CHRISTMAS STOCKING FILLERS — AUDIO GIFT IDEAS

AUDIO-TECHNICA CKS55XBT Bluetooth Wireless Earphones — $149

The ATH-CKS55XBT features Bluetooth wireless connectivity to connect to your Apple or Android smartphone. The headphone has a built-in amplifier to help power and drive them wirelessly. The in-line control allows you to control volume, change tracks and answer phone calls on your Apple or Android device.

AUDIO-TECHNICA ATH-M30X Headphones — $129

The M-Series ATH-M30x professional monitor headphones combine modern engineering and high-quality materials to deliver a comfortable listening experience with enhanced audio clarity and sound isolation. Perfect for mixing or tracking, and its portability makes it easy to carry around with you.

SHURE SE112M+ Earphones — $115

The Shure SE112m+ sound-isolating earphones provide great sound with deep bass. What’s more, the in-line three-button remote and microphone make it a useful Christmas gift for pretty much anyone who owns an Apple iOS device. It comes with a fit kit and compact drawstring pouch for storage.

SHURE SRH 145 Portable Headphones —$85

Shure’s trendy-looking SRH145 headphones give you more than just aesthetics. The closed-back, on-ear design provides external noise isolation and the padded headband ensures ergonomic fit. Designed to be ultra lightweight, the headphones collapse for easy storage, so you can take it with you anywhere. The SRH145 comes with a two-year warranty from Shure.

ISOACOUSTICS ISO-L8R130 Speaker Isolation Stands — $155

The IsoAcoustics ISO-L8R130 speaker stands feature they company’s patented ‘floating’ architecture for audio image stabilising, and are designed to improve the performance and clarity of any speaker system. With height and tilt adjustments, the stands isolate your monitors from a surface, helping you to hear sound without the low-frequency build-up that occurs with acoustic coupling.

QUIKLOK A-989 One-Hand Clutch Microphone Stand — $125

The Quik Lok A-989 is a tripod base microphone stand with a one-hand clutch height adjustment mechanism and telescopic boom. With just the press of the hand you can smoothly and quickly change the height of the stand without any slippage. The stand is constructed with strong, lightweight ‘Microlite’ tubular steel and polycarbonate legs. A great addition to a studio or stage.

URBANEARS PLATTAN Headphones — $150

Urbanears’ Plattan headphones have been designed to make full use of today’s technology, with innovative functions and impressive sound. It’s a full size headphone that can fold down to a fist’s size for extra mobility. It also comes with a ‘zound plug’ on the earcap for a friend to plug in. And, as you can see, the headphones are available in a number of slick colours.

JET CITY GUITAR SLINGER Guitar Pedal — $159

Guitarists — here’s something for you. The GuitarSlinger by Jet City is an overdrive pedal designed by international guitar hero Alex Beyrodt. It’s a truly boutique unit capable of pushing your amp’s clean channel into a fat crunch, or distorted channel into a heavy lead distortion tone. The additional ‘Bright’ switch adds high-frequency clarity and definition.

RODE M1 Handheld Microphone — $130

The Rode M1 is a dynamic vocal microphone ideal for live use. It has a cardioid polar pattern to minimise spill and feedback on stage, low handling noise, high output neodymium capsule and ergonomic design, not to mention Rode’s lifetime warranty for peace of mind. And at such as affordable price, it’d make a great gift for a friend to take to their gigs.

RODE VIDEOMIC ME Smartphone Microphone — $79

Everyone’s got a smartphone these days, but unfortunately a lot of them don’t record great audio. The VideoMic Me is here to help — it’s a compact, lightweight directional microphone that connects directly to the iPhone TRRS socket. The mounting bracket allows flexible positioning, and a built-in 3.5mm jack output passes through your phone audio so you don’t have to remove the mic. Comes with a furry windshield.

BLACKSTAR FLY 3 Guitar Amplifier — $129

Another one for the guitarists — the Blackstar Fly 3 is a three-watt mini amp combining two channels, tape delay and Blackstar’s ‘ISF’ tone feature into a compact and portable unit. Great for those living room jams, the Fly 3 also comes with an MP3/Line jack inputs so you can play music from your phone/laptop/tablet. The emulated Line output lets you practice in silence with headphones. And for ultimate portability, you can run the Fly 3 with batteries.

