Starting Production on a Mac

[Digital Over]

kay...getting a lil off topic since this is a thread for production assistance, not an I'm right ur wrong thread...

BUT jus for the heluv it:

since this is an AUDIO production thread I'll list the ones pertaining to the relevancy of the topic....

01.)Blue Wave
02.)Green House
03.)The Armoury
04.)Mushroom
05.)The Warehouse
06.)Turtle
07.)Blast Radius (lil off topic)


AND why are all the top media schools teaching on macs, just for fun?....hardly.


Back on topic...

To really push the boundaries you'll need a good sound card....the one I've used in the past when I was an assistant engineer was the R.M.E. Hammerfall card, fantastic sound card, it retails I think for about $1,200 US so it is costly but great for what u pay...

M Audio also make some decent cards as well....

if you want a "better" card tho, out of a poor, week, medium, decent, good, better, best scale......check out some of the MOTO units...they're great.


Tracking & Mixing:

Once you've layed something down that you like....bounce it off as an audio file, even if it's semi rough, at least you can tweak it later, and not bog down your system memory.

Don't be affraid of mono tracks as well, everything doesn't have to be stereo...you can always pan and tweak as needed, and still get a killer effect. Cut, duplicate, slice, and pan, experiment w/ it, often some of the coolest things are discovered by accident, if they're relevant to your production or not is a totally different topic all together, but also keep in mind, think of digital audio as voltage, you are limited a fair bit, so what u add to something, you'll have to subtract from the other....ADSR filters are awesome for this, as well as gates, parametric EQ's, etc.

oh and ps: for drums....compression and multipression is your friend...I have a few articles which explain these two tools if you want them, lemme know.

[nabs]

thanks for all the help people..

and DigitalOver ill be keepin in contact with u thru msn. :)

[ill-esha]

Why threadjack this into a PC vs Mac debate? Well, since you did, I'll throw in my $0.02

I don't really think either is better than the other, I have used both extensively for music production.

If you are technically minded, you can build yourself a PC that is just as powerful and works just as well as a Mac, for less money. This is a simple fact. Note, I'm not saying BETTER I'm saying AS WELL.

If you want ease of use, and a computer that is reliable WITHOUT you having to be Super IT-Geek, then yes, it's better to hook up with a Mac.

Yes, there are more viruses written for PCs. But that doesn't mean Macs are immune to failure, far from it, and when they crash, they crash hard. I've gotten PCs out of major jams and managed to save valuable audio files by using the ol' Ctrl-Alt-Del combination.. not as often when I was on Macs at school.

I have quite a sophisticated PC, which only starts to crap out when I'm nearing the end of a track and I've got 30 audio channels with 2 - 4 VSTs on the inserts each and several sends running. Then, I simply freeze a few channels, or export a few of the channels with the effects, and it's fine.

I'm also going to buy a Macbook Pro next year. I like the idea of being able to continue to run Windows when I need it, to eliminate that transition - it is very powerful, and like someone already said, a damn pretty toy.

But in conclusion, since I'm being far too even-handed for a rave message board, F U ALL U LOGIC/REASON/ABLETON USERS - CUBASE SX IS THE NEW REVOLUTION!!!!

[Skyles]

the new macs are fucking killer and compete/dominate any pc out there.. in the audio realm no comparison at all, mac kills it all the time.. even more so lately. they just work! think simple boys and girls.

[dj_soo]

it's funny, usually it's a bunch of obnoxious mac-fans that jump into a post to hijack it and bring up pointless posts in favour of macs (i.e. "My computer crashed - help!" - "Get a mac").

now it's the opposite :).

seriously tho, the threadstarter basically said: 1. he owns a mac. 2. suggest some software for his mac.

Nowhere in his thread did it say he was trying to choose between macs and pcs...

[Digital Over]

^^ Exactly.


As Ill-esha has mentioned in other threads...Battery is an awesome VST for creating drum sounds...I've been monkeying around with it lately and really like it, plus the amount that you can manipulate w/ each section of your battery kit is awesome too...

EXS24 w/ Logic is not a bad sampler but if sampling is still your thing, go for Kontakt, I've got a few Konkat articles as well. Mapping drums, and applying LFO's and filters is super easy once you have the navigation down.

If you're really big into FX (which I am) some of the TC Timeworks plug ins are pretty cool....love the reverb...the ultimate reverb VST I've seen was S.I.R. colleugue of mine showed it to me a lil while ago, and imho, I'd be lost w/ out it when I'm applying FX on my own.

I'll go thru my HD (which i just got the other day) and I'll see of some other plug ins and pieces of software I have...my folders are still a lil disorganized, but when i find something which could be of help to all of you...I'll post it. Cheers.

[nabs]

YOU MUST TEACH ME!!!!!!!

a

[ill-esha]

I'll teach you, if you use Cubase SX :)

[Digital Over]

Yes. I've heard you really know your stuff w/ Cubase....and yes. it is definately a very powerful program.


Nabs...I'll be on msn later on tonight hopefully. I'm at work now. =)

[nabs]

Originally Posted by ill-esha

I'll teach you, if you use Cubase SX :)

ill take all the help i can get, illy add me on msn as well.

[nabs]

Originally Posted by Digital Over

Yes. I've heard you really know your stuff w/ Cubase....and yes. it is definately a very powerful program.


Nabs...I'll be on msn later on tonight hopefully. I'm at work now. =)

can i get the progs off of you today? possible?

