This year, just about everybody's on a budget. If you're shopping for someone who loves making or recording music, I understand how frustrating it can be buying for someone with an expensive hobby!

Check out my picks for this year's top stocking stuffers. You'll find something for every budget!

As a dedicated Apple user, I've been really excited about the prospect of the rumored Mac Tablet. It'd be a really great thing to have in audio, at least for me -- I'd use it for both recording and sound analysis for live mixing.

A small, Mac compatible, affordable tablet would be great -- especially at the rumored $600 price point.

So, if the $600 Mac Tablet comes out, how would you use it in your recording setup? I'd like to hear from you!

Blue Microphones -- a popular brand of microphones for budget-conscious recording engineers -- has announced the release of Yeti, a THX-certified, multi-pattern condenser microphone with USB connectivity.

Yeti offers a proprietary triple capsule array with four selectable patterns (omnidirectional, cardioid, stereo, figure-8) alongside zero-latency headphone monitoring and hardware-based gain adjustment.

MSRP on Yeti is $149.99, and availability is expected in December.

I'm a big fan of modifying your own gear. There's some really good microphones and preamps out there at really good prices -- that sound many times more expensive once you modify them.

Personally, my favorite mod is the inexpensive ribbon mic mod I've written about before. What are your favorite mods, and what's made the biggest difference? Join the discussion in the Home Recording Forum.