Help get me started

shaunm

Hi all,

I need to have a facility for recording at home and I need more than an iPad type set up (it need to be my home computer too). 

I don’t know where to start. I have been told I should buy a Mac? Which one? There’s loads of them. 

An audio interface? Any suggestions as to which one?

As a home computer it doesn’t need to be spectacular so spec for recording is probably more important.

JohnS37

I think your best bet is to look for an iMac that already has a built-in SSD (as opposed to a hard disk).  Get the newest one that fits your budget.  This will have GarageBand already loaded, so you have the makings of a DAW right there.
you don’t say what kind of music you will be recording, or what instruments might feature, but the cheapest and easiest start for getting an analogue source (microphone or guitar) input into your new Mac is a Griffin iMic.  Start with that combination and get to know GarageBand.  You will be surprised at the quality you can achieve, and at the versatility and capability of GB.
once you have found your feet you can progress to more sophisticated equipment.
Good source for knowhow is the Studio section of this forum.  Lots of expertise here!

shaunm

Thanks @JohnS37 would you suggest buying used or new?

andy_k

Welcome to the ride, there's a lot of threads on here asking the same questions, so there are a lot of questions that have been answered.
My first advice would be to take a little time to evaluate what you really want to achieve, in a certain time frame, lets say a year.
Say, in a year, you want to be releasing fully self composed, self mixed music- which is perfectly achievable, you will have to devote a lot of time to learning and research.
I would recommend that research time is important at the beginning, as this can be a very expensive hobby if you make the wrong decisions early on.
Do not, I repeat, do not spend any money, until you have spent a certain amount of time researching the pro's and con's of Apple vs PC, 
When you have made that decision, you will be faced with the decision of which DAW to use, which interface to use, and the list goes on, all affected by your choice of operating system.
Remember,   I was talking about a years timescale, well maybe you need to be very realistic at the beginning about what you expect to achieve.
There are easy answers, but you will have no one else to blame if you make  bad decisions at the start of your journey, it takes time, practice and experience to get to an end result, how much of that year will you be devoting to the subject?
A year goes by very quickly, this year especially, and I personally have not been able to make much progress at all this year.
My advice at this stage, is to do plenty of reading, and if you have not found answers to specific questions, ask away.
Make a list of things you want to do, then use this list to compare the options available, but take the time to do this before you get your wallet out.
good luck.

JohnS37

Well Shaun I am a notorious cheapskate so I always buy used.  I used to have a design studio and had also worked in several ad agencies, so over the years I have bought many, many Macs and have had very few failures.  Most of those bought professionally were new, but since I retired twelve years ago I have always bought second hand.  I currently have five Macs, all bought used or recon, and they are all going strong.  My newest is 2011.
Anyone can pick a dud I guess, and maybe I have been lucky, but Macs are generally pretty robust if you treat them with respect.  Have a search on eBay and see what turns up.

JohnS37

andy_k said:

Welcome to the ride, there's a lot of threads on here asking the same questions, so there are a lot of questions that have been answered.
My first advice would be to take a little time to evaluate what you really want to achieve, in a certain time frame, lets say a year.
Say, in a year, you want to be releasing fully self composed, self mixed music- which is perfectly achievable, you will have to devote a lot of time to learning and research.
I would recommend that research time is important at the beginning, as this can be a very expensive hobby if you make the wrong decisions early on.
Do not, I repeat, do not spend any money, until you have spent a certain amount of time researching the pro's and con's of Apple vs PC, 
When you have made that decision, you will be faced with the decision of which DAW to use, which interface to use, and the list goes on, all affected by your choice of operating system.
Remember,   I was talking about a years timescale, well maybe you need to be very realistic at the beginning about what you expect to achieve.
There are easy answers, but you will have no one else to blame if you make  bad decisions at the start of your journey, it takes time, practice and experience to get to an end result, how much of that year will you be devoting to the subject?
A year goes by very quickly, this year especially, and I personally have not been able to make much progress at all this year.
My advice at this stage, is to do plenty of reading, and if you have not found answers to specific questions, ask away.
Make a list of things you want to do, then use this list to compare the options available, but take the time to do this before you get your wallet out.
good luck.

JohnS37

Sorry, must have clicked something by mistake.  I had intended to comment on Andy’s response.
All good stuff that, but sooner or later you have to get your hands dirty and just jump in!
Jus sayin . . .

Musicwolf

You need to furbish us with a few more details.

How many sources do you need to record at one time?  Will you be recording with a mic (vocals, real drums, amp, acoustic guitar)?  What equipment do you already own?  Are you already using a DAW of some kind, if so, which one?

Very importantly - what is your budget and what does this need to cover?

andy_k

JohnS37 said:

Sorry, must have clicked something by mistake.  I had intended to comment on Andy’s response.
All good stuff that, but sooner or later you have to get your hands dirty and just jump in!
Jus sayin . . .

NP, I took it as an endorsement of my comments.
The point of which was really to say, act in haste-repent at leisure.
I'm not biased either way, but the big choice at the beginning has consequences down the line.
It has all been widely discussed on here.

shaunm

Thanks guys,

For further info really what I am wanting to be able to record at home are guitars, bass and keys. So nothing spectacular.

I work with a studio so I have been told I need it to run logic. 

hollywoodrox

GarageBand projects can be imported into logic

Danny1969

For the current version of Logic you need a Mac running Mojave, which means the Mac needs to be either a mid 2012 Macbook Pro onwards or a late 2012 iMac onwards. 

To just record guitars, keys and bass at home though you only need a basic computer and something like Reaper. Anything can be imported between different DAW's if you consolidate the regions. As nice as Macs are for audio they are expensive, even 2nd hand

shaunm

Is secondhand worth doing as Currys cheapest option of a Mac is £970

shaunm

@JohnS37 would this be any good?

seems cheap

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/114263867749

Habanero

The ad is a bit misleading, especially regarding the processor. The fact that they don’t specify the hard disk size is also dubious. The keyboard and mouse being cabled also suggests it’s fairly old.

Danny1969

The thing with Macs is OSX gets updated up until a point and then those machines are left behind, unable to install any current version of anything ... not even the current version of Chrome for example. Really old Intel Macs are stuck on Snow Lep, more modern ones are stuck on El Cap, some on High Sierra. Now you can work around this if you use different macs for different things ... I have 4 Macbook Pro's, 3 iMacs and a Macbook from 2006 to 2017 and all are in use but it's more complicated as you can't just install an older version of something unless you have the older version DMG or CD. 

So when buying a machine you need to know what machine it is and what year it is. Don't be swayed by included software as a lot of Ebayers clone the drives to give office and Logic etc but any problems with the hd and you won't have any means of reinstalling the software as you won't have the media or the serials / activation etc

shaunm

So PC world is the way to go here probably? Great info guys. I appreciate it.

Habanero

shaunm said:

So PC world is the way to go here probably? Great info guys. I appreciate it.

If as you said you need Logic it can’t be PC.

shaunm

Sorry I meant the shop PC World

Habanero

shaunm said:

Sorry I meant the shop PC World

  oh yes right. You might also check Costco if you have one nearby as they sometimes have deals on Macs.

shaunm

Another quick question. Would an IPad Pro work for my needs?