SettingUp

It's a grim reality that some software companies will go out of business. While I'm all for
helping the little guy make it, if that little guy goes out of business, you will have no support for
your problems. Because of this, the sheer size of a recording software company is often a
positive thing in and of itself.

You should ask around to see how people have been pleased with the support of their
recording software before making a commitment.

It is nice to hang out on a forum where many people use the same recording software. While
RecordingReview.com has users from all walks of software life, I know that I've been able to
help tons of people with Cubase.

Reliability With Your Operating System

When Windows and Mac release new operating systems (it seems like Macs have a new OS
each year), there are bound to be issues with compatibility concerning your recording
software. A killer recording application may work flawlessly on X platform but terribly on Y
platform. You'll have to ask around.

Note: Most people who have problems with their computer and recording software simply
failed to set them up correctly, which I cover in the “Computer Performance Optimization”
chapter (coming up!). It's more than likely that "user error" is causing their lack of success,
so be careful when trusting people who have had reliability problems.

Included Plugins

All recording programs come with stock plugins. In many cases these are useful, but not
always the most exciting. Most people are happiest with premium, 3rd party plugins, which
are easily added to any decent recording software. If budget is tight, you may not want to
sink a bunch of cash into new plugins when you still have tons of other recording things to
blow money on. Of course, the quality of the included plugins is 100% subjective and often
over rated to the beginner.

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Included Virtual Instruments

Anyone working on MIDI compositions will benefit from using synths and samplers built into
their computer. These are known as “soft synths” or “virtual instruments”. Again, most people
are happiest with premium 3rd party toys but that's not to say that these stock sounds are
garbage: I find quite a few uses for the included virtual instruments. The quality is 100%
subjective to your tastes and preferences but try asking around anyway.

Features You Won't Look For

You'll never think of all the features you require. The human brain simply does not work that
way. You will never anticipate every little tiny detail. What kind of details?

Here's a perfect example. I once hit the wrong button on my external analog to digital
converter. This sent the wrong Word Clock sample rate. Long story short, my recording
software thought I was dealing with 44.1Khz tracks but I was dealing with 48Khz track and the
pitch was all out of whack.

Well, it turned out that Cubase SX 3 had a built in method to change the internal “label” in
each wav file (called a “header”) to the correct sample rate. I was impressed! Now this is
something you would NEVER think of needing!

I'm not really trying to push Cubase on anyone else even though I have been extremely
happy with it. However, time and time again I have run into various situations (much like my
little sample rate issue) that needed addressing.

The features you aren't looking for are often the features that make or break your experience
with the software. The propaganda they place in magazine ads couldn't be more irrelevant
most of the time. How the software handles when you get your hands dirty is everything. The
only way to really find that out is to ask people who have dirty hands!

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This sample rate header issue may not seem like a big deal to you. Let me explain how I
solved this problem the last time it occurred back when I was using Sonic Foundry Vegas. I
downloaded a header changer doohickey online. I found the first flawed file. I opened it in
the program. I changed the sample rate header. I saved it. I re-imported. Repeat. It took
about 8 hours to solve the problem.

I think this is an outstanding testament to the Powerful Recording Software section above.
It's also a testament to keep that under-evolved monkey named Brandon Drury away from
your external clock!

Wav Editor vs DAW

I want to point out that there are two main types of recording software: Wav Editors and
DAWs. This entire chapter has been about DAW's which stands for Digital Audio Workstation.
This gets confusing for beginners because in the past, some standalone recorders have been
named “workstations”, and it's often unclear as to whether a person is talking about their
actual computer or their recording software.

A DAW is a multi-track recording software designed to allow the recording, playback, and
mixing of multiple tracks. A Wav Editor, such as Sound Forge or Wavelab, is only capable of
processing a single file. Because of this, I'm always shocked to hear that some beginners list
Sound Forge as their main recording software. How? You can only work with one track at a
time!

Q: What do you think about free software?

A: You may want to revert back to my answer to “What's the Best Recording Software?”. If
you can meet all your needs with a certain piece of gear, that gear is great for you! I've
tinkered with a handful of free programs over the years, but I must admit that I've never really
seriously tried to do anything. It's usually me messing around at a buddy's house.

You get what you pay for most of the time but software can be a different story. Open

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source / GPL software can be extremely powerful when enough programmers get together to
donate their time to create something special. It happens. So, you never know when a
tremendous piece of Open Source / GPL software is going to come out.

Q: Will my recording software work with my audio
interface?

A: If the software works in Windows, it should also function properly with your windows
compatible audio interface. Audio interface manufacturers and recording software developers
would be out of business if they didn't make compatibility a high priority.

Pro Tools is an exception. It uses a proprietary system that only functions with its own
hardware and software. I recommend you talk to Pro Tools people to get the real story. I've
heard so many conflicting views regarding the use of different hardware with Pro Tools
software or Pro Tools hardware with different software. It's very confusing. Just be aware
that there is a “catch” that does not exist with other audio interfaces and recording software.
(Just another Pro Tools turn off in my opinion.)

So, in short, if your audio interface works with Windows it should have no trouble working with
your recording software.

Note: They are using some gadget inside certain audio interfaces known as Dice II. It has
been known to cause conflicts with certain recording applications. While they may be
working the bugs out of this one, it represented the first time in this era of home recording
where an audio interface and a recording application where not compatible.

You Don't Need Mp3 Conversion In Your Recording
Software

For whatever reason, recording software companies like to place limitations on the number of
mp3 files you can render with your software. This means that it's no big deal for you to export

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your mix to a single stereo wav file all day long, but mp3s are a different story. I've seen
some people panic over this one. Well don't!

There is no need to run and panic because there are great free wav to mp3 converters out
there. I use Razorlame. It's a very simple program, just drag all the files you want to convert
into the box, adjust the settings, and press “Encode”. I love it because I can convert an entire
album at one time. I hate wasting time converting one track at a time after I've spent hours
mixing each song.

So You've Just About Given Up On X Recording
Software?

I've encountered way too many people who refuse to open the manual for their recording
software and expect to “get it” simply by tinkering. That's a fine concept, but a majority of
these people waste hours of time doing things the hard way.

I've heard way too many of them say “I've just about had it with X recording software. I'm
going to try something else”. While it's certainly possible that they are experiencing reliability
problems, in most cases they never really bothered to learn their recording software in the
first place.

So, before you end your relationship with your DAW, make sure you've actually started one!

Getting Started: Tutorial vs Manual

I think a big reason that so many beginners don't take the time to read their manual is they
think they are about to read a 1,200 page PDF. I know that Cubase has a “Getting Started”
guide which consists of a number of tutorials that teach you specifically what you need to
know in order to use the software. I could get through it in a day. I'd suspect that most
recording software has an equivalent.

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So before you get immediately intimidated by the daunting task of reading a Bible-sized
manual, you may want to check to see if there are actual tutorials for you to follow.

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Mac vs PC

The Mac vs PC debate has gone on for what seems like forever. It seems that when the Cold
War ended, everyone decided they needed another ridiculous stalemate to waste their time
and resources fighting. The only difference here is that the excessive hatred for the other
guy's country has been replaced with a hatred for the other guy's computer.

Advantages of Mac

 When compared with name brand PCs, a Mac is usually a little better suited for music
recording right out of the box. This is ideal for a person who has absolute no interest in
understanding anything about their computer.

 People on a super tight budget have better luck with the stock soundcard in Mac
computers compared to a PC's. However, Mac users seldom fit the “super tight
budget” demographic.

 You get to belong to a group. Because of creative marketing, Mac users often feel a
sense of camaraderie that PC users do not. If you are buying a computer because you
need a friend, I would consider therapy first or maybe get a dog.

 The Mac has less of a risk of obtaining viruses and spybots. Since Mac has about 4%
of the market, the goons writing the viruses don't bother targeting them. If Mac's
market share increases, you can be sure that some little programming thug will seize
his opportunity.

 I'd say that a Mac is slightly more reliable than a well setup PC and quite a bit more
reliable than a trashed PC.

 You can have a certain bit of irresponsibility that you simply can't have with a PC in
regard to internet usage. You can let your guard down a bit with a Mac.

Advantages of PCs

 Custom built PCs are very powerful and very economical. For many, myself included,
putting a PC together is the most powerful balance of power, quality, performance, and

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price. For example, I've kept myself on a schedule where I invest $300 in computer
upgrades every 2.5 years.
 For equally equipped computers, it's a safe bet that a PC will always be cheaper.
 An overwhelming majority of computer users own a PC. This means that getting help
with your problems is dramatically easier.
 There are radically more software titles to choose from under the Windows platform.
 There is an endless of supply of quality free plugins and virtual instruments available
for the PC.
 Getting parts for a PC is no big deal. While the closest Mac hardware dealer is two
hours away, the PC dealer is a 10 minutes drive.

