This is an an ongoing list. I’ll try to let you know when I make major updates. I only list things that I have personal experience with. They are all free unless otherwise noted.
Contents
Sound Engineering
Alignment triangle template 1 & 2 – Pedro Martinez shared these with the Pro Audio Workshop group. Later I published the Aiming Triangles Business Card front and back.
Audio Hijack – Record skype calls. Separate channels for guest and host.
AV Shop Talk – Nate Schneider’s podcast presents interviews with interesting people in the AV industry on topics from broadcast standards to home theatre install.
Free Sound – Sound design elements.
Mixitecture – Sound Design Live contributor Steve Knot’s site for Ableton Live producers.
Merlijn Van Veen’s Calculators – Some of my favorites are Subwoofer Array Designer, Sub Align, Spatial Distribution, and Delay Study.
The Pro Audio Files – Lots of articles and tutorials for recording engineers. Good material on mixing. One of my articles on measurement microphone placement.
Sound Design Live – Articles, podcasts, and reviews on sound engineering, sound system design and optimization, hardware, software, job search, career advice, and money. Search the entire site.
Soulsound – Great collection of training videos plus £10m PLI Included in the annual membership for UK Residents.
Sound Forums – High-quality, in-depth articles and forums posted here.
TapeOp – This is the best magazine about creative recording. It’s free!
Theatre Sound Google Group – Good place to search and post technical and career questions about theatrical sound design and engineering issues.
Health/Wellness
Sleep Cycle ($0.99) – This is an alarm clock for the iPhone. It analyzes your sleep and wakes you in the lightest (least-disruptive) sleep phase.
Soylent ($3/meal) – Meal replacement. I keep one of these in my work bag for long days. Just add water.
Productivity
Appointlet – Allow people to schedule meetings with you automatically using your free/busy time in Google Calendar. It’s free for one service, then $10/month for more. This is what I use to schedule initial consultations with prospective clients, client meetings, and short coffee dates.
Assistant.to – Gmail plugin to eliminate the back and forth of appointment scheduling.
Workflowy – One document for your entire brain. If you like making lists, you’ll love Workflowy, and it’s free.
Mailchimp – Email newsletters. This is what I use for the Sound Design Live mailing list.
Sanebox ($5/month) – Super helpful in curing email overload. It analyzes all of your past interactions with senders and decides who gets into your inbox, and who will be filed into a daily digest.
Shyp ($5/pickup) – A simple courier service that will pickup anything, package it, and ship it for you. I don’t know why, but I hate packaging stuff and going to the post office. It kills me. Now I use ship for everything I sell on eBay.
Streak – Full-featured CRM for Gmail, but you can use the free features to create email templates and schedule email reminders.
Zoom – This is what I use to teach my courses and have video conferences. It’s solid and there’s a record feature built-in.
Financial
Chimebank – Mobile banking
SquareCash – Send money for free. Requires bank account number or debit card. U.S. only.
YNAB ($50/year) – This is a desktop app for Mac and PC as well as an iPhone app. All of my expenses and income go in here and I use it to keep on-budget. You can use it to create a business budget as well. They have a simple methodology for managing your money, which you can read about here.
NorthOne – I haven’t banked with them, but it looks like an interesting product for freelancers.
Business
Choose Yourself ($0.99) – Stop waiting for someone else to validate you and choose yourself.
Patreon – Connect with your audience and allow them to support you.
So Good They Can’t Ignore You ($11.99) – Methodical debunking of the passion principle. If you’ve been searching for your passion your entire life, you need to read this.
See the rest of my business books here.
Networking
FOH/MON Engineers FB Group – If you are on the west coast, especially the L.A. area, this is a great group to get involved with.