HOW-TO: Turn your Mac mini into a low-cost recording studio
posted February 8th 2005 1:01PM
So we know that everybody, their sister and their cousin, too are working on how to use the Mac mini in a home theater setup (we are not immune!). But better yet - one thing you can just never teach your TiVo is how to be a music production station. Gone are the days of needing hundreds of thousands of dollars to set up a studio to produce your own tracks; a decent digital audio workstation can now be set up for comparatively ridiculously low cost.
Today we'll talk about yet another of the many tasks you could devote your Mac mini to: the home recording studio. Would-be bedroom producers gather 'round and we'll talk about some of the essentials you'll need, plus how to get started recording and mixing tracks.
Keep in mind that, much like the Mac mini media center
how-to, there is more than one way to skin a mini. You don't have to duplicate our setup. You can pick and choose
among some of the components we cover here, or search for others that fit your particular needs. What gear you
ultimately decide on depends on a number of factors, not the least of which is how much you can afford to spend: what
style of music you primarily make, how many instrumentalists you need to record (if any), the size of your room, and so
forth. This article is here to help get you started!
The essentials: your basic gear list
- Audio recording software
- Audio interface
- Microphone(s)
- Instruments
- Cables
- Monitoring device
1. Audio recording software
We're going to go with the obvious and free choice, here:
GarageBand, which comes with the iLife '05 suite on the mini.
Version 2 supports multi-tracking up to eight tracks, which should be enough to get you started recording. We'll talk
later about other options in this department, for when you're ready for the next level.
2. The audio interface
This is the very heart of your home studio. It is the piece of kit you should spend the most time thinking about and
researching, and for small setups is most likely what you'll shell out the most dough for. Your options here run the
gamut from el-cheapo to DAWs so bling we'd have to post them on Luxist before we
could even link to them.
The most basic route here would be a simple line-in interface like the $40
iMic from Griffin. If you will only ever need to record
one audio source at a time - one person speaking for a Podcast, or converting your old records to MP3s, e.g. - this
could very well be all you need. It plugs into a USB port on your mini and acts as a breakout cable allowing you to
plug-in a mic (1/8" jack provided) or a line-in (RCA jacks provided). It has a line out as well, so if you have an
all-in-one headphone/mic headset, you can use it to record speech or vocals and listen back. If you really just want to
play around with GarageBand, and you're looking for dirt cheap, this is it.
The quality won't be all that and a bucket of chicken, but it won't be absolutely terrible, either. It'll be enough to
have fun with.
Or, if you're a DJ and just want to record the output from your turntables, this solution is not a bad option for a
low-cost practice studio. You already have a mixer, so you can mix in a vocal track or other line-in source like a CD
player or MP3 player, as well. Just take the output from your mixer:
And direct it to the iMic using an RCA-RCA cable:
...and you have a $40 DAW. You can record a mix into a GarageBand stereo track and export it straight into iTunes in a
time-saving jiffy.
If you're going to be doing any audio production that involves recording analog instruments (guitar, bass, etc.), or
that requires multiple tracks, though, you need to look at a multi-channel USB or Firewire audio interface. There are
many, many options here and again, what you get will be determined by what your needs are and what style of music
you're making. If you need to track a full band, look at a Firewire interface such as the
MOTU 828 or the
Presonus Firepod. If you only need a handful of ins and outs, look
at something with a smaller footprint like the Presonus Firebox,
M-Audio Firewire 410, or the
Edirol FA-66.
We have the M-Audio Ozone USB audio
interface in our studio, because it combines two audio inputs (one microphone, one line in; or, a single stereo line
in) with a MIDI keyboard and 8 programmable MIDI knobs in one unit at a decent price (you should be able to find one
for $250 or less). You may not need a MIDI controller in your setup; if you're only recording live instrumentalists and
vocalists, you likely won't. But if you make electronic music or if you want to trigger software instruments in your
recording software at any point, you're going to want a MIDI keyboard of some sort. You can get a separate audio
interface and MIDI keyboard; especially if you're a Rick Wakeman-type, you'll feel limited by the two octave Ozone (you
have access to the full note range via octave up/down keys, but we know, Rick, it's just not the same.). But it's the
perfect all-in-one device for us, and travel-size to boot.
