Blinkist Audio Gift Guide

Welcome to the Blinkist Audio gift guide!

Compiled by the people who produce the audio for Blinks and Shortcasts, it’s the essential gift guide for anyone who wants to make outstanding spoken-word audio.

You’ll find a huge range of ideas and gifts and inspiration in this list, from affordable essentials to fancy plug-ins to creative outlets. And now you’ll know what to get uncle Mike so he can finally make that podcast about bad jokes he’s been talking about; or level up your friend’s weekly Hollywood gossip show. Or, you know, treat yourself!

Samuel Shelton Robinson, Producer, Shortcasts

• Logitech MX Master 3 mouse— Ergonomic, able to be paired to multiple computers, and highly programmable. I have mapped buttons to actions I normally use the keyboard for in Pro Tools and it’s made editing even faster and more enjoyable.
• Akai MPC 3000 — A 3000 will cost you a pretty penny these days on the used market but any MPC will do. If you like pressing buttons and pads, and enjoy your music production sans computer and avec fun, you can’t beat an MPC. Good for the mind, soul, and ears. See here for inspiration.
• Luna Display — Working from home but don’t want to have to squint your eyes over a small laptop screen? Luna Display’s got you! Apple unfortunately doesn’t allow you to use newer iMacs as a secondary display but this little dongle gets around it by transmitting the data over WiFI. The latency is really low, and resolution is perfectly acceptable. Available for Windows too.

How to look very pro: keep RX open on a big screen at all times

Ody Constantinou, Audio Production and Development

• Reaper — Insanely customizable, Reaper is the most inexpensive (60 euros) and capable cross-platform Digital Audio Workstation out there. You get a fully-functional trial of 3 months, and, if you purchase a license, free upgrades for life. And if you’re coming to Reaper from another DAW, like ProTools or Cubase, there are skins (or “themes”) available that will help to make Reaper feel more familiar to you.
• Izotope RX 8 Elements — Incredibly powerful, incredibly cheap (29 euros). RX Elements includes certain tools from the — far more expensive — RX audio restoration suite. If you work with recorded voice, you’ll find quite a few essential tools here that’ll enable you to de-noise, de-click, de-hum and otherwise repair your audio recordings.

Sally Page, Director of Content and Creative Partnerships

• Krups Expert Coffee Grinder. Since working remotely, I’ve become increasingly reliant on great coffee at home. There’s something in the ritual of grinding the beans yourself: it takes a bit more time, a bit more distance from the computer, and it tastes oh so very good.
• Quirky Cordies desktop cable manager. Ok, this sounds bland and ridiculous, but I can’t tell you how much time and frustration this small, bright blue cable tidy has saved me. Sometimes I like to change up my work set-up — sit at a different table perhaps, move around my monitor — and this little piece of kit means I never lose cables down the back of the desk and everything is right where I need it when I come back. Bliss.

Just like with audio editing, it’s the small things that can make a big difference :)

Luiza Carvalho, Audio Engineer

• Dark Reader browser extension — the ability to have Dark mode on any page. Especially if you stare at a screen the entire day, you need this. Better, it’s free and open source.
• Youlean Loudness Meter PRO — The loudness wars are over and the new Loudness standards are here to stay. The free version is already great, but the pro version adds some very welcome features. Besides, it’s not only the best, but also the cheapest loudness meter at $50, and you get lifetime free updates.

Ben Jackson, Audio Production and Development

• Sonarworks Reference 4. Calibrates your headphones or studio monitors to flatten their frequency response. Magically turns a pair of cheap headphones into a usable reference. Essential for helping you trust your ears and your colleagues’ ears.
• Data Becker Techno Maker. Lets you make techno by dragging around loops. Techno ist Kult, und der DJ die Kultfigur einer ganzen Generation. (“Techno is cult, and the DJ is the cult figure of an entire generation.”) A steal at only 49 Deutsche Marks. Windows 95 only.

Caitlin Schiller, Head of Content Development

• What is a better (non-alcoholic) accompaniment to a listening session than a cup of great tea? Lately, I’ve been really enjoying Korean Sempio Tatare Buckwheat Tea. It’s got no caffeine, and a gentle, mild flavor with an aroma that’s noticeably toasty — but not so toasty you’ll worry you’re having a stroke. Anyway. I like it. Worth drinking.
• This isn’t a cheap one, so maybe this is a gift you get someone you really like, or you save up and spring for it for yourself), but: I love my BOSE Soundlink Revolve. I truly hold a good Bluetooth Speaker to be one of the most quality-of-life-enhancing purchases of my adult life, and whatever I’m listening to — podcasts to flamenco-pop to voice notes from Ody — it sounds great on this one.