Computer Dependent Gear

The type of computer you choose will have an effect as to which hardware and software you
are able to use. I'm told by my users that some software doesn't run as reliably on a Mac as
it does a PC and vice versa. I'm not sure what causes this. The latest version of Logic is Mac
only. Certain audio interfaces are for Windows and some are designed specifically for Macs.
So just be aware that whoever you ally with in the PC vs Mac war may have an impact on the
gear you choose to record with.

Besides software and hardware compatibility, there aren't any reasons to assume a Mac will
be more powerful than a PC so be wary of the marketing, hype, or myths that tend to go
around. Of course, the same can be flipped. There is no reason to expect a PC to be any
more reliable than a Mac. I consider them equal overall with personal preference being a
bigger issue than general superiority. Go with the computer you prefer.

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Q: Aren't Macs More Reliable Than Windows
Computers?

A: Because of the responsibility factor above, I think a person has to be more alert to the
dangers in the PC world. Us robo nerd PC users have a nice opportunity to save some cash.
The rest of the population may have better luck with a Mac.

If all PC users were created equal I don't think there would be much reason to use a Mac over
a PC. The problem is there are drunk drivers behind the mouse of way too many Windows
systems. (This includes the decision makers at Microsoft, Dell, HP, etc). Because of this I do
feel that many PCs get a bad rap based on user error. For whatever reason, coked out Mac
users don't seem to run over as many nuns.

A high end, purpose built recording computer (which may cost a fortune) should be just as
reliable as a Mac especially if your little brother isn't visiting questionable animal websites on
it.

Is there anything magical about Mac? Not even close! There are people who are convinced
that buying a Mac is going to end world hunger, solve our climate change issues, and make
the world a better place. That's a load of crap. Macs have their problems. I see them
constantly. There are entire forums for solving Mac problems.

Q: Aren't Macs Better For Recording?

A: Absolutely not. The difference between a Mac and a PC is highly overstated these days.
They use the same basic hardware, but have different operating systems. Back in 1991 they
say that Mac had an advantage over PC. I'm not even sure what that was. I was 11. I was
busy smashing bugs or beating the crap out of my brother. Years later, any differences in
computer technologies have settled just as my brother can now stomp me. If you really want
to be stuck in '91, wear your spandex. Don't let me stop you! However, just be aware that

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the playing field leveled out years ago.

Q: Brandon, What do you recommend? Mac or PC?

A: It depends on the user. If money is no object Mac people need to think less. I'm not sure if
that makes them more productive or not, but it's a possibility. If money is an object, you can
blow a big ol' wad on a computer and have nothing left for the recording gadgets.

If you follow the guidelines here in Setting Up, there is no reason why a PC that costs a
fraction of the price can't be just as good and just as reliable as a cutting edge Mac. I firmly
believe that. However, the Mac users do get to skip those chapters and move on to topics
that are more fun.

Worst of all, if you buy a Mac you are now in the “Mac User Demographic”. While anyone
who has published in a scientific journal or has an Oscar is exempt, I can't help but see a
correlation between Mac users, people with near-death experiences, and people who did way
too much heroin back in '03.

Sorry dudes/chicks! The above paragraph was in retaliation to those commercials where the
PC guy is a nerd and the Mac guy is relatively normal. I've never seen a stronger insult to
intelligence of the human race in my life. Even Jerry Bruckheimer jumped up and said,
“Come on guys, people aren't this stupid!”.

You Don't Really Record With The Operating System

I want to make it very clear that after the initial setup, you won't deal with the Operating
System that often. In fact, the only time I deal with Windows XP is when I'm backing up files
or dragging files into a CD burning program. That's it! When I'm recording, I'm using
Cubase . My entire recording experience is joined at the hip with Cubase, and Windows
doesn't even come to mind.

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The same is true for any real task on a computer. At the moment, I am not typing in
Windows, I'm typing in Open Office Writer. When I develop web pages, I'm using
Dreamweaver, not Windows!

So when you choose a computer system, don't get hung up on ridiculous debates about PC
vs Mac. Spend your time finding the recording software that is best for your needs. It's a
much more important decision. Focus on the ultimate goal: Making great sounding
recordings! Getting caught up in stupid controversial topics is a waste of time, money, and
resources.

Conclusion

A stock Mac is probably superior for home recording to a stock name brand PC at a higher
cost. However, a quick formatting of Windows (or setting up a dual boot system) on a name
brand PC or starting out with a custom built PC in the first place will essentially land you the
same caliber computer for often less money.

I've been able to stock up on quality recording gear because I haven't invested too much
money into any one link of the chain. If I had gone the Mac route, I could only imagine all the
microphones, preamps, plugins, and samples I would not been able to afford. I simply cannot
imagine my rack shrinking. For those people who aren't dealing with the same financial
limitations and own a $10k Neumann U47, I could see the issue of price being a much
smaller concern. In those cases, maybe the added simplicity of the Mac would be worth the
additional cost.

PC Computer Stuff

While this is not a computer book, computers play a dominant role in modern music
recording. I know quite a few members at RecordingReview.com who are experienced at
recording, but have been hesitant to jump into the world of computer recording.

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Relax.

In this chapter, I hope to knock the edge off of some of the learning curve associated with
recording computers. I don't intend for this chapter to be ultra comprehensive. This is a
RECORDING book!! Maybe I can explain some of this computer junk in plain English. You
could find this information in a billion other places, but wouldn't you rather have a dude who
rocks show you?

I'm calling this “Computer Junk” because I realize that understanding computer guts isn't an
exciting proposition for the average guy/gal looking to make noise at home.

Calm Down!

Most people look at the guts inside their computers and begin to cringe. I guess to a layman,
all those circuits can be quite scary. If we pretend that all those pieces of circuitry are black
boxes (like that of cd players, dvd players, airliners, etc), the computer suddenly gets easier
to deal with. In fact, I'd venture to say that understanding the inside of a computer is fairly
simple when compared to something complex like understanding the female mind or the DVD
remote control. If you can hook up a dvd player to a tv to a home stereo, you can deal with a
computer. It's essentially the same thing. If you can't hook up a dvd player, it's much easier
than you think.

Computer Guts

Motherboard

A motherboard is the main hub to that all components
ultimately dock to. Every component in a computer plugs
straight into the motherboard. It's popular for motherboard
manufacturers to include sound, video, networking, USB,
and Firewire on the motherboard itself to reduce the

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amount of extra “stuff” you need to buy later on.

This thing looks really complicated doesn't it! A person could go out of their mind if they had
to deal with the deeper level stuff.

This thing isn't that bad at all. It's just ugly. We've got to power it and plug into it the CPU,
RAM, hard drives, and cd-roms. We can plug in any extra stuff we may like such as front
USB ports, but that is optional. So don't let this little wuss get you down. It's just trying to
scare you.

CPU

The CPU is a stupid acronym for the processor. The
processor does all the thinking in the computer and
therefore the faster the processor, the faster the
computer. A fast processor can get bogged down by
other weak links in the chain, but we'll deal with that
mess later on. The better the CPU, the “smarter” the
computer and the faster it can perform tasks.

RAM

RAM is a stupid acronym for memory. I guess we could
call this “short term memory” as it handles everything the
computer is thinking about right now. Any open programs
that are running right now are using up memory. When
you close files in these programs, they will be removed
from RAM. You can kind of think of RAM as everything
you have sitting on your desk right now. Maybe you have
some bills you need to pay, some papers you need to sign, and maybe a DVD you plan on

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watching tonight. The amount of RAM makes a huge effect on the performance of a
computer. A large quantity of fast RAM and a fast CPU are the two main factors in increasing
performance on a recording computer.

Hard drive

The hard drive is more like your filing cabinet. A hard drive
stores all data and files in your computer. It's more of a
long term storage system. As long as the hard drive
doesn't die, the data on a hard drive is there forever, even
if you turn off your computer. Hard drives offer different
amounts of storage and spin at different speeds.

As of this writing, most hard drives are spinning at 7200rpm. This speed is fine for all but the
most insane of audio recording demands. Laptops and cheapo desktop computers typically
come with a 5400rpm hard drive. This is not sufficient for even moderate audio recording
work. If you are using a laptop, it's recommended to use an external USB 2.0 or Firewire
7200 rpm drive.

CD / DVD Burner

This one is fairly self-explanatory. A DVD burner reads and
burns CDs or DVDs.

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Video card

A video card allows a computer to display video on a
computer monitor or other video device like a TV. The
performance of the video is affected by the quality of the
design and components within the video card itself. For
recording computers, the demands on the video card are
very low. In fact, I've had my current video card in my
recording computer for six years through three different
major upgrades (if that tells you anything).