3. Microphone
If you're doing serious multi-tracking, you'll need a selection of mics suited to the ranges of the instruments you're
recording. If you just want a decent and versatile mic or several that can serve general purpose duty, we recommend the
old industry standby Shure SM57. It will do admirably for
vocals as well as various instruments, and you can pick one up for less than $100.
4. Cables
Your microphone will connect to your audio interface via an XLR cable:
Instruments plug into a 1/4" line in jack via a regular instrument cable:
If you have a separate audio interface and MIDI keyboard or other MIDI controller, you will wed the twain together via
ye olde MIDI cable:
5. Monitoring device
You will need something with which to listen to your next big hit. If you have a set of PC speakers lying around, this
is the cheapest route. You can also connect your mini to your stereo via either the internal audio out or your audio
interface's audio out. The pros and semi-pros use near field
monitors. Regardless of what external sound system you choose, it is a good idea to have a decent pair of studio
headphones in your arsenal. We recommend the Sony
MDR-7506s, which can be had for less than $100.
6. Instruments
Many choices here in both analog and digital realms. If you're already an instrumentalist, you'll probably start
recording yourself playing guitar, etc. If you're not an instrumentalist, hunker down and get to know your new
instrument: the MIDI keyboard. Remember that your number one goal in music-making is always fun, and whether or not it
ever gets you on tour with Peter Gabriel is purely incidental. Don't be afraid to make mistakes.
If you're itching to get into the hottest thing in digital recording, loop-based music production, then you have a
whole world of software instruments and sample loops open before you. Garageband comes with a number of standard preset
instruments as well as loops for you to start exploring, plus you can make your own loops for use in your
projects.
Sooner or later if you upgrade to an audio sequencer such as the most righteous
Ableton Live, you can use all manner of third-party loops found free or as
buyware. If you're the tweaker type, you can also take advantage of some other excellent freeware sound generation
software on the Mac to create some unique soundscapes you're guaranteed won't turn up on the next BT record:
Rumblence: zoyd and
Csound, to name a couple.
You may also at some point get interested in outboard gear such as external drum machines or synthesizers that contain
a number of editable sounds you can trigger with your MIDI keyboard. All in good time, my friends. For now, let's just
fire up GarageBand and lay some tracks, shall we?
System set-up
You'll have to install drivers for your audio interface, if you haven't already. Next, connect your cables to your
audio interface, then connect your interface to your computer. If your interface is USB, hot-swapping applies so you
can just plug it in when the machine is already on. For Firewire interfaces, it's usually best for everyone involved to
shut down the machine, connect the Firewire cable, power on, and party on. We're hooking in one instrument and one mic,
and our headphones to the headphone out jack:
The other cables go into the Mac mini as they usually do, with the addition of the USB cable for the M-Audio
Ozone:
Next, fire up our new friend, Garageband. You'll be prompted for a name and location for your project file. Once the
app is open, we'll first need to set the audio preferences to use your interface for handling audio in/out duties, so
go to the File menu and select Preferences. Select the Audio/MIDI tab, and select your interface as both the audio in
and out source, unless you're using your stereo or other speakers to play back sound from your Mac. If you're listening
through headphones, there is a surely a headphone out jack on your interface in which case you'll want it to be
selected for audio out duties.
We're ready to unleash some aural mayhem, so let's create a new track. Press apple-option-n to start a new track (or
use the New Track command from the Track menu) and you'll see we have a choice between real and software instruments.
Let's start with a simple vocal track, a real instrument:
If you turn monitoring on, you'll be able to hear yourself played back through your headphones or speakers as you
record. There will be a slight delay between what you're saying/singing and what comes back to you, though, so if that
bothers you, leave monitoring off.