Michael Wist, Audio Production and Development

• FabFilter Pro Q3 and Pro MB. Especially the combination of both plugins is powerful when it comes to removing unwanted resonances and balancing a mix. Tip: ProQ’s EQ Match function is a huge time saver when you want to match the tonal characteristics of different recordings. This comes in handy when you work on recordings from the same voice that sound somehow different — e.g. because they are recorded on different days.
• Vinyl — It’s free, it’s just upgraded and it sounds great. Vinyl adds character and a classic tone to your music. I recommend this if you are looking for that analogue vibe in your mixes.

Keep it classy!

Rachel Mallender, Director of New Content Development

• IRig Mic — a handheld microphone that plugs into your iphone, ipad or Android device and makes life super easy to record.
• If not that, a bottle of Picpoul de Pinet. It makes any edit sound amazing.

Isabella Manych, Producer, Shortcasts

• Adjustable laptop table: write your scripts from the couch, floor, while standing or lying down. I love the flexibility this little gadget brings. If you don’t want to buy one, just take three pieces of wood and design your own!

Jesuina Januario, Working Student, Shortcasts

• Diptyque candles (a perfect scent around you enables you to think better!)
• A blender — because I’m moving to a new place and love smoothies :)

The Zoom H2N

Ines Bläsius, Assistant Producer, Shortcasts

• Moleskine Notebook and Stabilo Pens — because it’s still more fun to write down thoughts and notes on pen & paper whenever possible.
• Zoom H2N — This is a great, easy to use and portable recorder for beginners who are testing out their skills and might not be quite ready to commit.

Tom Anderson, Executive Producer, Bedtime Biographies

• A sturdy bookcase. For inspiration, reference, or just making your living room look cool, access to as many books as you can purchase/borrow is vital. I find that the act of looking something up in a book rather than online provides more time for reflection and deeper understanding.
• Tea. A lot of people swear by coffee. They are wrong. I couldn’t last long without tea — preferably Yorkshire Tea — to provide comforting warmth, and a caffeine boost when work gets tough.

Tuleka Prah, Audio Production Manager, Sr EN Content Specialist, Blinks

• A good reusable coffee cup for all your tea, hot chocolate, or coffee needs, which you can nip down to your local café with(with your mask, please). So, the cup tangentially doubles as a medium for some exercise or a necessary break from your desk, too. Also, one of those soft, malleable hand exercise balls. My book of crossword puzzles has also randomly been bringing me joy lately.

Therese Sivertsson, Production Manager, Shortcasts

• A yoga mat that you can roll out when you feel the need to balance out all that sitting with movement and release muscles that have tensed up from paying close attention to the nuances of the audio experience. Keep it eco-friendly and get a good grip with this one from Bodhi.
• Aeropress — Hands down the best gift I’ve ever been given. A perfect cup of coffee every time, and a mindful break while preparing it.

Franz Himpsl-Zeltner, Audio Coordinator, German Blinks

• Samson Go Mic — An incredibly small USB condenser microphone. Comes in handy for travelling: you don’t need a stand but can simply clip it to a table lamp or a monitor. You can switch the polar pattern from cardioid to omnidirectional, which means it also can be used to record conversations.
• Bertom Denoiser — I live near a very noisy street. Whenever I record something and want to remove those nasty mumbling sounds in the background, I use this plugin. It works out of the box, no need to calibrate it. It’s simple, you can pay whatever you want, and it gets regular updates. And it decreases reverb, too.
• iA Writer — I’ve been using this tool for a decade now and I love its versatility. It’s a stripped-down cross-platform text editor with Markdown formatting and extremely well-balanced typography. Perfect for focused writing. Also, windows can be decreased to very small sizes, which makes it an ideal tool to take notes.

Ben Schuman-Stoler, Head of Audio

• OneTab — keeping too many browser tabs open is distracting and eats your computer’s memory. I use OneTab to make sure my browser stays clean and I’m not using tabs as a task manager!
• Adam T7V monitors — great for spoken word audio, better looking than most of the competition, and a local company to boot!

Thanks for reading all the way to the end! Did we forget anything? What will you get for the audio makers in your life? Let us know in the comments — and have a great 2021!