Recording studios

[dumbellwkeyboard]

Hi,
My son wants to buy a computer that will enable him to make some decent music recordings for his band. He isnt a 'pro', but wants quality at a reasonable price.

He wants to get a laptop, is that not a good idea, considering the programs he would have to use?

I guess the sound card matters for this issue huh?

Lots of feedback so welcome,
thanks.

 

[herm0016]

your best bet is probably a macbook pro w/ logic pro. logic is one of the best recording/digital music making programs out there. he will want some sort of recording interface like the m-audio usb stuff also, and probably a large external hard drive to store his work to free up space on the laptop.

 

[alfa147x]

Originally posted by: herm0016
your best bet is probably a macbook pro w/ logic pro. logic is one of the best recording/digital music making programs out there. he will want some sort of recording interface like the m-audio usb stuff also, and probably a large external hard drive to store his work to free up space on the laptop.

2nd the motion for the macbook pro

Look for the last gens on sale

 

[dumbellwkeyboard]

Thanks!

Ok, now this mac... is it windows?
No huh?

I have to explore that area

Would like to get away from windows.. MS hogs up all my ram haha..

I have copied/pasted this info..

Am accepting more hehe...

 

[herm0016]

nope, not windows, but you can put windows on it if you desire.

 

[mshan]

Add an Apogee Duet to one of the earlier revision (must be firewire enabled) MacBook Pros and he should be set (Apogee Duet, even brand new, should be available for really nice prices on eBay after Live Cash Back).

 

[herm0016]

the duet is overpriced.
the maudio stuff sounds great, and you get more for your money http://www.m-audio.com/product...us/FastTrackUltra.html or look at the fast track pro.

 

[thomsbrain]

I will strongly go against the other advice in this thread.

Buy your son a PC laptop and one of Digidesign's Pro Tools LE setups (several models with different prices/feature). Pro Tools is a combination of hardware and software, so it covers all the bases and everything will work properly right out of the box. Because it is all included, you don't need to worry about which sound card to get, and the quality of the audio hardware ranges from good to excellent. It will also work on a Mac, but you're going to buy a PC because you'll get more speed for the money, and that will leave more money leftover to get proper audio hardware/software like Pro Tools instead of consumer-oriented crap like the other suggestions in this thread. Pro Tools LE does use the computer's CPU to process audio (unlike the better versions), but almost any modern laptop will have more than enough power.

Pro Tools is the industry-standard DAW (digital audio workstation) package for all professional recording studios. Many (or even most) modern albums use Pro Tools for at least part of the recording process. The tracks your son records in the garage with his Pro Tools setup can be taken to any real studio on a hard drive, where he can add to them, mix them, master them, etc. The reverse is also true. His band can record drum tracks in a real studio, then come back home and record other instruments or vocals later at home. And because it is portable, he can pack it up and take it with him to different rehearsals, or even use it to record live shows. For instance, any given song that my band recorded for our last album included layers of audio from two different professional studios, three apartments, a rehearsal studio, a cabin, and several outdoor locations. We then mixed it in yet another home, on yet another Pro Tools setup. Everywhere we went, the tracks loaded right up on the next Pro Tools setup.

There probably isn't anything intrinsically wrong with the audio quality of the suggestions that others have made, but this is an issue of making sure the recordings your son makes aren't worthless in the future because of compatibility issues. Pro Tools is in nearly every recording studio. For posterity and flexibility, it would be extremely foolish to spend money or time using anything other than Pro Tools.

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

Buy a last gen Macbook Pro and you should be good with Garageband. Pro Tools if he really is hardcore.

 

[Ghouler]

Both macbook and protools are bad value if you are not a pro.

Macbooks are bad value in general and I would never buy them with my own money. I have been using one in college and was not converted. Basically there is not a thing that mac is better at then a decent laptop. Sure this is part of the mac versus PC thing and I sit firmly on one side. Macs are overpriced, overhyped, average hardware run by buggy operating system while Apple's customer support is probably among the worsts in the industry.

As for protools + cheap interface from M-Audio - for that money you can get plenty of alternatives. Multitrack recording sound cards are dirt cheap and there is a lot of simple to use and well written software applications for recording e.g. ableton live.

Or he can use audacity which is completely free.

Anything ASIO compatible is a standard. ProTools are great - with ProTools hardware but that's expensive.

Do not get Macbook and do not get ProTools - this will be expensive, not versatile and will require a lot of learning - which alltogether might just kill the budding artist or audio engineer.

As for compatibility with professional studios running Pro Tools - you do not need to run Pro Tools to be able to mix tracks or master the mix in the studio later. Wave is the standard and has always been.

