Buying the best Christmas gifts for music producers is a difficult task. Producers can cover the length and breadth of the music world, and one who makes rock and roll is very different from a beatmaker. If you're not clued up on your music production speak, it can be incredibly difficult to pick the right gift for a music-maker.
I've been recording bands and producing music for well over 20 years now. I've studied studio engineering, music production, and mastering, so I'm well-versed in the world of production. I've received a lot of gifts in my time, and most of them haven't been great. I appreciate it's difficult to pick something when you don't know what to look for, so that's why I've put together this guide.
Stick with the gifts presented here, and you'll likely earn yourself the spot of favourite family member this Christmas! I've ordered them by price point to make it easier to find the ideal gift for your budget, and if you're looking to save a bit more money, have a look at our Black Friday music deals page for some mega savings on music gear.
Where to shop for producer gifts
- 🇺🇸 deals
- Positive Grid: Up to 40% off
- Guitar Center: All guitar deals
- Guitar Tricks: $99 annual sub
- B&H Photo: Score discounts on pro audio
- IK Multimedia: Amplitube 5 only $29.99!
- Musician's Friend: Up to 50% off sale
- Plugin Boutique: 100s of software savings
- Reverb: Shop used gear
- TrueFire: All-access annual sub only $79
- Waves: Huge plugin bundle deals
- 🇬🇧 deals
- Gear4Music: Guitar clearance deals
- Guitar Tricks: $99 annual sub
- IK Multimedia: Shop guitar plugin deals
- Plugin Boutique: 100s of software savings
- Positive Grid: Spark bundle savings
- Reverb: 20% off BF deals
- Waves: Huge plugin bundle deals
Under $20/£20
Price: From $9.17/£7.95 a month
No matter what kind of music they produce, they'll likely find something to use with a Loopcloud subscription. Jam-packed with top-quality sounds, Loopcloud makes it super easy to drop sounds into your DAW, whether you're making pop rock or trap bangers.
Three subscription tiers are available, and you can pay annually or monthly. With the first tier starting at just $9.17/£7.95 a month, it's a low-cost way to get a producer a genuinely useful gift without having to splurge loads of cash all at one time.
Price: $13.89/£17.99
Creating a vibe in the studio can really help with the experience of music production, and it can make the studio a much more inspiring place to work. These Ksipze LED Strip Lights are perfect for customizing the music-making space, providing a hefty 100ft length for relatively little money.
They come with a remote control and a smartphone app, which means they’ll be able to wirelessly change the vibe of their studio in an instant, or use some nice color-change options like synchronizing lighting changes with the music playing out of their studio monitors.
Price: $19.99/£30
Yes, it’s the most boring of gifts on the face of it, but actually, sorting cable management in a studio can be an incredibly powerful way to speed up your workflow. Producers tend to have a lot of gear, and with a lot of gear comes a lot of cables, so going by the ‘tidy desk, tidy mind’ mantra could be just the thing to enhance their music-making.
This N Norocme Cord Management Organizer Kit features a full 182 pieces of cable management kit that will allow them to neatly run cables under and across their desk space. It’s cheaply priced and makes a great low cost gift that they’ll actually end up using this Christmas.
Under $50/£50
Price $49.99/£49.99
One critical mistake a lot of home studios make is leaving their studio monitors on their desk. To get the best sound out of a set of speakers, you need to decouple them from the desk to prevent any sympathetic vibrations from clouding the sound of your mix, which is exactly what these Perlesmith Studio Monitor Stands do.
They also enable you to create the perfect equilateral triangle between your two speakers and your listening position, which ensures you’re hearing the full sound of a production. They’re adjustable in height, and handily you can adjust the width of the monitor stand portion, which means they’ll fit pretty much any set of speakers.
Price: $49.99/£49.99
Trackball mice are used a lot in music production because typically there’s very little space to move a mouse around in a recording studio. A trackball also allows for more precise movements, which can be crucial when editing waveforms and writing automation. The Logitech Ergo M575S combines both a traditional mouse and trackball, making it a great option for music producers.
Editing tracks can be a laborious process, so having an ergonomically shaped mouse can really help with fatigue reduction and keep you producing for longer. It’s wireless, so it reduces cables on the desk, and it features additional buttons that can be mapped to whatever function you want.
Price: $43.99/
Again, not the most attractive gift on the face of it, but definitely useful. This K&M Headphone Stand sits on their desktop, giving them a handy place to put that most useful of producer tools without cluttering up desk space.
