With limited budget, my main first query is around the mbpros; any particular models to stay away from (as I will be going the refurbished route), and what would those in the know consider to be the base ghz/RAM edition for quickly and reliably running mainly protools/audio programs? I may dabble in filmaking down the road as I got a gig doing film archival stuff, and some work doing scores for some small film projects, which leads me to believe I may not want to skimp on processing power whatsover when working within video editing.
Where I would have to begin being seriously cost efficient will be in the arena of Mbox/digidesign hardware. The mini doesnt have enough inputs necessarily, but Im not opposed to it because its so damn cheap. Any feedback on Mbox 2 vs Mbox 2pro? Good stories/horror stories with any of these (especially around latency/general performativity)? The main selling point for having at least 4 live inputs would be the drum kit, other wise I really only need 2 anyways. Anything out there that is the toyota 22re of hardware; that is, I could find it used much cheaper and count on it lasting a while?
Any soundboards you would stay away from, or utterly recommend for small home studio?
A yes or no will suffice if no one wants to incriminate themselves or this blog, but could one count on "finding" plug-ins/other programs out there? I know that historically the answer to this is in constant flux, so at the moment, could one pirate if one chooses to go pirating?
Any cardioid mic feedback? I cant believe how cheap some of the Sure cardioids are these days, but I feel like they may be so for a reason.
So many review sites assume $ is no object, hence I am curious what yalls with knowledge in this arena have to say.
Cheerz
P.S. I painstakingly uploaded a few photos from my phone:
The lovely Oneida
the blob in the middle is Thurston Moore. He's fucking tall, and knows alot about Volvos.
This license plate says blaxmaxx, with a brooklyn signature on the window.
and then there's this
I think Tony already posted this guy-who is going to be my next tatoo:
The empty space on my block where a building was, which perished on election night:
Peace!
5 comments:
Before you pay an extra $500 plus for an apple logo on the outside of your computer, take a look at this:
http://lifehacker.com/software/hack-attack/build-a-hackintosh-mac-for-under-800-321913.php
It might be more work than you're up for, but saving money would be nice.
just buy a refurbed macbook pro, the recent edition. my macbook is running two plus years of dj abuse, full hard drive and spilled drinks and keeps on going. the newer the model the longer it will last and spend the extra 300 for applecare and you're set. now that might set you back 1500.....refurbs will not at least 20 to 30 percent off the apple price, which makes a lot of high power nonsense within yr price range......
and just do it. if you wait, you'll have spend the money and will not have a computer to show for it. apples are worth the money despite the DIY linux camps out there. and to get a comparable pc labtop you'd spend as much money anyway........
but that's my opinion.......
On the computer side, I think a refurb Pro would probably suit you well. However, if you can wait at all, you might want to hold off until fall -- that's usually when Apple introduces its updated notebook lines, and you can find some pretty good deals on the previous gen hardware. Another option, if you don't need the recording computer to be your main laptop, you might even consider going the iMac route. They're cheaper but more powerful, and as far recording gear goes, still fairly portable.
As for the Mbox Vs MBox Pro, as far as I know there's no real difference other than the number of inputs. There's always going the ProTools for M-Audio route, and getting one of their boxes. You'd probably be able to get more inputs for cheaper that route, but the nice thing about the Mboxes is that they have pretty decent Focusrite pres.
Mics: I think for the money, you can't really beat the Rode NT1. It's not perfect (tonally, its a little bit brittle, but its easy to compensate for that, but nothing comes close unless you spend more money. Cheaper condensers have a much worse signal-to-noise ratio. God, I've got this Audio Technica condenser -- one of the $100 ones -- and while the tone is decent, its such a noisy mic. The noise of a shitty mic is harder to compensate for in mixing, that a clean one that needs a little bit of beefing up.
Hope some of that helps.
I have the MBP and the MBox 2. These are perfect. But I like hardware more than software for sound creation and drum programming. The virtual stuff sounds a little too clinical for some things. But if you have to dl some programs, stick to torrents - at least that way you can actually check out the file types before you make any rash decisions.
Oh, and refurb is fine. Even a used/but relatively new MBP with Applecare (I repeat) Applecare would also probably work.
thanks a million, brahmigos! The hack situation is something ive been chewing on, given the cost cuttings involved its pretty f-ing rad. The portability factor, however, is going to be paramount to a few different projects including "educational fair useages", which I intend usaging during an internship at the juilliard music library, which if I brown my nose up enough will provide limited access to some of their instrument libraries. Again, thanks a ton yall!
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