Tools for work, tools for music, tools for life

I’ve been invited to take part in a brand sponsored survey on the various tools and technologies I use to create content and organize my creative life.

Add: Recently, someone on my YouTube channel asked me to cover the process of recording music. They want everything from gear and software, to things like mic placement & mixing. I’ll get to that too.

So: I decided I would give an overview of the tools I use across my scattered brain. From business tools - organization, project management, software development… to creative endeavors: making music and some light photography.

I won’t cover each in detail but I will discuss the why’s of several of them. I have them loosely separated into the following categories. Loosely because there is a lot of crossover, particularly with the software I use.

Also, the list is not comprehensive as I will often adopt a technical tool for a specific niche need. But the list gives an idea of the tools I most commonly use.

Business General
Software Development
Social Media/Digital Content
Making Music
Photography

Picture looking down at my desk with various technical devices, cameras, lenses, and microphones. — Some of the tools: Honorable Mention: Coffee!

Picture of my desk space. — The garoffice is taking shape. More work to be done this weekend. My laptop left, large monitor center, my Meta laptop to the right.

Picture of my Gibson J45 — The guitar is mostly a virgin. It has never been played out and has no songs written on it yet.

Business General

Dell XPS 15 Laptop: I wanted 32GB of RAM & 1 TB of SSD drive space. I probably could have saved a couple hundred dollars but Dell still provides the simplest platform for keeping your system up to date. I have no interest in doing future upgrades. It is likely I purchase another XPS in the coming year.

It’s fast! It’s reliable. Runs Davinci Resolve great! Runs Reaper great! And there you have it.
Logitech K780 Keyboard: I love this keyboard! It has three buttons that allow me to switch control between devices. #1 - the aforementioned Dell laptop. #2 - my Samsung Galaxy S20. #3 - my Meta provided Lenovo laptop.
The K780: Highly recommended.
Edit: Wow… my keyboard is dirty. I was doing work in the office and neglected to wipe it off. :-o

The keys are light touch and responsive. Comfortable and allow me to type* fast.

*Advice: If you cannot type by touch, without looking, learn to. It is a HUGE productivity tool.
Google Workspace: Gmail, Drive, Sheets, Docs, Calendar, YouTube, Maps, Keep
To suggest I am a Google devotee might be an understatement. What you get, for free, with a standard Gmail account is phenomenal. I could do an entire piece on these tools - and probably will one day.

Note: If you are using AOL, Hotmail, Yahoo Mail… please… just stop! Or not but you are limiting your productivity.

With one account, connected to your phone (Android or iPhone) for extra juice, you can create documents, spreadsheets, organize and store files, collaborate with others in real-time, share calendars with your team and/or family, publish video content, navigate to your destination, make notes, list, etc.

There are particular ways I organize my folders to make sharing and collaboration simpler. That is probably worthy of a video unto itself.

If you have a business domain, you can also pay for a company Workspace account which gives you additional space and depending on your plan, other valuable business features.

I won’t go on much more except to say, my move to writing software for Google’s cloud products was driven, in part, by Microsoft’s horrible cloud implementation. Also, with Google Drive, Dropbox and most other file sharing platforms are unnecessary.
Airtable: Airtable is a relational database in the cloud. It looks like a Spreadsheet, so most people who set up their linked sheets/database often know very little about database design. Prior to going to work for Meta, I made a living fixing and automating Airtable features. Well, it made up a good part of my living.

I often say that Airtable is amazing and horrible at the same time. This is due to a lack of security controls and logs that some clients need. Also, its interface design features, while growing, are pretty bad. But, in a pinch, it is a multi-user, relational database, that you can have running in an hour or two.
Microsoft Office: Yes, I still use Microsoft Office from time to time. I still write software using VBA, Microsoft Access, and SQL Server. It used to be about 90% of my consulting work. Now it is probably 5%. Again - their integration in the cloud is horrible and their automation in the cloud is non-existent.

But, holy cow, Excel is incredibly powerful for data/financial analysis and reporting.

”I can’t quit you!”

Software Development

Social Media/Digital Content

DaVinci Resolve: Video Editing, color correction, audio enhancements. Resolve is the MOST powerful FREE video editor available. It does take a decently powerful computer, 16gb or RAM (minimum) and a good video card.

But, if you can run it, the completely free version is remarkable. For $300 you can get the studio version - with hundreds of built-in fx.

Want to learn it, follow Casey Faris on YouTube. I also have a video on how to create lyric videos and how we made a song promo video.
Canva: Canva is an online image and video editor with hundreds of social media templates. I use it for video thumbnails and some instagram posts. Deb uses it for posters, social media images, and even quick logos. The free version works great. The paid version gets you many more automation features, graphics, and videos.
GIMP: Freeware Image Editor. I find the interface confusing but I’m not much of an image editor/graphic designer. However, I use it primarily to resize images and a few other niche uses.
Canon EOS RP with our Sigma EF 30mm 1.4 lens. I use this for videos and photography. The RP is Deb’s old camera. We got her a Canon R6 and I took the RP. It makes great videos and excellent images. Certainly a strong enough camera for my needs.
Samsung Galaxy S20: I’m an Android user. It is much easier to move data (images and other files) from system to system than an iPhone.

TIP: Whether you are iPhone or Android, store your contacts in you Gmail account. Never store them in your phone’s local address book. Store them in your gmail account and when you change devices or move from Android to iPHone or vice-versa, your contacts will all be there.

Making Music

Photography

Canon EOS RP: Full-frame, mirrorless camera
Lenses: various Canon RF lenses. Sigma EF 30mm 1.4
Adobe Lightroom: I’m an amateur in both photography and in using Lightroom. I do the basics and little else.

That covers the bulk of it. I also use my phone as a digital recorder, quick video of song ideas, etc. I have a Zoom H1n digital recorder as well. I use it to augment audio for videos as it can mount on my camera.

But the above lists include the primary tools I use in work, music, and creative output.

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions on the tools I use, have at it in the comments. I’ll do my best to answer your questions.

Thanks for dropping by.

Matthew Moran
January 11, 2023

The Arrogant Sage

Tools/Tech I Use That You Should Consider