home recording MB advice needed

[van]

Hi, guys. I've decided to go with a MB after weeks of choosing between several brands.

My primary use for it would be to serve as my personal "art home" hehe-- meaning mainly photos and music. And by music, I mean home recording my own. I'm not a technically savvy person, so I thought of asking for your input since you guys are more experienced in this.

I was originally going for a MBP, but I suddenly asked myself, why am I not getting the white MB again? Though the MBP is far prettier because of its aluminum casing, I was thinking the price difference between the two can actually be spent on the other gadgets I'd be needing for home recording (eg audio interface, mic). I was trying to compare the specs:

MacBook Pro 2.26GHz
Intel Core 2 Duo - 13.3inch
Precision Aluminum Unibody Enclosure
2GB (2x1GB) memory, 160GB Serial ATA; 5400rpm
8x Superdrive (CDRW/DVDRW)
NVidia GeForce 9400M graphics 256MB shared
13.3inch LED-backlit glossy widescreen
1Firewire 800, iSight camera, Airport Extreme Wifi
Bluetooth 2.1, Gigabit Ethernet, SD Card slot

MacBook 2.13GHz (white design) MC240
Intel Core 2 Duo - 13.3inch
2GB (2x1GB) memory , 160GB Serial ATA; 5400rpm
8x Superdrive (CDRW/DVDRW), NVidia GeForce 9400M graphics
Gigabit Ethernet, Airport, Bluetooth 2.1, iSight camera
One FireWire 400 port (up to 400 Mbps) ;
Two USB 2.0 ports (up to 480 Mbps)

The only major difference I see is the vid card, but as I understand it, what the white MB has is already sufficient. I'm not a gamer so the lack of the NVidia card won't affect me at all... right?

Am I correct to conclude that both are EQUALLY capable of performing the same task, with equal ease, or am I missing something?

Thanks for any advice!

[greta87]

for me, it would depend on what your music production work would consist of. In my case, it's a lot of midi files that need editing & tweaking w/c means that a big screen is a must. the editing work can be such a chore for the eyes & a small screen would really just kill me. but if it's mostly real instrument files fed via garageband, even a 13 inch screen would do.

note that even if youre only using GB, it still uses up a lot of processing power & the more tracks you use and the more effects you add, these will put a strain in your MB's power & in some instances, kapos talaga; so go for the one w/ the better capacity. just my 2 cents. & enjoy the machine regardless of what you choose.

[van]

Hi, greta87. Thanks for the reply. I'm definitely a newbie who wants to experiment with my guitar and vocals only. Since my 2 options have 13.3" screens (don't want to spend on the 15" MBP... altho I could hook it up to my 22" lcd, right?), are you saying it's just as good that I get the white MB?

[macdrive007]

the new MBP 13" is the better choice between the 2 if you wish to have a better LCD/LED for photograph editing purposes. The unibody sturdiness also makes it longer-lasting and have a higher resale value. You may also consider the old Macbook 13" Unibody that is now on sale for only 55k cash at Digital Hub V-Mall - no firewire port though. That would be a good match price-wise for the white macbook, though the screen also isn't as good as the new MBP 13".

Garageband & Audacity are good softwares readily available for your Mac. ProTools software will require you to buy an M-Audio (sold by jbmusic) or MBox (sold by DMI) USB/Firewire audio interface.

Other affordable stuff you might need for your home recording set-up:
1. Behringer Xenyx 820 mixer - Php4980 @jointventure, provides a preamp & phantom power before the signal enters your mac, can accomodate 4-6 inputs, has provisions for fx send, has a 3-band equalizer for each of the 4 channels too.
2. Nady Condenser CM Mic - Php2150 @jbmusic, needs phantom power, good for recording as it is very sensitive even if you are far away, good also for instrument and chorale recording
3. XLR to XLR mic cable - Php450 @jbmusic, to connect the Nady condenser mic to the mixer
4. PL to PL mono audio cable - Php390 @jbmusic, to connect the mixer to your mac audio input, you need to use your software though to convert the mono signal to a stereo one.
5. PL jack to mini jack adapter - less than Php100 @ace/handyman, to connect the PL cable to your mac's mini jack audio input
6. USB midi keyboard - m-audio (jbmusic) & behringer (jointventure) have affordable choices, to record your keyboard notes directly to garageband, uses software instruments, alternative to using an actual synth or stand-alone music keyboard.

you can also use the mixer to input your synth/stand-alone keyboard, acoustic guitar, electric/bass guitar (you need to pass the signal thru your guitar/bass amp first), and even to mic (thru your Nady mic) your live violin/strings, flute/wind, brass, drums, background vocals/choir. the mixer can also provide headphone out (1), control room out (2), main out (2) for sound editing monitor and singer's monitor purposes.

let's get ready to rumb... record!

[van]

Thanks a lot for the info macdrive!

[ijingo]

You can see below the performances on some applications for a clearer picture:



Check here for more info.

Don' be mislead with the 2.26GHz, I guess they used a 4G RAM there. Check again.

[van]

@macdrive007 and anyone else willing to give advice, sorry for the late reply. Had to wait for Handog to get the EA I requested, then life got busy. There's more time now... Ok, so presently, what I have are the EA and the MBP (which does not have an audio in?! so it'll have to be via usb).

Some questions, sorry if some seem newbish, but I seem to be getting mixed advice:

1. I have an old JVC component system with speakers that I really like the sound of. Someone told me I can actually use it as amplifier, just plug and play via auxillary sockets. I did, but sound just came out of one speaker? though my PL plug (PL to 2 RCA cord) is stereo. Also, the sound from the one (left) speaker is good, but when I use the headphones, it doesn't sound as loud or as nice. Is there a way to fix this?

