Produce? know your sound cards?!?!

cheeseburger · #1 (**permalink**) Aug 04, 03

My pent 2 350mhz 128mb ram PC aint cutting it. I'm doin' some major upgrades AND I don't have a ton of money to spend

Sound Cards - Theres a million diff types. Prices ranging from 35-300$. I'm looking for some advice. Brands, models, success and nightmare stories, etc..

AS for current producing programs, how much ram and processor speed is needed/recommended these days

Ken

Sean · #2 (**permalink**) Aug 04, 03

Well, it depends what kind of setup you have. The sound card won't affect the quality of your productions if you're using an all software setup; it will just affect the quality of the playback. This will only be noticeable if you've spent money on some top quality monitors.

If you're using a lot of hardware and/or midi then you're going to want a soundcard with multiple inputs and low-latency ASIO. This will get you up into the 300+ range.

As far as system specs, get a min 1.5ghz and 512mb ram.

oliver · #3 (**permalink**) Aug 04, 03

so i've never been able to figure out this. i know the quality of your soundcard affects the quality of the playback when you listen to it on your computer, but does it affect the final sound of the production if you put it onto cd or something?

dj4mula · #4 (**permalink**) Aug 04, 03

oliver, you might have to do some Mastering work with an editing program (Sound Forge or Pro Tools).

Sean · #5 (**permalink**) Aug 04, 03

Quote:

Originally posted by oliver
so i've never been able to figure out this. i know the quality of your soundcard affects the quality of the playback when you listen to it on your computer, but does it affect the final sound of the production if you put it onto cd or something?

Nope.

Velcro · #6 (**permalink**) Aug 04, 03

Quote:

Originally posted by oliver
so i've never been able to figure out this. i know the quality of your soundcard affects the quality of the playback when you listen to it on your computer, but does it affect the final sound of the production if you put it onto cd or something?

Well, if you do your final mixdown/mastering with a shitty soundcard coupled with a shitty pair of speakers, it's not going to sound very good on a 'normal' pair of speakers. You'll be compensating the levels in your tune to make up for weaknesses in your system, which is why you should get a good soundcard/monitor set-up for such a task.

Sean · #7 (**permalink**) Aug 05, 03

Quote:

Originally posted by Velcro

Well, if you do your final mixdown/mastering with a shitty soundcard coupled with a shitty pair of speakers, it's not going to sound very good on a 'normal' pair of speakers. You'll be compensating the levels in your tune to make up for weaknesses in your system, which is why you should get a good soundcard/monitor set-up for such a task.

Exactly. Since I'm lacking pro quality monitors at home, I often find that when I take one of my productions to the club the bass will be WAY too loud on the big sound system. I can't wait until I can afford a good monitor setup.

dfltr · #8 (**permalink**) Aug 05, 03

Quote:

Originally posted by Sean

Exactly. Since I'm lacking pro quality monitors at home, I often find that when I take one of my productions to the club the bass will be WAY too loud on the big sound system. I can't wait until I can afford a good monitor setup.

i master on my sony headphones and a jvc kaboom. bass too loud is my middle name.

Sean · #9 (**permalink**) Aug 05, 03

Hahaha yep. I've made the mistake of mastering on my Sony 700's before; when I took the production to the club I was pretty convinced I was going to blow all of the subwoofers =P

omnirecords · #10 (**permalink**) Aug 05, 03

don't forget to make sure that if you're going to get some high-end production software (or any type of production software) that you get a fast enough HARD DRIVE....ie. 7200 rpm. otherwise your cpu will not be able to keep up and you'll have tons of latency...

Wood · #11 (**permalink**) Aug 05, 03

i'm finding that, since i've moved to an all software studio, that there's just no such thing as 'enough RAM'. Get the fastest processor & the most RAM you can afford, and somewhere down the line invest in some quality studio monitors. Unless you'll be recording from external sources, the sound card is of lesser importance.

i use an M-Audio Delta 44, they run around $500, 2x 1/4" stereo ins, 2x 1/4" stereo outs. It sounds fine & has never caused me any grief.

dfltr · #12 (**permalink**) Aug 06, 03

Quote:

Originally posted by omnirecords
don't forget to make sure that if you're going to get some high-end production software (or any type of production software) that you get a fast enough HARD DRIVE....ie. 7200 rpm. otherwise your cpu will not be able to keep up and you'll have tons of latency...

one acronym: SATA

i just built a system for a friend that involves 800mhz buses and an SATA drive. what bottleneck?

cheeseburger · #13 (**permalink**) Oct 17, 03

finally the pc is on order

=)

stringbeans · #14 (**permalink**) Oct 17, 03

^^nice! what are the specs?

cheeseburger · #15 (**permalink**) Oct 17, 03

^^

pent 4 2.4GHz - 533 fbs
512 ram
80 gig 8mb cache
256 mb vid card w/ vivo

=)

stringbeans · #16 (**permalink**) Oct 17, 03

asshole

dj4mula · #17 (**permalink**) Oct 17, 03

Quote:

Originally posted by ninewells
^^

pent 4 2.4GHz - 533 fbs
512 ram
80 gig 8mb cache
256 mb vid card w/ vivo

=)

get a usb keyboard and your set. You don't need a super soundcard if you only plan to do electronica tracks. If you plan to add in your own vocals, then your going to need to install Pro Tools, which is a whole nother story.