Best options for Laptop multitrack recording?

October 12, 2007 9:26 PM

Starting out with laptop multitrack recording. I need recommendations to get the most bang for my buck on a limited budget.

I moved 150 miles away from the rest of my band, and now I only see them on weekends. It's hard to do much gigging under these conditions, so I want to get a laptop and some multi-track recording software/hardware so that we can spend some time laying down tracks whenever I go back to visit.

Depending on how my finances work out over the next few weeks, I should have somewhere between $1100 - 1600 to spend. (More likely near the bottom end of that range than the top.)

We already have our stage mikes (Shure 58s & 57s) and a headphone splitter/amp that I used for our old cassette portastudio.

Requirements:

We'll be recording a 4-piece folk-rock band with vocals, guitars, bass, keyboard & possibly clarinet. I want reasonable recording quality, a decent user-friendly interface, easy editing of tracks, easy punch-ins to correct mistakes, and the ability to make dynamic mixes. The ability to record more than one track at a time would be very nice but is not required. I have no particular interest in pre-recorded beats or samples, but a built in metronome for a click track would be cool. I don't need a lot of effects beyond basic reverb and the like.

Possibilities so far:

1) MacBook ($1099) + Digidesign Mbox 2 Mini (includes Pro Tools LE) ($295)

Pro: I've wanted a Mac for a while, so this would be my excuse. Our regular studio guy uses Pro Tools, so this would enable use to share our home-recorded projects with our studio projects.

Cons: Might end up costing more than I will be able to afford. Even if I can afford it, won't leave much money for new mikes or studio monitors.


2) Macbook ($1099) by itself. Use GarageBand for the software.

Pro: More affordable. I still get a Mac. If I can save up more money, I might get the Mbox + Pro Tools later.

Con: Can only record 1 track at a time with GarageBand. GarageBand projects would not be compatible with our studio guys Pro Tools system.

3) Windows laptop (??? under $1000) + Lexicon Omega (includes Cubase LE) (under $200).

Pro: Less expensive - leaves more money for good mikes and other equipment. Allows recording more than one track at once.

Con: Most windows laptops now are sold with Vista - but Cubase LE isn't certified for Vista. I'd need to find a laptop loaded with XP. Not compatible with our studio guy's Pro Tools system.


Please offer any thoughts or experiences about the above options or any other possibilities.

posted by tdismukes to media & arts (9 comments total)

FWIW, there are companies out there (like Dell, I think) that let you buy a new laptop with XP on it. Or you could go used on the computer.
posted by DMan at 10:13 PM on October 12, 2007

Yep, I know I can find a new XP laptop - it just limits my choices somewhat.
posted by tdismukes at 10:28 PM on October 12, 2007

How much of a priority is Pro Tools compatibility? To be honest, you'll likely end up going well over budget to add PT compatibility, whether you use Mac or Windows. Not trying to dissuade you from PT, just be aware that you would be investing in the "platform", not just the sequencer, and that you need to run your setup with equipment that Digidesign says is "compatible".

If you want free multitrack recording under Mac OS X, you could use Ardour — but you wouldn't be able to export a PT project. On the other hand, you can't really export files from other sequencers directly into Pro Tools without a lot of grief.

Here are some free Audio Units to add effects in OS X. Unfortunately, there isn't yet support for AU in Ardour, nor VST (unless you compile it yourself, due to licensing terms). Ardour uses a plug framework called LADSPA, and includes some pre-built LADSPA plugs. If you use commercial software, such as Live or Tracktion, you'll have a lot more choice on effects.