2. Btw, how can I keep the guitar elctronics on? It "connects" to the component when I press the tuner button on, but it shuts off after a few minutes when the tuner turns off I suppose. lol, sorry for this funny question, I'm so used to just an acoustic guitar and since I got my EA, I just play it unplugged since I don't have the gadgets yet.

3. Is there such a thing as a decent (beginners) amplifier that can be used for both EA and electric guitar?

4. I'm a little confused-- the EA I have has a preamp-- why would I still need the MAudio everyone seems to mention despite it, because without the MAudio, I can't plug and play with a laptop that has audio in. Don't they serve the same purpose?

5. I don't need a set up that's too high tech- I just need to plug in my guitar and a mic then fiddle in GBand. Will either of these do?
http://www.jbmusic.com.ph/products/f/31/73/
http://www.jbmusic.com.ph/products/i/290


Many thanks!! I know this may be a simple set up, but I'm easily overwhelmed by info and wouldn't want to end up buying the wrong thing. Thanks for the patience!

[loopy]

hey van!

in digital audio recording software, the most important aspects are 1. CPU speed, 2. hard drive speed and 3. analog to digital conversion.

1. cpu speed - depending on how many tracks and effects you are going to use, garageband can tax a computers processor, especially with a lot of software instruments. to be honest, in the notebook line, you will not notice a large difference moving up the MB/MBP line that will be worth your money (with maybe the exception of the high end 15 and 17 inchers and the extreme edition core 2 duo that you can't get on the 13-inchers). if cpu performance is required, an imac would be the better choice.

2. hard drive speed - this comes into play if you envision a project with many tracks involving software instruments playing at once. both garageband and logic can time out in the middle of just playback when overloaded. ideally, you will want a 7200 rpm external drive hooked up to firewire 800. in this case, the unibody 13 inch mbp is the choice. however, if you will be using a reasonable number of tracks, firewire 400 should be sufficient on the entry level MB for this purpose. do not use your internal drive as recording will wear it out faster and it is slow.

3. analog to digital conversion - this is critical to the quality of the sound recorded and is affected by your audio interface, mic and cables (and instruments). the audio interface will bring your guitar output volume to line level. you'll be able to capture louder and better quality audio. the m-audio fast track usb should serve your purposes well and if i'm not mistaken, it can serve as a sound card to your component. however, if you're on a budget or have the patience to acquire the gear one at a time as budget allows, you can get the computer first and use the audio-in of the mb/mbp while you accumulate your gear (don't have to buy everything at once). just use a 3.5 mm adaptor for your guitar cable. if you have an eq pedal, this will help in raising the level of the guitar volume to line level.

4. RAM - get 4 gigs in there when you can.

5. amplifiers for electric guitars are different from amplifiers for acoustic guitars. besides, acoustic guitars sound best when they are recorded through a mic. the best budget amp i've seen though is the vox valvetronix series. ridiculous value for money and the best emulation i've heard, especially on clean to over-driven tones.

6. re your component, i assume this is in garageband? set the track to mono for recorded sound to come out of both speakers.

7. you'll want a midi keyboard!

8. happy recording!

cheers!

[celosdedma]

+1 to loopy's post.

i'll just add some of my thoughts...

go for the 13 mbp if you plan to have a mobile rig. more durable vs the white mb.

regarding cpu power, the current cpus present in the mb and 13 mbp are sufficient enough.
i use a 13 black macbook with 4gb of ram and it serves it's purpose well for my personal studio.
i use logic 9 and ableton 7, havent had any problems even with 20+ tracks & buses all running.

i have a couple of suggestions on what gear you should get on a budget.

the M-Audio Oxygen 49 is a good multi purpose usb midi keyboard that's very affordable.
this has a bunch of faders and knobs which you can use to control garageband or logic.

[van]

Hello, celosdedma and loopy! Thanks for the replies.

To be clear, I already have the MBP. So I'm working with this and an electric acoustic guitar. So specs-wise, though they're not as high as what you mentioned, I'll have make do with what I have. This MBP doesn't have an audio-in as I mentioned earlier, that's why I've no choice but to get the usb gadget just to get started.

"do not use your internal drive as recording will wear it out faster and it is slow."
whaaat? I didn't know this firewire's not an option as there's none in this mbp. I guess i must record sparingly then

is the m-audio fast track worth 7.5k the least expensive (decent) entry level audio interface I can go for? This is what you're referring to, correct?

"5. amplifiers for electric guitars are different from amplifiers for acoustic guitars. besides, acoustic guitars sound best when they are recorded through a mic."
Mine's an electric acoustic-- does that change the above statement since it has the electronics etc?

"the best budget amp i've seen though is the vox valvetronix series. ridiculous value for money and the best emulation i've heard, especially on clean to over-driven tones.
Is this for the electric acoustic guitar? would you know roughly how much this would cost? Although I don't really need this for recording purposes, right?

"re your component, i assume this is in garageband? set the track to mono for recorded sound to come out of both speakers."
No, since I can't plug my guitar to a pc/laptop yet without the audio interface, the component I mentioned is literally a stereo component, as in those huge box-y players with radio, cd & cassette players surviving from the 90s. It was in storage for a long time since no one was using it anymore, but I didn't want to give it away since I like the quality of the speakers. The sound that come out of one speaker was nice, but the problem, as mentioned above, is it's mono and has terrible headphone output. How do I fix that, and how do I keep the electronics on?? lol, it auto turns off after a few minutes... could you also answer my pre-amp question (Q#4) above?

7. you'll want a midi keyboard!
i'd really love to, but 1. it's too expensive (15k up) if I don't have a purpose for it, 2. my grade 1 piano skillz will need major work first lol.