The pane on the right are the possible effects you can add to your track. Many of the settings of these effects are
tweakable, so you can take the default settings and modify them to create new sounds. We'll choose the Deeper Vocals
plug-in to record our first voice track and click the Create button, which generates a new track in the timeline
browser:
Before we start recording, let's check our levels. Keep an eye on the level meters at the far right of the control
strip:
Start adjusting the gain control for the mic channel on your audio interface. There should be a gain (volume) section
that will set the recording levels for all of your channels:
You want the signal to be as far into the green as possible without spilling over into the red and clipping, which can
cause nasty pops, cracks and other digital artifacts into your pristine audio. You want the signal to be strong, but
not too hot. Once you've got a good level, you can hit the red record button on the transport control to start
recording your vocals:
After you've recorded your audio, your track will show the waveform of the audio you just generated:
If you've chosen the Deeper Vocals effect, you'll notice that Darth Vader has got nothing on you in this track. Have
fun playing around with the different effects to see what kind of sounds you can come up with:
Of course, with a microphone you're not limited to just your voice. You can record any ambient sound and add effects
to it to alter its character into something that might be useful in a track. For example, we made some
industrial noise by recording a
spoon hitting a bowl with heavy effects. Use your imagination and experiment.
Let's create another new track, but this time we will select a software instrument such as a piano or synth. This
time, instead of recording from an external sound generator such as your voice, we are going to use the MIDI keyboard
to play a software-based instrument. Once you've added the new track to your project, start tinkling on the keys and
you should hear the sound output from the instrument. Recording from here is just as simple as hitting ye olde record
button again and ripping up those keys.
Garageband has some decent stock sounds out of the box, and as always you can further tweak them by adding and
manipulating effects. In general, the sounds that attempt to be representations of real instruments like
woodwinds and brass will not sound as
good as the more synth and electronic
sounds that we want to sound a bit artificial anyway. You won't be producing your next symphony out of Garageband,
but you may very well use it as a composition tool to sketch ideas.
Recording your external instruments into Garageband works exactly the same way as recording vocals, from above: start
a new track, choose what type of instrument you are bringing in, set your levels and go to town. Add effects at will,
tweak to your heart's content, and experiment away. You can record two tracks of the same instrument for melody and
harmony, or you can record multiple tracks simultaneously if your audio interface has more than one audio input. We'll
leave all of that up to you to play with, and we'll move on to the fun of loop-based music production.
Hit apple-L (or Control > Show Loop Browser) to open the loop browser, which appears at the bottom of the
window:
From here you can choose from a number of Apple Loops included with Garageband. Just browse around until you find one
you like, and then drag it into a spot on the timeline:
If you've dragged it into an existing track, the audio loop will be placed at the spot in the timeline where you
dropped it. If you dropped it into an empty space in the timeline, a new track will be created and the audio placed
there. You'll see the waveform displayed:
We want this percussion loop to keep looping, not just play through once and stop. So move your mouse to the upper
right hand corner of the waveform and it will turn into a circle-ish "extend" icon; if you click and drag to the right,
you will increase the length of the loop:
Now, find some other clips that go with your first clip and layer a few instrument tracks on top of each other:
Now you can start to mix your tracks, which essentially means getting all of the sounds to blend together in a way
that sounds fairly natural. You'll want to adjust the volume of certain tracks relative to others. To do this, click on
the triangle in the track info pane to expand the volume control:
You'll see a linear representation of the track volume displayed beneath the track waveform. To adjust the volume you
create edit points by clicking on the volume line at the points where you wish to make volume changes:
Once you've made your edit markers, you can click and drag them to raise or lower the volume of the track and create
effects like fade ins:
If you want to make changes to the overall volume of the whole project itself, not just a single track, you'll have to
show the "master track" which controls all the other tracks' volume levels. Hit apple-B (or Track > Show Master
Track) to display the master track at the bottom of the window. If you edit volume data on this track, it will be
reflected across all of the tracks. Thus, if you want to fade out at the end of your track, you would edit the master
track. Here's the final view of our quick mini-project after some other mix tweaks such as adjusting the track panning,
which refers to where the sound is located in the stereo field, i.e. how far to the left or right does the sound source
sound as if it were coming from.
Here's the result of
our all of about 10 minutes of tinkering, testament to how dead easy this program is to use and just a little sampling
of the kinds of things you can do with Garageband. Good luck, and happy music making! Post some links to your tracks!
:)
Can someone provide the link for the next updates
in this series please! You can send to mrdrland@gmail.com
Make sure to put engadget in the subject line so I
can find it if it goes to my junk mail folder.
Thanks!
Can anyone help? What if I am hoping to record a vocal line and use electronic (computer/keyboard generated) accompaniment? What do I need?
