PC for Budget Music Studio/Recrording?

SMed · 19 Feb 2012 at 18:38

Hi there. A friend of mine wants to start recording music for his band. We don't really what sort of hardware spec is needed for this kind of use.

Preferably something on the smaller side. Though it doesn't need to be portable, it will travel between home, uni accommodations and maybe a studio(?) from time to time.

Doesn't need to play games, so I doubt a GPU will really need to be used? So integrated should suffice.

I don't know if a quad core is required for this type of work, but it still probably makes sense to use an i5 for longevity's sake.

What sort of sound card or other recording hardware (besides mics) will be needed?

Budget £500 ish? Has a monitor (small one for now), and OS, but no HDD or peripherals. Please comment if there's anything I'm not thinking of right now. Thanks.

poptisse · 19 Feb 2012 at 18:50

Hello,

I personally work in the music business, and own and operate a professional recording studio and in my experience It is best to use a Mac. There pretty much industry standard.

SMed · 19 Feb 2012 at 18:54

Sooo... what you're saying is... build a Hackintosh?

SMed · 19 Feb 2012 at 18:58

Also, why is this so? Convention? Or can Mac really do something Windows cannot?

Maccy · 19 Feb 2012 at 19:53

Without starting a Mac vs PC debate, you have the advantage of using Pro Tools/Cubase/whatever and Logic with a Mac, instead of just Pro Tools/Cubase/whatever on a PC.

Also any talk of Hackintosh on the forums is not acceptable, please bare that in mind.

SMed · 19 Feb 2012 at 20:42

Maccy said:
Without starting a Mac vs PC debate, you have the advantage of using Pro Tools/Cubase/whatever and Logic with a Mac, instead of just Pro Tools/Cubase/whatever on a PC.

Also any talk of Hackintosh on the forums is not acceptable, please bare that in mind.

lol wut? Is it illegal or frowned upon in this community?

RJC · 19 Feb 2012 at 20:48

SMed said:
lol wut? Is it illegal or frowned upon in this community?

I think its due to their T & C's, bit like Jailbrake was not allowed to be talked about.

shootersam · 19 Feb 2012 at 20:50

RJC said:
I think its due to their T & C's, bit like Jailbrake was not allowed to be talked about.

I think jailbreaking was allowed to be talked about because of law changes

Maccy · 21 Feb 2012 at 13:34

SMed said:
lol wut? Is it illegal or frowned upon in this community?

It breaks Apple's EULA, actually.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OSx86

SexyGreyFox · 26 Mar 2012 at 22:19

SMed said:
Hi there. A friend of mine wants to start recording music for his band. We don't really what sort of hardware spec is needed for this kind of use.

I'm a bit late to the party but take a look at this thread - http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18382253
I started it about 3 weeks ago but it died a death.

This is my You Tube channel : http://www.youtube.com/user/davidmpoole and the top 3 songs are ones I've just recorded and uploaded.

I've been recording since the early 70s and had my own studios in the 70s/80s but obviously they were reel to reel back then.
I first got into computer recording in the late 80s with Steinberg 24 and later fell in love with the Cakewalk products in the early 90s and I now use Cakewalk Sonar Production Studio.
Mac v PC, PC v Mac - it's total nonsense and they both do the job required but it is true that the professionals tend to use Mac's.
Obviously doing it on a PC will be much cheaper, in fact I just sold a Q6600 system for £200, sold him a Line 6 KB37 for £150 to use as an interface and he got his hands on a second hand copy of Sonar and he is well away with no problems at all.
The processor doesn't have to be very powerful to run music software and an old P4 system I had also handled it with no problems.
Any questions just ask.