Higher Hz is an online music magazine that offers an unbiased, real-world expert perspective, first-hand reviews, guides, and tutorials on all things audio.
As a team, we are passionate about making music, recording music, and listening to music. We love sharing our thoughts on musical instruments, studio gear, and hi-fi equipment. In other words, if it makes, records, or plays music, we like it.
Our aim/goal
We aim to help our readers make music and enjoy music, that’s it. Our goal is to assist music makers in every step, from choosing the right instruments and equipment to understanding how to get the best out of them.
If you don’t make music, then our goal is to help you hear it as the artist intended.
What we do
Our goal of helping music makers and music lovers get the best out of themselves and their equipment is never-ending, and we pursue it in a few different ways.
The main thing that we do is test equipment to help our readers make informed choices. We test everything from pianos and keyboards, guitars, and basses to audio interfaces and studio monitors.
On the hi-fi side of things, we test headphones, DACs, turntables, speakers, and everything in between. Basically, if it makes noise or records noise, we will probably test it out.
The other way we help our readers is by creating guides and tutorials on all things audio. We cover a wide range of topics for a wide range of skill levels.
Meet our team
Our team of talented and enthusiastic individuals has decades worth of knowledge and experience. From the editors to the writers and content creators, we are musicians, composers, producers, audio engineers, DJs, performers, and all-around music lovers.
We believe we can give you the best advice because we do what you do; we don’t just talk about it.
Our experience covers just about every aspect of the music industry, and that includes playing in dive bars for very little money; you are not alone.
Throughout our team, we have experience working alongside some of the leading brands in the pro audio industry and covering industry events and trade shows.
Benedict Roff-Marsh
Industry expert, software developer
Benedict is a mix engineer, record producer, and composer with over 30 years of experience. At Higher Hz, he works as a music industry expert and software development supervisor.
Marco Sebastiano Alessi
Senior writer
Marco is a seasoned audiophile, producer, engineer, and record label owner. At Higher Hz, he works as a senior writer, covering hi-fi, home theater, and live sound.
Brandon Schock
Senior writer
Brandon is a producer, audio engineer, and multi-instrumentalist. At Higher Hz, he works as a senior writer, covering microphones, studio monitors, audio interfaces, and recording techniques.
James Michael Nugent
Senior writer
James is a professional pianist, sound designer, and music educator. At Higher Hz, he works as a senior writer, covering all things piano, MIDI controllers, and synthesizers.
Marye Lobb
Content writer
Marye is an independent singer-songwriter, teaching artist, and multi-instrumentalist. At Higher Hz, she works as a writer, covering singing and ukulele-playing topics.
Manuel Villar Lifac
Content writer
Manuel is a versatile professional multi-instrumentalist, composer, and producer. At Higher Hz, he works as a writer, covering orchestral string instruments.
Aaron Cloutier
Content writer
Aaron is a professional songwriter, composer, and music educator. At Higher Hz, he works as a writer, covering songwriting, arrangement, and music theory topics.
Djordje Lukovic
Content writer
Djordje is an experienced guitarist, composer, and music producer. At Higher Hz, he works as a writer, covering all things guitar and bass.
Liam Stamos
Content writer
Liam is a multi-instrumentalist with a focus on drums. At Higher Hz, he works as a writer, covering all things drums, from iconic drummers to advice for beginners and techniques.
Andrei Kozhemiakin
Head of content, editor-in-chief
Andrei is an audiophile with extensive knowledge of sound and audio technologies. Although less proficient as a musician, he has over 10 years of experience in multimedia production. At Higher Hz, he works as a head of content and editor-in-chief, overseeing the editorial team and content strategy.
Mark Barkan
Founder, president
Mark is an innovative entrepreneur and seasoned executive with a deep passion for music and technology. He is the founder and president of Higher Hz, steering the company’s vision, strategic direction, and overall operations.
From playing in bands to engineering recording sessions to testing and reviewing new software/hardware, there isn’t a position in the industry that one of our team doesn’t know inside out.
How we make money
We do what we do because we love music, but we have to make money to fund what we do.
Our team dedicates a lot of time and effort to creating quality content, and it’s our job to make sure we pay them a fair price.
It’s important to us that the readers come first, so our funding will never come at your expense.
Higher Hz participates in affiliate programs from various retailers like Amazon and Sweetwater. These programs involve placing affiliate links (buttons) on certain pages of our website, like our reviews.
The links will take you to a product page on the retailer’s website, and we receive a commission on any purchase you make.
Will we send you to random product pages?
Never. If you are looking at a product link/button, it’s because you are reading about the product in question already.
Does our commission mean you pay more?
Absolutely not! Any affiliate links we use will direct you to the best price the retailer has to offer at the time.
Our commission comes from the retailer after the sale, and it allows us to pay our team. You never pay any more than you are supposed to.
Do we have a contract with the retailers and brands that we feature?
No, we don’t. We are reader-supported, which means we don’t get paid directly to review or feature specific products.
Honest reviews
Providing honest reviews is not only important to us, but it’s also vital to the success of our website. It wouldn’t be in our best interest to provide our readers with opinions that are anything less than 100% genuine.
As we said, we are reader-supported, and if we don’t give you the best advice we can, you won’t buy anything, and we won’t get paid.
Our style of reviewing does mean that we try to focus on the pros more than the cons. But we don’t do that by ignoring the negatives. If we come across a product that we think is absolutely terrible, we are far less likely to review it.
Generally speaking, we believe that anything we review has something to offer the right user. But, no product is perfect, and you can rest assured, we highlight any flaws as clearly as we highlight the good things.
That’s why you can always trust us to give our honest opinions. Check out any of our reviews, and see for yourself.
What do we look for most in our reviews
The criteria that we focus on will change from one product to the next, but our process is always the same. We break down the most essential features of any product type and score them as individual sections.
Next, we look for features or functions that set a given product aside from the competition.
Finally, we will give it a final rating based on an average from the individual sections. We hope that our reviews make it easier for you to digest important information in a short time.
While we place quality above anything else, we do put a lot of emphasis on value for money. In doing so, we might rate an expensive high-performance product the same or even lower than a lesser product. We do this when we believe the value for money provided by a lesser product outweighs everything else.
We recommend very expensive products if we feel they are worth the investment, but we also understand the importance of getting the most out of your money.
Disclaimer
Higher Hz is a participant in the Amazon.com Services LLC Associates Program. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.
Contacts
Higher Hz is owned and operated by AFF Lab LLC. We’re an international company with its head office in Latvia, Europe.
If you have questions about this page or the website in general, please contact us at info@higherhz.com or by post to:
AFF Lab LLC
Lidonu street, 22-2
Riga, LV-1055
Latvia