Studio

Monitors & headphones

1: brief
9:53: average
10 min: in total
1: makers

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Sony MDR-V6

Sony

The Sony MDR-V6 is a folding, closed-back, circumaural headphone introduced in 1985 and discontinued in 2020. It was designed for professional monitoring in live and studio settings. Its closed, sealed-ear construction provides isolation and portability. Consumer Reports measured it as the most accurate headphone they had tested in 1989. Dave Rat confirmed its near-neutral response—though slightly rolled off at both extremes. It was part of Sony’s Studio Monitor line, produced by Sony/Taiyo Corporation in Ōita Prefecture, Japan. Its durability and consistency made it a staple for sound engineers and DJs for thirty-five years.

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10:23

1176 Peak Limiter

UREI

The UREI 1176 Peak Limiter is a fast, characterful, all-solid-state audio compressor introduced in 1968. It uses a field-effect transistor in feedback configuration for gain reduction. Compression is soft-knee with a fixed threshold controlled by input level. Four ratios — 4:1, 8:1, 12:1, 20:1 — each raise the threshold. Attack and release are program-dependent. Stereo linking is supported. The 'all-button mode' adds harmonic distortion and alters compression behaviour. It marked the transition from vacuum tube to solid-state technology in studio dynamics processing.

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8:31

API 550

API

The API 550b is a four-band analog EQ re-issuing the 1967 API 550 with an added band. It offers seven switchable frequency centres per band, ±12 dB boost/cut, shelf/peak switching on bands 1 and 4, Proportional Q, reciprocal and repeatable filtering, and a +30 dBu clipping level. It uses API’s 2520 op amp and is built to original blueprints.

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8:29

Novation Digital Music Systems

Novation · 1992

The MM10 is a 1992 portable keyboard controller made by Novation Digital Music Systems. It was built to operate with the Yamaha QY10. It has no sound engine. It runs on batteries. It has full-sized keys. It forms, with the QY10, the first completely portable modern music workstation.

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8:19

Mutable Instruments Braids

Mutable Instruments

Braids delivers radical timbral variety in minimal space—but with no internal editing, no tuning stability guarantees, and no analogue circuitry. It is a selector, not a synthesizer.