Many motherboards come with “integrated video” which simply means the video card comes
built into the motherboard and you don't need an additional video card.

Misc PCI Cards

Motherboards come with auxiliary inputs so that you can add other miscellaneous stuff to
your computer. These kinds of “stuff” include networking cards, Firewire cards, USB 2.0
cards, PCI audio interfaces cards, etc. Again, there is nothing complex about the concept of
PCI cards. If you want to use a PCI card, slide it into the slot and make sure the drivers are
installed. While it takes a tad bit more dexterity to get the PCI card to fit into the slot, the
concept is no different than plugging a lamp into the wall.

Misc PCIe Cards

A new format has emerged that is slowly overtaking the PCI format. It's called PCI Express or
PCIe. It works the same way that PCI cards worked, but with greater performance
possibilities and a slightly different slot.

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Operating System

The operating system is the software designed to put the whole thing together so you can
actually use all of this hardware. Microsoft Windows is the most popular operating system.
The operating system must contain software that tells each hardware component how to
function. (These are called drivers). Every process or function that takes place within the
computer must go through the operating system in one way or another. 99% of all problems
that occur within a computer are caused by errors in the operating system added by the user
or computer manufacturer. We'll discuss this in the “Properly Setting Up A PC Recording
Computer” section.

Power Supply

You connect the power supply to the motherboard, and you
plug the power supply into the wall out let. I guess you can
figure out that it supplies the electric stuff to the computer.

That's it!

That's all the major components in the computer. Hopefully, when worded like this, the guts
of a computer don't sound so complex. The overall setup is designed to be quite simple. A
computer is designed to be modular. If one component doesn't work, you can simply trade it
out with a component that does.

Recording Computer Demands

If you so choose, recording can use up every ounce of computer power available on even the
fastest of modern recording computers. Then again, people have been using computers for
multi-track recording since the mid 90s when computer power was a tiny fraction of what it is
now. Computers really came into their own in regard to being able to handle multi-track

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recording fairly well in the early 2000s. Now, it really isn't too big of a deal for a computer to
record 10 or 20 tracks at the same time. However, as you start getting fancy, the demands on
the computer get astronomically greater.

Low Latency Monitoring

I do quite a bit of low latency monitoring these days. Let's assume we are recording a vocal
overdub. I like to run the vocal signal into the computer, into my recording software, use
compression and reverb, blend the signal with the backing music, and then send the signal to
the headphones for the singer to hear.

Because the audio signal has to flow through the computer, the computer must take some
time to process it. This time delay is called “latency”. Because the vocalist definitely does not
want to hear a delay from their real voice to the headphones, the latency must be set so low
(fast) that the singer doesn't notice.

As we set the latency lower, the demand on the computer increases drastically. It makes
sense. We are expecting a computer to work faster. When using low latency monitoring, we
are pushing a computer very hard.

Note: We could completely bypass the computer for monitoring altogether and setup a
headphone using a small mixer or something (but this is not preferred by most of us these
days for a number of reasons which we'll discuss later on). When we no longer require low
latency monitoring (such as during mixing) we can crank up the latency and give the
computer some room to breathe and we'll have quite a bit more computer power at our
disposal.

Samplers

In order to play back a sample in real time, samples must be loaded into RAM. The samples
are already stored on the hard drive, but the hard drive isn't fast enough to instantly react to a

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key being struck on a MIDI controller or being played back by a sequencer. Because of this,
samples can use an enormous amount of RAM. In fact, when I set my old drum sampler,
DFH Superior, in “mega-quality” mode, I can use up 2GB of RAM with just a single drum kit.
This is a TON of ram just for drum samples! So, if you plan on doing any MIDI sequencing
using samples, you need to go all out on RAM.

Plugins

For the home recorder, plugins are amazing. The ability to buy one compressor plugin and
use it on every single track in a mix is amazing. In the past, plugins were considered
substandard when compared to their high-end hardware counterparts. This is changing.
More and more pro engineers are switching over to plugins for more and more of their mixing
needs because the sound of plugins gets a little bit more exciting each day. Most engineers
who haven't switched over will say that plugins are closer than ever to rivaling the hardware
stuff.

Unfortunately, this comes at a cost. As plugins get better and more musical sounding, they
also use more and more CPU power. While there are some very decent plugins out there
that are very efficient in their plugin usage, to get a noticeable step up in plugin character
often means taking a CPU hit. Because most of us are never satisfied, the home recorder is
always going to require a fast computer to handle the most demanding modern plugins.

Note: I've noticed that most high-end premium plugins tend to be much easier on the CPU
than your typical open source (free) plugins.

High Track Counts

In the end, nothing really puts a huge demand on resources like a high track count. While
recording, wav files are actually fairly light on CPU loads, more tracks means more plugins,
more routing, and more everything! In most modern recording programs, each track in use is
going to use a little bit of RAM and a little bit of CPU power. Of course, if you begin using

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extremely high track counts, it's possible that you will over-extend your hard drive. This is
especially true in slower, 5400 rpm laptop hard drives.

Note: Even with track counts in the 70s I have never exceeded my hard drive's capabilities
and I'm using ATA 100, 7200 rpm hard drives which were standard grade in the early 2000s,
so there is no reason to panic and dump $10,000 on the hard drives used at NASA or
whatever. The “consumer grade” hard drives conquered this a long time ago.

I've actually found that as I've gotten to be a better engineer that I'm using fewer and fewer
plugins (or maybe using less plugins made me a better engineer?). I get the tones I need
while I'm tracking or we don't track. So, I find that not only am I wasting less time “fixing”
tracks (which never works anyway), I'm using less and less plugins. If you don't use that
many plugins, you can work with very high track counts on a modest recording computer--
food for thought.

Virtual Instruments

Synths have become extremely popular on the computer. The genres of electronic music, hip
hop, and any other music style that typically uses “keyboard” sounds have made a huge
switchover to using synthesizers “in the box” (or from within the computer). Generally
speaking, synths tend to be very CPU intensive. So if you plan on using synths, it is highly
recommended to pick up as much CPU power as you possibly can.

Q: Should I update my operating system?

I can't remember ever updating the operating system on my recording computer. First of all, I
wouldn't know if my operating system needed updating, because I'm not online.* I have no
idea if my operating system even needs updating. Secondly, if my system is running
smoothly, I change nothing. The “if it ain't broke” mentality is definitely what I recommend.
(Maybe it's the Wayne's World, “Change? We fear change!” side of me!) Updating this can
screw up that, and before you know it, you have the snowball effect going out of control.

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It's my recommendation that you spend your time writing songs and making recordings, not
playing the “latest update contest game”.

If you do encounter a problem, then by all means, consider updating. However, my
experience with updates has been mostly negative in regard to the operating system.

* This actually brings up a great argument for not using internet (not even plugging it in) on
recording computers. Windows automatically tells you when your updates are available by
checking to see what updates you've already installed on your system. What else is the
internet “automatically” doing? On what other demands having nothing to do with audio is my
CPU wasting itself?

Q: What Is A Chipset?

A: Who cares! This isn't an advanced computer nerd book. This is a book that is supposed
to knock the edge off the learning curve of making great recordings. I could tell you what a
chipset really is and give you some kind of robo technical jargon that repels fun faster than
diarrhea. I'd rather take the smash-beer-can-on-forehead approach to computers.

All motherboards, USB 2.0 cards, and Firewire cards have a “thingy” called a chipset made
by a number of various manufacturers. (Texas Instruments, Via, Geforce, etc). All audio
interface manufacturers have a list of “doesn't play well with X chipset” buried deep down in
the darkest caverns of their website. (Even if you look and don't find, it doesn't mean it's not
there. I'm not aware of any audio interface that works perfectly with all chipsets. The list of
incompatibilities for an audio interface tends to be the kind of thing you only find after you've
purchased the audio interface.)

If you were to hook your audio interface into a chipset that wasn't compatible, you'd have a
nightmare on your hands that is only fixed by swapping to a device with the matching chipset.
This isn't a big deal if you only need to pull out a PCI Firewire card and toss in another one.

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This would take 45 seconds or so, assuming you had a spare PCI Firewire card.
Note: If you don't have a spare PCI Firewire card laying around, you can expect to pay
between $5-20 for one on Newegg.com. You can expect to pay $50 at your local consumer
electronics store. If you don't take this chipset thing seriously when putting together your
recording rig, you will pay for it later.
If the chipset incompatibility is found on the motherboard itself, you have a much bigger
problem. I hope you didn't plan on recording in the next two weeks, because if the audio
interface hates your motherboard chipset, one of them must go. Are you going to totally
rebuild your computer, or are you going to ship back the audio interface?