I'll be using my shure microphone & some of my other gadgets to figure out what kinda latency i get with the mac mini. The low bus-speed may mean that you have to wear headphones all the time during recording and can't listen to effects real-time because of the delays.
hi i am yana and i will becoming a singer like aschlee simpson.i love singein this is my dream becoming .pleas help me becoming a singer if you won.pleas
Hey, nice piece of article. I find it useful! I've been recording my songs since last year and I always face difficulties like: searching for the right cables;tools and equipements..etc.
An off topic question: Is it 'legal' to publish an album which contains songs that are created using GarageBand? Just a thought.
Hi
I'd like to know what is the best to complete my setup to record some audio (vocals, instruments , keyboard)with garageband. I have a midi keyboard(psr-640) plug into a m-audio audiophile sound card to my emac computer. it is better for me to buy a mixer to complete the setup ? and also I'd like to use some sounds and rythms from my keyboard. Thank you
Hiya
guys, it's all about music and not the tools we record it with...
It doesn't matter what program or what pc/mac.
I guarantee you that the audio engineer working the stuff makes the biggest difference in sound quality!
I cannot tell you how many tracks you can record with Mac mini, but I know exactly how many with a G4 933Mhz (very old) and ProTools LE:
18 tracks of 24bits/44.1kHz audio! That's only limited by the interface though... :-)
Well, I'm just about to jump into the voiceover game with a new 1.42 Mini (and am pretty excited about it!)and the Behringer B-2 mic (which is also on its way) at $179 retail. My only worry is the slow HD in the Mini... and I can't add a FW HD to my shopping spree at the moment. Any of you out there doing this stuff... do you think I'll be OK?
will adobe audition be any good with a mac mini set up?
hi.. i am a bit of a newbie when it comes to stuff like this..i'm used to recording me and a guitar over my internal mic on my eMac.. however i'm looking to get into it much more seriously..with as little cost as possible!
I have got a new 17" G4 powerbook on order..
and i want to be able to record my band..to produce demo's and stuff.
i want to be able to record drums with it all mic'd up properly - so roughly 8 'real' tracks recording at once.. perhaps with bass guitar recording at the same time so 9 'real' tracks in total recording at the same time. IS this possible??? also is it possible to map each drum mic to its own individual track on a program like Logic for example?
what do i need other than my computer to be able to do this?!
what level of logic would i need? pro/express?
would i need a soundcard?
firewire audio interface?
any help would be greatly appreciated!
Hopefully you guys can help me out, all I have is a Korg Triton Le 61 Key. I want to put together a home based recording studio using the Mini Mac and Triton, but I need to know what all I would need. Are the two even compatible? I have loads of music on the Triton and want to get it connected to the Mini Mac to start recording and get my music on CD. Can you suggest anything for me?
To #47: I've had great luck with my M-Audio Firewire Solo interface ($199 at http://musiciansfriend.com ) and a Mac mini. I'd also suggest a 1x1 MIDI interface (I have an M-Audio Midisport 1x1). GarageBand 2 can probably handle all your recording needs; it can even export to iTunes, which of course will get you your CDs. Hope that helps!
Hi everyone,
I recently bought Logic Express having moved up from Audio Hijack Pro and GarageBand...and I have a slight problem on my hands...
I cannot get any sound from my speakers while playing sound in LE! What I am currently doing is converting some old vinyl records into AIFFs and have hooked up a turntable to Griffin's Powerwave through to my PB's USB port. I have tried other programs such as Audio Hijack and they can pick up the signal no problems. LE seems to record but I cannot alter the input level and when trying to play back the recorded vinyl there is no sound. I can bounce the track to AIFF and that plays fine in either the Finder or iTunes. Really weird.
LE recognises the Powerwave as input and I have seen the same in the Audio MIDI Setup panel.
I'm running MacOSX 10.3.8.
I would be extremely grateful if anyone's got some tips for a novice!
Thanks in advance!
Regards,
Henrik
If you are serious about getting a Free Mac Mini check out my PROVEN Conga Site http://conga.section3.net
By the way we recieve or 50k+ hits a month
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Hi im looking to get a mini mac, will i be able to use reason 3.0 with it? and what kind of screen do you suggest, as i have very limited space, and would also like to be able to use my screen as a TV.