[Digital Over]

We'll see, I still have no idea what I'm doing tonight, hopefully I'm finishing off one of my new tracks, but we'll see......it might be easier if u set up an FTP and I X'fer them over to you that way, save u a bunch of time and gas since I'm pretty far deep in the west side.

[nabs]

or since your on a mac, we can just use iChat! that would be way faster.

and i wante Cubase too now. i may have to buy that tho.

[Revolver]

im a longtime mac user, i still plunkin away on my power mac g4 mdd,10.4,PTle 7.0,reason 3.0,peak 5,logic 6.??,recycle2......

i still keep a pc in my system to use my BELOVED soundforge, but thats it for PC, just soundforge,internet and office type stuff.

pics,vids,audio all gose on the mac wich i keep OFF the web.

nabs, keep things simple. there are alot of big time sequencer name drops happening in this thread. just get yourself a copy of earlier copy of ableton(stabler cracks) and reason. just get used to playiing around and sequenceing samples and such with a little midi controller and go from there.

thats really all there is too it.

if i can leave you with only one peice of advice......its all about EQ! eq eq eq eq eq eq....proper eq'ing is it.it is eq that makes or breaks a record.

i lost a jrfm jingle gig cause i was lazy and didnt isolate my eq properly.

eq dude.....eq.

[nabs]

^^thanks!!!!

Originally Posted by decypher

Do searches on futureproducers.com or other related sites. Dogs on Acid also has a forum called the Grid.

The grid is awesome for production-related questions!

[ill-esha]

Nah, nah, NAH!

I fully endorse Cubase, or Logic, or Ableton, or even Pro Tools if you are only recording bands or doing post for film. But the sound engine in Reason is just POOP. It's a child's toy.

[Digital Over]

Ya, its a good means of starting off with in order to understand other aspects of audio production. ie: making the jump to logic or cubase, but ya, reason sounds like reason, cool program, but nothing worth going far w/ from a professional production standpoint.


Plus Reason is super limiting in the sense that you can't record audio tracks, only midi tracks with their set devices. sure you can sample something but, then the question becomes, does it 100% fit your track?, or would one rather learn MIDI sequencing, basic fundamentals of automation, what results certain effects have on certain synthesizers, within reason, and take that information and knowledge, and then go to Logic or Cubase, lay down something within the AUDIO MT (Multi Track), posses recording rights, have the desired groove, and sounds a lot better.

[dj_soo]

i've talked to a lot of big-name producers that sketch out their tracks in Reason and then import it ableton or logic for the final production...

[Hero.Skye]

Originally Posted by b0ld

keep in mind as well..... midi controllers.... Whether if its the m-audio trigger finger drum pad.... to the uc-33 or your standard piano midi controller it is a definant must have when producing.

you would be pretty surprised to find out that some high-end producers dont even have a midi controller infront of their faces.

You can pretty much just write ur notes in a piano roll.

[Hero.Skye]

Originally Posted by ill-esha

Nah, nah, NAH!

I fully endorse Cubase, or Logic, or Ableton, or even Pro Tools if you are only recording bands or doing post for film. But the sound engine in Reason is just POOP. It's a child's toy.

Thank you.

[P.A.R.T.Y]

First, Il-eesha is 100% right, Cubase SX is a p.i.m.p (oh, btw, Astral Projection use Cubase SX on their macs, FYI) NI Battery is pretty kool, it looks sorta complicated, but it's really easy to use and has some nice effects. Still, I would rather use outboard effects and a hardware sampler.
So you wanna be a producer. What kind of style are you interested in producing?
Dj Krusha uses Logic on his Mac for his D&B production and that programs definitely suits his style.
Abelton is not really production software, it's kinda like production software support. As everyone says, it's really great for time stretching, Dj'n, and making loops.
Steinberg's Cubase has been developing since the mid 1980's. They have done a tremedous job over the years. The mixer is one of the best in the business and the layout is fun to use.
Next step; You need some kit (Synth, Drummachine, Midi controller soundcard, monitor, and amp) You can use Reason for your sounds, but I strongly recommend against it. Source sounds are the most important part of your track. Your synth can be your MIDI controller (highly recommended) or you can get you basic Oxygen keyboard. I'll recommend a few analog midi synths: Roland Juno 106, Novation BassSation, Roland Jupiter 6, Akai VX600, Oberheim Matrix12, and Sequential Cicuits prophet 600. I think it's a smart move to have at least 1 analog instument in your studio, as they add a lot of warmth and depth into a track.
So, go get some gear and some software, hit the record button and play.
Good luck.

[Leviathan]

your on crack, they use the same hardware numb nuts. Same ram, same hard drives, same processors (accept for AMD), the only thing different is the mother board.

Originally Posted by Séguin

Nothing. They just don't use toys that keep needing expensive repairs.

You know what... rfmf, say what ever helps you sleep and night, and think you have the upper hand advantage Mac users.

I played with Reason when I first got curious about production. It was a lot of fun! Yes, it is a bit of a toy as Ill-esha mentioned, but toys are still fun to play with!

Production should be about having fun and expressing yourself! Who gives a shit what you use? It's not some competition. I'm not going to argue which sequencer is better, because I'm frankly not in the position to dictate that.

My preference is Cubase SX3; however, Reason is a good piece of "edutainment" to start off with (Although some people, *ahem* SKC *ahem* make some fucking bad tunes with it!)

EDIT: as far as platform/os goes, I use PC because I prefer it, but I don't see anything that seperates them degrees apart.