Finding Your Computer's Chipset

To determine the chipset of your USB 2.0 ports, Firewire ports, or motherboard in general (for
PCI audio interfaces), head here in Windows:
Control Panels > System > Hardware > Device Manager

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In this case, my Firewire card (IEEE 1394) uses a VIA chipset.

Q: Should I Go With AMD or an Intel Processor?

A: Because technology is constantly dynamic, I hesitate to recommend one over the other in
a book that could be outdated before I even get this stupid thing released. Generally
speaking, I've felt I've gotten more bang for my buck with AMD than with Intel. However, this
does not mean that you will. It also doesn't mean that my next processor I purchase will be
an AMD. In the end, both AMD and Intel make computer processors that are more than
adequate for high-end recording. It comes down to saving a few bucks in most cases.

A person would be best off by shopping around to find out what is available in X price range.
It won't take long to find some computer nerd who posted the results of benchmark testing for

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the processors you have in question. These graphs should give a fairly clear indication of
how the performance compares from one processor to another. I'd expect performance
results to go hand in hand with price. (The exception to that are the brand new “cutting edge”
processors. They always jack the price up. I love to see a processor that was once $1,500
drop to $150 in a matter of months.)

The bigger issue for me is the motherboard chipset problem. As you may have already read,
I always recommend choosing the audio interface before choosing the computer simply
because of chipset compatibility issues. However, if you decide to switch to a new audio
interface, it's a total guess whether a given chipset will work with your new audio interface.
While Intel does have issues with a few audio interfaces, I've found that Intel chipsets have
been the safest bet for across the board for compatibility with audio interfaces. Now don't get
the wrong idea. It's still a gamble! As I've said, there are still audio interfaces that do not
work well with certain Intel chipsets, but Intel is more likely to be future proof.

In the end, don't get too wrapped up in small computer issues unless it's going to save you
big bucks. There are so many musical and audio engineering things to learn, that a night
debating Intel vs AMD is a night I consider to be wasted. Yup, debating processor companies
is like a night spent watching a Friends marathon. Write a song for Christ's sake!!

Q: What if my computer doesn't come with USB 2.0
or Firewire?

A: Don't worry! This is an easy problem to solve. For a desktop computer, you simply need to
purchase a PCI Firewire or USB 2.0 card. When I ordered my Presonus Firestudio, it turned
out that my previous Firewire card was the wrong chipset (Do as I say, not as I do!). I made a
trip to the local consumer electronics store. They wanted $50 for the card. I ordered a
Firewire card for $6. It works fine! As long as you have the PCI slots available (just about
everyone does) you won't have to worry about compatibility issues with your computer.

For laptops, the PCI slot isn't available, but you can purchase a PCMCIA card to add Firewire

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or USB 2.0 capability.

I recommend purchasing your computer components here.

Note: Firewire is the same thing as IE 1394.

Quad Core Computer Power

I was at my mom's house. I was in the library (you know the room with the bathtub), and I
looked in my old hiding places for literature (Not dirty magazines, you nasty people!). I found
an issue of Electronic Musician from 2003. I flipped through it. The big thing that shocked
me was that the role of the recording computer had not changed all that much in six years.
While there have been breakthroughs and improvements – particularly on the audio interface
features side of the fence – I really can't say that we are doing anything all that different now
than we did then.
Back in 2003, we were recording audio and sequencing. We had compressors, EQ, reverb,
delay, chorus, and just about every other effect from the hardware world, including even a few
that weren't possible in the hardware world. We had more synths and samples than a person
in 1996 would have known what to do with. In the right hands, a computer recording rig (even
running at 1/20th speed of today’s computers) was capable of devastating recordings.
We've seen other dramatic improvements in three notable areas:

• guitar amp emulation
• plugin sound quality
• samples
Guitar amp emulators have gone from being flat out useless to making a guy like me wonder
how long his amp collection is going to be worth anything. The compressor and EQ plugins in
2003 got the job done, but few had any real character to speak of. That's all changed.
Samples have improved immensely, particularly in the realm of realistic drum samples. All of
these use quite a bit more horsepower in the ol' overgrown calculator box than was necessary

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in 2003, but it's not like we are running climate models or rendering the latest “Industrial Light
and Magic” effects.
I feel comfortable in saying that Quad Core computers have conquered audio recording. The
Quad Core processors are the first to allow a person doing some fairly wild stuff to sit down
and add plugin after plugin, and sample after sample, without a care in the world. (Previously,
you could do pretty much anything you wanted, but you always had to worry about your CPU
reserves, and sometimes, just one or two instances of a guitar amp emulator would leave you
out of gas.) These days, a person would have to be using an idiotic amount of plugins and
samples to overload Quad Core computers. (Some genres call for an idiotic number of
plugins.)
While there will be incremental improvements in sound quality and various recording
computer software gadgetry, the truth is that the computer world can do pretty much
everything the hardware world can do right now. It's safe to say these incremental
improvements will also utilize more and more CPU power as time goes on. However, for
there to be a major technological breakthrough requiring 5x the processing capabilities of that
of the Quad Core computers, it's going to require some kind of revolution that really doesn’t
exist in the hardware recording world. It's going to have to be something new, and something
that most of us cannot even fathom at this point: Maybe recording software that reads our
brain waves or involves time travel. For everything else, Quad Core computers have it
conquered.
There is one possible exception to my little theory. If Microsoft, and maybe Mac, decides that
their operating systems need to exponentially hog more CPU power in upcoming releases,
that could throw a wrench into our campfire. (Isn't there a saying about throwing a wrench
somewhere? Oh well.)
So, this is my long way of saying that until we need cloaking devices to record music, I think
Quad Core computers pretty much conquered home recording land!

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Keeping A Recording Computer Quiet

Computers make noise. It's a part of life. I've recorded some fairly quiet instruments in my
control room only 10 feet away from my recording computer so I'll try to explain how to do it.

There are two sides to keeping computer noise to a minimum. There is reduction of the noise
in the first place within the computer itself. Then there are ways to deal with that noise once it
leaves the computer.

Within The Computer

Fans

The most obvious noisemakers in computers are the fans themselves. The fan on the CPU
and the fan on the power supply are the biggest culprits of all. The stock fan on the CPU can
always be upgraded to a model that is much more quiet for just a few extra bucks. (You can
find these here.) When you begin to check out noise level ratings on CPU fans, you'll find
that there can be enormous variation between similar models, even at relatively low price
points. I've seen $30 CPU fans/heatsinks where one model may be 10dB quieter than
another model. This is an enormous difference! Do some research and find a fan/heatsink
for your CPU that makes as little noise as possible.

Make sure you go with as large a fan size as possible. The smaller the fan, the higher rpm it
will have to spin to move the same amount of air. The faster the fan is spinning, the louder the
noise and the higher the pitch of the noise making the noise more audible.

There are some crazy designs out there for heatsinks and fans. Some of these are capable
of dramatically reducing the noise of the computer for a very reasonable amount of money. If
absolute silence is a requirement for you, money spent on fans is money well spent.

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Alternative CPU Coolers

There are other alternatives these days when it comes to cooling a CPU. Water-based
cooling has been getting more and more popular over the years. Water based cooling is not
cheap and the actual water pump can make noise as well so you may want to look into
specific models to make sure you aren't replacing modest fan noise with an even louder water
pump. Personally, I've always been a little bit hesitant to toss water into my recording
computer. (I once dumped a cup of coffee onto a computer's motherboard while it was
running and lived to tell about it...BARELY!!)

Fanless CPU Coolers

There are also fanless designs that incorporate enormous heatsinks so that the actual
computer case is a big part of its cooling. These are usually not cheap, but may be worth
looking into. With all of this computer jive, make sure you do your research to ensure that
these methods are still viable as this writing may be ancient history by the time you get a hold
of it. Fanless CPU cooler cases may be fine today but may not work for the next generation
of power hungry computers. As computers get faster, they tend to use more electricity and
therefore generate more heat. The long story short is that your computer needs may outgrow
your fancy cooler.

Power Supply

The power supply is another major contributor to the noise problem. It's always highly
recommended to purchase as quiet a power supply as possible. Every dB you can stop the
computer from producing is a dB you don't have to worry about getting into a microphone.
There aren't too many tricks when it comes to quieting down a power supply. In fact, the only
thing I really know is to buy one with a quiet rating (not necessarily a quiet title) and make
sure that it has as the largest possible fans.

Fan Speed Controllers

Some motherboards allow controllers to either automate the speed of the fans within the

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computer via a thermostat or allow you to set the fan speed with a knob on your desktop. If
you are having lots of problems with computer noise, even after following my guidelines, a fan
speed controller may be a lifesaver for you. Stock fan speeds are set to overkill speeds and
you can often dramatically reduce the noise level of the computer by simply turning the fans
down.

