Studio Recording With Mac?

Gareth Williams

Gareth Williams

Member
Hi everybody, is anybody using a new Apple Mac for studio recording? I really could do with replacing an old machine, from 2014, things have started going wrong with it and my Apogee Duet which I also bought at the same time. So it’s pretty old gear now but the problem I’ve got is my new iMac that I bought in September last year that I use for personal use not in my recording studio has only got 8GB of file storage and the iMac I want to replace has 1,000GB, and I've used 85GB!

Does anybody use a new Mac for their recording studio and how do you work around the tiny amount of file stage? iCloud? External HD?
Thanks for your help. Gareth
 
My projects are all on external storage - audio is on one drive and video on another. Technically, those "drives" are RAID1 "mirrored" spinning HDDs in a closet. I'd use SSDs these days, but that was a cheaper way to get a lot of reliable storage when I did that a few years back. (Those drives are, by necessity, in a closet to keep noise out of the recordings!)

I put a 1TB SSD in my iMac, so putting the audio on there wouldn't be a problem, but no reason to change, but if you could, I'd get more than 250GB as your system drive, and definitely get SSD. (And get an even bigger backup drive!)
 
Gareth Williams said:
Hi everybody, is anybody using a new Apple Mac for studio recording? I really could do with replacing an old machine, from 2014, things have started going wrong with it and my Apogee Duet which I also bought at the same time. So it’s pretty old gear now but the problem I’ve got is my new iMac that I bought in September last year that I use for personal use not in my recording studio has only got 8GB of file storage and the iMac I want to replace has 1,000GB, and I've used 85GB!

Does anybody use a new Mac for their recording studio and how do you work around the tiny amount of file stage? iCloud? External HD?
Thanks for your help. Gareth
Click to expand...
Yes. I do, and it's awesome. M1 MAX, 32 GB memory, plenty of storage.

Now. It's a MacBook Pro. So not actually for studio stuff, just high-quality home recording. But I recently did a studio session for a big project-for-hire and they had a Mac mini, M2 chip, etc. Really cool stuff! You'd be surprised how much punch that thing packs. But I'm thinking that when/if I set up a real studio I'll go for a Mac Pro tower and do some video on that as well. The in-between is a Mac Studio which is probably da best for the upper echelon of home-based studios.
 
I have an M1 and a nicely specified Windows machine, and realistically, there's little to choose really. Personally - if you have 32Gb of memory, then that is the key feature. Storage wise - I'm using a NAS driver to share things between them, and the Mac is quite happy using an external drive - the same way that the PCs do - Having many Tb of sample storage makes them OK, and on the PC, they're spinners not SSDs, simply because I've never had bottlenecks.

The only annoyance is that on the Macs, the iMac I have has one positive, it has more socketry! The M1 MacBook is one that only has 2 sockets - and I have two MacBooks with this arrangement and a variety of plug in third party gizmos to give me more I/O. These vary from temperamental and prone to overheating, to more solid and dependable. Minimacs that I don't have, also have the same issue. The connectors are small, the adaptors tend to have stiff cables and while this may appear stupidly insignificant - ALL - my issues are from the stack of adapters needed to get the multitude of USB connectors plugged up. PCs, and iMacs and some Mac minis have more socketry - but MacBooks, even with more I/O still have a mess of gadgets plugged into the machine that often weigh more than the MacBook!

This seems silly, but the iMac and PC very rarely have any issues with cabling up, MacBooks need careful connection - Mac minis being smaller and chunky - can live with a stack of gizmos behind.

Ios or Windows? I don't really care!
 
rob aylestone said:
Ios or Windows? I don't really care!
Click to expand...
Well I'm a self-confessed Mac diehard 8-), and I can't stand the Windows OS. I mean, why are the close and minimize buttons at the top right? :ROFLMAO:

But yeah, the lack of connector compatibility is very frustrating. I have a powered Anker hub but I hate having to carry that around and plug it in etc. Though in a permanent installation (like a studio), that should not be an issue.
 
With the connectivity and throughput we have these days there's no reason not to just hang a TB (or whatever you need) off a thunderbolt port.
That's all I do.
I'll happily pay apple for their silicon systems but I wont pay them for extra storage. It's just too much.