If you want to avoid glitches, though I know this adds $100-150 to your budget, I'd recommend looking into an external Firewire hard drive for multitrack recording. Can you count on a laptop hard drive to run the laptop and do reliable multitrack recordings at the same time?
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 3:36 AM on October 13, 2007 [1 favorite]

One of the reasons I'm asking this question is to help me decide if I want to spend the extra money on Pro Tools compatibility. I'm looking for the experiences people may have had with different software platforms and with different hardware platforms when doing this sort of work.
posted by tdismukes at 6:46 AM on October 13, 2007

Pro Tools certainly isn't the only good program of its kind out there. I've been using Cubase for a while now, and I've found it easier to work with. It's an older version, and for the next upgrade I'm thinking of trying Reaper, which is free. I used to use Pro Tools, but switched because it wasn't compatible with the input source I wanted to use (a pair of M-Audio Delta 66s). If you're the only one mixing your tracks, it really doesn't matter too much what you use. Even if you want to get it mastered down the road, that only requires a stereo mixdown. Pretty much everything out there can handle "easy editing of tracks, easy punch-ins to correct mistakes, and the ability to make dynamic mixes... the ability to record more than one track". Basically, I like option #3.
posted by erikgrande at 8:03 AM on October 13, 2007

you're definitely paying premiums for both protools and mac. get a decent speed (i.e. fast as you can afford) xp laptop, reinstall the os as if it were a real computer (because the xp laptop install settings tend to fuck with irqs), and get a 4 or 8 channel firewire interface for $300-500 that will come with LE versions of cubase or whatever.

second thing, i've got 58s and 57s and they're great for live sound. but when you're recording (especially if it's just a track or two at a time) it's like drawing the mona lisa with crayons. spend $100 or so and get at least an entry level large diaphragm condensor mic and you'll be infinitely happier with the sounds you're getting from vocals, guitar, clarinet... bass and keyboard you may want to go direct, depending on your amps.
posted by noloveforned at 9:02 AM on October 13, 2007

I recently bought a new MBP, and I have an old Mbox (not 2) that came w/ PTLE 6.2. To use PT w/ an Intel Mac I saw that I needed to upgrade to PT 7 but I was confused about the upgrade path so I called Digi Design yesterday. The person I spoke to said that PT 7 is buggy w/ OS 10.4 (what you'd get if you bought a Mac now) and so much so he suggested to wait for PT 7.4 but he didn't know when it'd be released and if at that point it would work w/ Leopard (10.5, due out in about a month)

In general I like protools, but looking through the infernally shitty and confusing digi site, they're always saying that you need a very specific version of OS X. I once upgraded Quicktime and PT stopped working till I reverted to an older version of QT. I guess people who use PT professionally probably don't care if they keep their OS up to date as long as PT works smoothly, but I use my laptop for other things and like to keep it up to date and this has been a drag for me w/ protools. (This may be different on Windows, I don't know.)

Since I like Macs (and I already own this laptop) I'm thinking about getting Logic Express because it's made by Apple, but I haven't bought it yet so I can't tell you if it's better or worse than PT. Nor is it cheap because it's not bundled w/ hardware.

I'd ask your studio guy about importing other formats in to his PT setup. You can always export WAVs or AIFFs from whatever you record with and import those into PT.

Everything I've seen always says to record to an external drive, so you should budget for that too.

One cheap condensor mic would also be a good thing to have in case you find your 57s need the gain cranked all the way up to record acoustic instruments.

I'd think a FireBox (~300.00) which has 4 inputs and comes w/ cubase LE would probably be fine.

tapeop and gearslutz both have boards you can look though or post to to get more info.
posted by JulianDay at 11:28 AM on October 13, 2007

Add on question - I just noticed that the new version of Sonar is supposedly designed for compatibility with Vista, which would open up my options for selecting a laptop. Does anyone have experience with Sonar 6 on Vista or have suggestions as to which hardware interfaces might work well with it?
posted by tdismukes at 12:42 PM on October 13, 2007

For the record, I ended up with a Compaq Presario notebook running XP and the Lexicon Omega audio interface, along with a couple of MXL 990 condenser mics. So far I've been pretty happy with all of them.
posted by tdismukes at 3:36 PM on November 26, 2007