Because absolute computer silence is a requirement unique to audio recording,
manufacturers seldom bother with the added cost of adding fan speed controllers. If silence
is a requirement, it could pay off to turn the fans down.

Be careful with these. Some of them are dramatically more complicated than they need to
be. Setting them involves dusting off the geometry books. I'm not kidding! Setting them
incorrectly can cause crashes and the dreaded Blue Screen of Death.

Computer Cases

I've noticed that computer case manufacturers often like to name their cases something “cool”
or “quiet”. It's common to see “thermal” this and “silent” that. Never trust the name of a
computer case. That is a marketing ploy. Instead, do some research to find out if the case
can reduce noise or not. While a case is limited in what it can do to reduce noise, every dB
helps. It's totally possible for a case to be rigid enough to knock down noise and be designed
so that wind turbulence in the computer itself is reduced.

You may be familiar with a product called Dynamat. It's very popular in the car audio world.
Dynamat is basically a lead sheet with sticky stuff on one side. The idea is by adding mass to
an item that is resonating, you can greatly reduce the amount of resonance and therefore
reduce the noise. There is some truth to this concept when it comes to soundproofing, but it
is not perfect. It is great for reducing rattles and resonance, but probably isn't going to do
anything for direct fan noise. I've spoken with people who have used Dynamat in their
computer cases and they were pleased with the upgrade. You would apply Dynamat to the
sides and to the top of the insides of the case. We'll discuss this concept of resonance later

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on in this section.

Round ATA Cables

Always use the round style ATA cables when connecting components to your motherboard.
The flat, ribbon style cables are an incredible inhibitor of airflow and a big reason that
computer fans have to work hard to cool a computer. Spend just a few extra bucks to use
cables that are much more ideal for the cooling of your computer. I'm positive that using
round cables would allow you to turn the fan speed down by a noticeable amount.

Note: Most of us are using SATA hard drives, therefore this isn't that big of an issue anymore
as SATA cables are much smaller and don't inhibit airflow in the way the old ATA cables did.

Fanless Video Cards

Modern video cards get hot. Many of them come with a fan. When putting together a silent
recording computer, choose a video card that uses a fanless design. It's not like a mega
powerful video card is required for audio recording anyway. Therefore, I'm of the opinion that
going with a middle of the road, relatively quiet, and relatively cool video card is the way to
go.

Hard Drive Isolation

Hard drives are mechanical devices that spin at very high RPMs. Because of this, there is no
way to get around the fact that they shake. This shaking will transfer throughout your
computer case. By isolating the hard drive so that the transfer of these vibrations to your
case is reduced, we can reduce the amount of resonance within the case.

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Fan Isolation

All case fans follow the same laws of physics as the hard drives mentioned above. They are
spinning, so therefore they are vibrating. There are products that allow you, at a relatively low
cost, to reduce the amount of vibration transferring to your computer case.

Outside The Computer

Now that our computer is fairly quiet, we'll still have some noise to contend with. Let's
discuss our options.

Enclosures

If you've got the cash, an enclosure is the way. With an enclosure, you simply toss your
computer into a pretty cabinet and call it a day. You don't have to think about the computer
nerd stuff. You just use a “normal” computer and say heck with it. When you upgrade to a
new computer down the road, it's no big deal to pull out the old computer and put in the new
computer. Unfortunately, a good enclosure that actually does what it is supposed to costs
money. Big money!

Rethinking Home Built Enclosures
I know what you are thinking. Why are these enclosures so expensive? It's easy to build a
wooden box, right? The idea of stuffing a computer into an airtight box sounds like a great
rig. Stuff it in there, seal it up, and be done with it, right? Well, a good enclosure is
expensive. Very expensive! There is much more that goes into an enclosure than you may
initially think.

The first problem is heat. A modern computer is essentially a small space heater. In fact,
computers were getting so hot that they've made efforts in recent years to reduce the wattage
a CPU uses (and therefore dissipates into the air), even at a cost of performance. When you
cram a little space heater into a box, that box is going to get really hot in a hurry. The
problem is ventilation causes noise to leak back into the room and that totally defeats the

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purpose of the isolation enclosure to begin with.

The second problem is resonance. As discussed briefly above, the computer is full of rotating
thingies that vibrate. It takes advanced engineering to come up with a box that will be able to
contain this resonance. If you were to take a 4'x8' sheet of plywood and simply toss it on top
of the average computer, the noise would actually get louder. The vibrations would transfer
through the plywood and the plywood would act as a primitive audio speaker.

Another way to see this concept in action is to grab your guitar and physically touch a window
with the headstock (Gently!!!!) and strum a chord. Now pull the guitar off the window. Strum
the same chord. The difference is enormous. The window actually makes the sound louder.

We get into this concept of transfer in the soundproofing section later on, so I'm not going to
dwell too much on it here.

However, simply tossing a computer into a box that is not incredibly rigid (and more than likely
incredibly massive) will result in noise that is louder than a computer with no iso box at all.
On top of that, if significant efforts have not been made to ventilate the iso box, the computer
will run too hot. Of course, we've already defined that the noise can escape this ventilation
rendering the iso box useless.

You can now see why a real deal iso box is so expensive!

Simple Treatments

As ridiculous as this may sound, you may not need any fancy soundproofing for your
recording computer.

Why can't we simply block computer noise with blankets, a couch, or any other absorbing
material? Obviously this depends on your demands. Finger picked acoustic guitar parts and
soft vocals are going to be very quiet and therefore the possibility of noise from the computer
is dramatically increased. Guys in screaming rock bands won't have to worry nearly as much.

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If blankets don't do the job, more aggressive absorption such as Rockwool probably can. I
keep a 2'x4'x4” sheet of Rockwool wrapped in fabric running along the side of my recording
computer. The noise of the computer has to go around the Rockwool either through the front
or the back of the computer to get to the microphone (which has the blanket in front of it and
is pointed away from the computer anyway). As crude as this method is, I'm shocked by how
little noise gets into my recordings with robo sensitive microphones. When I pull the
Rockwool away, the noise level increases dramatically.

Note: This was with my older Athlon 64 computer which I'd guess is at least 6dB louder than
my current Intel Quad Core computer with stock fan.

No method will work well when the room is excessively live. Just as the sound of clapping
your hands will bounce all over the room, the sound from the computer noise will too. I've
heard some people mention that even with no instruments playing, they can hear the “sound
of the room” as if they were sticking their ear in a seashell. That's not the sound of the room!
That's the noise of the computer bouncing around the walls!

The sound of the computer noise bouncing around the room could be very loud in a room with
many reflective surfaces, and I can't think of a time when we'd want this in a control room. So
if your control room is excessively live, you may want to look into broadband treatment (which
we'll discuss in the “Control Room Acoustics” chapter).

Distance

The best way to deal with noise, toxic waste, and nuclear radiation is to use distance. If you
can't beat 'em, put them so far away that you simply don't notice. Maybe you don't have a
nuclear fall out shelter, but you do have closets, other rooms, etc. What am I talking about?
I'm talking about purchasing KVM extension cables for your keyboard, mouse, and computer
monitor. Most people aren't aware of extension cables. But moving a computer up to 30' feet
is a great way to solve the noise problem. You'll have to walk 30' feet before you burn a cd,
but us recording people could use the exercise anyway.

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Do not undermine the effects of distance. This is the single most powerful weapon we have
against the forces of control room noise. Without a doubt, KVM extension cables are
dramatically cheaper than any other method outside the computer for stopping noise.

Isolate Vibrations

A problem few of us ever think about is the actual vibrations of the computer case itself.
These vibrations transfer through the floor and can add dramatically to the noise. By adding
some kind of isolation between the bottom of the computer and the floor, there is dramatic
potential for noise reduction.

UPS (Uninterrupted Power Supply)

Don't even think about it. The second the idea of losing all of your recording gear due to an
electrical burnout becomes unbearable, run out and purchase an Uninterrupted Power
Supply. An UPS gives you the luxury of saving your work and shutting your computer down
when the power goes out. When the power has gone out, I've specifically sat down to mix for
15 minutes, because I had nothing else to do. This is the luxury side of the UPS. Then there
is the necessity side.

As I'm writing this, thousands of people are still without power in my immediate area. The UE
guys have put in 90-hour weeks trying to restore power. A massive ice storm has left only a
percentage of trees standing. Those that fell often took power lines with them. The idea of
having heat and electricity again may sound like a huge relief, but for many households, the
news wasn't so pleasing.

My girlfriend's parents lost their furnace, two TVs, computer, X-box 360, stereo, little PA
system, and fireplace doohickey (don't ask), all because their circuit breakers weren't fast
enough. It appears that when a massive tree took a dive in their yard, it took some power
lines with it. Instead of yanking the power lines right off the house, the lines stretched to the
point the insulation between the two lines became thin enough for the two wires to meet. The
end result was disastrous.

