quiet computer for recording room

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by zenpicker

Just out of curiosity, anyone considered or used one of these babies for recording? I think they're pretty new. Looks like a killer price point considering I already have a monitor and wireless keyboard.....

Mac Mini

Hi Edward…
First of all, I thought of you for a couple seconds today at Michael Bashkin's shop, and then he handed me the first guitar and I forgot about everything else for an hour or so.

There is usually a mini Mac hooked up and running at most Apple Stores, and I'd be interested in just how much noise the hard drive (which will be active during recording) and fan make. I'd want to check that out prior to purchase.

Mini Macs are basically a laptop in a hard shell without monitor or keyboard. They have some great hookup options and bluetooth and 802.11n wireless built in. It might be a great option to run one of these out of sight via Bluetooth keyboard and extend the cable under a door to the screen if run in the same room.

[g6120]

Originally Posted by solidhadriel

I would never recommend what G6120 is doing. He's making his hardware work harder, at hotter temperatures. You may not notice it immediately, but your actually slowly killing your computer. Your computer has to work twice as hard with nowhere near the proper airflow which will cause it to get extremely hot and that will not only degrade performance during those short durations of comforter-covered operations but will also slowly destroy your hardware.

You're right of course and its not ideal but I should have clarified. I don't actually cover the entire computer. Just the front half facing toward the door. The back is still able to breathe properly. A better solution would be to get some egg crate foam and put it on the inside of my closet door. Probably be a whole lot quieter.

An easy low cost solution.

[Comus]

Hi

I use a Boss digital 8 track plugged into my Home AMD XP 4000+ computer which was built for me with quiet fans fitted i can also reduce the speed of the fans...the main power supply fan via a small potentiometer on the back of the computer, and the cpu fan via software that came with my mobo, the fan that expells hot air on the back of the computer is of the quietest variety i could find.
saying all that though it is not really neccessery for me to have my computer running whilst recording as i use my Boss for inital recording and only transfer to my computer for the final mix and as a means of storing and burning my recordings onto disc.

I dont even have my room sound proofed..as i am lucky enough to live where it is very quiet usually...and of course noise is only going to affect vocal takes and acoustic instruments if they are miked up...all my guitars including acoustics can be pluged straight into my recording device...and i only record vocals when i know...there will be no disturbance.
I know my recordings would not be considered "Proffessional standard" but considering my limited budget i am very please with the results as i can play a CD of my music on a HI FI quite loud with no discernable background noise.

[ScottAllyn]

I use a Mac Mini as a Home Theater PC; it sits out in the open in my small living room, on a shelf below the television. I think it does have a fan, but I've never heard a sound come out of the thing (except for the boot audio). It remains silent even when it's playing an HD movie and generating some heat. It'd probably make an excellent little recording computer.

I plan on using my Macbook Pro for future recordings. It's totally quiet during normal operation (including recording). The only time that I've ever heard the fan kick into gear is when I was copying a DVD using Handbrake - a very lengthy and CPU intensive procedure.

Edward, on your question of switching from Audition to Logic, I'm doing that right now. I've been using Audition since it was Cool Edit and I'm very familiar with the interface. I've been quite frustrated with Logic, trying to figure out how to do things that I can easily do in Audition. Logic is a very powerful tool and I think that, ultimately, I'll be happy with it but it's going to take some time.

[jwsamuel]

Originally Posted by ukeforever

I second putting the computer in another room.

Or, you can put the computer inside a soundproof cabinet.

Jim

[jwsamuel]

Originally Posted by ljguitar

There is usually a mini Mac hooked up and running at most Apple Stores, and I'd be interested in just how much noise the hard drive (which will be active during recording) and fan make. I'd want to check that out prior to purchase.

I used to have a Mac Mini. The fan did not come on very often, but when it did it was pretty loud. Mine was made in 2008 so the current models may be different.

Jim

[jwsamuel]

Originally Posted by zenpicker

Anyone have an opinion on whether the current quad-core 2.66 ghz iMac would be a better choice that the dual-core 3.06 ghz model, assuming Logic as the recording software?

It depends if the software you want to use was written to take advantage of quad-core processors. If not, the software will treat your computer as if it is a dual-core machine.

Jim

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by ScottAllyn

Edward, on your question of switching from Audition to Logic, I'm doing that right now. I've been using Audition since it was Cool Edit and I'm very familiar with the interface. I've been quite frustrated with Logic, trying to figure out how to do things that I can easily do in Audition. Logic is a very powerful tool and I think that, ultimately, I'll be happy with it but it's going to take some time.

I'm making this same switch, not entirely happily. Audition has a couple of useful tools I haven't found anywhere else, and it's really perfect for recording solo guitar. But I'm tired of fighting the PC, so I've turned it off, and am 100% in Mac-Land. Logic's clearly a vastly more capable program, with some amazing features. I've been trying to read the 1000 page manual slowly, and it's getting there. But I miss simple little things like being able to display a goniometer window large enough to see it from my recording position. A lot of Mac software doesn't seem to believe in resizable windows! The phase and pan views in Audition were really useful, and I can't seem to find any equivalent. But I'm sure I'll adapt. As far as speed, I'm not sure if Logic is using all 8 cores or not, but it seems to be blazing fast, even on the sample projects they provide, which have 50x the number of tracks I'll ever use.