Eli Crews
Gear Review
Audio PRE-1 mic preamp
Mar 16, 2026
I feel very lucky to be in the type of community where friends will sometimes contact me and say, “Hey, I have this cool thing I’ve been borrowing...
Gear Review
ProPatch patchbay
Sep 9, 2025
Over the past several decades, many of our most essential tools from the analog era have either adapted to give us more flexibility, recallability...
Gear Review
Catapult Rack TX & RX Cat 5 Analog Snake
Jul 15, 2024
Cat 5, aka Ethernet cable, has been a powerful way to pass digital audio around your studio or live venue for quite a while now. The various formats...
Gear Review
Workflow Platform for Creatives
May 15, 2022
EC: The past two years have given many of us an opportunity to reexamine our daily routines. For me, this manifested most profoundly in my work...
Gear Review
LL2A Compressor Limiter
Jul 15, 2021
I’m always excited to see a new product from Little Labs. I’ve been collecting Jonathan Little’s ultra-handy studio devices for over 15...
Gear Review
Pro Tools | Carbon Hybrid Audio Production System
Jul 15, 2021
It’s very simple – if you record music using Pro Tools with any regularity, and don’t require (or can’t afford) a full-blown HDX system, I cannot...
Gear Review
HDI Studio DI
Jan 15, 2021
As gear reviews go, this is a pretty easy one to write, as the issue isn’t whether or not this is an excellent product. It most definitely is, which...
Gear Review
Mini K87 microphone
May 20, 2020
In a recent review of a $7000 tube condenser microphone, I alluded to the fact that there are excellent condenser microphones being made for $400 and...
Gear Review
U 67 Tube Microphone Reissue
Jan 15, 2020
I'm not going to do the thing where I give you the full history of Neumann microphones and how the U 67 fits into it. There are already plenty...
Gear Review
Livemix Personal Monitor System
Nov 15, 2019
I reviewed the Aviom A320 & A360 Personal Mixer system (quite glowingly) on these pages four years back, have been happily using...
Gear Review
CLA-200 Studio Reference Amplifier
Sep 15, 2019
Yamaha NS-10s (along with other equipment, like the Shure SM57) have undoubtedly been among the most omnipresent tools of our trade in the past three...
Gear Review
MK1113BK Pro Pack 1
Sep 15, 2019
Come close for a minute. Let's talk about mic stands. You know the type – the kind that look like someone with a doctorate in industrial...
Gear Review
Pro Tools S3 & Dock Control Surfaces
Mar 15, 2019
I will start with the bold statement that I feel solidly qualified to weigh in on Avid’s latest control surface offerings, the Pro Tools | S3 and the...
Gear Review
SUPERFET 47 & 48 Microphones
Mar 15, 2019
Yes, I'm with you. Do we really need more Neumann U 47 and U 48 clones in the market? Apparently the Slovakian company FLEA Microphones thinks...
Gear Review
Colares Vocal Condenser Mic
Jan 15, 2019
As engineers and studio owners, we all get excited (and check our cashflow) when a new microphone design hits the streets – especially when that...
Gear Review
TDx Transient Designer 500-Series Module
Mar 15, 2018
In all honesty, the original SPL Transient Designer was one of the first pieces of analog hardware that really blew my mind. The first...
Gear Review
Arouser Plug-in
Jan 15, 2017
The same day that Empirical Labs, Inc. (ELI) announced the availability of Arouser, a dynamics processor plug-in that looks like a suped-up, virtual...
Gear Review
Stretch 500-series dynamics processor
May 21, 2016
Standard Audio caught my attention around six years ago when I reviewed the amazing Level-Or . With the Stretch, Standard again took the...
Gear Review
DDL-500 500-series delay
Jan 21, 2016
Okay, Eventide has just officially become my favorite pro audio manufacturer on the planet. I had almost finished this already favorable review, and...
Gear Review
Pepper instrument interface & router
Sep 16, 2015
As a longtime fan of Jonathan Little's inventive, essential studio tools, I was eager to get the Pepper, his newest little box, cooking....
Gear Review
AN-16/i v.2 Input Module
Jul 15, 2015
It has always been a priority for me to provide the ability for each member of a band to dial in her or his own headphone mix during a tracking or...
Gear Review
SM9 active studio monitor
Jul 15, 2015
The quest for the right studio monitor can be long and frustrating. Or, the first pair you audition can instantly become the pair you know and trust...
Gear Review
BM9S II subwoofer
May 16, 2015
I've been using a pair of Dynaudio Professional BM6 mkIII monitors for about four months now in my home mixing setup, and I took to them more...
Gear Review
Studio Collection plug-in suite
Nov 15, 2014
The first thing one notices about Softube plug-ins is that the graphics are kinda stunning. Now, I'm not foolish enough to think that...