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I got to thinking what I would do if I lost my recording computer, Presonus Firestudio, Vintech
1272, Distressor, Mytek converters, etc etc etc. I'd be out thousands of dollars unless
insurance would bail me out. (Yeah, you can really count on them!)
So anything that is extra important to you, run through a UPS. You won't regret the
investment!

Laptop Recording Considerations

The notion of going portable is great for recording, and in practice, laptops do extremely well.
However, there are a few things to be aware of when recording with a laptop.

Ditch the 5400rpm Hard Drive

A huge majority of laptops come from the factory with an internal hard drive that spins at 5400
rpm. By modern standards, this is slow and there will result in degradation of recording
performance when lots of tracks or samples are used. The second you run into problems go
ahead and purchase an external hard drive and make sure it is 7200 rpm. It's extremely rare
to need more performance than a 7200-rpm drive can deliver. It really doesn't make much
difference whether the external drive utilizes USB 2.0 or Firewire.

You could replace your internal hard drive with a 7200-rpm internal drive, but this would
require you to re-install Windows and all software. In most cases, the external drive method
is preferred.

Dual Boot Systems or Virtual Machines

Seldom are laptops dedicated strictly to recording work. They are used for internet, email,
and just about everything a typical home computer is used for. Therefore, there is an extreme
risk for the operating system of that laptop to be destroyed by an unclean operating system.
If I were going to record on a laptop, I would immediately setup a dual boot system or look
into my options with Virtual Machines.

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Chipset Issues

As with home computers, make sure the chipset of your laptop is compatible with the audio
interface you select. The chipset problem is no different than with home computers, but the
solution can be more difficult with laptops. In regard to motherboard chipsets, the problem is
the same. If your motherboard is incompatible with your audio interface, you are essentially
up a creek and will be sending the audio interface back. In regard to issues with Firewire or
USB 2.0 chipsets in a home computer, you can simply toss in a new PCI card and be on your
way. With a laptop, you can add a PCMIA Firewire or USB 2.0 card to address this. The
cards are less available and typically cost more money. So plan ahead with the chipset just
like you would with a home computer.

6-Pin Firewire

If you plan to use a bus-powered audio interface so that you can go out and record in the
woods or in the beach relying solely on the power of your laptop's battery, you will want to be
sure that you have a 6-pin Firewire output. A 4-pin, which is more common in laptops, will not
supply power to bus powered audio interfaces.

Performance Limitations

Quite a few people want to record with a laptop. There is nothing wrong with that necessarily.
However, you are going to pay quite a bit more for laptop horsepower. The simple truth is
laptops run slower. As of this writing, the Quad core desktop computers are all over the
place. You can't even purchase a Quad core Dell laptop no matter how much cash you've
got.
Make sure that extra portability is worth the cut in performance. I've found that most people
dramatically overemphasize this portability thing.

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Computer Performance Optimization

Dux nLited XP Pro

Some dude named Dux has put together a specific build for Windows XP Pro SP3 that is
completely optimized for audio right out of the box. You have to do nothing but install it. I've
been running it for several months on my rig and I have to say that it's amazing.
I did have to install an unzip program (Windows can't do .rar files anyway) and a lightweight
media player program because it's that stripped down. It's a racecar!
If you plan to format your computer for audio recording, I highly recommend this version.
Check it out.

Avoid The Problem In The First Place

Eliminate The Dirty Operating System

I want to make a gigantic emphasis on the importance of this section. Many home recorders
get demoralized by the bugs they have to deal with in their recording setup. Clicks and pops
in their recorded tracks, random errors in their recording software, and just general
unreliability typically stem from the fact that they don't have a “clean” computer.

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A clean computer has only the bare minimum of software installed. (Extra software clutters
up a computer's hard drive and increases the chances for performance digesting conflicts). A
clean computer is free of viruses and spybots (A huge problem for recording computers
connected to the internet). A clean computer looks boring and empty when you click on the
Start > All Programs. Most importantly, a clean computer is wasting as close to 0% of its
power on unnecessary tasks as possible. This is the big one! If your computer is wasting 1/3
of it's power on junk, you may as well be using a computer from 3 or 4 years ago. Why pay
$2,000 for a new mega computer when you could setup a clean system in an hour and get
the same performance with a computer at a fraction of the price?

I can't state the importance of this concept enough. You will waste hours and hours and
hours fighting your recording software (if you are doing anything demanding at all) if you insist
on using a dirty operating system.

In my opinion, life is too short to build the foundation of your recording studio on such shaky
ground. I want a strong foundation and I don't want to have to mess with any more
distractions than I have to. As if music recording didn't have enough challenges!

Recording Software Is Different

Recording software is fairly unique. High-end software like Adobe Photoshop or
Dreamweaver can run on just about anything remotely modern. When I type a key, the
software reacts when it can. If the computer is slow it may take a while, but ultimately the
dimension of time is not one that these programs really deal with.

However, with recording software, when I speak into a mic, I need to hear the sound
immediately. There is no “take your time” tolerance when recording music. So maybe a
computer runs fairly aggressive programs with little to no problems. So what. That is nothing
compared to giving a computer 5ms to take in an audio signal, route it through recording
software, compress it, add reverb, combine it with the background music, and then send it
back out.

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Because of this added time demand, we need to treat our recording computers with a little
more care than we would the computer we check our email with.

Use a dedicated computer for recording

Recording music puts extraordinary demands on a recording computer. It's a miracle that the
technology exists that can handle the demands of music recording. So, it's extremely
important that our recording computers are performing at their best. Raw horsepower cannot
make up for flat tires. To anyone with the means and budget, I highly recommend using a
separate computer for music recording. Ideally, internet should never be hooked up. There
should be no software installed that isn't specifically used for the recording process.

I basically look at my recording computer as my racecar. Racecars do not have air
conditioning or carpet. The seat is not designed for comfort. The car is designed to go fast
enough to kill you! Recording computers are built for performance and nothing else.

Closing out a program is only going to reduce a slight portion of the damage done by a
trashed registry, viruses, spybots, etc. The only way to get around it is to use a system where
you won't even be tempted to install Yahoo Messenger and other cancer causing agents.

Dual Boot System

To those with a smaller budget or a situation that doesn't allow for a second computer, a dual
boot system is a great alternative. Basically, you have two operating systems. When you
start your computer, you will have the option to load the usual system or to load the recording
system. The recording system can be 100% optimized for recording while your normal
system can be used for email, internet, games, etc. Installing a dual boot system is free and
it only takes about 30 minutes to install Windows XP on a good day. I highly highly highly
recommend this to anyone who is having problems with their recording software. The dual
boot system is beyond the scope of this book, but it's not difficult to do. It's certainly simpler
and faster than troubleshooting recording software forever.

Viruses have no trouble working their way over from one installation of Windows to another.

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Virtual Machines

Yet another route to take that may work better for the average joe is the use of a Virtual
Machine. Essentially, a virtual machine allows you to run a completely isolated operating
system within another operating system. This opens a number of doors, but the most
important being the enormous security that you can wrap your internet operating system in.
Check out Vmware, Virtual PC, VirtualBox, or QEMU.

The basic idea is you install Windows normally on your computer. This Windows version is
barely even used for anything other than launching the Virtual Machine software. Then with
your Virtual Machine, you divide the computer up into various sections where you will install
Windows (or possibly another type of operating system) again. These are totally isolated
from each other so you can switch to the internet installation and download all the craziest
viruses in the world and it will have zero effect on your recording computer. This is what I
plan to use with my next recording computer.

Note: There are going to be the Mac enthusiasts who claim that none of this is necessary on
a Mac. I think the use of the word “none” may be a bit of an overstatement, but I can't argue
with the fact that a typical Mac avoids the need for much of this setup process. Inevitably, the
Mac route is a bit more convenient for an additional fee. However, I've not heard any
significant evidence to suggest that the Mac is more secure because of better-written
software. It seems to be simply a matter of fewer people attack Macs because fewer people
use Macs. So if Macs continue to gain in popularity it's possible that their secure status will
diminish. Virus software writers will find a way.

Make A Carbon Copy Backup Of Your Operating
System

I often recommend that new home recording people format their current operating system.

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The idea is to start fresh with a “clean” operating system free of the headaches that come
from using a trashed operating system. The actual formatting of a Windows computer isn't
too time consuming. Within 30 minutes to an hour I can have a system formatted with a new
install of Windows ready to go. However, by the time I install all my software, register it, and
then begin the tedious process of installing all plugins and samples, it's very possible that I've
wasted most of the day.

