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longtime reader, firsttime poster

my DAW and all the music I've recorded is on a dell that I bought in 2005 and is still happily running windows XP. despite being on its 4th video card (!) it's actually still fine for my music needs but I am queasy about using the internet via such a hotbed of cybervulnerability.

my work is evicting me from wifi if I don't upgrade from my windows 7 ( ) laptop, so I'm going to buy a new, nice one that should have plenty of memory, storage, and processing oomph to sail through whatever I throw at it in terms of music production.

my big questions now:
- can a powerful laptop serve as a fully-functional music production rig these days? do I just plug in some audio interface via USB/thunderbolt and move on with my life? a lot of those devices make me queasy because they have such limited in/out port options. my ancient PC has this octopus plugged into it, which I found really useful. (linked thing below gives me hope, though...)
- can I actually rely on a pre-amp that lives inside one of these interfaces? if I am just tracking (1) direct electric guitars, (2) vocals via condenser, (3) re-amped guitar... will I get by if I'm simply using something like this and no standalone pre-amp?

I thought I was deciding on whether or not to upgrade my home recording PC, but I think it's clear that it would be awesome have the mobility of a laptop (and interface box) so I could go beyond the bedroom to record vocals or re-amp guitars or whatever.

thank you for reading!

these assholes seem convinced that the clarett interfaces' preamps are good enough, so we might be done here

still open to admonishments of any variety, ofc

when is that board gonna have to change it's domain?

It’s first time standerupper dickface.

i got these speakers and i'm pretty happy with them
https://www.ebay.com/itm/6-5-2-Way-Towe ... 3952338190

nice to have something bigger than bookshelfs

what compruter are you gonna pick?

I am gonna get a dell XPS 15 7590 - it's a model that has been around for a few years and people have figured out all the problems. apparently it has great battery life if you get it with the slightly older processor (i7 vs. i9) and the non-4k display, which is huge for me since I've always had to travel with a macbook air. I hear that PCs finally have their shit together in that regard. work will pay for this so I don't really care that it's expensive. I'm open to input but I'm a pretty severe dell loyalist at this point

nice work on those speakers... the ones I have at home are just terrible - waaaay too little midrange. i have one more song to record, and if I live to do dedicated mixing in earnest I will definitely be upgrading. side note: it's fucking insane to me how the main speaker that exists in people's homes is increasingly some bluetooth doo-dad. endtimes.

when is that board gonna have to change it's domain?

gearslutz? maybe they're taking it back?

focusrite make good, idiot-proof stuff. I've got a cheaper scarlet interface and have zero issues.

the only issue any normal ass modern computer is going to run into with recording music is if you're trying to run like 8 instances of omnisphere at one time like an asshole or something

if you're going to mix in earnest, don't do it on home stereo speakers, get some studio monitors, they're not gross expensive and it makes a world of difference. get some KRKs or something

I saw one of those focusrite boxes at a pawn shop the other day for $50. Am I a dolt for not buying it?

We all know who to ask for the real scoop on home recording solutions.......

copstache wrote: ↑Sun Jan 26, 2020 11:21 am focusrite make good, idiot-proof stuff. I've got a cheaper scarlet interface and have zero issues.

nice - thanks! I'm just super wary because I initially bought a (in retrospect) very junky pre-amp that wasted a bunch of my time. the focusrite stuff seems solid.

the only issue any normal ass modern computer is going to run into with recording music is if you're trying to run like 8 instances of omnisphere at one time like an asshole or something

while I am an asshole, I am not that sort of asshole

if you're going to mix in earnest, don't do it on home stereo speakers, get some studio monitors, they're not gross expensive and it makes a world of difference. get some KRKs or something

If you get an audio interface and a pair of monitors, you could make anything you want on a half-decent laptop. I think you have everything else you'll need. RAM has been more important than processing power since multi-core 64-bit everything.

You can probably get an mBox on craiglist for $20 from some juggalo who's trying to make child support.

I moved to a 2nd gen focusrite scarlett and its fine. The mic pre is serviceable, but I use external ones. You probably don't need to spend the money on a clarett and you could get a better standalone mic pre to get the real benefits. You could get an FMR RNP and use it as both a clean DI And mic pre and have more clarity than the clarett.

Laptop processors might look good on paper, but they don't have the bus speeds that a desktop has. That shit will probabably be fast enough for you but what do I know, the last two computers I built were FreeNAS, and I use an ancient 12 core mac pro for recording.

Speakers are only part of the equation for mix translation. The room, acoustic treatment, and experience are all just as important. That being said I have had better translation results on an old pair of B&W 602 s2 speakers than ANY studio monitor I ever mixed on, especially some hyped active speakers like the Mackie monitors I used to have.

Something like this https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lisa0 ... 3-monitors

MELODIC Death Metal? What the fuck is wrong with you, you GAY FAG? Why don't you record it with YOUR BUTT I mean your GAY BUTT you HOMO? KEEP IT FUCKIN SICK N BRUTAL!

Just thought I'd make you feel a bit less like a man out of time here.

thx mike on that topic, let me refer you to fellow asshole grim kim:
Men Ruined Melodic Death Metal for Me But Kalmah Saved It

Eight Bit Alien wrote: ↑Sun Jan 26, 2020 6:12 pmIf you get an audio interface and a pair of monitors, you could make anything you want on a half-decent laptop. I think you have everything else you'll need. RAM has been more important than processing power since multi-core 64-bit everything.

You can probably get an mBox on craiglist for $20 from some juggalo who's trying to make child support.

noted!

Geeheeb wrote: ↑Sun Jan 26, 2020 8:56 pmI moved to a 2nd gen focusrite scarlett and its fine. The mic pre is serviceable, but I use external ones. You probably don't need to spend the money on a clarett and you could get a better standalone mic pre to get the real benefits. You could get an FMR RNP and use it as both a clean DI And mic pre and have more clarity than the clarett.

Laptop processors might look good on paper, but they don't have the bus speeds that a desktop has. That shit will probabably be fast enough for you but what do I know, the last two computers I built were FreeNAS, and I use an ancient 12 core mac pro for recording.

pretty sure "fine" is good enough for me!

as much as I love the idea of real benefits, a major perk is portability of everything. my house isn't really the best for vocals/re-amping, so I'm imagining tracking guitars for the bulk of the time, and then hauling everything to a rehearsal space for a weekend here & there. having one less piece of gear to toss in a bag is a big draw.

I hadn't actively considered bus speed, so that's solidifying one of the things on the phantom "laptops are less good" list. I think I am good shape, though! this says you want at least: 2.2Ghz i7 quad-core processor; 4GB of RAM; 64-bit OS... and the thing I'm buying will cover all that. Candidate processor is 6-core and "operates at 2.6 GHz with a TDP of 45 W and a turbo boost of up to 4.5 GHz". I can only presume it has a button like my family's first PC did, capable of pushing things from 8 MHz to to a face-melting 12 (IIRC).

sorry! that's not even bus speed. my processor will have "8 GT/s", whatever that means. can bus speed bottlenecked by the motherboard? that feels like a dumb question, but I don't think I can find this info for candidate laptop anyway...

Geeheeb wrote: ↑Sun Jan 26, 2020 9:02 pm(mixing advice)

thanks. I will probably bump this thread when I'm actually learning to mix in earnest. at that point it'll probably be done via neuralink.