Those mini macs are so sweet looking. I'm a hardcore PC user, but I would totally get into macs just because of how cool they look. Someone posted about getting free mini macs above. I joined that site, and I'm already getting referrals. Thanks!
http://macminiconga.tblog.com/
I'm a recent Mac-convert. I am familiar with Sound Forge software which is used for audio editing, recording, effects processing, streaming content creation, and more. I really would like to use my PowerBook for recording. Can you recommend a Mac software that would allow me to record teleconferences and create my own audio CD? Many thanks.
@54: Check out Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/), it's great for those things you've mentioned, although it's capable of a lot omore).
Hello,
What's the latest on track count for the Mac Mini using Garage Band?
I'd like to run (not concurrently)4 live audio Vocals, guitar, etc) and the rest (another 4) software synthesized sounds. Can the Mini handle this?
Thanks
Hi all
I'm considering a Mac Mini to try and record up to 8 'real instrument' tracks (vocals, guitar etc etc) with effects. Will it handle that? I could use Garageband but also have a Tascam US-122 audio USB interface which comes with bundled Cubase LE, and I would prefer to be able to use this too. Concerned at some of the comments about a mini not handling many real instrument tracks because of having a slow-spinning laptop-style hard disk.
Thanks in advance for any info you can share,
Jason
Can I just hook my 6 channel mixer into the iMic??? (Similar to that of the DJ mixer?)
Can someone email me to let me know
chris@qyfc.com
I have a turntable going through a firewire solo and then into my mac. How do I sample Wax in to garage band or Reason 2.5 any clues?
I used:
Behringer 16x4 Mixer
Rode NT/1
2x SM57's
2x SM58's
A cheap drum machine (Alesis)
A cheap keyboard (used Korg NT-1)
Some nice guitars that I made.
A cheap Bass Guitar (Yamaha)
Some cheap harmonicas...
iMic
Audacity (freeware multi-track recorder)
The results were suprisingly good. The ambient noise from the room and computer were much higher than anything produced by the mixer or iMic or any digital artifacts produced by the cheap A/D converters.
It makes a great little studio for doing quick demos with a little care and patience and a quiet room you can make really nice sounding stuff.
It HELP's to have some outboard-reverbs sitting around (cheap - alesis microverbs...).
You can put the whole studio together for around $1000.
R
hi
so i'm thinking about finally switiching over to a mac not just b/c i'm tired of windows, but i'm also tired of my zoom 16-track recording unit that i've only had for the last 7 months.no matter how i mix it down, the project never sounds as good or as loud on cd as they do when i'm listening it on the headphones. also, i never hear the ambient noise and background hiss during the mixdown, but i def do hear it on the cd.
so my question for those out there is:
1) how's gb or prologic been to you?
2) advantages that these possess over my zoom unit, i.e., will the software take care of the hissing and volume problems?
3) any thoughts on gb vs. prologic vs. prologic express? (and what exactly is prologic 7 academia?)
4.) my budget allows me to run the software on a mac mini or ibook (fully-loaded versions of each).... i'll def be getting at least 1gb memory, 60 gb hardrive space....and with apple's update as of yesterday, either 1.33 ghz (ibook) or 1.42 ghz (mac mini) clock speed...
thanks for taking the time to read this!
I have a turntable going through a firewire solo and then into my mac. How do I sample Wax in to garage band or Reason 2.5 any clues?
I'm very sorry but anybody who doesn't realise the massive potential of Pro Tools will be recording in their bedrooms for the rest of their lives. It is the best audio software in existance. End of.
I'm getting frustrated here. Sometimes GB can handle multiple tracks, but most of the time it gives me the "Cannot play back in real time..." error. Just today I was using ONE loop, that's it, and it wouldn't play it back for me. My system is
Machine Model: iBook G3
CPU Type: PowerPC 750 (33.11)
Number Of CPUs: 1
CPU Speed: 600 MHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 256 KB
Memory: 256 MB
Bus Speed: 100 MHz
Boot ROM Version: 4.3.2f1
and I don't have anything else on my machine. I've tried all the tricks, but I still can't get GB going. Is it just that my machine is too slow?Any (real) suggestions?
well after much thought i am going with the snowball by blue mic. this was done thru the pin hole mic as well. just wanted to show/hear what can be done in the ways of inadequate equipment.
