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Well,
that doesn't always work out the way you plan, but
here are some pointers for saving cash and working
at home. Let's explain a couple of things up front:
| 1.
Don't call us for free tech support. Look inside
the back page of the manual and call those guys.
They made the thing, and chances are, they cashed
the check. |
| 2.
We don't offer copies of any of our software.
We have paid-for licenses for all the software
we use on each computer. It's hard to compete
with garage studios that have every crack installed
on their used 001 system, but we do it anyway.
Trust me, the Karma Police will get those other
guys. |
| 3.
We love macs.
We use macs.
We know macs.
While some of us know PC's as well, it is of little
consequence. The gear we discuss here will inevitably
be mac based, because we like them more. |
|
4.
These are our opinions, and they are correct.
HOWEVER, use these suggestions at your own risk.
|
| 5.
Some of our staff will visit your home setup and
offer pointers for dollars. Mack Damon has successfully
designed other studio facilities in South Texas,
and is available for consultations on large scale
studio construction projects. |
| 6.
Buy Modern Recording Techniques by David Miles
Huber 5th ed. Don't ask, just buy. Then read the
whole thing. Twice. Then you can begin. |
Let
us start by saying we don't believe in closed-in hardware
solutions. ADAT, DA-88, 8 track MD, or those cheesy
4/8/16/24 hard disk recorders-in-a-box. When you outgrow
those systems, you have to replace them. Their feature
sets are largely non-upgradable and their I/O leaves
much to be desired. Plus, they can cost as much or
more as a computer/software solution that is easy
to maintain. So if you already own a VS-880, or a
Korg DR-16, or 2 ADATs, this article is not for you.
Use the time you would have spent reading this article
to fix up a nice ad for eBay to sell your gear; it'll
never be worth more than it was last week.
We
have to start with some quick explanations as to our
choice of software platform. Until the end of 2002,
Rhapsody was a strong believer in the Digital Performer
(DP) software platform. MOTU made several low cost,
high quality audio interfaces that made DP a cost-effective
option. Over the course of 2002, with MOTU's ship
dates and features in a constant state of flux, coupled
with poor tech support (it's actually quite good if
you're willing to call the same number over and over
for 2 hours to get through), we chose to move to ProTools
HD (PTHD), a more professional, robust platform. However,
for home recordings, DP is a great program for writers
to create in. It's MIDI features far surpass ProTools,
it comes with a ton of cool plugins and it runs on
ProTools hardware (the best in the business). It is
also $695 retail. The downside is, MOTU does not bundle
DP with any of its audio interfaces as of this writing,
so DP actually costs more than many ProTools LE (PTLE)
solutions.
Where
does DP win over PTLE? DP can have as many tracks
as your computer is capable of. LE is limited to 24-32
tracks, depending on configuration. Both DP and PTLE
rely solely on your computer for performance; i.e.
the faster your Mac, the more usable they are. PTHD
relies on dedicated PCI cards you install in your
computer that handle a majority of the Digital Signal
Processing (DSP) tasks. PTHD systems are also usually
based around a high speed SCSI disk controller card,
and 10-15K RPM hard drives to stream up to 128 tracks
on and off a pair of drives. For the purposes of this
article, we are sticking with ProTools LE solutions,
as the software comes with the hardware, no additional
purchase necessary. This allows us to create three
different recording bundles for well under $5000 that
can produce real results, real music.
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©2003
Mack Damon. No part of this website may be be reproduced
without express written consent.
Linking is allowed provided that the link is not inside
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menus are clealy visible.
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