Give Me Power, Give Me Speed

THE GREAT PLATFORM DEBATE


There is a lot of hubbub when it comes to recording music on whether or not to use a Mac or a PC. I have been fortunate enough to have used both operating platforms for this very purpose at one time or another and while old school digital engineers (as if digital is that old) will argue that there is no alternative to a Mac for recording music, I will say that at one time that statement held true. However, PC's have come a long way in the last 5 years and can now stand up to any Mac on the market in power, performance and stability and in some cases far surpass them. So now it is more a matter of cost and loyalty. Which platform are you more comfortable with? How much do you wish to spend? In my case it was a no brainer, I needed high performance at a low end price and I'm very comfortable using the Windows platform. I have built my system from the ground up, buying each component separately and assembling it all to make a custom PC. This alone saved me hundreds of dollars and gave me a high end computer system that can be upgraded further if the need arises. If you are more comfortable with the Mac platform and can afford the price, then by all means continue to go that route. I will not try to pursued you in any other direction. After all, the whole recording digital era began on Apple computers in the first place.

COMPUTER SPECIFICATIONS

All tracks that you record will be saved in 24bit WAV file format on your computer. Resulting in the need for a large Hard Drive given that each file (or track) will take up about 100MB of space and each song will average between 3 and 10 tracks. That's roughly between 300 and 1,000MB per song. So a 160GB (1GB=1,024MB) drive should do the trick and give you enough room for aprox 160 songs. It will take some time before you fill that puppy. I personally have a 200GB Hard Drive that I use just for storage and another 200GB Hard Drive that I run all my software and OS from. This is recommended due to the large quantity of data that will be written to and from the recording drive. By having two separate Hard Drives each one can work independently from one another and increase system performance dramatically.

Next is speed which is acquired through the CPU (Central Processing Unit). Operating systems like Windows XP and Tiger OSX are resource hogs, meaning the more processing power you have the more they will use. Recording software is no exception so the more you can acquire the better off you will be. Personally I use a 3.0GHz Pentium 4 with Hyper Threading Technology I would recommend at least a 2.4GHz if you want decent performance from a single core processor. Although many newer PC's now come with dual core or quad core processors which should have more than enough power for this purpose.

Another contributor to the speed and stability of your system is RAM (Random Access Memory) and as with the other components, the more the merrier. I have maxed my system out with 4GB's (4,096MB) but more modern systems today will allow four times that amount ( I can only dream of a system with 16GB's of RAM - drool ). High performance gaming RAM is recommended if you plan on using a lot of effects plug-ins while mixing your tracks.

Another component you may want to consider is a dual CD/DVD Recorder which would allow you to transfer your finished songs onto CD-R's or recordable compact discs which you could then play in any model CD player. Handy when you want to hear how things sound in different environments such as a car stereo. You can also store large amounts of data on DVD-RW's (rewritable dvd discs) for back up of your files and songs. As far as graphics are concerned a standard 128MB card will be fine for this application unless you plan on editing video & audio in which case a 512MB or 1GB card would be much better suited. Also make sure you have USB 2.0 ports (usually come standard nowadays).

Overall my base system cost me between $600 - $700 US to build. This excludes my monitor(s), keyboard, mouse and speakers. With those included my PC still cost me less than $1,000 US. Not bad considering this same system would have cost me roughly $2,000 retail and if it were a Mac G5 about $3,500.

The image on the left is of my custom PC along with a list of it's components:

Pentium 4 - 3.0GHz Processor (hyper-threading technology)

200GB SATA Hard Drive (main)

200GB SATA Hard Drive (storage)

4GB DDRAM (PC 3200)

CD/DVD Recordable Drive

*Windows XP w/SP2 Operating System

1.44MB Floppy Drive (optional)

8 USB 2.0 Ports

2 1394a Firewire Ports (optional)

1 Ethernet 10/100 Port

512MB ATI Radeon X1650 Graphics Card

*Note that I am using Windows XP as opposed to Vista for an operating system. I like it that way and if it ain't broke don't fix it.

In my next blog entry I will examine the different recording software applications available and which one I will be using throughout my project.

To Begin Let's Convert

As it is, I have not completely finished the remodeling of the studio but I have acquired  a majority of the basic tools I will use during this project. My budget is at a minimum for the time being so I have made a conscience decision to start small and work my way up to a more elaborate work environment when the funds become more available.

I will be using an analog to digital type of recording environment. Analog being the live vocals and instruments that I will play and digital being the computer and software that will capture and record the sounds. In order to accomplish this, an analog to digital converter will be needed. This device allows for a live instrument to be plugged directly into it whether through a 1/4" or XLR jack. The device then converts the incoming analog sounds internally into digital frequencies that are transported via USB or 1394a cable to the computer. Software which has been installed such as Cubase, Pro Tools or Cakewalk will then take the incoming digital signal and decipher it into audible sound. From here it is treated like any recording/playback device would treat a sound source by storing  it in a file form on the hard drive of the computer (usually a WAV file) instead of to tape or compact disc. You can now play, forward, rewind, loop, speed up tempo, slow down tempo, add effects and manipulate it just about anyway you could imagine. Your only limitations will in the size of the hard drive that you store your recordings to. I will get into my computer specifics in my next blog entry.
note: If you've already decided that Pro Tools will be the software you will be using, you will want to be careful when purchasing a converter. This is due to the fact that Pro Tools is proprietary to Digidesign and M-Audio converters only. It is not guaranteed to work with any other Brand of converter. Read over the requirements carefully when purchasing this or any software.

THE CONVERTER

Being that I am a solo enthusiast at the moment, I find that beginning with a 2-Track input converter will be more than sufficient for what I am trying to accomplish. This will allow me to record two separate analog inputs simultaneously (i.e; vocals and guitar) or a stereo analog instrument such as a keyboard running the left output of the device to input A of the converter and the right output to input B. Doing some price comparison shopping on the internet allowed me to find the best bang for my buck. I will be using a Tascam US-122 that cost around $199 US at the time I purchased mine. (You can read more on the specs of this device by clicking on the image).
Some things to take into consideration when deciding which converter to purchase are buffers and bit depth/sample rate conversion. These two things can ultimately effect the quality of your overall recording. Buffers work in conjunction with the Random Access Memory (or RAM) that your computer contains. Generally 256mb to 1024mb of RAM will suffice and give you a nice range of Buffers to choose from when recording (I will elaborate on RAM when I get into my computer specs later). With bit depth and sample rate conversion it is a lot more difficult to explain so I will just say that you should look for a device with a minimum of a 24 bit depth and 96 kHz conversion. With most converters this is standard. There is a more in depth article you can read here.

If you have a computer or plan on purchasing one, using the specs of your converter will give you a lot more insight to what you will need to buy or upgrade. In my next blog entry I will go over my computer specs.