If you have a trashed operating system there is no way to get around formatting in my
opinion. However, once you have a well-performing, reliable system it's time to make a
carbon copy. Using a program called BartPE you can make a flawless carbon copy of your
Windows setup on an additional hard drive so that if you run into problems in the middle of a
session, you can completely restore your last backup in about 10 minutes.

Note: I want to make it clear that this is not the Windows “system restore” feature, which is a
total joke in comparison. This method actually erases the entire C: drive and replaces it with
exactly what you had on your hard drive (byte per byte) on your last backup date without
losing a single shred of performance.

http://www.recordingreview.com/blog/computer-recording-issues/create-a-perfect-backup-of-
your-windows-hard-drive/

Stick with Good Ole, Reliable, Stable Operating
System

To this date, I don't know of a single person who is happy recording music with a New, Cutting
Edge, Piece of Junk Operating System. (I'm referring to whatever operating system is being
advertised on Super Bowl and American Idol commercials). The hardware manufacturers
have been very slow to release New, Cutting Edge, Piece of Junk-ready drivers. While some
companies have had drivers out for a long time, I still hear of people having problems nearly
two years later.

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There is considerable debate in regard to the need for New, Cutting Edge, Piece of Junk
Operating System. In other words, many people have been very happy with Good Ole,
Reliable, Stable Operating System and don't see the added benefit of running New, Cutting
Edge, Piece of Junk Operating System. This will eventually change. Just remember that if
you decide to run New, Cutting Edge, Piece of Junk Operating System on your recording
computer, it's likely that you will exponentially increase your headaches. Because of the
nature of music recording, I always recommend going with the most stable system out there.

In case, I didn't make my point obvious here, I'm talking about Window XP and Windows
Vista. Windows XP is the good ol' reliable software. Vista is the new, cutting edge, piece of
junk. I didn't want to date myself. I'm sure in the next decade the same debate between old
vs new will still be going. Once again, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

I'm not really trying to turn this section into a XP vs Vista argument. In fact, I don't want to
limit it to a discussion of Microsoft products. This applies to Mac and Linux as well. A
recording rig is a low tolerance, high performance machine. You do not want to go on an
experimental mission unless you are more interested in boldly going where no man has gone
before than you are actually recording music. Play it safe. Like pulling off a bank heist (yes,
I'm an expert), you must know that every member of your crew is reliable and not going to
turn on you. It's hard enough to steal the jewels when everything goes right. The same
applies here.

Use Multiple Hard Drives

It's always recommended to use one hard drive specifically for the operating system and then
a second hard drive for the actual audio files. Because the audio drive is working very hard in
a recording computer (playing back dozens of tracks), its always best to let it focus on just the
audio data. In the event that you use samples, it is recommended that you place your
samples on the third hard drive. Samples need to be played back extremely quickly and by
using a dedicated hard drive for your samples, you dramatically improve reliability and
performance.

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Go ahead and install your actual recording software on the C: drive. There is no performance
benefit to installing it on your audio or sample drives.

7200 RPM, 10k RPM, and 15k RPM Hard Drives

Since the early 2000s, I've been using standard ATA and SATA hard drives that spin at 7200
rpm. You can certainly get faster performing hard drives at a higher price. For example,
Seagate (a popular hard drive manufacturer) claims an increase in performance of 30% with
their 15k rpm Cheetah series, which sell for about triple the price of their more standard
Barracuda line and require a special motherboard.

In all but the most extreme cases of audio recording I consider this to be a total waste of
money. Stick with the good ol' 7200 rpm hard drives that you can purchase in the $60-100
range (give or take).

Optimize The Operating System

Unfortunately, operating systems have to be all things to all people. I would love to have an
operating system that was perfect for Brandon and not care about the other 60 zillion people
on the planet. It hit home for me when a nerdy, server type of guy showed me his operating
system on a floppy disk. (Why does Windows require an entire CD or even DVD?)

Windows comes with junk and add-ons that I will never use. Because of this, there is quite a
bit of tuning that can be done to dramatically improve the performance of an operating
system.

This tuning can result in ridiculous gains! I always go for performance so a good chunk of this
optimization is turning off pretty things that have no functional purpose. For example, as I
write this piece of epic literature, the bar at the bottom of my screen (I'm typing this on a
Windows XP system) is grey. The standard color is this pretty blue gradient. The pretty blue
bar will not make this book any better and that pretty blue bar won't make your recordings
better either. While probably not an enormous CPU hog, the pretty blue theme in XP uses

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more computer power than the “classic” ugly design. I'm not going to go into detail about
optimizing Windows XP for recording because I'd like for this book to be of some use in 2018.
So forget I even mentioned XP! Just understand that any operating system designed to be
sold to the masses is going to have unnecessary, CPU using stuff installed that may not be
catering to you. If performance is an issue (and when is it not!) turn that stuff off!

You can find endless articles from the computer nerd sites online that go into great depth on
what you can turn off, how you can turn it off, what is safe to turn off, what will fry your
computer (joke), etc. I could rehash the same info that is freely available all over the web in
this book, but I didn't see the point. Just search for “XP optimization” or “X operating system
optimization” and you'll find plenty of well thought out guides by computer guys who are way
more nerdie (and knowledgeable) than you or I can stand.

Should I Use Internet On My Recording Computer?

This always sounds like a loaded question to me. If a person walked up to me and said
“Should I use illegal controlled substances?” I would make a strange face. I would then
slowly ask, “What?” If they persisted and asked “Should I use heroin?” I'd probably have to
go ahead and suggest that they don't stab themselves with a needle 50 times a day just so
they can flush their life down the toilet. I find this issue internet/recording computer
relationship to be similar.

The issue of internet usage on a recording computer is often discussed on the forum at
RecordingReview.com. I do not use internet on my recording computer. My life is
complicated enough and I don't want to risk dealing with the potential performance loss that
can be associated with running internet on my recording computer.

I think there are two things in this world that do not mix. Drinking and driving is one.
Recording computers and internet is the other. That's it. Everything else mixes.

To me, the need for internet also brings up the need for Anti-virus software and spybot

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removal software. Adding these 2 programs (which are known performance KILLERS ) is not
an option for me. Every little image you see on your screen is stored away in a cache
somewhere incrementally fragmenting your hard drive. Even a person who is pretty good
about avoiding “bad neighborhoods” on the web will still find new surprises in their programs
list that they didn't put there. I've even had hardware conflicts that occurred simply because a
networking card was installed. On a typical computer, this is no big deal. On a recording
computer, I'll let you decide.

The only benefit I can see to having internet on a recording computer is the ease in obtaining
software updates. I only update my software when I have problems, so this is a very, very
rare situation. So, to me, the risk is not worth the reward. To others, the risk to reward ratio
may be different.

When I need to transport files to and from my computer, I simply pull out my flash drive. It
works great and means I don't have to take any risks with the internet.

Note: I should probably mention that lightly using internet on a recording computer isn't
guaranteed suicide. Smart, light uses of internet in very safe neighborhoods can work out.
However, it's a risk. As a guy who doesn't have time to deal with the potential pitfalls, I don't
take the chance. Because I'm constantly helping people with their technical hurdles at
RecordingReview.com I find that a trashed computer is one of the biggest causes of technical
problems and frankly I'm too tired to solve my own!

How Much Should I Spend On a Recording Computer?

The idea of spending too much money on a recording computer has always bothered me.
There are so many components in the recording chain that it doesn't make sense to blow too
much cash on just one link.

Obviously computers are not known for retaining their value. A $4,000 computer today is a
paperweight in a few years. You'll be lucky to pay someone $5 to take it off of your hands!

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With that said, the clunk of slamming a digital computation relic into a trash can is something
that makes an impact on a person...and the trash can. It's important to note that not all
recording gear is like this. Microphones, preamps, compressors, and other hardware tend to
hold their value very well if they were desirable in the first place. Musical instruments vary
quite a bit, but a “good” instrument will hold its value in most instances.

It seems illogical to blow an enormous amount of cash on computer power when you know
you are “working your way up” in terms of gear. It's usually smarter to invest in a computer
that will meet your recording needs and little more so that you can put your money to work
into areas that are much more important than the bragging rights of having a supercomputer.
(What's the deal with the computer nerds who post their computer specs in their forum
signature?)

When I see people who are blowing $2,000 on a recording computer, it always makes me
wrinkle my nose a little bit as if someone broke wind in an unpleasing way (as opposed to the
“pleasing” way). It's that same feeling I get when I see people who shouldn't be scantily clad
in public being scantily clad in public. Just remember that there are many, many links in the
chain. If your studio monitoring sucks, your recording computer should suck too. That's my
opinion, anyway.

When I upgrade my recording computer, I spend $100 on the motherboard, $100 on the
processor, and max out the RAM which my operating system will effectively use.