If your system has 256GB storage and you're using about 80 or 90 then you probably don't have a problem but I'd still go with an external SSD (and a regular backup of it) just so your important work is separate from the system.

I'm sure you're aware but moving from 2014 to September last year means change of architecture, to Apple Silicon, as far as I know.
If so you'll probably find that all your plugins and any audio device drivers will need updated for compatibility.
I'd recommend getting the newer system set up the way you want it while you still have the older one running,
just in case you run into something unexpected.

@Serendipity Records - I'm running the baseline M1 Macbook Air as my main machine and it's absolutely killing it, still.
I know people using them for video work and wedding photography. Even the entry level M1 laughs at that kind of workload.
Would be shocked if you really need a studio or pro!
As mentioned connectivity can be a bit of a pain on lower models, though. I dock with a breakout hub.
 
Steenamaroo said:
@Serendipity Records - I'm running the baseline M1 Macbook Air as my main machine and it's absolutely killing it, still.
I know people using them for video work and wedding photography. Even the entry level M1 laughs at that kind of workload.
Would be shocked if you really need a studio or pro!
As mentioned connectivity can be a bit of a pain on lower models, though. I dock with a breakout hub.
Click to expand...
I already do some photo and video editing, but when I mentioned Studio and Pro I was talking 3D rendering and 8K VFX and processing 🤯. Which I'm not quite qualified to do at the moment, but it's the dream!
 
I should be able to keep the file weight down to below 250GB. It's only for me and my band. I don't want to get an external HD because you have to know what's good and what's compatible with my machine and that will take some investigation!
 
Honestly, it doesn't. 250Gb is way too small. Everything you buy nowadays is full of data. Yesterday, I went onto the Steinway site - I'm a Cubase user, and if I downloaded that (I just checked) then that alone would take up nearly 20% of a 250Gb drive. I have many Tb of samples now, and I simply buy drives on Amazon, from sellers with a reputation - typically 1 to 4 Tb spinners, not SSDs. The beauty is that I can take the drives to the office and plug in there with little effort. Seriously though - this mornings project ended up with huge files. My old macbook is in the office, with a 250Gb drive, and I cannot install enough on it to use it. This macbook I also use for recording - it has a 500Gb drive (an M1) and has just 30Gb free.

The worst barrier to creativity is having to keep an eye on your storage. The worst thing ever is the damn thing stopping because Mac says memory getting short.

Small Amazon sourced drives are pretty safe nowadays and you can always return them within the 14 days. This is the one I bought recently and it's the second one this year - the others are now full!
 

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Thanks Rob, that HD looks good. I'll get one of those just in case! BTW. Why does it say “style name” PC not Mac? in your screen shot. Did you get the PC version?
 
You don't really have to know a lot but, personally, I never buy anything in an enclosure because there's a lot of BS out there assuming you'll never open it to physically check.
I just grab a 2.5" naked SSD from a known name - Samsung, Crucial, Kingston...whatever,
and a Sata to usb/usbC adapter.
 
Gareth Williams said:
Thanks Rob, that HD looks good. I'll get one of those just in case! BTW. Why does it say “style name” PC not Mac? in your screen shot. Did you get the PC version?
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I strongly recommend getting an SSD instead of HDD. If I were in your shoes I would get a minimum 500gb on the computer and an equal worth in SSD for backup (ALWAYS back up BTW). Don't skimp and fall for an off-brand: I lost everything on a 1TB USB thumb drive about a year ago. And that frickin' sucks.
 
I lost everything on six computers with a ransomeware attack, so the real key feature is backup backup backup to things not normally connected. I started using SSDs but realistically, found the speed and reliability not to be an issue for my particular usage. As soon as funds allow, I’m buying more drives and starting a rigid backup system because my main computer for music is now getting slower and getting old, and external drives makes new computer swaps easier too.
 
Yup. Backup backup backup.

Smallest system drive you can get away with (just 'cos apple prices).
USB C SSD for extra storage - fast for video, sample libraries, sessions, etc.
External 7200rpm spinner for backup. Two if, if you want to be extra careful.

I backup everything to the spinner a few times a year, or after completion of a substantial or important session.

There are different ways to do things and everyone will have their own preferences, but that's my approach.
 
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