The holder is rubber-covered to ensure a soft place for the headphones to hang, and the bottom of the stand features rubber pads to prevent it from slipping. If the producer in your life has a messy desk, this is a great one to get their workstation looking a bit tidier.
Under $100/£100
Price: $99/£94
If you’ve got a budding music producer taking their first steps, this Akai Professional MPK Mini IV is a brilliant gift option, just make sure you check they don’t already have one. The MPK Mini integrates with their recording setup seamlessly, allowing them to play in melodies and beats.
It’s got loads of functionality including rotary knobs that can control any parameter, and controls for their DAW that let them start/stop playback or start recording. It also comes with the Studio Instrument Collection, which gives 1,000 presets that are perfect for anyone starting their production journey.
Price: $99/£66
If yours is the producer who has pretty much every gadget already, then the Teenage Engineering PO-33 KO! is sure to be a hit this Christmas. It's a tiny synthesizer with a built-in microphone that allows users to capture sounds on the go.
The 40-second sample memory offers a good amount of time to grab sounds, and it also features a line input so users can plug instruments into it. A sequencer and built-in effects make it an amazing all-in-one gift that will be fun and useful.
Price $89.99/£99.99
This low-cost field recorder is a little left-field, but can add a unique touch to any producers music-making. The Xvive XV-1R records in really high quality via two XY microphones, which capture stereo recordings in extremely high quality.
Even for the producer who works entirely with software, the XV-1R can be an amazing tool for creating their own samples, whereas more traditional producers can use them for a variety of cases, whether that’s another microphone in their arsenal or just for capturing ideas on the fly.
How to choose
Music producers are extremely difficult to choose gifts for, and as someone who’s received more than their fair share of duds over the years, this is my handy guide to ensure you get them the best possible gift this festive seasons.
1. What kind of producer are they?
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The first thing you need to identify is what sort of producer they are. Music-makers typically fall into two categories, the modern producer, and the traditional engineer. The modern producer usually works with a laptop and software, creating electronic music like dance or hip hop.
Traditional producers, more likely to be called engineers, work with physical instruments like guitars, drums, pianos, and other instruments that make sound. They often work in rock, metal, funk, jazz, and other genres that use more traditional instruments.
Buying a gift for these two producers will be very different, but one thing they have in common is that they will both work on a desk at some point, so you can't go wrong with something that makes their life easier.
2. Strongly consider gift cards
I’d always recommend a gift card for a music producer, just because it’s really tough to buy for them if you don’t know anything about music-making. Chances are the thing they really want is quite expensive, and specialist to the particular genre they work in. A gift card lets them make the decision, ensuring they can get something they really need or want instead of something they already have, or have no use for.
3. Ask them
It's obvious, but asking them what they want is a surefire way to ensure your gift lands. They might surprise you with wanting something seemingly unrelated to musical instruments, but instead would end up being really useful for their production workflow while working at their desk. Or they might say they're saving up for something pricey, so you can contribute that way.
4. Do your research
If you live with your giftee, taking a sneak peek at their setup or showing some interest when they’re working on something can often give you clues as to what they might need. You could also try asking friends, a partner, or other family to get more clues on what you could potentially buy.
We have loads of buyers guides and reviews that can help you make a good buying decision on a fresh piece of gear. So make sure to check those out as part of your research before you pull the trigger on something.
5. Wait for deals
Although it doesn’t hurt to identify a potential gift early, waiting for sales is a great way to enhance your budget. It means you could get them something extra to sweeten the deal, or just help your overall budget at what is a very expensive time of the year.
Gifts to avoid
As a musician I’ve received so many unwanted gifts over the years from well-meaning relatives. I appreciate the thought, of course, but ultimately it’s a waste of money for the gifter, and it can leave the giftee feeling guilty for being unappreciative of something. To help you avoid these pitfalls, here’s a list of what you should avoid gifting for Christmas this year:
- Producer t-shirts: Take it from me, these will never be worn outside of Christmas Day or when there’s nothing clean in their wardrobes.
- Novelty mugs: There’s loads of these online, and while a mug can actually be useful, most producers will probably be wondering why you didn’t get them something they could actually use in their productions, like a gift card for software.
- Wall art: Getting a sign that’s the right vibe for their studio will be incredibly difficult to judge, so avoid getting them something that will have them cringing inside.
- Headphones: You might think you’re being well meaning getting them a set of studio headphones, but music-specific cans are very expensive, and it’s very much a matter of personal taste. Get them a gift card they can spend at their favorite music retailer instead.
- Generic ‘producer’ gifts: Avoid things like custom DJ bobbleheads, keychains, coasters, and other bric-a-brac that will never get used.
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