Reccomend a budget, Mac-based home recording setup

SouperComputer · 22-11-2005 11:09am #1

On the behalf of my Brother-In-Law, I wish to pick your brains.

First of all, this is not a PC/Mac discussion. He wants to use Mac, end of story rightly or wrongly.

Basically he is setting up a small recording studio in his basement (in the US) and is wondering what mac to get. Used G4, G5 or mini.

My guess is that he needs to decide how many tracks he wants and what audio hardware he is going to use first.

Off the bat, I was thinking of a dual 533 with pro tools of some description, but then again I havent really delved into digital audio recording since my 300Mhz AMD K6!

So...... What do you have\suggest? Bear in mind he is working with a tight budget (id gues 1500-1800USD).

How many tracks are you running?
How much RAM?
What HD's do you have, are they RAIDed?
What audio software\hardware is good value?
Are PCI cards the way to go, thereby ruling out the mini?
etc etc..

All suggestions welcome.......

Oriel · 22-11-2005 1:27pm

The mini has no audio input, so unless he's going to have a USB card, that's that out of the question.

SouperComputer · 22-11-2005 2:45pm

sinecurea wrote:

The mini has no audio input, so unless he's going to have a USB card, that's that out of the question.

well, hes looking at 8tracks minimum id say, so in any event he will be using some sort of extra hardware from M-Audio or whoever.

440Hz · 22-11-2005 2:52pm

The studio I used to use in college ran Pro Tools on an old G4, and it was OK. But then when the replaced em with G5 you REALLY noticed the difference. Having said that, for a home setup I would prefer to go for the G4 and spend the extra cash on my M-Audio goodies! I would avoid the mini, just not good enough for the intended purpose I think.

SouperComputer · 22-11-2005 3:06pm

Cool, I appreciate the input. Is there a particular M-Audio product you would recommend in this case? Say for 8tracks simultaneous recording. He will most likely purchase secondhand.

So maybe a Dual 533 with 1Gb and a newer, bigger HD?

Browsing through the protools website, they prettymuch dont reccomend anything below a 1Ghz G4, given the budget that he is in, I think this may restrict him to a Mac Mini with a supported firewire drive.

That is of course, if Protools is the best way to go...........

Do M-Audio provide software worth using? (Please excuse my ignorance!)

440Hz · 22-11-2005 3:44pm

Pro Tools or DP (Digital Performer) or Logic... user preference really. Personally I would go for PT everytime but that is mostly cos its what im used to. As for what M-Audio interfaces to suggest... there are so many, it really depends on what he wants to do/hook up/spend?
You said he was interested in a second hand G4 right? what price is he looking at for that? That would be the deciding factor between it and the mini imho.

Worth checking out the new home recording forum here as well. Im sure there will be plenty of suggestions there. Check out the Pro Tools M-Powered

Clank · 23-11-2005 12:06am

Well the key thing I see wrong is he wants it all soon, studios take time otherwise theyre under-powered, unless of course youve 10k+ to drop on one.

First DONT cheap on the computer, he'll probably use Pro Tools LE, LE being host based it relies on the CPU as do most other audio programs.
Spend €800-900 minimum, at a decent spec.(2nd hand G4 as said, but ive seen second hand single G5s go for €900 and they come with 7,200 rpm drives which'll be a bonus.)
RAM is not as important as you think once you get to 2gigs it becomes less and less important, RAM is a gradual upgrade.
HD speed is the key, cheap drives can be gotten at capacitys of 200GB easily but most important for high track count is the rpm of it, 7,200 being the minimum.Also a second audio ONLY drive id recommend aswell, as an upgrade later again.

Not quite sure what you want for i/os because you said 8 tracks but is that for mixing or simultaneous recording?Pro Tools LE can handle 32 tracks simultaneously mixing, recording the figure escapes me sorry, its at least 16 though which is adequate for yourself.

Dont know what else you wanna know ask some more questions but for the ones you did ask...

32 on Pro Tools LE
1.25GB of Ram
Internal 5,400 and External 7,200(RAIDs are EXPENSIVE!)
Hardware: Digidesign(Pro Tools) and M-Audio
Software: Reason, Pro Tools, numerous RTAS plugins a lot of them are personal preference and governed by the spec of your computer.
GET A TOWER, expandability is the key.

(bagh im tired)

maccor · 24-11-2005 2:10pm

this is the setup that 79Cortinaz have used to record two singles (one that went to no 18 in the irish charts last year), a new single due out on Dec 9th and its what the band intend to record their debut album on (except for the computer itself, they'll be using a single processor G5 for that).

Edirol FA 101 Firewire audio device (500 euro) - takes in 10 seperate inputs at once and feeds out 10 outs to a mixer, plus monitors

Berhinger TRUTH Monitors (second hand 300 euro) - studio monitors

Optional - Studiomaster desk

iMac 600 mhtz g3 (4 years old)

Cubase SX (would prefer Logic but dont have it)

Combined, its a cheap but quality setup

maccor · 24-11-2005 2:12pm

Clank wrote:

.... and M-Audio

ive heard nasty things about m-audio

sturgo · 24-11-2005 3:13pm

I'm recording with a Macmini running, Reason 3, Ableton Live, Recycle, and Peak 4. The main drawback is the 512MB RAM. But I'm not using it for any kind of heavy multi-tracking. Just samples and softsynths really. I have it hooked up to a Miglia Harmony Audio interface and I use an M-audio O2 USB keyboard for trigering the midi. I monitor the sound through an amp and a set of speakers I bought from Richer Sounds a couple of years ago.

It's a pretty basic setup but it works perfectly for what I need and it didn't cost me a fortune. :v:

SouperComputer · 24-11-2005 11:39pm

savage, thanks for all the input.

Any mic reccomendations?

Clank · 24-11-2005 11:44pm

maccor wrote:

ive heard nasty things about m-audio

Their midi keyboards and the odd interface are ok, since theyre owned by Avid now aswell everything they do will be tailored towards Pro Tools so thats a good thing.

What mics is like asking how longs a piece of string.......
Its completely personal, governed by your budget, how many you want, what you want to record, where youll record with them.
...In general though you cant go wrong with a few Shure SM58 Beta's, SM57's, a few ambient mics(some of the best are Sennheiser U87's but one will cost your whole budget) and a D112.

SouperComputer · 25-11-2005 12:33am

great!

thank for all the info. Ill pass it on!

Gigiwagga · 28-11-2005 3:20pm

Best place to buy mics and additional gear thomann in germany they have just about everything and much cheaper than here, max post 20euros no matter what you buy, great support and service. great line in behringer mixers, small cheap and great !!!

http://www.thomann.de/thoiw6_index.html?sn=6a966419e590864907d41e07596fd043:D

SouperComputer · 28-11-2005 4:58pm

yea, I use thomann myself, this guy is in the US though so Id say he'l be picking up somthing there!

Reccomend a budget, Mac-based home recording setup

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