Recording an ep

zendao

zendao

New member
Hi, so I'm thinking of recording a 4 song EP. I need to record guitars, bass, drums and some effects I can take care of with my pc. I've recorded a few demos before but the quality isnt good enough, I've gotten better with my pc but I'm not sure I've got the equipment or DAW fit for the task. I've been using Audition but the program is not really geared towards recording music. I have tried paying for cheap studios to record but the result are not good enough either.

So I need to know if my 7 year old laptop is good enough to invest in a soundcard (I'm thinking the presonus) and try to record the drums home. I've gotten some old versions of most DAWs out there to try out too.

Here's my specs

Windows XP
HP Pavillion DV8000t (2006)
Intel T2600 (2.6GHZ) Processor
2GB RAM Memory

I've also got the EMU 0202 external sound card and a pair of small M-Audio Monitors.

So is it worth investing on a soundcard to record the drums with several mics or should I rather invest in a new laptop?

Thanks!
 
I record a desktop that's around those same specs, maybe slightly better. The only issues I run into is when I record 8+ tracks.
 
2GB RAM is about minimum to run any program. You will quickly run out of resources. Looks like you are maxed out at 2GB. Plus your drive is slow speed. That sucks because minimum RAM recommendations for just 'running' a DAW is 2MB. That doesn't account for what you need to actually record.

You could maybe get by with some basic recording, but you will quickly find yourself battling with something that has already been beat by it's own ability.

I am going to guess that a multiple channel interface will work (if XP compatible), but I don't see good things happening when trying to record them all at once, with a 5200RPM drive and only 2GB RAM. If you have an external drive, you might be able to sneak some more tracks by running your audio from it, but you will still be at the end of your lappy's resources. That is really just asking for issues in my experience. You could buy a used 4 year old quad core 6MB desktop for $400 or less. IMO, I would retire the laptop to web surfing. ..
 
jimmys69 said:
2GB RAM is about minimum to run any program. You will quickly run out of resources. Looks like you are maxed out at 2GB. Plus your drive is slow speed. That sucks because minimum RAM recommendations for just 'running' a DAW is 2MB. That doesn't account for what you need to actually record.

You could maybe get by with some basic recording, but you will quickly find yourself battling with something that has already been beat by it's own ability.

I am going to guess that a multiple channel interface will work (if XP compatible), but I don't see good things happening when trying to record them all at once, with a 5200RPM drive and only 2GB RAM. If you have an external drive, you might be able to sneak some more tracks by running your audio from it, but you will still be at the end of your lappy's resources. That is really just asking for issues in my experience. You could buy a used 4 year old quad core 6MB desktop for $400 or less. IMO, I would retire the laptop to web surfing. ..
Click to expand...

Cool, I'm thinking of buying a costumized HP top of the range Envy. What should I focus on besides max processor and ram?

Thanks!
 
I would hope someone with more PC knowledge would come around. From what I have read and used myself, I would go for a Intel i5 or better i7. 8GB of ram with W7 Home 64bit OEM version. Separate hard drive for project files (internal or external-don't matter).
 
To be honest you need a newer laptop. I use Sonar X2 and lots of plugins and my HP G6 with 4GB ram just gets me by.
 
Laptops are built for portability, small size and weight. If you do not need to be portable, then forget about the laptop for recording. Use the lappy you have for whatever you need it for, and build a desktop to do your recording. Even a cheap laptop can usually handle the task of recording tracks, just don't expect it to be able to have the balls to mix on.
 
I have a quad core amd based machine with 6gb ram with 2 drives running so and audio seperatly and I only start getting probs in big projects and I mean 100 tracks plus but that is resolved by larger audio buffer in my hardware.
 
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