Hi - some of this will be vague no doubt, but without knowing more about
your Son's setup its difficult to be specific.
So, as far as the notebook goes, i'd say macbook pro if he can afford it.
It used to be the case that the architecture was faster in the power books
than the iBooks, and at a guess that still will be the case in the pro's
over the macbooks, because the systems always feel more responsive to me.
Plus the machines just feel like they'll last longer, and in a studio
environment the thing will no doubt take some abuse. Whilst everything
he'll need would still run on a power book, i'd say spend the extra cash and
pick up something intell based, because Apple and other companies won't be
putting out universal binaries forever. Also, i'd say go intell in the
event that you need to do a session, because it gives you the option of
restarting into xp with bootcamp and using a recording package on the
windows side that may be more accessible for you.
Software-wise, if I walk in to a studio here I usually expect to find either
Pro Tools from Digidesign or Logic from Apple at the centre of things.
There's advantages and disadvantages to both software as far as usability
goes, but that's just personal preference, because in terms of what they can
actually do its swings and roundabouts as the saying goes. You'll find that
the majority of software plugins and synths and whatnot will work with
either package. Logic gives you a wider choice of hardware interfaces to
work with for your inputs and outputs, but all of the interfaces pro tools
is compatible with are decent, and you're probably less likely to run into
any teething troubles taking something that comes recommended.
Of course, for you, neither of these packages are accessible. Others on the
list will know more about the current chances of things changing, but unless
someone corrects me I'd say you're chances are higher with Logic being the
1st out of the 2 to be accessible, given that Logic 8 is partly readable. I
don't have a copy to test it, but I've been wondering if it would be
possible to do Sessions with logic these days with a few session templates
to work from and a controller... anyone tried? I don't know enough about
soundtrack studio to know if you could use it for bigger projects, but even
if the software is advanced enough, the tricky part would be finding the
balance to appease clients. What I mean by that is, I've spent some time on
both sides of the glass, so I realise that whatever software the
engineer/producer is using, its just a tool. How your session sounds is far
more down to the players, the instruments, the hardware used to capture it,
and then the ears and mind of your recordist... software is the last
consideration. Trouble is, a lot of musicians don't realise that, they
think that pro tools does all the work... if only. My point is that if I
walked into a studio and saw a package i'd never encountered, as long as the
engineer seemed to know what he was doing using it and the session sounded
ok it wouldn't concern me at all, but most musicians you'll encounter will
be far more swayed by the unexpected.
I'm not sure that actually answers your question, but take a look into pro
tools, logic, some interfaces, and that might do. Hopefully there's other
listers who can tell you more about the accessible route too.
Cheers...
Scott
----- Original Message -----
From: "VaShaun Jones" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "General discussions on all topics relating to the use of Mac OS X by
theblind" <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, December 01, 2007 11:16 PM
Subject: Question for a Audio guru
Hello and good day,
My son is sighted and plays the keys, piano and organ. He will be opening
a studio in the summer and I will be assisting with the computer and
software where I can. I wanted to know what is the best Mac notebook for
audio production as well as software? The software doesn't have to be
fully accessible because I will have lots of help, but I do want any
professional suggestions. Please include why you recommend what you
suggest. Thanks
