Ask A Sound Guy

Okay, this might be a bit much...

Hi,
I’m a DJ and i’m thinking about starting to produce my own music. I was
thinking about using Reason 4, mainly because it has a lot of features and seems
user friendly, with the M-audio axiom 25 midi controller. Would you recommend
these? I was also wondering what kind of laptop would be good on a budget on
under roughly £500 (ed: about $738USD)? And also if I need a soundcard, what one would I be best to
buy? And if you mention any other equipment that I would be best to buy that
would be most helpful.

Thanks for your time
Craig

So like everyone else in the world, Craig has a budget. I’ll be talking about the gear, Sanjay will be covering the computer aspect. Let’s go!

Software

This is an entire post in itself! I’ll start by saying that I won’t knock Reason: it’s incredibly powerful and has great sounding virtual instruments and FX, but it has one HUGE downside: you cannot record inside Reason. Meaning, in my humble opinion, that Reason should really be used alongside a more traditional DAW. Some people use Reason solo…but you’re missing that key recording function.

So, on that note, you have a few choices for a more traditional DAW. I personally love Ableton Live. Currently in version 8, it is the best DAW for creating electronic/dance/loop-based music that I’ve ever used. It supports just about any interface you can throw at it and supports a wide-range of the most popular MIDI controllers. It comes with a series of tutorials on how to do anything you want in it. Whether it be DJing, producing, or recording, the fundamental tutorials will help you learn the program from the very first time you open the program. It’s not incredibly cheap (I spent about $415USD on the regular version of the program) but it IS very powerful. But you don’t need an external soundcard/interface to use Live! So consider this while figuring gear out. Oh, and considering your budget for computer, I’m assuming you’ll end up buying a PC. Live runs on PC and Mac, so you’re good to go.

Next on my list would be a Pro Tools 8 setup. However, on a budget, you may not be able to do this. The thing with Pro Tools is you need a Digidesign interface, which is a pain in the ass to say the least. Pro Tool’s interfaces cost upwards of $200USD+ (my Mbox 2 with student discount came out to be $315USD with taxes and shipping), but you get Pro Tools 8 LE with whatever interface you buy. Keep in mind that all M-Audio interfaces ship with Pro Tools 8 M-Powered. I’m really not too sure of the differences between LE and M-Powered, so I doubt you’ll notice the difference either. Pro Tools 8 has a WEALTH of new MIDI-based features including some great new virtual instruments. However, if you’re not used to arranging music in a traditional DAW setup (ie. you’re starting fresh in the production world without any previous knowledge), PT might be a bit much for you. Check out this video:

I would love to tell you about other DAWs like Cubase and Sonar…but I just haven’t used them long enough to form an opinion. I will tell you that Cubase is much like Pro Tools in that it’s a traditional DAW enviroment. Same with Sonar.

Bottom Line: Download the Live 8 14-day demo and try it. You’ll probably love it. Also, if you find yourself still wanting to use Reason, buy it! You can still use it in conjunction with either Live or Pro Tools. Used in this manner, it is one seriously powerful virtual instrument resource.

Interface/Soundcard

If you’re producing electronic/loop-based music, you won’t need a ton of plug-ins. I’ve seen most people using something like the M-Audio FastTrack for recording vocals, guitars, bass, or what have you. It’s USB and works on Mac or PC and has more than enough power to do what you want, especially if you’re just starting out. The FastTrack is just under $100USD, so maybe you should consider picking one up.

MIDI Controller

The Axiom’s are great. Really. They’re built well and, like most MIDI controllers, are very easy to set up inside your DAW. You may look into a 25-key Novation controller, too. Try and go to a local music shop and get your hands on both. See which one feels most comfortable, and go with it.

I personally love Novation stuff. It’s built very well and ships with its Automap feature. This means that, out of the box, most (if not all) parameters of the controller will map to paramters inside your DAW, making your MIDI mapping time pretty minimal. Again, this is personal taste and nothing more.

Bottom Line: If you’re set on an Axiom, buy it. It’ll be good to you.

Computer

So with a budget of $740, you’re going to have to compromise somewhere.  At that budget you can basically rule out desktops and Apple computers, but you can still get a decent PC laptop for your money.  You might want to checkout the Dell Inspiron Lines or an HP Laptop.  If you get a larger laptop, you won’t have much left in your budget for upgrades, but with a smaller screen size etc. you’ll have more options.

Really, it’s all a matter of preference, customer service and warranties because you can get a decently powered machine from just about any of the major brands.  For most music production scenarios, I’d say you need AT LEAST 2 Gigs of Ram, 2.16GHz Processor, and 160GB of Harddrive Space.  Those are rough requirements to run most software at a decent level.  If you’re needing more than 50 tracks in any situation, you’ll be hitting the upper limits of your system, and the only way to really get more out of it is to buy a more powerful system.

For any audio computer I’d suggest doing as little non-audio stuff as possible on it.  If you can get a computer just for audio work, that’s ideal, i.e. the computer never goes on the internet (except for downloading updates), isn’t used for word processing, powerpoint, mp3 libraries, web surfing, etc.  Basically the BEST situation would be to have a computer that does NOTHING but audio work.

Most people can’t really afford a second dedicated system, so there’s a couple of things to keep things working well.

1) I find that turning off internet connections while recording and removing all non-audio peripherals helps keep your machine running at it’s best when you’re producing music.

2) Regular maintenance and keeping virus protection software updated is KEY, as ANYTHING that sucks away at your computer’s processing power like spyware, etc, will hurt your audio-work capacity.

3) There are some great guides for “optimizing” your system for working with audio, that in my experience make a difference.  Check some out here:

Windows XP:

http://www.digitalproducer.com/2002/11_nov/features/11_04/optimize_pcaudio.htm

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/mar02/articles/pcmusician0302.asp

Windows Vista:

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/04/06/optimize-vista-by-disabling-unused-unneeded-or-unnecessary-windows-services/

http://www.audioforums.com/windows-vista-optimization.php

Mac OSX:

http://www.jakeludington.com/ask_jake/20050523_optimize_mac_os_x_for_audio_recording.html

Well, I hope that helps you out. If we didn’t answer your questions completely, or we missed something, definitely leave us a comment or shoot us an email at askasoundguy@gmail_dot_com