Computer music-making has always offered a much cheaper alternative to buying a load of music production hardware or hiring Abbey Road for the day. Always. Even back in its infancy where you bought boxed copies with prices of everything else going up around it, your music production is under threat! Unless you’re making a mint from music making, you’re probably thinking more about feeding and heating your family, so we’re here to help. This month we show you how, with just a few additional tweaks of your system, you can write, mix and master music better without breaking the bank. We’ve got roundups of the best value items to add to your setup, whatever music you make. There are also tutorials on using your existing software or freeware you can download (and the Suite of course), plus advice on buying and selling gear. As if that lot isn’t cheap enough, there’s some bonus ‘freebage’ in the form of a massive audio interface roundup (each one costing less than £200) and, of course, our free plugin, an excellent reverb from Audified. Tweaking just a few things in your workflow or desktop studio can and will make a big difference, and can genuinely ‘power up’ whatever music you make, but shouldn’t cost a meal or a kilowatt hour. Next month, powering up your studio with solar.