that said i will be gettin the snowball with the shocker rack this week end :)
this trac was made using GB 2.0.2 running on an iMac 17" flatpanel/800 mhz proc/1.2 gig ram/m-audio 49e keystation.
this trax features 24 tracks total. there are 3 different bass line with heavey effects. theres are 6 drum tracs using various effectd on each trac.
there are 3 live g'tar tracks, 6 midi guitar riffs/runs trax made with the m-audio keystation.
and finally 6 vox tracks. lots of panning going on. was trying to get a spacey mix. but anyway
hi fi stream
http://www.macidol.com/jamroom/play.php?band_id=801&song_id=10059&mode=song_hifi
lo fi stream
http://www.macidol.com/jamroom/play.php?band_id=801&song_id=10059&mode=song_lofi
qucktime link
http://www.macidol.com/jamroom/bands/801/player.php?band_id=801&song_id=10059
oh yea gonna get a mini mac as well to use just fior garage band :)
later,
robert
hey corporal beef,
if that one loop is saturated with effects it can be equal to a dozen loops *)
also 600 mhz isn't alot GB is processor hungry. what version of GB are you running?
later,
robert
I don't know if it's been posted yet but GB2.0 let's you lock tracks you are finished workin on to free up memory, this basically just saves them from the harddrive so you can handle more tracks, i have made 6 track songs with effects on the new model of mac mini and it has gone smoothly
I noticed this comment by 'Albizu' concerning mics: 'How about if you just buy the Samson C01U studio mic that plugs directly to your USB port and forgo the audio interface. The sucker is priced at only $79 dollars.'
I'd like to buy a decent mic that plugs straight into my Mac Mini for the time being, and then buy an 'M-audio Ozone USB interface' later, and use the same mic through it. Is this possible? I'm stuck for immediate cash but I'd like to get going.
Thanks:
Mark Schlesinger
I have used Cubase SX on the PC and wanted to get a mac so it would run more reliably (drivers, etc). Few people have mentioned Cubase instead of Pro Tools or GB. Is Cubase SX ruled out for some reason? The VST Grand Piano is amazing and I haven't seen any easy way like that to record internal piano (a quality one) with Pro Tools or GB without getting expensive and fancy. So, guys, Cubase??? What d' ya think? On a Mac Mini?
hey folks i recently purchased to snowball mics @ 150.00 this includes the ringer spider shock mount. but anyway here are 3 songs done with this mic.
www.macidol.com/jamroom/play.php?band_id=801&song_id=10459&mode=song_hifi
www.macidol.com/jamroom/play.php?band_id=801&song_id=10719&mode=song_hifi
www.macidol.com/jamroom/play.php?band_id=801&song_id=11240&mode=song_hifi
or just goto www.macidol.com/jamroom/bands/801/music.php
and choose the file you like runnin best. theres lo fi n quicktime files there as well as the hi fi's above.
im very pleased with the snowball mic. some say its pricey i say its a fair price :)
peace,
rob
Does this work if u are using a ibook or a powerbook g4
thanks
Laurence
I used to have the ibook G4 along with an m-audio mobile pre USB interface, it was unfortunately stolen a few months ago, but I just recently purchased the 20 inch imac G5 and have a few midi controllers to work with as far as instruments are concerned (O2 Keyboard and the Triggerfinger). My question is: for different sound interfaces, is there a variation in audio quality when comparing a USB to a firewire device? Also, what better product would you recomend beside the ever so popular mobile pre, because im looking to buy an interface for less then $500
thank you,
Aaron
That seems like a lot when u put it like that. All I did was get that headphone mic (which is great with sound) and my 61key keyboard... u can't even believe the studio sound I got out of all of that. There really isn't much interest into going to a studio ~ unless u never wanna take the time to learn something ~ and that's most peoples reasons. As in why they buy PC's over Macs ~ just so they can pay someone to fix it up later cause they don't know what the f they're doing... If you don't know... get a mac, and if you do know ~ u got a mac right now! ...but ur browsing on that pc, lol!
where is the rest of this post? do you truncate them after a certain time? would love to read the rest of it...
What is the best software and full set up to open a recrding studio using MAC? What is the Number One Quality?
do you know why the snowball doesn't show up in logic express 8 but shows up in gb