using mac laptop for audio recording. macbook or pro?

[Mechcozmo]

A MacBook with 4GB of RAM goes a long way. Swap out the disk for something 7200RPM, and get a FW400 external that also runs at 7200RPM.

If want to stay cheap, you can leave the system disk as-is; your scratch disk is the important one.

Then buy your audio software and equipment. That's where the real expenses are.

 

[masse]

And this time later I've gotten myself a macbook pro, 500GB external hard drive, a copy of logic, a rhode NT-1, and a presonous firebox scratch and dent special for 200 bucks.

I'm going to start with garage band because I'm more familiar with it then take the time to read through the logic bible. Wanted to thank the folks who helped me out way back in June.

I will be recording guitar direct as it is an acoustic-electric. simultaneous 2 track recording @ 500 bucks or so plus software and laptop. Not bad. Still waiting on the interface in the mail. Anxious.

One last question is how to I record directly to an external? how does the hookup work if I only have one firewire port? Probably a dumb question.

 

[Fishrrman]

RE: using mac laptop for audio recording

RE:
"One last question is how to I record directly to an external? how does the hookup work if I only have one firewire port? Probably a dumb question"

Does the MacBook Pro have both a firewire 400 and 800 port?
Or, what?

The Presonus Firebox has 2 firewire 400 ports.

If the MBPro has a firewire 800 port, that's downward-compatible with firewire 400, just get an 800-to-400 connecting cable and plug it into the Firebox. That's what I do on my iMac.

If the MBPro has but one firewire port, I can think of at least 2 approaches for the external drive:
1. Get a drive with _both_ USB2 and firewire ports, and try it on one of the MBPro's USB2 ports.... or...
2. Try connecting the drive via firewire to the extra firewire port on the rear of the Firebox.

A third possible approach (which I use myself):
Partition the internal drive on the MBPro so that your system and apps are on one larger partition.
Create one or two _small_ partitions to be used a "project partitions". Mine are about 6-8gigs in size.
Record your tracks onto the project partitions. Their small size will limit the area of the disk platters that the drive heads must move across, and because they are small they can also be easily defragmented. This works for me on my iMac, but I record only one or two tracks at a time. If you are going to be doing six, eight or more tracks simultaneously, might not work.

- John

 

[ChrisA]

...
Okay so, is there any reason a macbook pro would benefit over a macbook for entry level recording work? the idea is that if I go with the macbook I can spend more money on recording stuff.

A second question is should I get a 7200rpm 200gb hard drive or 5400rpm high density 500 gb hard drive to use internally in either machine?

Thanks.

What software will you be using? If it's Garage band then even the entry level notebook will do fine. There is nothing wrong with GB. It's ideal for your usage.

Most people will recommend using an external disk drive for recording. Get a "full size" desktop size drive. All of these are 7,200 RPM and a 1TB is the most cost effective size now. Buy several you you can make backups and rotate the backups to a safe locaion. What kind of drive to get inside the computer? You will not be recording to it so for this application it does not matter.

What ever you do, put in as much RAM as will fit.

People will argue about Firewire vs. USB. With only two audio tracks it hardly maters. This only becomes an issue if you have many tracks.