2019 Holiday Gift Guide For Musicians & Producers

Whether you’re looking for the ultimate Christmas gifts for musically-inclined friends or family, or you’re the musician deciding what you’re going to ask for, here are our suggestions for a cross-section of the most awesome gear currently available, including absolutely new cutting edge releases, a few “modern classic” favourites from the last couple of years, as well as some studio must-haves that we’re confident producers of any budget will get genuinely excited about. Happy Holidays!

If you’ve already narrowed it down and are looking for the best music-making studio software and DAWs (Digital Audio Workstations), your first stop might be to check out our buyers guides on the Best DAWs and the Best Music Production Plugin Bundles available right now.

(For more info on each item, just click the product thumbnail to check out the product descriptions, specs and Amazon user reviews).

The Beginners Ideal Studio Producer Kit

For those just putting their first toe into music production, it can be difficult to figure out what you actually need and what the best options are. Allow us to suggest what we would get if we were starting out from scratch today.

Many if these items are streamlined versions of higher-end or pro gear, meaning while they are affordable for the budget-conscious, they will still hold up well and continue to be useful as the user develops their skills and demands.

For Producers Looking To Level Up Their Existing Kit

If the person your buying gifts for is already established with a basic setup with a few key pieces of gear, it’s highly likely that they already have their eye on at least one of these items: next-level equipment that extends the capabilities of their setup, provides greater depth of features, flexibility, build quality and audio fidelity.

Analogue And Advanced Kit

If your producer gift-receiver has been in the game for a while, they will certainly have their sights on expanding their studio sound sources beyond the confines of their computer (what we call “ITB”, or In The Box production), if they haven’t already done so.

When expanding OTB (Out of The Box) and beyond basic software-controlling MIDI controllers, a great place to start is with one of the excellent range of analogue synthesizers and drum machines that are now on the market. While (generally) pricier than software, these devices are real musical instruments that will prove their value for years to come, and take pride of place in any producers studio setup.

Under $300 range:

$300 – $500 range:

$500+ range:

Computer Hardware

iPads are great for making music on the go, and also for controlling synths and FX parameters in your desktop DAW with apps like TouchOSC.

We also had to include our favourite spec version of the latest Mac Mini, which we’ll contend is one of best studio workhorse computers for music production that seems to get overlooked by many people in search of a great desktop. Of course, it is fairly easy to get distracted by things like the brand new 16-inch Macbook Pro: the ultimate creative laptop solution for 2020 and beyond…

Accessories

Music Books

For stocking fillers and small gifts for musician friends, the 33 1/3 series of books, each about a particular classic album, are always a great choice.

Below we’ve also put together a few of the music-related books that captivated us the most recently, from alternative takes like David Byrne’s How Music Works and Sylvia Massey’s Recording Unhinged to more straight-ahead technical books like Mixing Secrets… and, of course, our own Ultimate Guides!