 

[oynaz]

I have quite a lot of recording experience, so I thought I would chime in. Both Thomsbrain and Ghouler have valid points.

First, let us get the performance issue out of the way. Modern computers have more than enough power to run any kind of recording setup. I use an AMD Athlon 2 Ghz with 1,5 Gb RAM as the heart of my studio, and I have to use an outrageous number of VST plugins to be near the system's performance ceiling. The only possible bottleneck is the disc system.

So a laptop is a good idea. Make sure to get one which is relatively silent and rugged. Get one with an eSATA output, and get an external eSATA disc. That should take care of any HDD bottlenecks. Make sure to rig up a backup system as well. I use Memeo Autobackup, but Microsoft Synctoy (free with Windows) should be fine.
BTW, I do not know if the Intel Atom (Asus EEE etc.) processor is powerful enough for recording purposes. Get something with a Core 2 or Turion.

That brings us to your kid's needs. ProTools is great, but it might be overkill for a newbie. I started with a free version with Cubase SE, which was relatively easy to use, and plenty for my purposes. On the other hand, Protools is the industry standard, and be starting with the cheap (well, relatively cheap) versions, he will have a flatter learning curve if he wishes to upgrade later.

All being said, the choice of software is the most important. Processors and RAM are so powerful that it does not matter anymore, and low-end soundcards (check out M-Audio or Yamaha), are cheap and easily upgradeble.

So let us know - how advanced is he? Is recording just a fad, or does he really want to get into it?

 

[thomsbrain]

Originally posted by: Ghouler

As for compatibility with professional studios running Pro Tools - you do not need to run Pro Tools to be able to mix tracks or master the mix in the studio later. Wave is the standard and has always been.

Um...

Pro Tools does record using the wav format like most other programs, but you can't simply bring in a hard drive with a folder full of random wave files and expect to mix them in a studio. When you record using a DAW, there are mountains of wave files, which start and stop in different places within a song. They don't all just start at sample zero, so they can't just be magically synced back up without the proper DAW. If you've done any editing on the session, playback of a track may use little bits and pieces of dozens of individual wave files, all of which need to be present, but none of which are being used in their entirety. For instance, the playback of one single vocal track may actually be referencing dozens of individual takes that are only edited together in a "soft" way, meaning the program automatically shifts between files as it plays back. You can't simply bring the individual files in and mix them unless you want to do your editing all over again while paying big bucks in the studio.

An alternative is to bounce each layer into a full-length wave file that starts at the beginning of the song, but that is very cumbersome, time-consuming, wastes hard drive space, uses up studio time to import those files, and is ultimately needless when you could have simply brought in a complete recording session if you had used the proper program in the first place.

You can master a raw stereo wave track from any program, but you can't bring in-progress sessions to mix unless you find one of the rare studios that has another DAW that matches yours in addition to their Pro Tools rig.

Pro Tools isn't cheap, but it is a bargain for what you get. This is a question of doing it right the first time instead of wasting money upfront on kiddie toys only to have to spend way more down the road buying Pro Tools or needlessly using studio time. The money spent on the other DAW program could have gone towards a microphone, nice preamp, or other gear.

 

[oynaz]

Thomsbrain has a valid point, though I do believe that Cubase and Protools can import each other's files, but I am not sure how perfect this works.

 

[herm0016]

the thing is, if he wants to do anything other than recording he will need another program. a program like logic (which is very capable of making a great recording) excels also in making music using samples. this function is not available in protools. logic offers many of the same features of protools while still retaining one of the best sample music making systems. logic for the most part is easier to use and works with more different hardware than protools also. the latest version of logic has beefed up its recording abilities.

 

[oynaz]

Protools cannot do recording? Are you sure about that?

 

[herm0016]

Originally posted by: oynaz
Protools cannot do recording? Are you sure about that?

what? protools is made to record... my post says logic is great for making music from sampled instruments, and also does good recording, while protools is great at recording but does not make sampled music very well.

 

[rdp6]

Another perspective:

I have a macbook pro, the 2nd version (edit: Fall 2006 version). It came with Garageband which was included in the iLife suite. I had never done any computer-based recording before, but I can tell you this: I was able to plug a guitar (via 1/4" to 1/8" adapter) directly into the laptop, record tracks, add/modify built-in effects, mix, and export a finished product very easily. I was able to compose a 30 or so second demo song in under 5 minutes. No joke.

Power users would find the macbook pro very versatile, since it can run whatever operating system you like and thus any audio application. Also, the macbook pro is a pretty sturdy computer, having survived 1 year and a half of being carted around in my backpack everywhere I went at university. It certainly deserves a look.