This year, let me help you play Santa for the studio owner in your life. Check out this quick article from About.com’s Home Recording guru:

Holiday Season 2009 Buying Guide: Top 5 Stocking Stuffers for Musicians & Recording Engineers

Here’s my recap of the list:

Anything you can do to save a musician/engineer’s hearing is a great gift idea. Face it, we spend our whole lives listening to music at ear-piercing volumes. By the time we hit 30, our hearing is already noticeably degraded. Show your love and give the gift of hearing protection. Earplugs and SPL meters are great gift ideas.

A handy microphone is also a great gift. Don’t worry if you don’t know much about mics. Most recording enthusiasts are excited to play around with any new mic they get there hands on. It’s a chance to create new sounds and add a new tool to the studio repertoire. If you’re really stumped, you can’t go wrong with a Shure SM57 microphone. Check out SM57 microphone reviews for more info. These can be used in just about any studio situation, and you can never have too many of them.

I especially like the idea of gifting a microphone sanitizer. This isn’t something that most studio owners think about, but how many germs are growing on those vocal microphones? Lots and lots. With H1N1 lurking around this season, don’t take any risks.

Hope that helps with your holiday shopping!

PS – Sometimes the best gift you can give to a studio owner is… a minute of your time. Listen to their latest mix and compliment them on their work. That’s the greatest joy a recording hobbyist can ever receive.

Want to give a gift they’ll really love? How about teaching your studio owner how to make money with a recording studio.