a boom problem. They also show which household fixes are worth the effort.

Extreme close-up of the perforated metal grille on the back of an open-back headphone ear cup, warm light glowing through the tiny holes.

November 6, 2026

7 min read

Open-Back vs Closed-Back Headphones: What You Hear When Tracking and Mixing at Home

Closed-back headphones keep your backing track out of the mic. Open-backs give a more natural, airy sound for mixing, if your room is quiet enough. Here’s when each one matters, with picks at different budgets.

Seen through the gap between two tall bookshelves, an older man stands in a small carpeted study singing toward a phone propped on a music stand.

November 3, 2026

8 min read

Recording a Decent Demo With the Phone You Already Own

Where the phone sits, how far away you sing and which room you pick matter more than any setting. Here’s how to get those three right, plus how iPhone 16 Pro owners can sing over their own backing track.

Overhead view of worn wooden floorboards with a small transistor radio, three fanned record sleeves in clashing colours and a brass compass

November 1, 2026

8 min read

How to Get Into a Music Genre You’ve Never Listened To

A new genre often sounds like noise at first. Here’s how to give your ears a fair chance, start from what you already love, and bring fresh ideas back to your own songs.

Seen from directly above, an old cassette tape, a small USB stick, a pair of glockenspiel mallets and a coiled patch cable laid out on a slate-grey tabletop in soft side light

October 31, 2026

8 min read

Lossless vs lossy audio: what’s the difference, and can you hear it?

WAV, FLAC, MP3 or AAC? What lossy formats throw away, what blind listening tests found, why loud listening fools your ears, and which file to keep and share.

View through a kitchen serving hatch of a person sitting cross-legged on a living-room rug with an acoustic guitar across their lap and a notebook beside them

October 31, 2026

8 min read

What Musicians Wish Listeners Knew About How Their Songs Get Made

Your listeners hear three minutes. Here’s how to share the hours behind your song, and why a few hundred fans who get it can beat half a million streams.