At the moment, my current recording computer (which I use to make a living) would be
completely smoked if I were to upgrade it today. My computer is “slow”. So what! Yes, there
are much faster computers out there. I'd rather have the cash! Of course, I already have a
high quality power supply, an excellent video card, and three hard drives. (I actually have a
fourth hard drive installed, but that's just for backup purposes.)

Instead of measuring your computer performance needs by what everyone else is doing, take
a look at your sessions. If you are wasting time or feel limited because your CPU keeps

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bogging, maybe it's time to look into an upgrade. However, if you do well with your current
setup, buy yourself a new mic or other misc recording toy. Better yet. Fly to Hawaii!

Note: I lied. I just ordered a new computer last night. I spent $50 on the motherboard, $180
on the processor, and maxed out the RAM. All the parts cost me a hair over $400 and this
computer should be about nine times faster than my previous computer.

Take A Look At Servers

My experience with consumer grade, store bought PCs has been not-so-good. I find that they
are a pain in the neck. Everything from the useless software they contaminate the operating
system with from the factory to the fact that most of the buttons have been changed when
attempting to fire up safe mode or BIOS to the fact that some of them have such tiny cases
that you need the hands the size of a seven year old to toss in a RAM chip have made me
really grow intolerant of the typical computer the big computer manufacturers put out. Good
luck trying to fit three hard drives in your typical Walmart computer.

However, there is still one place to look to find affordable, killer computers from the big, name
brands. It's the used server / workstation market. A Dell server was my first recording
computer and even after I retired it from recording use, it held its own with computers with
dramatically higher specs for years. Looking back, that computer was especially impressive.
It kind of reminds me of an old dog I used to have. I think I'll call that server “Old Yeller”.

Servers and workstations are intended for a different market. They are marketed to people
who actually want to do something productive with their lives / computers. The typical person
who's greatest life achievement is decorating their Myspace page or installing yet another
toolbar is not really going to be interested in the relatively boring, performance driven mindset
that goes into a server or workstation.

When workstations and servers are brand new, they cost a fortune. For example, I just
checked Ebay for a “Dell server” and found a Dell PowerEdge 6650 that listed for $6,000+
just a few years ago. Now you can get the thing for a few hundred bucks. Even by today's

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standards this thing is still fast.

Not everyone wants a 90lb rack mount box that looks more like a tank than a computer
(actually, that sounds about like the most pleasing thing imaginable), so do yourself a favor
and at least look at the workstations out there if you are not interested in building your own
computers.

The average consumer looking to purchase a computer seldom searches for “server” or
“workstation” and usually it's a large corporation who has upgraded their entire fleet of
computers who is selling them. They are simply looking to move their old computers to make
room for the new. The long story short is the bang for the buck possibilities are very high.

How Much Computer Power Do I Need?

I'd love to tell you “7”. You need 7 computer power. Unfortunately, I'm not aware of any good
standard to judge the amount of computer juice I'm using other than looking at my CPU %
meter. Generally speaking, a fairly modern computer (in the mid/late 2000s) that is setup
properly and clean can handle recording 40 tracks of audio with a fair amount of CPU-friendly
plugins and simple routing fairly easily. Recording wav files is not nearly as demanding on a
computer as it was earlier in the decade.

However, MIDI synths and samples can be VERY aggressive at chewing up your CPU power
in a hurry. There is no limit to the amount of RAM a sampler can use. I've seen drum
samples that use 2GB of RAM for a single drum kit.

MIDI synths like Native Instruments Absynth are capable of tremendous, mind-blowing
sounds and are also capable of overloading a computer processor in no time.

As of this writing, I'm using an Athlon 64 2800 with 2GB of RAM which is considered “old” by
current standards. I can record 40 tracks without too much of a problem in Cubase. The
bundled plugins with Cubase and the Waves Platinum edition work great for me and are very
easy on the CPU. I've downloaded plugins that weren't so efficient on my processor. I

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recently tried some new, free plugins and my computer was toast after using 5 or 6 plugins.
So, your computer's performance will be affected greatly by which plugins you use.

I can usually fire up quite a few instances of synths and samples without too much trouble.
There is no way that I could do a full blown orchestra MIDI production with my computer
without rendering down to wav files constantly. Usually 10 tracks (assuming drums are just 2
tracks in this case) of MIDI running to 10 different synths and samples will start to push my
computer pretty hard. Adding a few reverbs on top of this can make my computer tired in a
hurry. Of course, if I'm really serious about mixing a MIDI tune, I'll render all the tracks to wav
files and remove the synths and samples from that project. This would free up 90% of my
CPU power.

The general rule goes like this: If you plan to use many synths and samples in your music, go
for maximum computer power that you can afford. If you are recording wav files you won't
require as much power. As illustrated above, both synths/samples and wav recording can
use up huge amounts of CPU power if the plugins are CPU hogs.

As mentioned previously, a Quad Core computer will pretty much solve this problem.

There Is Always A Way Out

People have been doing multi-track recording with computers since the late 90s. So if it was
possible then, why is CPU usage still an issue now? Well, some of that is caused by modern
CPU hog plugins. Some of it was because people were using techniques to squeeze more
power out of their computers back in the 90s. Here are some of those techniques that I still
use on a regular basis.

Use Aux Sends Properly

Every recording software has a method to send a signal to an “aux” of some kind.
(Sometimes these are called “effects sends”). By sending some of the vocal signal to a bus
with a reverb plugin on it, we are able to share this reverb with other tracks. We can send a
guitar, snare drum, or any other track to this exact same reverb. This is an alternative to

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placing individual reverbs as inserts on tracks. One reverb used as an aux send could take
the place of 50 reverbs used as inserts. This means you've effectively used 1/50th of the CPU
power.

In this case, you are stuck with that one single reverb. You may find that you don't want the
same reverb on the snare drum that you are using for vocals. Just fire up another aux send
with the new reverb. A typical mix can usually get away with two or three reverbs without any
problem.

Of course, you aren't limited to just reverb. You can use aux sends for chorus, delay, or just
about any effect in which you want to blend in an effect with a dry signal from multiple tracks.
If you haven't played with auxiliary sends in your recording software, it's time to crack open
the manual.

I cover this topic in more depth in the Killer Home Recording: Murderous Mixing as specific
effects work better than others with aux sends.

Render Tracks

Just remember that there is always a way to reduce CPU usage, but there is a compromise.
Processes that must be done in real time cause CPU usage to climb. For example, if we hit
play on a song, the computer must process the reverb on the vocal (among a zillion other
things). We force the computer to process this reverb each and every time so that we have
the ability to tweak and make future decisions. However, if we decide we want to commit to a
sound, all we have to do is render the output of that effect to a wav file. We still have the
ability to manipulate the reverb as it is sitting on its own track, but our computer isn't working
nearly as hard playing back that reverb track wav file as it was processing the reverb plugin.

I always save the original project file with all original MIDI files, wav files and synths/samples.
Then I save the project as Song-Name-Mix-001 or something. This gives me the freedom to
render down anything and everything in whatever combination I feel like at the time. This
makes it easy to conserve CPU power. If I goof up, I can always go back to the original

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project file and get what I need.

If you are using a synth that is hogging your CPU power, it's not a big deal to render that
down to a wav file. If you have 12 layers of guitar tracks, once you have them where you
want them, you can render those down to a stereo wav file to reduce CPU usage.

When I mix a song, sometimes I push the CPU meter a little hard even after all synths have
been rendered to wav. It's common for me to use plenty of gates, EQ, compression, reverb,
fancy routing, distortion, sample replacement, and who knows what else to get my drum
tracks happening. If push came to shove and I was desperate, I could easily render the
drums down to a single track. This would free up tons of CPU power. Is it ideal to give up the
option of tweaking the drums? No! However, it's one way out.

Note: As I've gotten better at tracking drums, I'm using far less processing power to get the
drums where I want them. If you are maxing out your computer, maybe it would be better to
put your time into improving your audio engineering skills. Food for thought.

Freezing

Recording software like Cubase (and probably others) utilize the freeze function. Let's say
we have a vocal track with an EQ, compressor, de-esser, and pitch shifter on a vocal. Let's
say these are all high quality, CPU-hogging plugins. We can simply scroll to the vocal and
press the freeze button. Cubase then renders the track in the background. We can no longer
make edits to it. We have pretty much committed just like I mentioned about rendering
above. The difference is switching back to non-rendered mode where all the plugins are
doing the processing can be done instantaneously. Pressing the un-freeze mode puts us
right back to where we were in the event that we need to change an EQ or whatever.

I've found that freezing doesn't free up as much processing power as rendering a track down,
unfortunately. Maybe the newer software versions have taken care of this issue. So if you
are still pushing your computer, even with freezing, try rendering files to wav the old fashioned
way and see if that gives you any more power.

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