PRESONUS HD7 Headphones — $70

Presonus’s high-definition HD7 headphones take advantage of a semi-open sound chamber to deliver deep low frequencies with a balanced and yet powerful bass punch. Accurate midrange and extended treble response let you pick out the fine details of a mix or track. Whether you’re monitoring, tracking, mixing, or just kicking back, the HD7 will give you impressive sonic performance at a super-affordable price!

PRESONUS AUDIOBOX USB Audio Interface — $169

No audio goodies list is complete without an interface, and the Presonus AudioBox USB fits the bill. This interface has two inputs and two outputs — perfect for the singer/songwriter who’s testing the waters of the recording world. Still, there’s no compromise on quality. The AudioBox USB has Class A mic preamps and 24 bit/48kHz converters. It can be USB-powered and is built to withstand the rigours of travel.

STEINBERG UR12 Audio Interface — $149

The Steinberg UR12 is an affordable and compact audio interface with two inputs, two outputs and iPad connectivity. It features a D-PRE mic preamp, and has 24 bit/192kHz conversion. The rugged metal casing means you can take the UR12 out on the road without fear of hurting it. Record yourself with latency-free hardware monitoring. Both Cubase AI software and the Cubasis LE app are included with the interface.

iZOTOPE TRASH 2 Distortion Plug-In — $119

Producers and mix engineers love a fun distortion plug-in, and iZotope Trash 2 doesn’t disappoint. With an entirely new sonic architecture to the original, Trash 2 has brand new features, optimised performance and better sound quality. You get over 60 distortion algorithms, great for mangling sounds into something radically different. Design your own distortions with the new Waveshaper. You’ll never be short of ways to dirty up a track with Trash 2.

AKAI MPK-MINI MKII Keyboard/Pad Controller — $149

The MPK Mini MkII is the baby of AKAI’s legendary lineup of controllers. Perfect for producers, it features 25 synth-action mini keys, a new four-way thumbstick for dynamic pitch/modulation control, eight MPC pads with Note Repeat, and eight assignable control knobs for mixing/tactile plug-in manipulation. The MPK Mini MkII is USB-powered — no adapter required, and the ultra compact design lets you take it anywhere. Comes with software production package.

AURALEX MOPAD-XL Monitor Isolation Pads — $99

The Auralex MoPADs provide sonic isolation between your monitors and whatever they’re sitting on. Decoupling your speakers from the surface enables you to hear you speakers with more accuracy, improving stereo imaging and frequency response. MoPADs also allow you to angle your speakers up or down, and are the ideal way to ‘pimp out’ a monitoring setup — a great gift for home studio owners or recording enthusiasts.

NOVATION LAUNCHPAD MINI Ableton Live Grid Controller — $129

With 64 mini pads, don’t let the size of Launchpad Mini fool you. You can use it to trigger clips, control your mixer, play drum racks, and do just about anything else in Ableton Live. Its compact size means it’ll fit in your laptop bag, ready to be whipped out the moment you switch on music-creation mode. Ableton Live Lite 9 is included and the bus-powered Launchpad Mini works with Mac, PC or iPad.

12GAUGE BLACK212 XY Stereo Microphone — $115

This uniquely-designed Black212 is a stereo cardioid directional mic that has dual small diaphragm electret condenser capsules positioned in an X/Y configuration to deliver accurate stereo imaging. There’s a single XLR connector output, but the included Y-cable connects directly to the mic to split the stereo signal down to two mono ones. The Black212 is one of four mics from 12Gauge — all offered at very low prices.

WHERE TO BUY:

Turramurra Music

1267 Pacific Highway
Turramurra
NSW 2074

www.turramusic.com.au/shop or (02) 9449 8487

Musos Corner

1 National Park St
Newcastle West
NSW 2302

www.musoscorner.com.au or 1300 687 672

Hitek Audio Video

594 High St
Thornbury
VIC 3071

www.hitekav.com.au or (03) 9484 9609

Soundtown

1b/46 Collingwood Street
Osborne Park
WA 6017

www.soundtown.com.au or (08) 9242 8055