Just a few questions.

[comoeltelefono]

Howdy. I have a few questions about laptops, soundcards, and recording programs. I recently recorded a few tracks on a friend's MacBook laptop in Garage Band using a Peavey mixer and some standard Peavey vocal microphones. I was able to record drums, multiple guitars, bass, and vocals with pretty good quality merely by plugging the mixer straight into the input of the laptop. The Garage Band program was really easy to use, which led me to believe that I should get a Mac laptop of my own. However, Macs are pricey pieces of machinery, and I was wondering if I could get good quality out of a Windows laptop. Upon investigation, I've found that the Cakewalk Music Creator 5 program looks like a good starting point as a PC alternative to Garage Band, but I've seen a lot of talk about sound cards and how they can screw everything up. Is there a difference in the stock sound card in a Mac laptop and the stock sound card in a PC laptop? I was able to get satisfactory quality (for my needs, at least) when I plugged the mixer straight into the Mac without an audio or MIDI interface, so is there any reason I shouldn't be able to get similar results with a PC under the same circumstances?

 

[Massive Master]

Should be more or less similar. I'd try Reaper also...

 

[mjbphotos]

The typical soundcard in a PC laptop sucks. You'll need to upgrade. Get a laptop with firewire interface and you'll be all set to upgrade to the best possible.

 

[comoeltelefono]

In order to upgrade, could I use one of these USB audio interfaces that I see stuff about? Am I correct in the assumption that these are just ways to bypass the computer's soundcard?

 

[Jeff_D]

In order to upgrade, could I use one of these USB audio interfaces that I see stuff about? Am I correct in the assumption that these are just ways to bypass the computer's soundcard?

Yup- plenty of good usb or firewire interfaces. Most have preamps built in so you can plug a mic right into them. They typically have anywhere from 2 (good for your singer songwritter types) to 8 inputs (good for doing live drums). ANY onboard sound card (yes, even in a Mac) will be substandard for recording purposes.

 

[comoeltelefono]

Would I be able to plug a mixer into the USB interface, then a mic into the mixer?

 

[mattr]

If the interface has built in preamps, then there is (usually) no need for a mixer. THe mics plug straight into the interface preamps.

 

[comoeltelefono]

Ah. Well, I mean...I already have the mixer, I bought it a while ago and I'm pretty familiar with how to use it. Using it anyway wouldn't hurt anything would it?

 

[mattr]

It would probably unecessecary, and there's not much point having extraneous links in a signal chain. Depending on the quality of the mixer it may introduce extra noise, but you might get away without it being detrimental to the signal... the question is, what would you need it for?

 

[comoeltelefono]

Well. I guess if the interface does the job for it, then I wouldn't. I was just under the impression that a mixer was almost necessary to get good sound.

 

[Jeff_D]

Everyone seems to want a mixer outfront of the interface to control everything, but the reality is most small format mixers (especially cheap ones) don't have the most important routing capabilities for recording for more than a few tracks. You can use you mixer and route the left output into one track and the right output into another track and then pan the mixer so that signal only goes one track or the other. You can also get creative with aux sends and you can even pull a signal from the "insert" jack from each mixer channel, but that will be a signal from before the eq and everything else- and it ties up the insert jack so that you can't use it as an insert jack...

A mixer is designed to take multiple signals and combine them into a single (or few) signals for the purpose of sending a single signal to speakers or whatever... But the whole point of multitrack recording is to NOT combine signals of everything that you are recording until AFTER you've recorded it. You want each signal to be its own track. To accomplish this with a mixer, you need a mixer with a) enough subgroups or aux sends to supply the number of tracks you want to record, or b) (preferred) would be to have direct outputs on each channel of the mixer to supply the inputs on your interface. The cheapest mixers with direct outs on each mic channel I'm aware of would be the Soundcraft M series (I have an M8- I went down the same road that you are years ago ) Some of the Allen and Heath and the pricier Mackie stuff also has direct outs. The GOOD thing about using a mixer as a front end for your recording is that you can also use the mixer for its intended purpose of feeding an amp and a set of speakers- I use the same Soundcraft M8 as the mixer for our PA at the same time I'm recording with it.... and that works awesome for what I use it for- I like to record the entire band during practice and that mixer lets me have a PA and front end for recording.

So, basicly, unless you want to drop some cheese for a nicer mixer and you actually need the mixing capabilities of a mixer, then you're best bet would be an interface with either built in pres, or outboard pres... You have a lot of options, but just keep in mind how you will connect everything as you are shopping and comparing your options...

Hopefull that helped

 

[comoeltelefono]

Yeah that makes sense. Thanks. I suppose it's just a case that I already spent the money on the mixer a while ago, and I don't really want it to go to waste. But if it's superfluous, then I guess there's no sense in hooking it up. But as long as I know there's a way to overcome the sound card problems and that a PC laptop will yield similar results to a Mac, then I'm good. I just didn't want to get a Mac of my own and then find that I could've done just as well with a PC after blowing excess money on the Mac.

 

[Jeff_D]

Yeah that makes sense. Thanks. I suppose it's just a case that I already spent the money on the mixer a while ago, and I don't really want it to go to waste. But if it's superfluous, then I guess there's no sense in hooking it up. But as long as I know there's a way to overcome the sound card problems and that a PC laptop will yield similar results to a Mac, then I'm good. I just didn't want to get a Mac of my own and then find that I could've done just as well with a PC after blowing excess money on the Mac.

Fair enough. If you are good with only a couple simultaneous tracks of Audio then maybe you can keep your current mixer and hook it up through something like this... http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/Lexicon-Alpha-USB-Audio-Interface?sku=245507 or this... http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/Behringer-UCONTROL-UCA202-USBAudio-Interface?sku=702540

That would get you started for next to nothin and you can use your mixer you already have, but you can really do alot better in the $200+ range. If you got something like the Firebox or the Lexicon Omega (2 pres + 2 line ins) you could connect the mixer to the 2 line ins and get 4 simultaneous tracks pretty easily.

the step up from there would be a decent 8 channel interface like the Firestudio or maybe a Motu 8pre in the $400-$600 range...

 

[dastrick]

If your happy with the quality that your getting from the mixer/mac combo you use now, you'll be happy with the mixer/pc combo. There should be no real audible difference.

 

[comoeltelefono]

Sweet. Does anyone have any recommendations for a reasonably priced PC that would be good for recording? Or even just a brand?

 

[dastrick]

I assume your talking about a PC laptop? If you're just going to be recording through the Line In, then just about any laptop would do. If you're going to be using an audio interface (USB or Firewire) then that's a different story.

Check out this thread for some help.
http://studio-central.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=69037&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

 

[TeyshaBlue]

I assume your talking about a PC laptop? If you're just going to be recording through the Line In, then just about any laptop would do. If you're going to be using an audio interface (USB or Firewire) then that's a different story.

Check out this thread for some help.
http://studio-central.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=69037&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

There are some basic qualities of a decent recording laptop in that thread. It's funny tho....my laptop has none of them. I routinely record at least 8 tracks simultaneously into Sonar Producer 8, via my Zoom R16 USB interface. I use a very, very cheap laptop...Compaq with 3 gigs of ram, a 2.4ghz Celeron processor, 250 gig drive running at 7200 rpm. It shouldn't perform as well as it does, but inexplicably, it's a pretty capable combo.
I do miss a better processor when it comes time for mixdown tho....rendering 16 tracks with multiple plugins can take up to 2 minutes.
If you are thinking about running VSTI synths, etc....then my rig would be woefully undergunned. I don't run any so that's probably why it works for me.